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The 1997 election debate between then-Taoiseach John Bruton and Bertie Ahern is available on YouTube for some reason and I, being the sad creature I am, have watched it
There are several things about this debate that took me by surprise. First off, John Bruton, whom I've usually regarded as a right-wing ogre, spends most of the debate criticising Bertie Ahern for wanting to cut taxes for the well-off
Bertie Ahern, wearing a preposterously large suit, is aggressive and focused on his message of cutting taxes and controlling public spending. Contrary to what I expected, he consistently takes rhetorical positions to Bruton's right on the economy and crime
Another surprising thing is how little the moderator (Miriam O'Callaghan, still using an official RTÉ accent at this point) intervenes in the debate. Ahern and Bruton mostly just go back and forth; O'Callaghan occasionally intervenes to steer the debate but it's quite organic
Because of their respective coalition partners, the debate breaks down even more cleanly on centre-right/centre-left lines. Bruton is often criticised by Ahern for his partnership with "the Left": it's a long way from Bertie's born-again Socialism of a few years later
Both men criticise one another - a lot - for how badly each of their parties ran things in the 1980s. A recurring theme is that one of them will just throw out a year, like 1981 or 1986, as a byword for terrible governance on the other's part.
But what's really interesting about this to me is that its much more focused and substantive than what we see today. They only really discuss a handful of issues, but do so in a fair amount of detail. The focus of the debate is on policy much more than personality
It's interesting to me how clear the choice is. Both candidates and the presenter accept without debate that there are two alternative governments: FG/Labour/DL or FF/PDs. There are none of the questions about coalition options or ruling parties in and out that we see today
Bruton responds to a question on crime by speaking at length about how Bertie Ahern’s tax cuts would be better spent on remedial teachers for disadvantaged students and on helping young people with psychiatric problems who have wound up in prison through a lack of opportunity
Presumably worried he's coming off as too left-wing, he then reverts to type and starts talking about charging prison inmates for their incarceration
Fascinating to think about how things have changed since 1997. Of the small number of topics the potential Taoisigh make time to discuss, one is monetary policy (now run completely by the EU) and the other is how to achieve peace in Northern Ireland.
On Northern Ireland, Bertie Ahern sees his job as primarily representing the nationalist community. John Bruton says that he considers the unionist community to be Irish, and therefore just as much in need of the support and protection of the Taoiseach. Interesting difference
Some of the economic figures are quite baffling from a 2020s perspective: the higher rate of income tax is 48%, down from 52%, public debt is 32 billion pounds, and interest rates are in double digits
While I wouldn't take too much from watching one video, it probably has affected my assessment of both men. The Bertie Ahern I remember from my childhood was a chameleon figure, all things to all people; but here, he's purely a salesman for right-wing economic policy
Conversely, John Bruton is someone I've always thought of as a convinced economic conservative. And maybe he is - but at this debate in 1997, he's coming across as a totally convinced leader of a centre-left coalition government
Anyway, thanks very much for reading my thread. I wish more of these videos were available, and I'd be really interested to hear from anyone who remembers the 1997 campaign as to whether it felt like a more right-wing Fianna Fáil versus a more left-wing Fine Gael at the time
There's also a few clips available of the '97 debate between Dick Spring and Mary Harney which I'd love to be able to watch in full. Highlights include Harney self-identifying as a Blairite, to which Spring claims she is simply too right wing for Ireland https://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/688-elections/700-general-election-1997/139399-harney-and-spring-tv-debate/
"Mary, you can bring one prop into the debate with the leader of the Irish Labour Party tonight. What do you choose?"
He collapsed governments, he lost seats, he stayed in the Waldorf-Astoria at public expense. Still, there goes the best damn leader the Labour Party ever had.
