Contents
List of tables vii
List of figures ix
List of plates x
Glossary of terms xi
Abbreviations xii
About the authors xiii
Preface xiv
Chapter 1 – Introduction 1
Why study political parties? 2
Research on Irish party members 6
The institutional context 8
Days of blue loyalty: an overview 9
Chapter 2 – The Fine Gael party 1922–2002 11
Origins 13
Early years 16
The foundation of Fine Gael 21
Fine Gael from the 1930s to 1977 26
Fine Gael from 1977 to 1990 29
The Bruton years 34
Conclusion 39
Chapter 3 – Membership, organisation and support in historical perspective 41
Contemporary Fine Gael organisational structure 41
The role of membership in the Fine Gael party 45
The early years of pro-Treaty organisation 47
A brief history of Fine Gael organisation 49
Conclusion 55
Chapter 4 – A profile of party members 56
Membership: stability and change 56
Demographic profile of a Fine Gael member 62
Members and secretaries 66
Who supports Fine Gael? 69
Comparing the backgrounds of members and voters 70
Explaining membership 72
Conclusion 79
Chapter 5 – Activism within the party – what do members do? 80
Activity levels of Fine Gael members 82
Who are the activists? 98
Branch activity 102
Members and individual politicians 106
Conclusion 114
Chapter 6 – The impact of members 115
Members and the party 116
Candidate selection 128
Members and electoral success 135
Conclusion 139
Chapter 7 – The political views of Fine Gael members 141
Why might the views of party members matter? 141
How important is policy for members? 144
Left and right 147
Church and state 152
Attitudes to Europe and the wider world 158
Northern Ireland 163
Post-materialist issues: the environment and marijuana 165
The political views of members, voters and politicians 168
A united party? 171
Conclusion 173
Chapter 8 – Fine Gael and the Irish political system 176
Members’ feelings towards the Irish political parties 176
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil 180
Fine Gael and coalition 190
The future of Fine Gael 191
Evaluations of individual politicians 198
The functioning of the Irish political system 204
Conclusion 216
Chapter 9 – Conclusion 217
The main findings 217
Days of blue loyalty over? 220
Appendix A – How the sample was constructed 224
Appendix B – The questionnaire and the responses 228
Appendix C – The activism scale 249
Appendix D – Historical data 251
Notes 260
References 273
Index 280
List of Tables
4.1 Fine Gael membership figures 1967–2001 57
4.2 Fine Gael membership and votes per member in 1998–99, by European Parliament constituency 59
4.3 Demographic profile of members 63
4.4 Members’ links with other organisations 65
4.5 Characteristics of secretaries and other members 68
4.6 Characteristics of Fine Gael voters and members 71
4.7 How and why members joined Fine Gael 74
4.8 Changes in the how and why of joining Fine Gael 77
5.1 Activism within Fine Gael branches, as reported by branch secretaries 84
5.2 Fine Gael members as brokers between constituents and members of parliament 86
5.3 Branch meetings attended in last year, by whether took part in candidate selection for 1997 general election 89
5.4 Members’ level of activity compared with four years ago, compared with British parties 91
5.5 Reasons given by members who have become more active 92
5.6 Reasons given by members who have become less active 93
5.7 Activity in recent Fine Gael election campaigns, in per cent 96
5.8 Activity in recent election campaigns, by other activity 97
5.9 The relationship between activism within Fine Gael and social characteristics 100
5.10 Frequency of branch meetings, by location of branch 103
5.11 Branch secretaries’ rankings of roles of branch 106
5.12 Members’ orientations to individual politicians and to the Fine Gael party as a whole 108
5.13 Urban–rural differences in extent of personal networks among Fine Gael members 109
5.14 Strength of support for Fine Gael, by support for local Fine Gael politicians 112
6.1 Most important ways to make more use of members 117
6.2 Steps the organisation could take to get more members 121
6.3 What Fine Gael should do now 125
6.4 Steps to be taken to attract better candidates 129
6.5 Why does Fine Gael have so few women candidates? 133
6.6 Support for gender quotas, related to views on why there are so few women candidates 134
6.7 Constituency-level relationship between active and other members and Fine Gael vote as a percentage of the electorate in 1997 Dáil election 138
7.1 Interest in national political issues, by activity levels 146
7.2 Placement of self and parties on left–right spectrum 148
7.3 Fine Gael members’ self-placement on the left–right spectrum by their placement of Fine Gael 150
7.4 Distance on left–right spectrum between Fine Gael members and each of the four main parties 151
7.5 Left–right self-placement and attitudes to wealth redistribution and trade unions 152
7.6 Socio-demographic background and attitudes to European integration 160
7.7 Attitudes to European integration, by attitudes to neutrality and immigration 162
7.8 Attitudes to jobs versus environment, by education 166
7.9 Attitudes to the legalisation of marijuana use, by various socio-economic factors 167
7.10 Placement of self and of Fine Gael on left–right spectrum by Fine Gael members, voters and politicians 168
