At the 1974 elections, I was put forward as a local candidate. When I was canvassing in that election, I was Mary O’Rourke — I was never known as Mary Lenihan. The town was small and people would have known me. When I called at the houses of St Peter and Paul’s Terrace, the kids who came to the door would say, ‘Mammy, Teacher is at the door’, so it was the teaching that helped. There had been one formidable woman who had run before me in Westmeath — Aileen Mallon — but otherwise there were very few women putting themselves forward at that time. I was only in my mid-thirties then. I had great support from fellow political friends such as John Butler, who, I remember clearly, first came out canvassing with me at the tender age of 17. John and his wife Mary would later be amongst our closest friends. Again, I was so lucky, as Enda was very progressive and all for me going into politics. Now, he wouldn’t have gone out canvassing, but he would ask people in the local pub to vote for me and use his other networks to gather support for me.
I can very well remember getting elected to Athlone Town Council in 1974. I don’t think I ever had as big a thrill: for your own townspeople to elect you is a huge thing. I became a very committed local politician. During those early years, I was subsequently elected as Chairperson of the Town Council, which was a big accolade.
The town council had a nominee to the board of the then Regional College, which was still in its fledgling state. I asked Seán Fallon, the leader of our group on the council, for that board nomination. Although he was sadly not there to see the college open its doors in 1971, my father had during his time as a TD been a key figure in pushing for Athlone to be chosen as one of the sites for a Regional College. I had followed its evolution with great interest and felt that if I were to be involved in the board, I would be helping to further the work my father had started. The Fianna Fáil Party agreed and I took up my role with great gusto.
Also on the Athlone College Board was Labour’s Tim McAuliffe, who had been a soldier-in-arms with my father when the college was being mooted and had also been Chairperson of Westmeath Vocational Educational Committee (VEC), which oversaw the launch of the college. Paddy Russell, a Fianna Fáil nominee from Westmeath County Council, was Chairperson of the Board and I was Vice-Chairperson. We had a small, tight membership and I greatly enjoyed those early years of my involvement. Indeed, when Paddy Russell departed to become a Tax Commissioner, I assumed the role of Chairperson.
Now remember, I was still quite a novice in public matters, but I worked hard at my brief. I never went to a council or board meeting without having fully read the relevant papers and so I was able, I hoped, to contribute with intent to every discussion that was held. It was a great apprenticeship for my later career in public life. I also partook in many an interview board and I found that extremely worthwhile and an interesting way to meet a lot of new people.
This brings to mind an amusing anecdote from the next stage of my political journey, which was my election to Westmeath County Council in 1979. I had been serving on Athlone Urban District Council since June 1974, but I knew that this county council business was a more serious matter. Anyway, it was June 1979 and the night before I was due to attend my first county council meeting. I had duly ironed my blouse (as tops were then called), as well as the boys’ shirts for school and taken care of all the other household tasks one generally has to do on a Sunday night in a busy household. I was finally able to sit down to read the latest issue of Cosmopolitan.
As I turned the pages, I happened on an article about going to your first board meeting, which struck a chord with me at once. The recommendation was that you should speak up at that first meeting, even if you didn’t have much to say: this would ‘break the ice’, so to speak, and mean that you would not be nervous the next time you had to address the room. So, armed with this strong advice, off I travelled the next day to Mullingar, the county capital (though we in Athlone quite plainly regard Athlone as the capital!). Anyway, I duly arrived in Mullingar, to be greeted by our party Whip on the county council, Deputy Seán Keegan, a well-respected senior Fianna Fáil politician. He had, he said, a bit of advice for newcomers like me: you should never speak on your first day, but you should wait about six months and then make an intelligent intervention, in the meantime simply observing all that’s going on.
Going into that council chamber, I was already in a dilemma, weighing up these two pieces of conflicting advice in my mind. On the one hand, there was the recommendation of Cosmopolitan, read in the comfort of my own home on the night before: ‘speak up at your first board meeting’; on the other, the wise counsel of the tried and trusted Fianna Fáil whip: ‘whatever you do, don’t speak for about six months’. We all sat down and our name cards were duly put in front of us: ‘Councillor Mrs Mary O’Rourke’ was on mine. Obviously, I was a junior member but everyone was most friendly, and I didn’t feel in any way diminished or intimidated as I looked down at the agenda for the meeting. Seeing that there was an item on housing, I said to myself, ‘Oh, I know something about houses. I live in one and I run one!’
When Item no. 5 — Housing — came around, I put my hand up and the Chairperson, a kindly man also named Keegan, said, ‘Oh, Councillor O’Rourke wishes to speak.’ With that, all heads turned in my direction and all 23 pairs of eyes rested on my face. I could feel the blush rising in me and my knees atremble. However, I reminded myself that as a teacher, I had already faced down much bolder recalcitrant pupils, so up to my feet I got and said some brief words about housing, based on what I knew about the matter. When I had finished speaking, there was a little murmur of general approval throughout the room and I knew I had made it. I had taken the initiative, I had spoken, and I would never be afraid again. I recount all of this here because I firmly believe that when an opportunity comes to one, the initiative should be taken.
