COMMENT: Tóibín’s new political movement must face down its own history

The proverb says that all big journeys start with a single step, or that mighty oaks grow from a single acorn. Peadar Tóibín planted his acorn in the Newgrange Hotel last night (Monday) and only time will tell just how sturdy the sapling will be.

There are already twenty political parties in Ireland – a number which, in fact, is falling. Only a few years ago the number was as high as 27, but the tally has whittled down through measures like the full merger of Solidarity, the Socialist Party, the Socialist Workers Party and People Before Profit. Smaller groups like the Christian Solidarity Party and the Catholic Democrats have also folded up their tents.

Yet while those parties have all overcome historical enmity, others have risen too. Some readers will have voted for Ben Gilroy in the 2013 by-election in Meath East. His own group Direct Democracy Ireland split in 2015, with ‘United People’ being formed alongside it. More recently, aside from the obvious example of Renua, there has also been Mick Wallace’s ‘Independents4Change’, the anti-immigration ‘Identity Ireland’, and Rónán Mullen’s ‘Human Dignity Alliance’. A separate party advocating Ireland’s departure from the EU, led by Nigel Farage’s communications man Hermann Kelly, is also in the works. The rural independent TDs Mattie McGrath and Michael Collins are working on another.

All of which illustrates that Ireland already has a healthy proportion of political parties. One might even suggest that if there is a gap in the market for another one, there’s something fundamentally wrong with Ireland and not just with its politicians.

But that said, there always seems to be a clamour for new parties, especially post-bailout. Certainly, Tóibín’s early pronouncements about setting up a new movement were well-received. There is evidently an appetite for some new vehicle, perhaps among those who are anti-abortion and feel Sinn Féin’s position – being amended by Árd Fheiseanna three times in four years – has evolved too quickly for comfort.

But in that frustration there should be a lesson. I remember attending the ‘Reform Alliance’ conference in January 2014, when Lucinda Creighton and the other pro-life Fine Gaelers held an open forum to talk about Ireland’s general ills, a year before the launch of Renua. The day-long event focussed on everything from health to economics, politics to social reform – but the biggest cheer of the whole day came when Creighton gave a closing speech and casually mentioned her reason for leaving Fine Gael. That passive mention of abortion brought the loudest cheer of the day.
No matter what Creighton did afterwards – even when Renua granted its members a free vote on the topic – abortion became the sole issue through which she was viewed post-Fine Gael.
The evident danger for Tóibín’s new movement is that it could suffer the same problem. He has sought to broaden its wider appeal by campaigning on issues like economic justice (another issue he believes Sinn Féin has overlooked) and Irish unity – but like it or not, Tóibín’s cause celebre so far is his exile from Sinn Féin over his views on human life. 

If that becomes the main value upon which his new movement is beaten – in a general election post-referendum, and post-enactment of the new law – his new movement could be seen through the prism of a single issue on which the public has already cast verdict.

Ultimately, Ireland’s democracy, a system which requires a plurality of opposition voices in order to sustain itself. Everyone, whether they agree with his goals or not, should wish him well. But recent history shows us that it will require special effort for Tóibín’s new movement to break free from the obvious catalyst that prompted it.