Noses, Faces, Spite and Blades

Since the outcome of the February general election became clear on February 10th there has been a PhD thesis of column inches written about the journey to government, I'm not going to go over the early writings, which I won't describe as analysis for fear people might believe analysis was commonplace.

In the era of new politics, all of Ireland's political parties have, to some extent or another, given their membership a say in government formation.

Twitter is a mish-mash of these party members, and while the elected representatives work hard on forming a government, the members of the respective parties are so divided on government formation with some for, others waiting for details and others against.

It is the for and against that I'm currently finding difficult to comprehend. Since the framework document was published this week I've come closer to the for position, yet so many of my party colleagues are against on the basis that it's vague and aspirational, while other parties say it is vague.

The thing is, the aspirations, while needing some meat on their bones, are quite good. The vagaries of the framework are because it is a framework, you don't get specific in a framework, a programme for government is the place for that.

Speaking for myself,  my main concerns are specifically;

• Housing - the dancing around in the phraseology that omits a dedication to public housing. I believe, and many other of my party colleagues likewise, that this is due to public housing being anathema to the Fine Gael base
• Tax cuts - while there has been a commitment to no tax increases, I would likewise like to see a commitment to no tax cuts. Fine Gael went into the election heavy on tax cuts, aimed at people like me. While I could find ways to spend an extra couple to grand a year, just give me proper healthcare if I need it instead, or fund third level, or childcare.
• Young Ireland - this section is just bizarre. If public resources are allocated in a socially coherent and re-distributive way, young Ireland needs no singling out.
• Funding - the key commitment that will determine how I vote on any programme for government which emerges from this framework. A commitment that borrowing will be extended to fund public investment in capital expenditure, a commitment that is not in-spite of, but because of economic shocks. This is where my party colleagues consider me naïve, they do not believe this commitment will emerge, and if it does that it cannot be believed

The reality here is that if a government does not emerge from this phase, the last remaining option is a tripartite of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Fein. Just ask their colleagues in the Northern Ireland executive how collegiate they are!

Those making grandiose and irrelevant statements about their voting intention before being presented with the detail are, quite simply, cutting off their noses to spite their faces. Those saying they're being denied a vote, likewise have no basis for saying anything of the sort, with national newspapers getting another PhD thesis in non-stories from this phase of formation.