Dr Frank Brennan (William Carleton Society) with Mary O’Rourke and Mary Kenny Photo: © Michael Fisher

A leading article in today’s Irish Times newspaper (based in Dublin) carries the following editorial, based on Mary O’Rourke’s address to what the Irish Examiner without naming us rather unfortunately called an ‘unfashionable’ summer school in Clogher, County Tyrone. You can view the speech in full here.

The William Carleton Society’s annual international summer school since its inception in 1992 has welcomed over 300 guests of such stature as the Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney, John Montague, Polly Devlin, Barry Devlin, Eugene McCabe, Gerald Dawe, Frank Ormsby, John Wilson Foster, Michael and Edna Longley, Bernard McLaverty, Sam McAughtry, Theo Dorgan, Susan McKay, Diarmaid Ferriter, Declan Kiberd, John F Deane as well as our patrons Dr Joseph Duffy, Maurice Harmon, Noel Monahan, Mary O’Donnell, Jim Cavanagh and Sam Craig, our honorary director Owen Dudley Edwards and the late Norman Vance, Gus Martin and one of our most enthusiastic supporters, Benedict Kiely.

Mary O’Rourke signing copies of her Memoir

A Grand Coalition?

There was nothing new in a suggestion by former Fianna Fáil minister Mary O’Rourke that her party and Fine Gael should put aside past differences and participate in a future coalition government. What was different was her attempt to present such a development as the desired legacy of her late nephew and minister for finance Brian Lenihan.

Mrs O’Rourke is a canny political operator, a trait that appears to run in the genes of the Lenihan family. Her speech to the William Carleton summer school and subsequent radio interviews were designed to open up public discussion on a possible realignment of political forces while undermining the ambitions of Sinn Féin. After decades of disparate coalition governments, the notion of a Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael arrangement may pose less of a visceral challenge to voters than the prospect of Sinn Fein entering government.

That’s the nub of the issue. Should the present Government complete its term of office or break up under fiscal pressure, Sinn Féin is likely to be in a powerful position to offer support to either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael in a bid for power. Rather than see that happen, the former Fianna Fáil education minister has proposed a grand alliance of traditional opponents.

Such an outcome, she acknowledged, would depend on the electorate. In attributing the “thought” of such a coalition to her much-loved nephew, however, she exaggerated. Certainly he delivered a powerful speech at Beal na Blath, commemorating Michael Collins and acknowledging his contribution to the State. But he did not suggest a coalition of the civil war parties. He spoke of accepting differences of approach in good faith and of a need to work together to build a viable economy, even as keen competition remained. At the time, support for Fianna Fáil had collapsed and a deal with Fine Gael was unthinkable. By raising the prospect of coalition now, as an effective political memorial, Mrs O’Rourke is being, as always, pragmatic.  

Honorary Director WCS summer school Owen Dudley Edwards gives Mary O’Rourke a copy of Carleton’s autobiography, with Bonnie Dudley Edwards Photo: © Michael Fisher