Creighton’s case for change

Lucinda Creighton talks to Owen McQuade about her fundamental reform agenda for government which picks up on the mood for change among the public.

Nearly 18 months after her dramatic departure from Fine Gael, Lucinda Creighton is confident that Ireland is waking up to the need for political reform and sees the Irish Water dispute as fresh evidence that the system must be transformed.

With “so much flux” in the political system, she comments that “all eyes are now fixed on the next general election” and expects a long run-in to it.

“There has been a delayed reaction to all the cuts and tax increases we have seen over the last six or seven years,” Creighton adds. “Water charging is a flash point.” For many people, the crux of the matter is the “incompetence” in establishing Irish Water rather than actually paying the charges. She supports the concept of the company but the whole premise was to streamline the system, bring in efficiencies and cut costs.

The end result has been “a super-quango along the lines of the HSE … all of the inefficiencies of the local councils have been combined into one big utility.” Consumers will be “paying the price” for the service level agreements over the next 12 years as they were not open to scrutiny, either in the media or Dáil Éireann.

Her criticism of the status quo in Irish Water correlates with her main contention: no reform has taken place. In one sense, the statement is a contradiction in terms given the raft of changes that the Government has introduced in the Public Service. In another sense, it all falls short of her ambitious definition of reform: maximised efficiency in government, a powerful Oireachtas, and a voice for all business sectors when economic policy is made.

“I don’t believe there has been Public Service reform,” she affirms. “It hasn’t happened. Maybe the reason for establishing the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform was to put a Labour person in there to make sure there was no reform.”

Creighton is disappointed with the “really nasty polarisation” of the public and private sectors since the crash but adds that genuine public sector reform is “not anti-public sector.” She elaborates: “You are simply in favour of the delivery of good services: a public sector that is efficient and where people who perform are rewarded and those who don’t are managed.”

Back in the Bertie Ahern era, benchmarking with the private sector “was supposed to be about performance but it never was” and instead was “simply an excuse to keep giving pay increases in agreement with the unions and again behind closed doors.” Since the crash, a real opportunity for reform and improved performance has opened up but “we have just had tinkering around the edges which I think is really demoralising for the public sector.” Having worked in two departments as Minister of State, she saw this first hand among the civil servants “who are hard-working who don’t appreciate having to compensate for the inefficiencies of others.” The opportunity for reform, though, is still there and bringing “new blood” into the Civil Service and semi-state sector is one way forward.

Politics

We turn to political reform – “the big area that has been missed” – and Creighton quickly recalls the “democratic revolution” promised by Enda Kenny in opposition.

She states: “As a Fine Gael candidate at the last election, I went around door-to-door in my constituency talking to people about a functioning parliament – one where you have a robust committee system, one where you don’t have debates cut off at the knees, one where there is genuine amending of legislation and genuine policy development. None of that has happened.”

Some will say that political reform is self-indulgence for the commentarial or navel-gazing for politicians but Creighton insistently disagrees, contending that a dysfunctional political system was a direct cause of the economic crash.

“The fact that nobody in the Bertie Ahern era ever was in a position to say ‘stop’ when we were relying on the property and construction sector for 25 per cent of all revenue,” she asserts. “Nobody was prepared to criticise or question it, and we’re paying the price ever since.”

In a similar vein, the Water Services Bill passed through the Dáil in a two-hour debate. Members of the Oireachtas had sought to question metering and the utility’s cost structures but had little opportunity to do so as the Christmas recess started the next day.

“We have the most centralised government in Europe, if not in the Western world,” Creighton continues, claiming that the whip system is “strangling democracy” – a pointed reference to how she found herself on the opposition benches.

“I know that sounds dramatic but I really believe it’s true,” she explains, “and I spoke about this long before I was a Minister – so I’m not a recent convert even though obviously I’m a victim of the whip system.”

