Sometimes Irish politics can be too local

A FRIEND of mine gets annoyed when I refer to a certain former Taoiseach as ‘Bertie’. He believes it confers on him a cosy familiarity and gives unwarranted credibility to Ahern’s man of the people image.

When you look back on Bertie’s – sorry, Mr Ahern’s – tenure as Taoiseach, there is something distinctly Irish about how he portrayed himself as just an ordinary Joe, sipping on a pint of Bass with his best mates in Fagan’s.

Such whimsical folksiness seemed out of kilter with his day job. Can you imagine Tony Blair or David Cameron popping across the road for half a bitter in Ye Olde London Tavern after a hard day’s work as British Prime Minister, chewing the fat with some salt of the earth Cockney geezers? Somehow you can’t.

And what about Ahern’s successor, Brian Cowen, the man we affectionately refer to as Biffo? This was a politician who marked his elevation to the leadership of Fianna Fail and the highest office in the land with a rousing ballad in front of an appreciative home crowd. But that’s just the start of his talents. Cowen is also a noted mimic, although it has to be said he does a pretty lousy impression of a Taoiseach.

Let’s go back further. It took a tribunal of inquiry to confirm what we long suspected about the source of Charles Haughey’s wealth, yet many of us still refer to the former Taoiseach as ‘Charlie’ as if he were some casual avuncular acquaintance and not the crooked, dishonest politician he was found to be. Haughey personified the nod and wink politics that would eventually result in the loss of our economic sovereignty.

But he was met with messiah-like affection by many of his constituents in Dublin North Central for decades. To them, whatever their misgivings, ‘Charlie’ could do no wrong.

In Ireland we have a tendency to celebrate the conviviality of our politicians. We like the easy access we get to them at their clinics in the local pub or community centre. Fair play to that councillor for buying two books of raffle tickets at the school fundraiser. And Janey Mack, wasn’t that TD great to show up at me granddad’s funeral even though they had never met when he was alive?

But such over-familiarity between politicians and their constituents isn’t necessarily healthy for our democracy. Politicians should not be put in a position where they feel pressurised into making representations on behalf of their staunchest supporters. For example, they could be asked to intervene in a planning row or may be approached for help by the family of a convicted criminal.

With the local elections taking place on May 23, our council chambers will soon be filled with many new faces along with some familiar ones. We will want our councillors to keep abreast of local issues and represent our interests fairly and effectively. For our part, we should let them do their work without them feeling a sense of personal duty to us in return for our vote. In this country, politics can sometimes be too local to the detriment of the national interest.

If politics is to change, we need to change with it.