7.11 Support for divorce in the 1995 referendum among Fine Gael members and voters 169
7.12 Attitudes of Fine Gael members and voters to European integration 170
7.13 Attitudes of Fine Gael members and voters to Irish neutrality 171
7.14 The extent of unity among Fine Gael members on political issues 172
8.1 Fine Gael members’ warmth or coldness towards the political parties 177
8.2 Fine Gael members’ ratings of the political parties, by self-placement on left–right spectrum 178
8.3 Average thermometer scores given by Fine Gael members to the political parties, by strength of support for Fine Gael 179
8.4 Fine Gael members’ ratings of Fianna Fáil, by selected variables 181
8.5 Fine Gael members’ perception of main differences between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael 183
8.6 Fine Gael members’ coalition preferences 191
8.7 Fine Gael members’ assessment of party’s prospects in the next twenty years 193
8.8 Fine Gael members’ attitudes to a merger between Fine Gael and another party, by change in activity level over past four years 196
8.9 Fine Gael members’ attitudes to a possible merger with Fianna Fáil, by perceptions of the main policy difference between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil 197
8.10 Fine Gael members’ attitudes to a possible merger with Fianna Fáil, by perceptions of the main difference between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil 198
8.11 Fine Gael members’ evaluations of current politicians, by views on preferred Northern Ireland policy 203
8.12 Attitudes towards reform of the Irish political system 207
8.13 Attitudes to retention of PR-STV, by evaluation of effects of PR-STV 209
8.14 Members’ recommendations as to what changes should be made to the Irish political system 211
A1 Population and sample numbers and response rates 224
A2 Sample estimates and actual proportions – selected characteristics 226
D1 First preference votes in Dáil elections by party, 1922–97, in per cent 257
D2 Seats won at Dáil elections by party, 1922–97 258
D3 Participation in government by Fine Gael and its predecessors, 1922–2001 259
List of Figures
2.1 Support for main parties at Irish elections 1922–97 12
3.1 The organisational structure of Fine Gael 42
4.1 Branch sizes in 1999 58
4.2 Year in which members first joined Fine Gael 60
4.3 Age at which members first joined Fine Gael, by cohort 61
4.4 Fine Gael’s average support, by social class, at elections 1969–97 69
4.5 Extent of members’ roots in the Fine Gael tradition 76
5.1 Branch meetings attended in last year 83
5.2 Self-perceived activity level of members, relative to average member 85
5.3 How much money donated to Fine Gael in last year 88
6.1 Members’ views regarding most important role of TDs 132
6.2 Constituency-level relationship between Fine Gael support 1997 and the number of Fine Gael members 1997–98 136
7.1 Preferred policy of Irish governments towards Northern Ireland 165
8.1 Policy area in which Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael differ most 182
8.2 Fine Gael members’ evaluations of past Taoisigh 200
8.3 Satisfaction with the Irish political system 206
A1 Week by week pattern of response 235
List of plates
a. Party leaders: Michael Collins, Eoin O’Duffy, John A. Costello, William T. Cosgrave
b. Party leaders: Richard Mulcahy, James Dillon, Liam Cosgrave
c. Party leaders: Garret FitzGerald, Alan Dukes
d. Fine Gael ministers and parliamentary secretaries in 1954–57 Inter-Party government; National Coalition as it enters office, 1973
e. Garret FitzGerald addressing an ard-fheis; with members of his team in the early 1980s
f. Members of the 1973 government with the President; Fine Gael’s front bench, February 1994
g. Ard-fheis platforms from 50 years ago
h. Delegates to the ard-fheis, 1953; more delegates
i. Tipperary, Louth and Meath delegates around 1950; presidential convention, 1966
j. Limerick delegation at 1950 ard-fheis; more delegates outside the 1956 ard-fheis
k. Fine Gael ard-fheiseanna from the FitzGerald era
l. Enthusiastic delegates applaud FitzGerald
m. Fine Gael’s nine women TDs, 1983; the ard-fheis in 1996
n. Fine Gael “Focus on Women” conference in Dublin, 2000; John Bruton
o. Limerick delegates with Michael Noonan, 1996
p. Young Fine Gael in the early days; Young Fine Gael executive with garret FitzGerald
q. Young Fine Gael training course; newspaper advertisement for Young Fine Gael
r. 1932 election poster for Cumann na nGaedheal
s. 1965 election poster for a rally in County Mayo
t. 1961 election advertisement from Dublin South-West
u. 1961 Laois–Offaly candidate profiles; the ideal branch, 1960
v. 1965 advertisement for the “Just Society” programme
w. 1969 election advertisement from Dublin South-Central
x. Liam Cosgrave canvassing; Garret FitzGerald campaigning in Laois–Offaly
y. Garret FitzGerald campaigning in Co Carlow and Co Cork
z. Garret FitzGerald and his wife Joan after voting; Austin Currie campaigning with John Bruton in Co Meath in 1990
aa. John Bruton with Dick Spring and Proinsias de Rossa; an election poster, 1997
ab. Fine Gael membership card from 1949
ac. Fine Gael membership card 2001–02; Liam Cosgrave unveiling a plaque to Michael Og McFadden
ad. Michael Collins addresses a crowd; Michael Noonan at Béal na mBláth
ae. Fine Gael general secretaries
af. Liam Cosgrave and Brendan Corish; John Bruton and Charles Haughey.