Reform is her driving purpose in political life and first attracted her to Fine Gael. The party appeared to be a “catalyst for reform” in comparison to Fianna Fáil but she now sees no difference, citing Fine Gael members’ appointments to public boards.

Enterprise

Coming from a distinctly centre-right perspective, Creighton also wants to see an ‘economy of entrepreneurs’ taking shape and claims that the self-employed “have been voiceless” when policy has been set. Social partnership involved the trade unions and Ibec but she contends that this did not give the full picture as Ibec primarily represents corporations.

While being an advocate of foreign direct investment, Creighton wants to see a clear seat at the table for small and medium-sized enterprises – including in the National Economic and Social Council – and criticises the Department of Finance for levying higher taxation on self-employed people.

“On the economy, what we’re seeing from the Government is a replica of the Fianna Fáil economic model,” Creighton comments, “a heavy reliance on foreign direct investment, as many loopholes as possible for multi-nationals to avoid paying tax.”

In perhaps her sole point of agreement with the left, she describes the global tax system as “inequitable and immoral” but adds that a clampdown on corporate tax avoidance will only be possible through a broader effort by the EU, OECD and World Trade Organization.

Ireland’s immediate economic priority must be developing a “sustainable indigenous sector that isn’t just based on property development and speculation.”

At present, she contends, the only way for a high earner to invest, contribute to the economy and make money is to invest in property – incentivised by a seven-year holiday on capital gains tax (CGT) for investments in commercial and residential property. However, investing in a start-up or a small business with expansion plans attracts a 33 per cent CGT rate which is no longer linked to consumer prices.

The message she hears from venture capitalists is that they are investing in London where “you pay zero per cent CGT and you get a return on your investment.”

Future

Diplomatically, she restates her view that a new party is needed which does not need to follow the example of “the old political parties”. Creighton elaborates: “I think it has to be something entirely new and it also has to be something that empowers people who have never been in politics before to get involved.” The Dáil and Seanad are “lacking expertise” and there is therefore a need to attract “people who have traditionally been turned off politics into public life to enhance it, to make it more representative” – including more women.

Such a party would be based on “a clear commitment to dramatic reform of the political system first and foremost” as well as a new economic model and a “realistic agenda” for Public Service reform i.e. responsibility, more efficiency and better delivery.

While there is “a huge appetite for that amongst the public,” the practicalities of setting up a new party are very difficult. The Standards in Public Office Commission allocated €12.9 million in public funding last year to parties whose candidates were elected at the general election, including €4.97 million to Fine Gael.

“New parties,” she surmises, “are constrained by the ban on corporate donations and the very restrictive limitations on personal donations – all of which I support but it’s most unjust that a new party can’t receive any State funding.”

Fine Gael strategist Frank Flannery was one of the first to speak out about how this mitigates against the establishment of a new party. For Creighton, the injustice is compounded by Fine Gael and Labour still receiving the allocation for TDs and senators who have lost the whip.

“Our former parties,” she stated, “are taking close to €40,000 a year for each of us in our name and spending it in our constituencies to ensure that we don’t get re-elected. It’s a pretty extraordinary situation to be in and it is anti-democratic.”

That said, Creighton is “really optimistic” about the future of the State. “Ireland’s been through such a horrific period and Irish people have been through so much but, in a way, it’s been an awakening experience,” she reflects. “I think Irish people are waking up now to the need to have a proper accountable political system and they’re beginning to demand it.”

Her faith in reform was restored by the Seanad referendum result last year and she expects to see “a very dramatic change at the next election.” Creighton characterises like-minded people to her as “radicals in the centre who can really try and change and offer something honest and truthful to the Irish public” – and purposely adds – “and actually deliver on it in government.”

Policy proposals

• Performance-related pay for politicians

• Term limits for ministers

• Adjust party funding annually according to size

• Secret ballot elections for An Ceann Comhairle and committee chairs

• Allow elected members to vote on conscience grounds

• Automatic registration of voters at age of 18