As a scholar and one-time teacher of Latin, I have always felt that it is the famous adage from the Roman poet, Horace, which best sums up this philosophy: ‘Carpe diem’ — ‘Seize the day’. Or, even more poetically, that line from Robert Herrick, the seventeenth-century English poet: ‘Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying . . .’ It is an attitude which has stood me in good stead at certain key moments throughout my life in politics.
My next major venture was in 1979, when I put myself forward for the Fianna Fáil National Executive, which was of course a big deal in political terms. I canvassed hard and used my family connections. My brother Brian Lenihan was in politics of course and by this time had been in the Dáil as a TD and Cabinet Minister for a number of years. Through him, I had been able to get to know many people at national level. Then as now, there were two ways to accede to Executive level: either via a vote on the floor of the Ard Fheis or by being nominated by the County Executive for your area. I went for the first option, and was over the moon when my bid was successful. I remember thinking, this is heaven, being on the National Executive! My brother Paddy was also elected, via the County Roscommon Executive. He and I used to go to monthly National Executive meetings together, along with Áine Kitt (later to become Áine Brady TD), who had been elected from County Galway. The three of us would duly meet beforehand on the first Thursday of every month in the yard of the Prince of Wales Hotel in Athlone. And of course my brother Brian, as General Secretary of the party, was also on the Executive at this stage.
Next, in August 1981, I made a successful bid for the Seanad. This too had come about as a result of my ‘carpe diem’ approach to life and politics. I had been at a Fianna Fáil National Executive meeting one day, when Charlie Haughey, who was leader at that time, had announced, ‘We are short someone to go for the Cultural and Educational Panel. Is there anyone in this room who thinks that they are cultured and educated?’
And do you know what I did? I put up my hand and I said, ‘I do.’
Haughey said, ‘Right, Mary O’Rourke, so you can run on that panel, okay?’
It was that simple to run, but of course I then had to go and get the
votes. I managed to do so however, and the first day I walked through the gates of Leinster House as a Senator was certainly an occasion to remember for me. I started to speak at every debate I could possibly participate in and I soon discovered that I was well able to put across my point of view, and that I could have an influence with what I said. I talked a lot on different Bills — especially educational Bills — as well as many other areas of concern. I talked a lot. At an early stage, I became Seanad Spokesperson for Education. That first six months we were under a Fine Gael government, with John Boland as Minister for Education. I remember him bringing two separate Bills along, one of them concerning the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA). I had plenty to say on these issues and many others besides.
As soon as I got into full-time politics, as a member of the Seanad, I left teaching, and I didn’t ever contemplate getting a teacher’s pension. I didn’t take a sabbatical or leave of absence — I just left. At the General Election in February 1982, I went for the Dáil but I didn’t make it, so I put myself forward once more for the Seanad. I had to go around to all the local councillors and knock on their doors and say, ‘I am Mary O’Rourke and I am going for the Educational Panel.’ That was hard work, but I had a lot of moral and practical support from Enda, as well as from Mícheál Ó’Faoláin, Pat Kelly and Seamus Browne, all of whom have remained my great friends to this day. My second bid for the Seanad was successful: in fact, I got a huge vote. I wasn’t too disappointed at that stage that I had not got into the Dáil, because, there too, I had very good voting figures which clearly augured very well for the next time. I also knew the February 1982 government was unstable and that it was likely that there would be another election soon. And six months later in November, this is what indeed transpired.
Chapter 3
MARLBOROUGH STREET
I got into the Dáil as a td in November 1982. I remember clearly now how it rained for the entire three weeks of the election campaign. Each evening I would come home, soaked to the skin. Enda had set up a great HQ at our house, and every night there would be people there, checking off the registers and so on. No matter the weather, however — we had a very successful campaign and achieved a great result for me. In broader terms, we were now in Opposition to a Fine Gael–Labour coalition government, which was of course not so positive, but at least I felt that I would now be in a strong position to play an active part in strengthening the Fianna Fáil hand.
The three men in my life — Enda, Feargal and Aengus — came with me for my first day in the Dáil on 14 December 1982. We drove through the gates of Leinster House and went in, and they were all three in the gallery as the names of the newly elected TDS were called out. These were announced constituency by constituency and when it came to the turn of Longford–Westmeath, and my name was called, I remember thinking, ‘I am a TD now!’ It was at once a very exciting thought and a sobering realisation. I always took my duties of representing the people very seriously. Throughout my career, I continued to regard it as a very big responsibility, by virtue of the fact that the people had put their faith in you and that therefore you had to keep faith with them. Maybe it was that awareness which kept me on the straight and narrow; maybe it was also partly the fact that I had been a teacher, a role which brings with it a great sense of public responsibility.
That first day, after the formalities were over, Enda and the boys and I went into the dining room in the Dáil, which was very posh! There is a very good photograph of the four of us outside Leinster House that day, which later appeared in an article Bruce Arnold wrote for the Irish Independent about the new faces in the Dáil. In the picture, Enda, Aengus and I are smiling broadly, but Feargal, then a young man of 18, looks thoughtful and somewhat downbeat, as if he could envisage the road ahead for me and for our family and could see the kind of pitfalls which might arise.
