The art of political listening

The necessary art of political listening


DeFacto
Liamy MacNally

Listening is not always easy, but it is necessary. An Taoiseach will have to listen to councillors in Tullamore next week when the lack of powers enjoyed by local councillors will get an unexpected airing. Many councillors bemoan their constant slow stripping of power. What makes it easier is the soft landing on the cushion of compromise which is bedecked with expenses cheques. Fianna Fáil councillors are the quietest because they are in power alongside the lesser-spotted Green Party councillors. 
What should have been nothing more than a ‘capital injection’ into the local economy of Tullamore during the lean period leading up to Christmas is also expected to bring its fair share of festive sparkle, turkey talk, roastings and hot verbal punches.
When the political disasters that followed the budget are stripped away all you are left with is the universal soldier of the town and county councillor. S/he is being forced to face the front line in the forthcoming local elections next June. It has the potential for becoming a Waterloo for Fianna Fáil, the soldiers of destiny. The usually-quiet councillors know this better than anyone and next week Brian Cowen’s ears will be ringing and his nose bloodied after councillors inform him of certain home truths in plain English.
The party leader has limped from one crisis to another since he was elected. With each passing day he is becoming more wounded. His growling and snarling attitude when challenged in the Dáil is of no help to him. If anything, this pose only adds to questions over his leadership. People, be they party members or observers, do not take kindly to such a public display of bad manners and gruff attitude. The spin doctors need to diagnose this quickly with their finger-pointing leader before it does any further damage. Brian Cowen is still the leader of Government, whether he can accept that or not. This demands a certain protocol and decorum, neither of which he appears to possess. If he does, he is keeping them hidden from view. 
His selection of Mary Coughlan and Brian Lenihan to form part of the political ‘power trinity’ does not appear to be in any way inspired. Neither of them has made a positive impact in their current portfolios. Not only do his councillors appear worried, but many senior party and backbench members are also unhappy with his style. His ‘crozier cruising’ style has long since been abandoned by the established churches. There is no point in replacing one tyranny style of leadership with another. After years at the helm of the Finance portfolio the scale of the economic downturn should not have caught An Taoiseach off guard. Since his appointment (rather than election) as Taoiseach, he has wreaked havoc on any and every scale imaginable. Older people, children, young girls, students, teachers, farmers and others have all felt the belt of his daft decision-making. The jury is out on the bankers, who were prioritised ahead of every other person in the state.
With Fine Gael quietly rejoicing that they are not in power they too have their own troubles. Recent polls bear out what many people are saying about the rise of Richard Bruton’s star. Enda Kenny will be watching his own back. The dogs in the street know that a leadership contest is on the cards. The scale and swiftness of the economic downturn has extended a lifeline to him, as it did to Gordon Brown. There are whispers of a national government – using the best of the current and the best of the rest. While it may be a sensible solution it would have practical difficulties. The D’Hondt system of power sharing could be used, as it is in the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is a mathematical system for working out seat allocations. It favours larger parties and coalitions rather than smaller parties. There are also other systems, including the Saint-Lague (more neutral) and Hare-Clarke system, amongst others. Where there is a political way there will be a solution!
And then there is Lisbon. It hasn’t gone away, seemingly. Beverley Flynn’s Lisbon rant at the Cardinal was strange. Couple it with her press release after John Bruton addressed the Lisbon Sub-Committee and you wonder where Bev has been since the country (and Mayo!!!) voted no. On the one hand the Church is being asked to lay down their croziers and yet politicians want them to fire ‘Lisbon yes’ scuds at the sinful blob of political plebs. It would make you laugh if it was not serious! This self-appointed committee played host to European journalists who noted the post-Lisbon hunched-shoulder stoop of Irish officials in Europe!!! The people voted no last June. Politicians have not learned their lesson. Budget day was proof. Listen up.