Principled politics

Renua candidate Terence Flanagan talks faith and politics with Cathal Barry

Few politicians have risked their careers for clear consciences. Terence Flanagan is among a small cohort of former Fine Gael TDs who did just that in support of the right to life of the unborn.

The Dublin Bay North TD lost the party whip along with Lucinda Creighton, Peter Matthews, Billy Timmins and Brian Walsh, as well as Senators Paul Bradford and Fidelma Healy Eames, who in 2013 voted against the Government’s controversial abortion legislation.

Mr Flanagan had been a Fine Gael die-hard, representing the party as a councillor from 2003-2007 before being elected to Dáil Éireann under the party’s banner in 2007 and again in 2011.

He is running this time around, however, for Renua Ireland, and faces a tough battle against some heavy-hitters in the so-called ‘group of death’ that is Dublin Bay North.

Taking some time out from his hectic election campaign to speak to The Irish Catholic, Terence insists he has “no regrets” about the decision that essentially forced him out of his former party.

“I have no regrets in relation to the decision I made at that time. I have a very clear conscience and am happy that I did the right thing.

“For me, you keep your word in politics when you make a promise with the electorate. The problem with politicians in this country is that they often play it both ways. They are not actually principled people.

“I’m not saying everyone isn’t principled but the majority aren’t and if we look at our politics over the last 20 or 30 years in this country we have been poorly served by elected representatives,” he said.

Commitment

Mr Flanagan is “absolutely” convinced that Fine Gael let their supporters down, particularly those who trusted the party with their ‘pro-life vote’.

“Fine Gael had expressed a commitment before the last General Election. I sent out letters to constituents confirming that Fine Gael was a pro-life party that had no intention of introducing any type of legislation to change things.

“That was always my personal position, as well as the party’s, so I was very happy and comfortable within Fine Gael. Obviously then as things began to change and pressure was being applied by the Labour party on Enda Kenny, he decided then to concede to the Labour party and give them what they were looking for,” he said.

In his own words, Terence believes he “walked the walk as well as talked the talk”. He would apply the same terminology to his colleagues who lost the whip alongside him.

Mr Flanagan admits to being “extremely disappointed” with Enda Kenny and those who “buckled under pressure” over the legislation.

“Some people put their careers before their conscience and I am sure that some of them still there now are wrestling with the decision they made. For me personally, I have absolutely no regrets in the decision I made and the path that I chose,” he insisted.

“Some people actively courted the pro-life vote and then went and voted with the Government. They put their career first and I think that is dreadful. You have to keep your word, particularly on something as important as abortion,” he added.

Terence also described as “massively frustrating” the fact that Fine Gael are continuing to claim special allowances for him and other former party members.

It was reported in the pages of this newspaper last week that the Government party is understood to have claimed more than €500,000 for former party members since the expulsion of seven Oireachtas members from the parliamentary party in 2013 after they voted against the abortion legalisation.

“It’s massively frustrating. We are having to use our own resources to fund the new political party at the same time Fine Gael is drawing down money on our behalf and using that against us.

“The candidates we are up against have extra posters and the money to build a better profile to ensure that they are put ahead of us. That’s very frustrating and annoying,” he said.

Claiming that “the cards are stacked against any new party in the market”, Terence insisted that Renua had “overcome a lot of obstacles and will overcome a lot more in the coming years”.

“Hopefully we will have a successful General Election campaign because we want to offer the electorate a new choice, we want to restore trust into politics and I just hope that people will vote for politicians who keep their word rather than what we have at the moment,” he said.

Mr Flanagan, who is originally from Artane in Dublin, said a new party “was needed” in Ireland “because people were very frustrated with the Government and some of the decisions that they were making that were undemocratic”, citing what he describes as the “mess” that is Irish Water as an example.

“This new party was set up firstly to restore trust in politics by showing there are principled politicians who actually care and who want to ensure our country is improved upon, who have a bottom line and who actually stand for something,” he said.

Terence is heavily critical of what he describes as the “populist” decision making of the now dissolved Government.

“Fine Gael is a catch-all party now. It doesn’t actually stand for something. It’s willing to abandon some of its core principles and values which it has had since the foundation of the State. That’s very sad to see. Fine Gael today is a very different party than when I actually joined it. It has lost its heart,” he said, before turning to why people should vote for Renua.

“They can trust in what we say. We are principled people. We want to ensure that the legacy issues, the health service, the housing and homelessness crisis, as well as the issue of crime are principally dealt with.

