Nepotism?

Many of the politicians that sit in our national parliament (Dáil Eireann) are there through hard work and attention to their constituents and they try to build up a name that the public will, in time, remember fondly. Hence making re-election an easier process to go through every four to five years. Irish people, like any other nationality, want the very best public representatives to bring in important legislation and to campaign on issues which directly concern them: anti-social behaviour, crime, health care, public transport, taxation policy etc... However many TD's are elected largely, but not exclusively, because of the family name. Upton, Lenihan, Coveney, O'Malley,to name but four, and I think therefore that the subject of family name in Irish politics needs to be examined.

In a recent by-election, in the UK, a Labour party candidate stood to replace her mother's seat following her death (Gwyneth Dunwoody RIP). The opposition leader, David Cameron, was critical of the decision by Labour to have Tamsin Dunwoody contest her mother's seat. Mr Cameron said that there should be no hereditary MP's in the House of Commons unlike the House of Lords (where hereditary peers sit). In Ireland, however, it is commonplace that some of our politicians have family connections in politics: sons, daughters, brothers, sisters of former TD's and, in some cases, this is a key element in getting elected in the first place.

I am not for a second calling into question the integrity of the voters, or the people they choose to represent. I just think that it must be an advantage to TD's to have a family name to fall back on - a huge weapon to use in time of election. My father is now retired but for over thirty years he was an engineer and his father, before him, was also an engineer. Was it through the family name that he started that career? No! It was by going to university and working hard on his chosen route to employment. He could never have hoped in his wildest dreams to have attained his level of expertise through family name alone and I wonder should we demand the same from our politicians? Should they be expert first and family relative second? Or is it acceptable to everyone here in this wonderful country (my words), that a good proportion of the men and women we send to our national parliament be blood relatives of those that went before them?

I have just opened the dictionary to look up Nepotism, "an undue patronage to one's relations" it states. In order that we keep a sense of proportion it is important to understand that the Dáil is not full of people who are there through corruption or vote rigging. No matter whether we like or dislike a particular politician we must always abide by the decision of the voters and that is an essential part of democracy. The people decide. If it is indeed Nepotism tht elects our TD's then we should hang our heads in shame. I think, though, to go down that road would be wrong, it isn't "undue patronage" it is simply a reality of Irish political life. Someone once said that to be a politician you would need to have skin as thick as an elephant - a TD must be dedicated to the work they do, that's why they enter political life and accountability is all important in these hectic days.

I have come to the conclusion that in Irish public life, at this moment in time, given the pressures of the job and long hours in which they work, our TD's are not elected purely through name alone. They will not be in the Dáil long if they don't 'measure up' but nonetheless I feel quite uncomfortable that people can be waved forward into a political career on the basis that a relative was once parked on a seat in the same chamber. Maybe things need to change. Mind you in the US there is the Kennedy's, the Clinton's and the Bush's who rose up the greasy pole of politics. In Cuba Fidel Castro's brother is now leader of his country. In India the Ghandi dynasty has gone on for a lengthy period to rule the roost in that huge sub-continent. Even now in Pakistan the late Benazir Bhutto's son has replaced that tenacious female political leader. So as we see Ireland is not alone in families continuing to generate political life. Now I wonder if one of Brian Cowen's daughters would like to take daddy's seat when the current Taoiseach retires......