Which Government was best....

Happyman42

Didn't want to derail this interesting thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056658341&page=2 but I am interested in peoples views on which Irish government came closest to getting it right since the foundation of the state or even; which government had the potential to get it right?
I am no expert but I am of the opinion that our entry into the EEC was where the rot set in, it was a tragic double edged sword for us. As the money flooded in, great things where done but on the other hand it developed and amplified the serious cancer of cronyism and corruption that now seems endemic. (I am not saying that corruption didn't exist before) Politicians seemed not to be able to resist jumping on the whole network of gravy trains that resulted from our membership. That is not a criticism of the EU by the way, just a view on how it worked for us.
I personally think that the Lemass government of 1959-66 was probably the one that has served us best, his Programmes for Economic Expansion dragged us into the modern era and his tenative and progressive approachs to O'Neill in Belfast could have radically changed the relationship had they been let develop.

Luca Brasi

The Gladstone Governements of the late 19th century were very reforming

murphaph

Happyman42 wrote: »

I personally think that the Lemass government of 1959-66 was probably the one that has served us best, his Programmes for Economic Expansion dragged us into the modern era and his tenative and progressive approachs to O'Neill in Belfast could have radically changed the relationship had they been let develop.

Would probably agree that Lemass and his government were the best of a bad lot. The new Free State government however probably had the most to deal with and di an ok job of it to be fair. It was DeV that began wrecking any hopes of a liberal society IMO.

poeticseraphim

murphaph wrote: »

Would probably agree that Lemass and his government were the best of a bad lot. The new Free State government however probably had the most to deal with and di an ok job of it to be fair. It was DeV that began wrecking any hopes of a liberal society IMO.

DeV bgan wrecking hopes of any kind of normal democracy with accountability and freedom of the press. He laid the foundations for the likes of Huaghey. There was widescale intimidation.

Fianna Fáil (de Valera's political party) was willing to use unscrupulous means to acquire and retain power. From the article "Irish general election, 1932": "Similar to when the party first entered the Dáil in 1927, a number of Fianna Fáil TDs had guns in their pockets. However, the feared coup d'état did not take place." Frank Gallagher, who contributed to de Valera's newspaper - the Irish Free State - was prosecuted by a military tribunal in 1931 after he published material that criticized the way opposition parties were being treated by the police. He was fined £50, which was a lot of money for that time.


De Valera gradually expanded the executive authority vested in the presidency. He made huge alterations to the constitution that basically made him the #1 executive authority in the country. In 1936, he abolished the opposition controlled Irish Senate ("Seanad Éireann") because they were opposing his attempts to enact legislative reform. He went on to ban couples from getting divorced, outlawed contraception, and although he guaranteed secularity and religious freedom for all, he clearly gave the Roman Catholic Church a favourable position. Then he proclaimed himself Taoiseach (think along the lines of "tee-shuck") and further expanded his powers, enabling himself to appoint or dismiss ministers individually at will, as well as having the ability to outright dissolve Dáil as he sees fit. His government passed the Emergency Powers Act 1939, which gave the police and the government even broader authority to arbitrarily detain citizens without a warrant, implement pervasive censorship of the media, and completely nationalize all industries were there ever to be a state of emergency. What a coincidence! A huge war was breaking out in Europe - the perfect opportunity for de Valera to test out the new act. The state of emergency lasted until 1946 and completely revoked the already marginal civil rights of the Irish people. Afterwards, democracy was basically completely restored, which is a good thing.

People could make the argument that free elections existed in Ireland throughout de Valera's tenure as head of government, from 1932-1948. But how can they be considered "free" when the press was so heavily censored? Add to that the fact that he'd oftentimes dissolve government and call for "snap elections" whenever his political opposition was fractured, just so he could get a larger majority in the Dáil.

He executed some IRA offiers at the as they had Nazi links during the emergency and then offered condolenes on the death of Hitler...

DeV=Evil genius..

Eh sorry Op off topic...


the coalition of John Bruton for FG and Dick Spring of Labour...in 1996 they introduced thye free fees initiative for third level. They also held a referendum on divorce which passed aloowing coupls to legally end marriage. John Bruton changd this ountries rlationship with Britain and Unionists. Albert Renolds called Bruton 'John Unionist. But he developed a working relationship with Gerry Adams and John Major and ecouraged the UK to engage with Sinn Féin. However they were very distrustful of each other and SF said they would prefer a FF govt (YEAH I KNOW :rolleyes:..huh) Bruton's Rainbow coalition...John Bruton , Dick Spring and Prionsias De Rossa they were an effective team.

John Bruton over saw the first visit of a member of the British Roayl family to Ireland since the republic...Prince Charles...again a hange in relations..

He addressed a joint session of the US congress. He oversaw a successful presidency of the EU.

Following the murder of crime journalist Veronica Guerin, his government established the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Thy had political embarrassments and allegations of corruption..but hey...i think they aomplished a lot especially in eduation and establishing an educated workforce.
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