THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING

By Dr. Richard Martin

March is the cruellest month.

On March 20, 2024, Leo Varadkar announced his intention to step down as Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader, saying he was no longer ‘the best person for the job’.

He said his reasons for stepping down are ‘both personal and political’.

Leo Varadkar may not have had the ’common touch’, but only a fool would underestimate his intellect and abilities. He was always impressive and fleetfooted in the Dail chamber in his interactions with the opposition benches over the years.

In my opinion, since the foundation of the free state, the only Taoiseach who could’ve rivalled him in terms of intellect and ability was Haughey.

One key difference between the two was that Haughey had the ’common touch’. He was from a working-class background. A northsider. He went to a Christian Brothers school. He could connect with small farmers and rural Ireland in a way that Varadkar never could. That was always his Achilles heel.

Of course, there was another side to Charlie. And not a good one. Varadker could never be considered corrupt or a corrupting influence like the man from Kinsealy. Haughey also resigned in March of 1991.

In his resignation speech, we heard the tremor and hurt in Varadkar's voice. He was a huge talent. No one can deny that he did the State some service; they know it. No more of that. All major political careers end in failure, and this was no different.

Over the last week, I’ve reflected and asked myself who currently in public life is cut from the same cloth as Varadkar? Intelligent, articulate and educated. I found myself grasping at straws.

I could only think of four in the Dáil, namely Pascal Donohue, Jennifer McNeill, Jack Chambers and Mairead Farrell. And Lisa Chambers in the Senate. It’s depressing to think that there is such a dearth of real talent in national politics.

The announcement was a huge surprise. Very few saw it coming. It immediately raised the question of who would succeed Leo Varadkar as leader of FG and ultimately as Taoiseach.

I was expecting a contest of some description but there was none. Instead of a leadership contest, we had a coronation when on March 24 Simon Harris was made leader unopposed.

Personally, I would’ve seen Pascal Donohue as the most able politician within FG getting the top job. I cannot understand why he didn’t throw his hat into the ring.

I found it strange that there wasn’t some form of leadership contest. When Lemass succeeded de Valera succession wasn’t even a debate. It was a formality.

But Harris is no Sean Lemass. Not even close. Do the rival deputies within FG see Simon Harris as such a formidable foe? If so, maybe they should question why they’re in politics themselves.

No matter how much spin is put on it, FG are in total disarray. Of the 35 FG TDs in the Dáil, 11 will not contest the next general election.

When Fianna Fáail went into the 2011 general election, 19 of their sitting deputies had decided not to contest that election. It was, of course, a devastating election for FF. They were virtually wiped out and only held onto one seat in the greater Dublin area.

FF went into that election with 71 seats and came back with 20.

At the time Fine Gael secretly and not so secretly crowed with delight. The grand old party had been obliterated. Smashed to smithereens. Civil War bitterness still lingered in the minds of many so-called blueshirts. Long had they waited for such a day.

Now 13 long years later it looks like the shoe is on the other foot.

Politics, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.

And make no mistake. FG is facing a wipeout.

They have coronated a man who looks good and sounds good but he's master of optics, with a flair for mediocrity and banality. He has no background in business. He has no background as a trade union delegate. He has no background as an academic.

He was elected to the Dáil in the blue tsunami of 2011. He became Minister for Health in 2016. Every health minister who has followed Dr. Browne will always perhaps unfairly be compared to him.

As a medical student, I was often in Merlin Park. It is a huge greenfield site on the periphery of Galway City with easy access. I often marvelled at the vision of Noel Browne when I was in the Merlin Park environs. Large spacious buildings that are spread apart to prevent contagion.

My grandfather spent two years there in the early ‘50s convalescing from TB. It saved his life.

In contrast, Simon Harris was the Minister for Health when the National Children’s Hospital was/is being built on the campus of St. James’s Hospital in Dublin. A cramped location. No opportunity to expand. Difficult to access. Soaring costs. The total sanctioned budget reached €2.24 billion. No accountability. A cutting brief assessment would be - he was no Noel Browne.

We have a housing crisis. Our health service is on its knees. Too few doctors. Overworked and underpaid.

Is Simon Harris the man to get to grips with these issues? He didn’t show great promise when he had the health portfolio before so why would that change going forward? If he doesn’t understand the issues, how can he solve them?

I suppose the thrust of what I’m saying is this: will he overrule the civil servants or will they overrule him? How can he argue with civil servants on matters of public policy if he doesn’t understand rudimentary economics or business?

So, essentially, the state, in my view, will be run by unelected civil servants, and Simon Harris will come out and deliver the message to the nation on their behalf.

Unless the politician in a senior cabinet position can hold his/her own they will be dominated by civil servants. That has always been the way.

When Haughey first started out as a justice minister he dominated the proceedings and ran the department. He was a social reformer. Harris is no Haughey.

Will he be able to hold his own at the coalition cabinet table with the likes of Micheál Martin? I doubt it.

As I write Simon Harris is the leader of FG. He is not the Taoiseach. The Dáil will have to vote and in all likelihood, he will be installed as Taoiseach by the coalition partners.

This is all perfectly okay under our constitution. The coalition government is allowed to do this. However, the general public is crying out for an election.

It seems patently unfair that the party which finished third in the last general election is now appointing a Taoiseach in this fashion. He has no mandate from the general public. His mandate is from FG party delegates.

When the next general election is called I predict a huge migration of FG voters flocking to FF. It is still unthinkable and unpalatable for most FG voters to move across to SF, but moving across to FF isn’t the hard psychological transition it used to be.

The past week’s events have been the biggest shot in the arm for FF since the bank bailout. They will never say it out loud but a FG party with Varadkar at the helm would always be more formidable than a FG party with Harris at the helm.

FF, not Simon Harris, are the real winners.

(Dr. Richard Martin is a native of Castlebar and is a regular contributor to The Connaught Telegraph).