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Fine Gael: United Ireland Party?Author(s): Tony CanavanSource: Fortnight, No. 164 (Mar. 17, 1978), pp. 3-4Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25546580 .

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Friday 17 March 1978/3

FINE GAEL- UNITED IRELAND PARTY? Tony Canavan examines the historical

background to Fine Gael's present policy

_on Northern Ireland.

Recent comments by Garret FitzGeraldon Fine Gaels attitude to Irish Unity have caused surprise among some commentators,

especially across the water, who have regarded the Party as being pro-Britain, in conrast to Fianna Fail's traditional republicanism.

An examination of Fine Gael's

history exposes the superficiality of such a view. Beneath the

extraordinary bitterness of Civil War Irish politics, there has always been a definite consenus on national

sovereignty and partition between the two main southern Parties.

Political allegiances in the post independence Free State were

defined by attitudes to the Treaty of 1921. Fine Gael had its origins in the Cumann na nGaedheal Party,

which supported the Treaty. Though denounced by de Valera and his

Republican supporters as pro British, the Treatyites had played an active role in the revolutionary struggle and included such militants as Michael Collins^ and Richard

Mulcahy. The secret Irish

Republican Brotherhood backed the new Cumann as nGaedheal Government against de Valera. The

paradox can be explained by Collins' belief that the Treaty and

the Dominion status within the

Empire which it granted could be

exploited to attain full national

sovereignty and unity ?'the freedom to achieve freedom'.

Cumann na nGaedheal's

commitment to the Commonwealth was purely tactical. On close

examination, the Civil War of 1922 1923 bears the hallmarks of a

paramilitary split among former comrades in arms who still retained

many ideological assumptions in common.

Having lost its two best known

leaders, Collins and Griffith, during the Civil War, Cumann an

nGaedheal remained in power until 1932 under the stiffly bourgeois W T

Cosgrave. As th party of order, it

attracted the support of the forces of

conservatism, including the Catholic hierarchy and, more

grudgingly, most of the ex-Unionist Protestant minority. But the Party was consistent in its use of Collins1 tactic of exploiting any opportunity to loosen links with Britain which the Free State's position as a Dominion afforded. In cooperation with other

independently minded Dominions, principally South Africa, the Irish

representatives- at Commonwealth conferences eventually extracted

from the British the admission that the Dominions were sovereign states.

Ironically, such success made de Valera's policy of confrontation with Britain a practical proposition. Turned out of office in 1932, Cumann na nGaedheal saw their claims that a Fianna Fail

Government would lead to social

upheaval at home and untold disasters in the form of British retaliation proved exaggerated.

Anti de Valera forces regrouped in 1933. Cumann na nGaedheal

coalesced with two diverse sets of allies to form Tine Gael ? the

United Ireland Party'. Cosgrave shared the leadership with the semi fascist Eoin O'Duffy, an ex-police chief sacked by de Valera, and Frank Mac Dermot, formerly of the Centre Party, who was genuinely pro-Commonwealth. O'Duffy brought with him the paramilitary Blueshirts and briefly Fine Gael seemed to be heading towards fascism. But in 1934 Cosgrave and

his former ministerial colleagues ditched O'Duffy and demilitarised the Blueshirts. MacDermot left a

year later when the party began to criticise de Valera for not being sufficiently opportunist in exploiting

SUBSCRIPTIONS F0RTNIGHT British Isles.?6.50 _ __ +**-??.% *? ?? ? * **-*. Europe ?7 oo Issue No. 164 Friday 17 March 1978 North America.?8.00 "

Australasia.?9.00 CONTENTS (Postage inclusive for 22 issues) Calvin Macnee.2

Fine Gael.3

BaCk ISSUeS A Case of Discrimination.4 A limited number of complete sets of Sidelines..d

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4/FORTMGHT

Britain's problems during the

Abyssinian crisis. His pro-British beliefs could no longer be reconciled with Fine Gael's

pragmatic nationalism. As de Valera's policies were

proved with each passing year to be not only practical but successful, Fianna Fail took on the appearance of a natural party of government. A new Constitution was enacted in

1937, retaining a Commonwealth link so tenuous as to be virtually

non-existent. As de Valera

suppressed his former allies in the IRA and on the radical Left, he attracted the support of those conservative forces which had backed Cosgrave in the twenties.

Ideologically adrift, Fine Gael turned in desperation to exploit religious sentiment during the

Spanish Civil War. The party failed to brand as Communistic the foreign

policy of the unimpeachably Catholic de Valera.

