Fianna Fáil is a National Movement. Its aims are:-
(i) To secure in peace and agreement the unity of Ireland and its people.
(ii) To develop a distinctive national life in accordance with the diverse traditions and ideals of the Irish people as part of a broader European culture, and to restore and promote the Irish language as a living language of the people.
(iii) To guarantee religious and civil liberty, and equal rights, equal treatment and equal opportunities for all the people of Ireland.
(iv) To develop the resources and wealth of Ireland to their full potential, while making them subservient to the needs and welfare of all the people of Ireland, so as to provide the maximum sustainable employment, based on fostering a spirit of enterprise and self-reliance and on social partnership.
(v) To protect the natural environment and heritage of Ireland and to ensure a balance between town and country and between the regions, and to maintain as many families as practicable on the land.
(vi) To promote the family, and a wider sense of social responsibility, and to uphold the rule of law in the interest of the welfare and safety of the public.
(vii) To maintain the status of Ireland as a sovereign State, as a full member of the European Union and the United Nations, contributing to peace, disarmament and development on the basis of Ireland’s independent foreign policy tradition.
(viii) To reform the laws and institutions of State, to make them efficient, humane, caring and responsive to the needs of the citizen.
These are the ideals of Fianna Fáil. FF may not have lived up to these ideals in recent times but it doesnt make them any less relevant or worth striving for.
With all the media spin against FF, its easy to forget the following;
- Ireland has one of the best living standards in the world.
- Ireland until recently was praised as having one of the best educational standards in the world (compare university prices here to other countries and you will see that equality of opportunity is much higher here)
- Ireland is a relatively peaceful country, even more so since the good friday agreement (in which FF played an integral part).
- Ireland has one of the most generous social welfare systems in the world.
FF has helped shape this country into something we can be proud of even in our current difficulties.
Its all very well to knock FF for making mistakes but as a party they have done more for improve this country that any other party. No other party comes close to the impact that FF has had on our society and there were good reasons why the people of Ireland chose to re-elect FF so many times.
If FF can get back to its core ideals like Eamonn O'Cuiv states and clears out the carpetbaggers only in it for themselves, then FF could be a force for good in this country again.