Sunday, August 30, 2009

NOEL BROWNE: PASSIONATE OUTSIDER by John Horgan


Noel Browne was a landmark on the politics of Modern Ireland , leaving a legacy which holds greats valuable lessons for minor party members wishing to achieve grand schemes in Scotland especially and Europe in general.

He served as Cabinet Minister for only 3 years from 1948-51 , in that short period of time he initiated and proposed many initiatives that catapulted Ireland into Modern Europe.Kind historians could even say that he was a prime motivating force which helped get a balance between the ancient domination of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and the needs of the citizens in the form of social welfare without the catastrophic experience of the other Great Catholic Nations of Spain and Italy.What did not happen in the tense conflict between secular and Church in the terms of bleeding festering wounds in one of Irelands , and to an extent Brownes success stories.

Browne was trying to introduce an Ireland Health Service roughly tracking the developments of the UK establishment of the National Health Service.But the field for Ireland was not that simple , and certainly not level in any way.The reason , according to Brownes observations the UK Health Service worked was the general level of cooperation and bureaucratic backup supplied the the medical as well as civil service " the UK NHS worked because it involved the Doctors in the Committees that managed it".

In Ireland , at the time , the dynamic was very different , the Catholic Church controlled many of the medical institutions and facilities , so much so many operations could only be done with clergy clerical administration and approval.The Doctors themselves were technically tied to Catholic Church institutions and therefore were not an independent impartial body able to participate like their colleagues in the UK NHS unless given consent by the Church.The Church , meanwhile had concerns , rooted in the experiences of Spain and Italy in the 30s and 40s , that the Irish state , if allowed to secularise in a general policy of state nationalisation may , and to Church Hierarchical eyes the jury was still out as to the eventual outcome , enable and ultimately yield to Ireland becoming a part of the Communist block.For these reason there was a tension and quite intense political battle between the Cardinals and Browne , with the general health of the population being at stake over political wrangling.

The other major piece of advice he can give parties today from his experiences in the parliamentary chamber is " any minority party should get out ( of a coalition) when the job ( its core issues had been done".A party should never pass up an opportunity to have a place in cabinet , nor yet be tempted to participate in the cabinet for a full parliamentary term , therefore exposing the party credibility to the electorate at the next election time.

On page 139 Noel observes " Compromises are generally negotiable in politics or anywhere else , providing the wounds are not too deep".In political bodies "Anger....enlivens if it has Room to move , and kills if it hasnt."

The advise Noel has for small parties whose major influence is to aspire to be cabinet participants within a broader coalition is the get the credibility capital right in the minds of the electorate , mainly " consistency and accountability...two key forms of Political Currency within large organisations.".

The Socialist and Left in Italy , as well as those in Scotland and the UK , will do well to take on board the experiences and partial successes in which Noel participated in Ireland as a guide to future conduct as far as the striving of full input in Cabinet circles is concerned.

2 comments:

  1. There is a view that Browne was unstable, temperamental and difficult individual who was the author of most of his own misfortune. Until reading Wikipeida just now I didn't know that he managed to be a TD for five different political parties (two of which he co-founded). These were Clann na Poblachta (expelled), Independent, Fianna Fáil (left to run as Independent after failing to get nomination), National Progressive Democrats (co-founder), Labour Party (expelled) and the Socialist Labour Party (co-founder). Does this raise questions in my mind, yes it does. Is that fair? I should need to do a lot more reading before I answered that one.

    Dr. Ruth Barrington (I read in Wikipedia) is an historian who wrote extensively about Irish health policy and had access to the files from the 1940s and 1950s, and has questioned the reliability of Browne's autobiography, Against the Tide, on which I have based much of my knowledge of the Mother and Child affair. See my blog on this :-
    http://peterhousehold.blogspot.com/2010/11/mother-and-child-crisis-of-1951.html

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  2. I understand exactly where you are coming from.
    The Book list the many egotistical and vanity inspired shortcomings as well as grudges so fresh they prevailed as if happening only yesterday for 40 or more years.

    But the lesson for today from Brownes experience is how lesser parties should operate in coalition governemts in which they might have cabinet seats.

    It seems the Greens in Ireland have not learned Brownes lesson at all , whilst the Greens in Scotland have done very well using a derivative of Brownes doctrine very effectively in that they have chair of 2 committees very close to their core issues.

    On the negative side the lib dems are suffering for playing in a coalition that is sapping their credibility and the Italian Left ( by passing up the opportunity of having 2 cabinet seats in the last Prodi government) has completely left the field open for Berlusconi.

    Brownes experience is to inform us Coalition government is an art to be mastered ( especially by monority parties) and not an accident to be reacted to in an incohesive manner.

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