One of the first items on the agenda for the newly formed Dáil was a debate on the committee system. John Bruton, who had been appointed by Dr Garret FitzGerald as Leader of the House (a post which was not continued thereafter), and who was charged with setting up the committee system, invited us all to participate in the ensuing discussion. I was sure to take the opportunity to voice my views on this occasion, remaining true to the strategy suggested in that Cosmo article of so many years previously, which had worked so well for me in the past — that if you speak early, you will lose your terror and be able to speak more easily the next time.
Here follows the complete transcript of that first speech I made in the Dáil, on 27 January 1983. Reading it back again almost 30 years later, I am struck by the extent to which much of what I was saying is still so highly relevant to political life today.
First of all, I am very pleased that it is on such a topic as Dáil reform that I have the opportunity to make my first speech in this assembly. Like many of the speakers from all sides of the House, most of whom I listened to yesterday, I am of the opinion that the present Minister has done a service, not alone to the House but to the nation at large, in bringing this very important topic to the floor of the House. In my span of public service at local authority level, at Seanad level and now at Dáil level, I am struck by one factor: that the public perception of people in public life is not good. However much we have contributed to that perception, however much of it has grown among the people themselves and however much the administration and day-to-day running of both the Seanad and Dáil institutions have contributed to it, they have all [had] their input, but we must play our part in rectifying this situation.
In my other life, when I was a secondary school teacher, I had occasion from time to time to bring groups of young people to this Chamber. When we would be travelling back home by bus or train, I was always struck by one factor. These young people never saw the Dáil as having any relevance to their lives. These would be girls of the age group of 16, 17 and 18 years, approaching voting age and the time when they would become citizens of their country in their full right. These pupils would leave school with ‘A’ and ‘B’ levels and the trappings that are taken as making a successful person nowadays — I would have my own remarks about that in another context — yet they would have no idea of how the Dáil system worked. Their visit here would not have given them any confidence in that system. They would go home without any further enlightenment. They saw the Dáil as a place where people came in and talked to an empty Chamber about unintelligible things which had no relevance to everyday life.
I see this debate as the start of making this Dáil assembly, with all its great importance in our history and its pivotal importance in our lives — and it must remain of pivotal importance — highly relevant to us. We can no longer afford the luxury of the present-day system in the Dáil. If we continue as we are, we have only ourselves to blame, if we become like the characters in Alice in Wonderland.
Much of the discussion document which the Minister presented to us yesterday is practical and, given the broad acceptance which this debate has achieved already, many of the points can be implemented without undue delay. I refer first of all to the points which seem to have been accepted among the speakers who spoke yesterday and today. The broadcasting of the debates in the Chamber would achieve much more care by speakers in their contributions in the Dáil. It would lead to much more thought being put into those contributions because one will know that at any given time, one can be heard over the airwaves. It would lead to a tightness in contributions.
This leads me to the second point, which the Minister touched upon in an underlying way. I refer to the length of the contributions. I do not want to appear presumptuous in my first speech, but as a result of my Seanad experience, I feel that too often people get to their feet to talk on and on, perhaps experiencing vicarious satisfaction, and of course there is always local consumption of what is presented in the media, but to continue to talk for the sake of doing so is ridiculous. I do not know whether the Minister envisages a cut-off point for contributions in debates, but
I think it would be highly desirable. Apart from doing away with irrelevancies, it would allow many more people to contribute. Often I have sat in the Seanad, and probably it will be the same in the Dáil, hoping and hoping to get in while the debate went on and on. Therefore, a cut-off point would be highly important.
The committee system is the salient factor of this discussion document. I have read and re-read what the Minister has said about it, and I have read also about the experiences of the parliamentary system pertaining in Westminster. Generally speaking, the committee system appears to be a more effective way of running the nation’s day-to-day business than the sometimes long-winded debates in the Dáil. I would like to enter a caveat on this point. There has been much talk of consensus politics and having the committee system whereby important issues of the day, particularly social structures and planning and also financial planning, would be discussed by Members of the House on all sides. This is highly important. I do not want to carp but I want to make the point that in a democracy, healthy tensions are very important. Naturally there must always be a Government, but also there must be an alternative Government with a coherent, planned Opposition policy. I would like to see a balance kept always and that the committee system would not be seen as everything being agreed upon. Listening to the speakers yesterday would give the impression that life would be very happy, and everybody would live very happily when the committee system would have had its say and we would all come in with set formulae to answer the problems of the day. Of course, life is not really like that, and perhaps that is just as well. It is important that the healthy tensions between Opposition and Government be always maintained, although not in a destructive sense. With other speakers I abhor utterly constant adversary politics, whereby because Minister Bruton would say something, Deputy Mary O’Rourke would say ‘No, I do not agree with that’. That is silly and to the young people, it is outmoded and outdated. The normal, differing ideologies and intentions of the political parties and their different sets of policies should be allowed expression and the debate should take place following on the committee system. This is very important for democracy and we should keep it very firmly in our minds.
Just Mary Page 4