And Then There Were Three

Already, Charlie Haughey's scouts have been making overtures to Sinn Fein The Workers' Party for the support of their three TDs in the vote for Taoiseach. His brother Sean phonne,; SFWP headquarters and asked that a message be left for Tomas MacGiollla to phone Mr. Haughey. The reply to Sean Haughey was that if Charlie Haughey wanted to talk to Tomas MacGiolla, he could lift the phone and ring him himself.

Although SFWP claims that the question of who leads the main poliitical parties is immaterial to them, it isclear that Charlie Haughey is among the least palatable of all possible leadders. Last June, when new TD Joe Sherlock held a crucial position in the vote for Taoiseach, he abstained on the vote for Garret FitzGerald while he voted against Haughey. There was no deal struck with the Coalition, just an SFWP Ard Comhairle decision that someone had to-form a Governnment and better the Coalition than Fianna Fail.

Following that vote, SFWP put 'together a series of proposals for the July budget. Although they were all 'ignored, Sherlock didn't vote against the budget but abstained, ostensibly so that the party wouldn't be seen to be supporting Fianna Fail. On other issues, he voted against the Coalition. The school entry age decision was immportant to SFWP because of the party's support base in the trade unions (the INTO was against the raising of the school entry age because of consequent job losses for teachers), On the January budget vote, the commbined affect of the removal of food subsidies, the taxing of unemployment benefit and additional V AT, was to rule out SFWP support.

This time, largely because of the nature of the Coalition budget, and beecause there are now three TDs in the balance, not one, the decision on who to vote for will be a much more diffiicult one to make. The party's faith-in the Coalition - which wasn't great in the first place - has been further erooded in the last eight months. Not only were proposals for the July budget ignored, but so was a 27-page docuument which the party prepared and submitted to Michael O'Leary at his request, previous to the January buddget.

The document was said to be exxtremely detailed and to have incluuded well-costed financial proposals. No one in SFWP will say who within the party actually wrote it but it is worth noting that some employees of the Revenue Commissioners are also members of SFWP.

The decison on the vote of SFWP deputies Sherlock, Gallagher, and de Rossa will be taken at the party's Ard Comhairle meeting next Saturrday. Whatever decision is taken, the three TDs will act together on this and every other vote in the dail. Sherlock and de Rossa are members of the Ard Comhairle and Gallagher will also attend the meeting and participate in the decision.

The other members of the Ard Comhairle are General Secretary Sean Garland, President Tomas MacGiolla, PRO Sean Kenny, Treasurer Donnnchadha MacRaghnaille, Belfast Counncillor Seamus Lynch, Bray Councillor Dr. John MacManus, Irish People (the party newspaper) Editor Padraig Yeaates, Gerry Doherty, Des O'Hagan, Cathal Goulding, Triona Dooney , Margarret O'Leary, Sean Harrison, Eamon Smullen and Peter Kane.

Some of the most influential people in this grouping, notably Eamonn Smullen, have been instrumental in shaping the party's economic policy, which is heavily biased in favour of expansion of employment in the state sector. Recent Fine Gael economic policy has been highly critical of unnconditional support for state and semiistate "white elephants," and this is where Fine Gael and SFWP are most likely t:J be opposed.

On he other hand, SFWP places heavy emphasis on long-term econoomic planning and would be in favour of the Labour Party-inspired National Development Corporation, and disstrustful of the Fianna Fail onea-time approach.

In the run-up to the election, SFWP formulated an alternative budget to illustrate how the party would make up the revenue lost in dropping the most objectionable aspects of the Coaalition budget (VAT, removal of food subsidies and taxing unemployment benefit). The alternative budget inncludes the restoration of the wealth tax, rates on middle-sized farms, addiitional bank levy, property tax on houses worth more than £50,000, capital gains tax on property speculaation, dropping of all new hand-outs to business and farming interests in the 1982 Coalition budget, and tax on derelict sites.

Whichever of the parties is able to make these kinds of concessions will get the support of the three TDs. In the words of one member of the SFWP Ard Comhairle: "We'll vote for who-ever leans most on banks, farmers, the self-employed and speculators."

The party claims that there will be no secret deals, no horse-trading. After Saturday's meeting, the party will make a statement about which issues are most crucial and it will be up to the main parties to respond. The party says it will communica te a bout policy issues with Fianna Fail and the Coaliition only via public statements.

SFWP is not unduly worried about another early election. They surrvived this one pretty well and found that a short, sharp campaign suited their organisation. They claim that party finances have not been crippled by successive elections because they have pared down election expenses to a shoe-string budget, reckoning on about £1,500 per constituency. All canvassing work is done on a voluntary basis and the main cost is printing. Since the party have their own printing press, this is kept to a minimum.

Both Joe Sherlock and Proinsias de Rossa are from the same generaation of SFWP members. Both were in the Republican movement in the fifties. Proinsias deRossa has been increasing his vote steadily since the 1977 election when he received 1,317 first-preferences votes in the old Finglas constituency. He increased his vote to 2,071 in 1981 and 3,906 in '82.

Paddy Gallagher is younger (in his early 30s) and has been a member of SFWP since the early 1970s. He is an Alderman in' Waterford, where there's another SFWP member, Davy Walsh, on the local council.