BY LLOYD GORMAN
ISTEACH SA TEACH Has a terrible beauty been born?
COVID-19 kills Irish Civil war politics
Some events change everything for ever! The final line Talking about being human, it will be interesting to see in William Butler Yeats poem Easter, 1916 “A terrible what way the dynamics between Irish political parties beauty is born” summed up the change in attitude to and individual politicians. the Easter Rising from annoyance to acceptance of their It is easy to forget that Ireland only has a caretaker cause by the Irish people, after the leaders who had administration in place at this time of national crisis. signed the Proclamation were brutally executed by the The recent Irish general election on February 8 British military. COVID-19 - as terrible as it is - would seem to have the potential to be a watershed for how we produced a fascinating outcome. Fianna Fail and Fine Gael each got about a third of the overall vote while see many things, including politics and politicians. a similar share went to Sinn Fein. So while you had It has often been said during this crisis but it is a point three parties with about the same proportion of the worth repeating here. Based on their performance to vote, the real winner was Sinn Fein who went from date, Australia’s politicians deserve credit and our being on the fringes of Irish politics to one of the main respect for the way they have handled the greatest players. Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are traditional social, health and economic challenge to the country enemies, dating back to their origins and the Irish since World War II. There were several failures of Civil War. The fact they have agreed to come together leadership in terms of the devastating bushfires during to form government and cast the summer and while there have been a few missteps aside a hundred year old hatred is in some quarters, the big politicos have earned their groundbreaking. Such a thing only keep. a few years ago would have been The creation of a national cabinet made up of the unthinkable and this may well be prime minister and the premiers and first ministers a side effect of the pandemic. But of the states and territories was a solid idea. Petty the new found love in the room is politics have been put aside and now you have Liberal not universal or for everyone. Their and Labor leaders being highly complimentary of each other and likewise employers bodies and unions intention in working together is to Mary Lou MacDonald working closely together. Things that would ordinarily keep Sinn Fein out of government. take years to get through parliament or other decision Their mutual distrust has now been making channels have been done within days and transferred onto Sinn Fein. There is some way to go weeks and rolled out seamlessly. yet before FF and FG - whose ‘anyone but SF’ alliance It must be difficult for premiers or ministers for health needs another third political party to work - can form (in WA’s case Roger Cook is also deputy premier) to government, and a lot is still uncertain. give rolling death counts at daily press It is interesting conferences. The mood of government to speculate leaders can be tense, even grumpy as they on another struggle to cope with an unprecedented impact situation. So Mark McGowan’s spontaneous coronavirus outburst of laughter at a press conference might have on when asked about a jogger over east being Irish politics. arrested by police when he stopped for a Consider this. kebab was a lovely light and funny moment Sinn Fein that reminds us they are just human leader Mary too. Jogging and kebabs were a strange Lou McDonald combination he said, but they would not is the only be outlawed. A sense of humour is a great Boris Johnson in isolation thing in anybody. party leader THE IRISH SCENE | 26
