Amadáin nua – isn’t there more to politics than the centre?

Irish is a two and a half party system, or at least that is what we’re told. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour are the only parties that matter and a vote for anyone else is a wasted vote. Quite how this view became so commonplace given it appears that almost anyone can be elected in Ireland is something of a mystery.

Certainly, governments have been dominated by Fianna Fáil in particular, but that doesn’t mean that Ireland has no scope for the development of opposition politics.

The latest party to hear the call is Amhrán Nua, a newly founded group that aims for the so-called ‘radical centre’, perhaps the most misleading political term to appear in recent years. So, what does this new entrant to the political field offer the electorate? Not much.

Party founder Ronan Burke has been quoted as saying the party will be Ireland’s answer to the Liberal Democrats. (1) Why he thinks Ireland needs another bland centrist political party is another question altogether.

However, Amhrán Nua is very like the Liberal Democrats in at least one other way: its policies are almost infinitesimally small. During the mid-1990s, just before Tony Blair’s New Labour swept to power with a thundering majority in the House of Commons, the Liberal Democrats were busy attempting to reinvigorate politics by promising that if they were elected they would make seatbelts mandatory in minibuses – stirring stuff. In fact, right up until to Labour’s 1997 landslide then Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown was busy telling the media that the party had connected with the public and was ready for coalition with Labour.

Similarly, Amhrán Nua’s website has a large section on potholes in County Dublin. Any Dublin driver will tell you that the city’s roads are a joke, but it’s hardly the stuff that manifestos are made of. Dublin’s roads could be fixed, including in terms of easing congestion, without any involvement from central government.

Ireland’s politics aren’t suffering because of a lack of parties, they’re suffering because of a lack of vision and Amhrán Nua doesn’t appear to be doing anything to counter this. The party’s big proposal is the revival of the Tailteann Games, something that the party says will generate a significant amount of revenue. It is certainly possible that a major sporting event could draw in income it is also possible that such an idea could fail – as it did three times in the last century. Moreover, the question of whether or not a sporting event should be held is hardly the stuff economic policy is made of.