Realpragmatik

Context. Years ago, we were concerned about changes in the law about home-education and we were soliciting support for amending the Education Welfare Bill before it became the Education Welfare Act 2000. Our manifesto and politicking made neither dint nor jot of a difference to the final wording. But in the course of our campaign, I was tasked to make contact with the Shadow Minister of Education, Richard Bruton. I found the number in the telephone book [remember them], dialled and got "Hello, Richard Bruton". Ireland is a tiny country, everyone is two degrees of separation from Bono or The President. 

We had a riot in Dublin a couple of weeks ago. There was a grievous random assault in the afternoon and a few hours later a mill of yahoos started whoopin' and hollerin' up and down O'Connell Street. One bus, one tram and one police-car went up in flames and the city-centre Foot-Locker was looted. What is it with trainers and the dispossessed? There were calls for the Minister of Justice Helen McEntee to resign! resign! but she wouldn't oblige. Underfunding the Gardai is a political cabinet-collective decision and the day to day management and deployment of the police is, I hope, a police, rather than a political, matter. We've seen what happened on Armistice Day in London when their Home Secretary tried to orchestrate the police response to competing gatherings and that precipitated a fascist scuffle at the Cenotaph.

It is the nature, perhaps the duty, of opposition politicians to disagree with the government and try to make political hay when things go awry. So, on Sinterklaas = Tuesday 5th Dec, Sinn Féin put a motion of no confidence in The Minister before the Dáil which it was dismissed 83 to 63 votes. In Ireland we have proportional representation in Elections which results in the opposite of a 2 party system like Democrats vs Republicans or Conservative vs Labour. The current Government is a coalition of Fianna Fáil (36), Fine Gael (33) and Greens (12) - Ceann Comhairle (1) giving a knife-edge majority of 80/160 which is 'whippable'. Who knows how the 'opposition', which has long tail of axe-grinders, micro-parties and crazies, will vote? The Government decided that Green Leader, Eamon Ryan would have to fly home from COP28 in order to vote for this absurd performative motion.  Great green gobs of irony for the Irish Minister of the Environment to be contrailing a mighty carbon footprint to deal with the political expediency back home. 

Jennifer Whitmore, a Social Democrat TD for Wicklow put a stop to that geopolitical error by offering to pair with Minister Ryan for the vote. Pairing is when Whips from opposing parties talk to each other to allow their party members to be absent from critical votes in pairs so that the outcome of the vote is the same but the real life of representatives can be accommodated. A Westminster MP can attend her daughter's wedding in Crieff, for example, or a Minister can fight the country's corner in Dubai. I sent Deputy Whitmore a message:

Hats off Ms Whitmore! Well thank you! Whether I support the government (I don't) or vote Green (I do), you've done a pragmatic action that saves the planet (a teeny bit) and promoted respectful discourse in Irish politics. I expect you to be a minister in due course (no pressure). Bob
. . . and got an even longer, thoughtful, reply. Cop-on and courtesy is not dead in Irish politics.