Staying Right

In an Irish election, there can be no conservative swing--conservatism is a way of life. After the rebellion that brought independence from Britain in 1922, the Irish settled down to a succession of governments content to recall the heroics of the past rather than innovate or modernize. Last week's election was no exception, despite a strong bid for power by the Labor Party, which fielded a slate of intellectuals, most notably Dr. Conor Cruise O'Brien. A onetime United Nations representative in the Congo, and most recently Albert Schweitzer Professor at New York University, O'Brien returned to Ireland, as he put it, "to give this country a credible "alternative."

O'Brien came out for, among other things, a workers' democracy, abrogation of the Anglo-Irish free-trade treaty, and a neutralist foreign policy. Responding to the challenge, the ruling Fianna Fail (Soldiers of Destiny) Party, under Premier John (Jack) Lynch, campaigned against Labor's "alien ideology," and against O'Brien himself. Taking account of the fact that O'Brien has been divorced, they pinned on him the ironic label of "the new pope of Irish morality."

As it turned out, Fianna Fail captured 75 seats in the 144-seat Dail, or Parliament, three more than it had before. The equally conservative opposition party, Fine Gael, won 50 and Labor only 18. The result confirmed Lynch, a compromise choice for his party's leadership in 1966, as Taoiseach (chief of the clan) in his own right--and that the Irish are not yet ready for new departures.

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