Neil Leslie: Irish Conservatism prepared to die on familiar hill - battling the demon drink

Ireland is continuing its battle with “the demon drink”

The sci-fi writer Douglas Adams had a theory that if anyone ever figured out the hidden meaning of the universe, it would instantly disappear and immediately be replaced by something even more inexplicable.

He had another theory that this had probably already happened before. The Irish political landscape is starting to feel a bit similar.

It’s as if politics emerged from the political brain surgery of being figured out by the electorate in the recent referendums with a new personality and a different accent.

Some old faithfuls awoke to find they were in strange beds. Traditional Catholics, the bishops and patriarchs lying alongside Mna na hEireann and the marginalized.

The results made a conservative hero out of liberal stalwart Michael McDowell, and anointed Aontu – a party with one lone TD – as the voice of the people.

Sinn Fein went from darlings of the dispossessed to an establishment devil. It responded in typical fashion by shedding political clothing faster than a Full Monty tribute act.

Fianna Fail has gone in search of the republican soul it apparently sold out to the “woke gallery”.

Now Fine Gael diehards too have announced that the party of austerity, globalization and vulture funds has lurched too far to its…eh, left.

Trauma

This trauma of being so out of sync with voters has sent the political classes spinning on a policy merry-go-round.

The referendums have created a window for political opportunism, with seemingly everything up for grabs as the establishment tries to figure out what the hell the people have voted for, the bastards.

Hate speech laws they swore by five minutes ago are being rapidly jettisoned by everyone from Sinn Fein to incoming Taoiseach Simon Harris.

Now you might think the electorate’s rejection of political tinkering in social issues should be seen as a signal that ‘it’s the economy and inequality’ stupid, that politics should focus on.

But instead some have taken the turmoil as a cue to reopen old fronts in their culture wars.

In an open challenge to his own Government’s bill to reform outdated licensing laws, former justice minister Charlie Flanagan has decided the moment is right to declare that traditional Fine Gael values are not about “all night drinking”.

Temperance is also a cause close to the heart of conservative Ireland’s new hero McDowell, who once dreamed of a nation of coffee shops where pubs previously stood.

But there is nothing like politicians second-guessing voters to miss the point completely.

Venues

The changes to allow 6am opening for nightclubs are not about “drinking all night”. They are about saving a nighttime culture and economy that now has less than 100 venues for the approximately one million voters aged between 18 and 35 in the country.

Seemingly they are not welcome under the banner of the old time religion of ‘Fine Gael values’. Which is really just more bad news for Fine Gael.

It remains to be seen if the political earthquake of the referendums has awoken the sleeping giant of conservatism. Or simply annoyed the last sting out of a dying wasp.

Either way it seems prepared to die on a familiar old hill, battling the demon drink.

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