Which party would I support in Ireland?

Today is St Patrick's Day, so an obvious question for the political blogosphere is which party would one support in Ireland? I've looked at this one before (With St. Patrick's Day looming) but since then the party I choose (the Progressive Democrats) have disbanded. So it's time to have another go.

Ireland is relatively unusual in having two major parties floating around the centre to centre-right that are not clearly defined in terms of ideology. This is most vividly seen in the European Parliament where both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have never quite fitted into any of the groupings with ease. Fine Gael has always sat with the Christian Democratic European People's Party but many feel its natural home is with the Liberals. Fianna Fáil in turn has had a convoluted history of caucusing with various national-conservative parties who have been outside the EPP for one reason or another but found difficulties in maintaining a viable block and so last year joined the Liberals.

Furthermore the only notable Eurosceptic party is Sinn Féin, not exactly the obvious choice for me. So whichever party I'd choose would be one I wouldn't agree fully with - a fairly natural thing in politics.

One party stands out as having official values I generally feel I can support:

Equality of opportunity

[The party] wants to create a fair and caring society where everybody is engaged in democracy, and where there are no barriers to equal opportunity. [The party] stands for investment in our public services and sees health and education as rights, not privileges.

Enterprise and Reward

[The party] encourages initiative, innovation, investment and self-reliance. The Party also believes in preserving, enhancing and sharing prosperity. [The party] stands for a vibrant, competitive economy. To that end, we believe Government policy should encourage initiative and reward hard work, thus driving economic activity and creating jobs.

Security

[The party] wants to build a safe society in Ireland by protecting citizens and enforcing the law. The Party also believes in strengthening families, in all their modern forms, and in fostering communities. [The party] stands for law and order. We believe in tough sentences for criminals and more Gardai on the beat while also tackling the root causes of crime like poverty and educational disadvantage.

Integrity

[The party] believes in being truthful and courageous in what we do, and in promoting and upholding both the rights and the responsibilities of people. [The party] stands for integrity in public life. We believe in ensuring all of us live up to our responsibilities as well as enjoying our rights as Irish men and women.

Hope

[The party] wants to build an Ireland of excellence and ambition. We hope to do this by promoting a shared vision of a confident and sustainable future for Ireland, both at home and abroad. [The party] stands for a climate of hope. To achieve this, we believe in enhancing Ireland's international reputation through our support for the European Union, protecting communities through balanced regional development and safeguarding our children's future through protection of the environment.

A strong emphasis on an enterprise economy, tough on law and order, creating equality of opportunity and support for families and communities - these are all values I share and can agree with. I'm less enamoured with the support for the European Union, though the phrasing above makes it as much a means rather than an ends in itself. But putting that one issue aside I can easily see myself supporting this party. And it is:

But which party would other people support?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'd just like to wish all my Irish readers a very happy St. Patrick's Day.

Thanks to A Tangled Web: Plastic Paddy Ignorance for a copy of the flag:

More information about the history of the day itself can be found at Wikipedia: Saint Patrick's Day.

There are some particularly interesting comments about the way the day is celebrated in some countries on the talk page:

As a native-born Irishman, a lot of the paddywhackery, especially American paddywhackery, associated with Saint Patrick's Day makes me want to puke. For one thing, no one in Ireland--except for certain entertainers, whose livelihood is gained by pandering to the expectations of green-clad Americans--would ever say "Saint Paddy's Day." It should be remembered that the first to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in America were Protestant "gentlemen," who dined at various good-quality inns; they wore the color blue, that color being then associated with the Feast.

The British government encouraged the celebration of Saint Patrick's Day as a "national day," because (at least, at the time) it had religious rather that political--i.e. rebel--connotations. Trooping the Colors at Dublin Castle was the annual contribution of the British authorities. It was essential to reinforce the ideology that even the "mere Irish" were happiest when serving their British overlords.

In New York, the parade was soon taken over by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a right-wing, (some would say Fundamentalist), and certainly male chauvinist Catholic organization, who wanted to define for themselves what constituted "Irishness," an ethos very much removed from that of today's Irish population, as evidenced by the opposition to gays and lesbians. Seen from outside, their conception of "Irishness" is closer to that of the 19th century than to that of the Ireland of today.

But, in the United States, apart from the ridiculous practice of dressing up in green, the most odious aspect of St. Patrick's Day is the apparent license it gives to all to drink to excess. (The term "drowning the shamrock" comes from the tradition of the "Protestant gentlemen" putting their shamrock in the glass when the last toast was drunk.) When I was a child in Ireland, the day was celebrated primarily as a religious holiday, with obligatory attendance at Mass for Catholics. In those days, the public houses were shut on St. Patrick's Day. Even this year (2006), the off-licenses (liquor stores) were requested not to open until 4:00 pm, a request that was largely honored. The parade, during my childhood, was an industrial parade, intended to show Ireland's merits as a base for industry--another idea from Taoiseach (prime minister) Seán Lemass, intended to improve Ireland's miserable economy.

However, in the United States, those who would be Irish consider the day as a "National Let's-All Get-As-Drunk-As-We-Can Day." Greeting cards, including ecards on the Net, are laden with the stereotype of Irish drunks; no other ethnic group in the United States would condone this practice, which can often quickly lead to racial slur.--PeadarMaguidhir 11:13, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

An interesting perspective on how a day of tradition and veneration has been bastardised in the US to become an excuse for a piss-up.

With St. Patrick's Day looming

St. Patrick's Day is looming once again and following a similar post last year by Hot Ginger and Dynamite: Focáil leat Lawlor, this leads me to wonder what party I would support if I were in the Republic of Ireland.

It's not as easy as it sounds. None of the main parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, are clearly defined ideologically in a left-right sense. For supporters of other parties this isn't so difficult - there are direct counterparts of both Labour and the Greens, although both are smaller. There's also a party that unashamedly calls itself a Liberal party and has the same international affiliations as the Liberal Democrats, namely the Progressive Democrats, although they're considerably to the right of our Lib Dems. "Very Orange Book" is perhaps the best way to sum it up.

A Eurosceptic, free market Atlanticist Conservative who feels tough on law and order could thus look at the various parties and be left confused (there is no Irish affiliate to most of the international bodies that the UK Conservative Party is a member of). But some parties stand out more than others.

There is an interesting test online at SelectSmart.com: Political Party Chooser - Republic of Ireland and my results are as follows:

1. Progressive Democrats.
2. Greens
3. Fine Gael
4. Labour
5. Fianna Fáil
6. Sinn Féin

And indeed looking at their policies on their website and public statements, particularly the tone of Michael McDowell on Sinn Féin, the PDs are probably the party I would plump for.

But what does everyone else get?