Political Diary - December 1978

Last month's Trocaire seminar on relations between the EEC and the developing countries attended by several Brussels-based ambassadors, gave us a rare glimpse of Foreign Minister, Michael O'Kennedy, doing his statesman thing on the home patch. It was quite a treat. O'Kennedy had been asked to say what the government's stance would be on renegotiations of the Lome Convention between the EEC ~6 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries of the ACP. He didn't. He waffled about caution, sensitivity and understanding and, under fire in .he discussion, said he wouldn't commit himself to my thing which migh t emmrarrass EEC partners.

Disowning any responsibbility for past or present coloonial exploits of EEC member countries, he refused to go public on any discussions within the Nine. "Our poosition would be rather diffferent from the general neegotiating position", was all he would say.

It will be recalled that O'Kennedy's first port of call on returning from his recent African trip was Brusssels. It seems collective commmunity responsibility is subbmerging any independent lrish line. Does any other government in the EEC show itself so slavishly communitaire?

Mark Clinton's outburst in .V.lthe Dail about the union which had blocked his atttempts to re-organise agriculltural research, advice and education has set a new stanndard in reds-under-the-beds paranoia. Attacking Jim Gibbon's concessions to the research staff in the Agriculltural Institute he described their union, the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs, as "an ultra-left British-based union headed by the arch-leftist, Clive Jenkins," and he reepeated the charge in slightly milder form on radio the folllowing weekend. As Minister for Agriculture, Clinton connsistently refused to meet ASTMS representatives on his plans for the Institute, but he is hardly likely to convince anybody that big farmer Gibbons, who did meet them frequently at the time is a pawn for dangerous su bverrsives.

Clinton's attack was also curiously ill-timed. Two lefttwing officials of ASTMS in the Republic have both quit within the past few months. Communist Party member Noel Harris has gone to a job at the World Federation of Trade Unions in Prague, and sometime Sinn Fein - Workkers' Party supporter, John Mitchell resigned last month to take up a post with the ESB Officers' Association. The efforts of the very moderate Jenkins to clip the wings of the increasingly inndependent Irish section of the union and the appointment of an English official to reeplace Noel Harris had a good deal to do with the changes. Mitchell moves to the much smaller ESBOA at an interesting time; a five-year agreeement for its mcm bers has just expired and at last month's special conference of the ICTU the Association oppossed National Wage Agreement for the first time.

There is one reassuringly stable aspect oflocal poliitics in this country - the fass,cination which housing, and environment conferences in far-off places have for counn.cillors. Paddy Belton has just returned from one such meeting in Copenhagen - in spite of his failure to get forrmal permission from Dublin City Council at its November meeting.

As Minister for Local Government Jimmy Tully asked councils to go easy on unnecessary trips. He may only have drawn some counncils' attention to the opporrtunities. At a recent housing conference in Hamburg, Dundalk UDC and Louth County Council had a total of ten representatives between them, The impact all of this junketing makes on the funds of local authorities is signifiicantly greater than the immpact it makes on formation of policy.

Saying that a solicitor has a vested interest in crime in like saying that an undertakker has a vested interest in death, or a doctor in sickkness. However, Ben Briscoe's concern for solicitor Pat McEntan's earnings have at least served the purpose of reeminding us just how rarely we notice anything done or said by a Fianna Fail back-bench TD. They only ever seem to speak on cue, in spite of the promise from Jack Lynch that his party's record majorrity would allow greater opennness within it.

The last government backkbencher to come to wider public attention for speaking out of turn was Padraig Flynn, from East Mayo. At a parliaamentary party meeting he innsisted that the government come clean on their taxation proposals. Easy to see he's a new boy. Not even the Miniister for Health and Social Welfare - come to think of it, he least of all - knows what the Minister for Finance is planning.

Charlie Haughey has taken on the first economist to be employed by the Department of Social Welfare. His analysis is showing that children's alllowances are the most effecctive form of income maintennance. Questions to the Miniister about suggestions of taxxing these payments are referrred out the window and across the city to government buildings.