We often hear talk in Ireland of the “Left Alternative”. In an era in which the two most powerful parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, are working together in a way never before seen, the left-right divide is becoming more apparent than ever. As the big two settle on the right, the parties of the left claim to offer the best chance Ireland has at a truly different way of doing things.

Given everything that has happened in these past few years, the scandals and such involving the major parties, you’d think that both of them would be a little further down the polls than they are. Fianna Fail, by many accounts, drove Ireland’s economy into the ground and left the country in a state. They were unceremoniously dumped out in a 2011 election defeat that will be remembered in history.

Fine Gael took over afterwards, with a sort of brazen spirit that Irish people wanted at the time. Together with Labour, they were given a huge mandate for change. The stage was set, the situation was primed. I won’t take you down the various routes explaining why the “new politics” didn’t work, you all know how things turned out. It has all led to a Labour Party that was knocked to pieces as the fall-guy of the coalition, and a Fine Gael minority government that is hanging on by a thread held tightly by their oldest enemy.

With all of the above, you’d think that the Irish political landscape would be absolutely ripe for a left wing alternative. Right wing politics has decimated the country over and again, so where is the left? Why isn’t the left wing more popular?

The short answer is that, while the centre-right is dominated by well organised parties that are adaptable and rather the same, the left wing of the political spectrum is dominated by disparate groups that very rarely cohere together and even less often seem like they might be adaptable in a way that allows the formation of a government.

I’ll address the elephant in the room first. I’m quite sure that Sinn Fein would claim to be left wing. They may even have policies that would reflect that and their rhetoric would seem about right. But I firmly believe that Sinn Fein are changeable with the political winds. If it had been a left wing government making a mess of things immediately after the bust, I think Sinn Fein would have been on the centre-right, advocating for change from the other side.

You can make your own mind up about that. So, for the purposes of this post i’ll leave them aside.

Then there’s the Labour Party. Their left credentials have been a bit up in the air since their coalition with Fine Gael. Even if you support them and what they did or didn’t do, I think it’s pretty fair to say that they won’t be in a position to be part of any alternative government for a good while yet. They have to rebuild themselves after the hiding they got in this year’s election.

As for the Green Party, their placement on the political scale is more than likely on the left but their involvement in the major Fianna Fail-led government of the boom era is something that I feel would disqualify them from any membership of an “alternative”

The Left Alternative

I’d say that the “Left Alternative” as a functioning concept actually begins with the new kids on the block. The Social Democrats would probably land somewhere a little further to the left than the Labour Party on the scale. They’re for social democracy, which i’d argue is a pretty new concept to this island. They’d be the most marketing-friendly left wing group. The policies are fair but not massively radical and they don’t clothe their ideas and views in old-fashioned rhetoric. They largely say what they mean, which makes them appealing. They also seem to be open to adaptation, which means they’ll probably be the closest to governing in the next five or ten years.

Beyond the social democrats are the parties often called the “far left”. Small alone, they occasionally band together for electoral advantage or political reasons. Currently, the main party is the coupling of the Anti-Austerity Alliance and the People Before Profit Alliance. Further still into this arrangement is the Socialist Party, the major constituent of the Anti-Austerity Alliance. The grouping is quite coherent, to be fair, and it has allowed all involved to claim a more prominent place in political affairs.

The other major grouping of the left in the Irish parliament is “Independents4Change”. The extent to which its members would refer to themselves as left wing is probably up for debate, but I think its pretty fair to say that their views would align with what would generally be considered “left” and they would definitely be counted among the alternative politicians in Ireland.

Beyond the groups named above are the Independent politicians and smaller groups of different hues, some left, some right, some alternative, some a little more attached to the establishment than they might like to admit.

Instability

So with the evidence laid out, why aren’t more people flocking to the left? We had an election this year, but the big two historical parties still managed to get themselves into position to run the country. Fianna Fail isn’t in government, this I know, but through the Confidence and Supply Agreement it might as well be for all intents and purposes.

The major issue is that the “Left Alternative” parties often seem unstable. Even just in the political era since 2011, names have changed, groupings have formed and fallen away. The core people remain the same, but the furniture moves around them, so to speak. Even today, the Socialist Party effectively hide behind the name “Anti-Austerity Alliance”, probably because it sounds a little less severe on the ears than anything with “socialist” in the title. People Before Profit, to be fair, have been very consistent and on message, largely through the excellent speeches and representation of Richard Boyd Barrett. But still, they remain relatively small. People haven’t rallied to them, even given the circumstances of the past few years.

People can be pretty sure that Fine Gael will be around in 5 years. Can they be sure that the Anti-Austerity Alliance will be too? Or will they have assumed another name or format? The Social Democrats get a pass on this one because they haven’t been around that long. Some of the major voices have, but as a political unit they’re really just finding their feet. It remains to be seen whether they’ll be a steadfast to their organisation as some people would hope.

Infighting among socialist organisations is one of the oldest political jokes of our time (People’s Front of Judea, anyone?), so perhaps the instability within the left in Ireland isn’t that unexpected. The fact that most of you probably understand the Monty Python reference is probably part of the problem too. People almost expect the left wing to be brittle, coming apart at the seams over every little ideological difference (splitters!).

Ideology

Which leads me on to the second reason why I believe the Left Alternative hasn’t gained ground in Ireland. The problem is ideology. Most of the left-wing party members, especially those who would go on TV and speak most often, seem to have learned off a set amount of terms and rhetoric. They can apply it to any situation. Mention “neoliberalism”, “the banks”, “vulture funds” – it’s the same stuff every time. I’m not saying that they’re necessarily wrong, either. The problem is how it’s presented. If you, a voter, turn on the TV and see the same person spouting the same lines about different issues, how interested will you be? To be honest, I know people who would hear “neoliberalism” and go put the kettle on as a better use of their time.

The left wing parties are so stuck in their ideology that they often fail to really grasp the situation at hand on a scale that appeals to the general public. These parties have excellent local constituency teams that have done all kinds of wonderful things for people. To govern, though, to be in with a chance at the top flight of the political football league, you have to do better. You have to make your ideology apply to people in real language, or else you’re risking people sticking with what they know. That’s how continuous turn-based Fianna Fail and Fine Gael governments happen.

It’s worth mentioning at this point that some of the left wing parties hold so tightly to their ideology that nothing short of a good old-fashioned revolution will be good enough for them to govern on a national scale. There won’t be a revolution anytime soon. If you want to make change, you have to get in to the walls of the system and remake them from the inside. Being immovable sounds great, but in practice it never holds. Be practical, get it done. Just know where the line is that you wont cross. That’s where I believe the Social Democrats will have the advantage.

So, to cut a (suddenly very) long blog post short, there are two reasons why the “Left Alternative” hasn’t gained ground in Ireland. The first is stability and the second is relatability. If people aren’t sure you’ll be stable enough to make good on your claims, they wont vote for you. If people can’t relate their own situation to what you’re talking about, in their own plain as day language, they won’t vote for you.

And by the way, saying “but look what the other parties did, look!” doesn’t cut it. If all you have is “what about them”, people won’t take to you. You have to make yourself the moral high ground, not bring the other guy down to your level.

Cold Six