For me, one of the great curiosities of Irish politics has always been the obsession with what people who don’t matter think. Sounds nasty, doesn’t it — people who don’t matter. Surely everybody matters? Of course they do, but not politically.
Since he announced his bid to lead Fine Gael, and in practice our country, Leo Varadkar has been labelled a neoliberal, a Thatcherite, an uncaring right-winger and a welfare basher. It’s the sort of labelling that would normally make an Irish politician scuttle away from that greatest fear of all: being accused of not caring.
But here’s the thing: the people who have been busy lobbing slights at Varadkar are people who, for the most part, would never vote for him. So why would someone in a trade whose currency is votes worry about trying to win custom from those who will never, ever buy what he’s offering?
Some, especially in the alphabet left, may well believe their own hysteria. But others, particularly in Fianna Fail, don’t fear that Varadkar is on some sort of Trumpian mission to dismantle our welfare state. They know, as surely must he, that there is wide support in the country for the social safety net, in all classes, all genders, all counties, all cities.
They also know that while the welfare cheats clampdown might well have been a wink at the few swivel eyes in Fine Gael, that’s all it was: a wink. It was the same wink that Fianna Fail’s Charlie McCreevy and Mary Hanafin made when they were welfare ministers, in 1992-93 and 2008-10 respectively. It’s what welfare ministers do. See? We’re looking after your money. Wink.
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“The taoiseach could be a model for an Ireland that is liberal, at ease with diversity, but keeps a firm hand on its wallet
No, what Fianna Fail in particular fears is not that Varadkar will drag the country to the right, but that he might drag the mainstream centre towards him. Look at the ballyhoo over his “getting up early” remarks. The usual suspects fell over themselves to suggest he was taunting people who, through no fault of their own, can’t “get up early in the morning”. Of course they did, because they’re terrified of the idea that the people who do get up, who pay their taxes and obey the laws and carry the country, might think they have a champion. Someone who doesn’t apologise for speaking up for what is, let’s be clear, not an elite minority. These are the wagon-pullers, who carry the old, infirm and those with disabilities, who do it because they know it’s right. But they wouldn’t mind a bit of recognition, all the same.
One can look to America and see Paul Ryan’s Republican Party put the boot into the poor as some sort of lazy, wicked, morally inferior subclass who deserve a kicking. It’s a filthy sight to watch their glee as they cut food-stamps programmes or declare that eating fish is some sort of sign of decadence. But that’s not what’s happening here because, morality aside, Varadkar knows that there are no votes in it.
There are no votes in kicking the poor, but there are votes in saying that those who pay the taxes that fund our €19bn in welfare spending are not morally better but not morally worse either. Nor are their aspirations for their families inferior. There is nothing wrong with making a case to keep more of your own money. It’s not some far-right Thatcherite obsession. It’s a view held by working people across the land, and it’s based on a simple belief that families keeping their own money might keep them out of hardship. Is that such a terrible aim?
You can dress up the water charges protest as some sort of ideological struggle about public assets, but it was really a tax protest. The Irish like keeping their own money in their back pockets. Varadkar knows that, and is willing to say so, taking a reasonable gamble that this is not just a mainstream view, but the mainstream view.
You don’t need to bash welfare to want to respect those who fund it, because both are interchangeable. But the fact that even looking for mutual respect is regarded as controversial shows how skewed the argument has become.
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The other reason why Varadkar might be able to craft a new mainstream is the opportunity provided by last week’s ruling by the Supreme Court on asylum seekers’ right to work. The right-wing thing to do would be to kick the Supreme Court’s ruling into touch in a mass of committee hearings, reviews and all the usual delaying tactics.
Varadkar shouldn’t do that. He should be bold, set a principle, and go ahead with letting asylum seekers look for work after a set period. Labour shortages are going to start appearing in the Irish market, and this is the time to get all refugees integrated into the workplace and, most importantly, paying their way and their taxes.
Once again, go for the mainstream, that is, push rights and obligations. Yes, we will respect the rights of asylum seekers to work, and welcome them making a contribution both socially and economically, as we will oblige them to integrate and respect our culture. Yes, if it means the state providing classes in speaking English and respecting Irish cultural norms, so be it. Nothing there that a reasonable fella in a pub wouldn’t agree with. Welcome to your new home: these are the rules we all obey.
Yes, you’ll have the usual weirdos on the far-right kicking off. Already apoplectic about our not-really-Irish taoiseach (their tone, not mine), this may send them over the edge. They’ll somersault from “Scroungers who won’t work” to “They’re taking our jobs” in microseconds, but to blazes with them. If anything, bring them on, if only for the sheer entertainment of the alphabet left and the far-right actually turning up at the same protests. The awkward glares of the two groups would be a joy to savour. One side screaming about the would-be Tories, the other side banging on about bloodlines and the shape of people’s noses.
There, Nazis to the right, jokers to the left, Varadkar becomes by his very presence the centre. During his leadership campaign he suggested Fine Gael should dust off its old “United Ireland Party” moniker. I’d suggest he go back further. Everybody remembers Fine Gael being founded by the fellas with the shirts and the shiny boots, but there was also a centre party, too.
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Our young gay taoiseach of Indian descent is not a model for the New Blueshirts, because there are no votes in that. We’re not comfortable with putting the boot into a section of society, though Travellers would probably say different. There wouldn’t be many votes for a Let’s Round ‘Em All Up platform targeting any specific group. It’s not who we are, possibly because we used to be that group. But Varadkar could be the model for a new Centre Party, and an Ireland that is socially liberal, at ease with diversity, but keeps a firm hand on its wallet.
Kevin Myers is away