The nadir of Fine Gael's fortunes was reached during World War II. On neutrality, as on partition, there was almost total consensus in southern politics. When James

Dillon, a former associate of Frank

MacDermot, called on Ireland to

join the Allies, he was expelled from the party. The war saw de Valera's status as national leader enhanced even further, and Fine Gael was

forced to recognise that it could no

longer compete on equal terms with Fianna Fail.

Since the war the party has served in government only in coalition with other parties: 1948-51, 1954-57, and 1973-77. The character of its allies has emphasised Fine Gael's lack of ideological commitment since the disasters of the thirties. In 1948 the first Inter Party

Government included Fine Gael and Sean McBride's Clann na Poblachta,

composed largely of ex-IRA and radicl elements. Costello's administration adopted a very

aggressive stance on partition and cut the remaining links with the

Commonwealth. The defeat of the second Inter Party Government in 1957 saw the start of another long

period of Fianna Fail hegemony, unbroken until 1973, and marked by

massive industrialisation and ecomomic expansion. Fianna Fail's

image as the natural party of

government was confirmed again. The history of Fine Gael since

T932 hafi been shaped by two

factors. The first is the party's inability to maintain a distinctive

ideological approach. Robbed of the claim to be the sole party of order, it has flirted with new images, as

diverse as fascism in the thirties and social democracy in the sixties.

Lacking ideological ballast, the

party leadership has often been overshadowed by some of its more articulate allies, MacDermot,

McBride and, latterly, Conor Cruise O'Brien. Secondly, both main

parties are very receptive to the

feelings of the very homogeneous public opinion in the South. This leads to a strong consensus on issues such as partition, neutrality, Church-State relations and the Irish

language.

Policy towards Northern Ireland since 1969 has been determined

more by the mood of public opinion than party ideology. Irish politicians like to lead from the rear.

Tony Canavan

OPEN SPACE A CASE OF DISCRIMINATION

by Jamie Delargy

The Catholic Hierarchy of Down and Connor are not wont, as many

reporters know, to part with information easily. Enquiries to

*Lisbreen\ the Somerton Road home of Dr Philbin, about controversial matters usually meet with a 'no comment*. Other queries

on more

harmless topics do not elicit a wealth of information either.

Indeed this almost paranoid attitude to the press is shared by only one other institution in Belfast, the engineering

firm of James Mackie Ltd. It is

possible that, like the Lowells, they talk only to God.

Both bodies clearly brook no

interference and, it must be conceded, their common policy of secrecy has ensured smooth running of affairs.

Each has been spared the bother of

having to explain itself to a public which is to a degree unsympathetic. How long both organisations can

continue with this strategy is a matter

of debate, but it does seem clear that

the Church looks most likely to wilt first.

+ + + + + A recent challenge to the Hierarchy in

the field of education blew over with almost no press coverage except in the

columns of the Ballymurphy News, a

newsheet published by four Repub lican Clubs in West Belfast.

The trouble arose over a trivial matter of earrings. Geraldine Spence, a 14 year old from Moyard Park in the

Upper Springfield, arrived at her

school, St Rose's Secondary, wearing two silver studs in her left ear. She was

informed of the school rule against the

wearing of jewellery and asked to

remove them. She refused, was

suspended, but later readmitted. This incident was only a symptom of

a deeper disagreement. The girl had

been indicating her reluctance in her

O level religion class. She had also avoided attending a religious retreat

by taking the day off. The Ballymurphy News claims that

subsequent to this, Geraldine's form

teacher, Mrs Johnston, asked her a

number of questions about her

religious beliefs and those of her

parents. They printed the text of the

alleged interview. Mrs Johnston

herself has refused to comment on the

truth of the Ballymurphy News report. In fact, the newsheet has given a

blow by blow account of the whole

affair, even going so far as to herald a

meeting between Geraldine's parents and the St Rose's principal, Sr Ita.

As it turned out, Mr Spence did not

join his wife on her visit to the school

when the matter of attendance at the

religion class was discussed. This O

level course, incidentally, has replaced the normal religion class and the

school is entitled to make it

compulsory. Mrs Spence was informed during

the meeting by Sr Ita that Geraldine

had entered the school as a Catholic

pupil Religion was one of the three

subjects she had agreed to do. If

Geraldine could not accept this, the

matter would be put in the hands of

higher authority, ie, the Schools

Management Committee. Sr Ita stressed that she had never

actually been asked by Geraldine's

mother to have Geraldine withdrawn

from the religion class. Mrs Spence, on the other hand, contends that the

question was put to Sr Ita.

Geraldine is still at St Rose's, and

still attends her religion class.

+ + + + +

As there must be a temptation to

dismiss Geraldine's objection to

religious teaching as simple rebellion

against authority, it is necessary to

explain something of her background. Her parents may not be a unique

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