Independents at Cabinet table a step closer

Back in 1948 a strange thing happened. There was a general election and Fianna Fáil's 16-year grip on power was loosened. Not by much. It was still the biggest party. But there was a possibility for the other side to form a government.

In the end, it was an early version of a Rainbow. Fine Gael along with Labour and a host of smaller parties with a young Noel Browne as Minister for Health.

One of the most unusual aspects of that inter-party government was that it included six independents, who had come together after the election to form a pact.

Some of them belonged to micro-parties but most of them had some connection with Fine Gael – indeed three joined the party afterwards.

They were led by the Roscommon-born TD James Dillon and included Alfie Byrne (the long-serving Mayor of Dublin), Alfie Byrne's son and Oliver J Flanagan, who belonged to a tiny party then – he later rejoined Fine Gael, and his son Charles is now a Cabinet Minister.

For supporting the Government, the deal was that one of the six got a full Ministry. And so it came to pass that Dillon, an independent TD, was appointed Minister for Agriculture.

As we inch closer to the next general election, the prospects of that 1948 scenario happening again look increasingly likely.

What was stunning in the polls at the weekend wasn't the performance of any of the parties (none could really take any massive positive message from it) but the big proportion of the electorate (over a quarter) which is now saying very firmly: I choose none of the above.

So what are they choosing? Are they opting for independents or smaller parties? Or are they just casting an anti-establishment vote, or even an anti-politics vote.

I was chatting to Shane Ross the other day and he was telling me about his experience on the canvass trail in South Dublin during the local elections. Ross, like a lot of independent TDs, had sponsored a couple of independents (yep, our TDs are becoming like mini pizza franchises these days). When knocking on doors he was struck by the enormously welcoming reception they got when they declared they were independent.

It was as if the brand 'independent' in itself was enough to garner, or guarantee, a positive stroke of the pen. You kind of wonder does it really matter what your beliefs are just as long as you belong to brand independent.

There have always been independent TDs and Senators in our parliament but they have been very much a minority species. At times, though, they have made a massive impression (boxing above their weight is the appropriate phrase), especially when they held the balance of power.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.