“We are sick of the lack of accountability in Government and the amount of waste that takes place. There is nobody ever sacked or held to account for money squandered,” he said, citing the recent revamp of the postal code system as a case in point.

Noting that millions of euro had been spent on the scheme, Mr Flanagan insisted he didn’t know a soul that uses it.

“Was that an issue of priority? I don’t think it was,” he said, arguing that attempting to solve the housing crisis should have taken precedence.

Reform

“It just shows that there still is waste in Government,” he claimed, adding that “there is a lot of reform that could be brought about if there was clear thinking and a proper vision as to what type of country we actually want but we never have that debate”.

Housing is an issue in which Terence would personally like to effect change, stating he knows people who have been “abandoned” on the housing list for years.

“I want that addressed. I want more houses constructed, more affordable starter homes, even housing for the elderly. There are very little options for people,” he said.

Another key area in need of reform is the health service, Mr Flanagan said, pointing to the “huge duplication that currently exists between the HSE and the Department of Health where you have one shadowing the other to see what they are doing”.

“I don’t think any minister has ever spent enough time in any of the hospitals to figure out what is going on,” Terence said, noting that Accident and Emergency departments all over the country are “overburdened”.

“Older people going into hospital and waiting hours on hard chairs just isn’t right. It’s not acceptable. The dignity of the whole thing is appalling really. We want more primary care centres to keep people in communities and that was promised to be rolled out,” he said, but hasn’t.

Terence said he has sympathy for the “very hard working” staff in Irish hospitals. He said they were “putting in huge hours but there is just not enough of them”.

“To tempt back some of our nurses and doctors from abroad, we need to give them proper rewards and proper work to allow them to get into areas of specialty and get them back home working in the health service.

“Morale is at an all-time low between mismanagement and waste but things can be done a lot differently and we [Renua] have a comprehensive plan in that regard,” he said.

On another hot-topic of the day, schools, Mr Flanagan said it was “up to the State to ensure that enough places are being provided”.

“Untimely, supply should meet the demand,” he insisted.

“I know that there can be a lot of bashing of the Catholic Church with regard to schools but the Church’s contribution to education in the country needs to be recognised,” he said, adding that if the Church are in a position to hand over schools, where there is a demand for alternative patronage, “then that needs to happen”.

Safeguards

Looking ahead to a potentially controversial issue on the horizon, Terence said he was not in favour of repealing the Eighth (Life Equality) Amendment.

“I feel that the safeguards that are there are very much needed and necessary. I don’t hear anyone actually coming up with an alternative.

“It’s very hard to predict an outcome if there was a referendum. I would be hopeful that people would learn from what has happened in other jurisdictions that once you open it up and broaden it out [abortion] just becomes a normal part of life. I don’t think Irish people deep down want that really,” he said.

Renua has a very “open position” on all issues of conscience, Mr Flanagan said, “meaning on each, there is no party whip”.

“So, if an individual feels strongly for or against an issue that person is entitled to go out and campaign on either side just not under a Renua banner,” he explained.

Terence described his own faith as “massively important”.

“It’s such an important part of my life,” the weekly Massgoer said, admitting that he thinks “it’s important to keep checked in with the man above”.

“I feel it gives me a certain sense of solace. Political life is hugely hectic, a lot of stresses, a lot of pressures, but there is comfort to be gotten from religion and from having faith.

“I feel better coming out of Mass than I do when I go in. I find it uplifting really to go to church.

“I am not embarrassed to say that I am a Catholic,” he said.

Faith was something that was fostered in Terence from a young age growing up in Dublin. He went to school locally in St David’s in Artane and the Marist-run Chanel College in Coolock.

He was a member of the famous Artane Boys Band in his youth before joining the senior band after he reached his 16th birthday.

An accountant by profession, Mr Flanagan was working for one of the large financial institutions, before getting into politics on a full-time basis.

At that time, Fine Gael was always his “party of choice” but “that’s all out the window now” for Terence.

Even his relationship with former colleagues is not now what it once was, with some refusing to speak to him and others who lost the whip as a consequence of the abortion legislation.

“They see us as betraying the party,” Terence said, admitting “you just have to rise above it and move on”.

On the subject of moving on, Mr Flanagan maintains Renua have an “excellent team” and their “vision for Ireland is to ensure that we have a better society where there is more equality and fairness in that everyone gets an opportunity to achieve their full potential”.

“I’m very hopeful for the future that we will be successful,” he said.