Cute hoor and, by extension, "cute hoorism", is a cultural concept in Ireland where a certain level of corruption is forgiven - or sometimes even applauded - of politicians or businessmen. This phenomenon is sometimes attributed to postcolonialism and emigration in Ireland, but also to how historically passive income and patronage were favoured, in culture and in public policy, over entrepreneurship. But the concept also references how years of net emigration had led to a situation where having a network of powerful contacts created more opportunities for a school or college leaver than work ethic, talent or academic achievement.
Cute hoorism in politics has also come to refer to the phenomenon where, because of Ireland's multi-seat constituency proportional representation, single transferable vote system, political candidates often face more of a threat in re-election from a running mate in their party than from a rival in a party with substantially different political policies. Typically, a successful method of besting a rival with identical political beliefs is by being seen to be better at dealing with parish pump issues.
However, the phrase "cute hoor" is used more widely than this in politics in Ireland, particularly when referring to cynical tactics in general, such as the difference between pre-election campaigning and post-election coalition-forming. While such cynical tactics exist in most democracies, they are exacerbated in the Republic because of the Civil War, Partition and emigration, contributing to a situation where government was dominated by either one of two similar centre-right parties regardless of election results, and strict laws around censored works and restricted family planning services could be bypassed by a visit to Northern Ireland or Great Britain, where most Irish citizens had connections due to emigration.
Etymology
The phrase "cute hoor" is exemplary in Hiberno-English as it represents three different categories of the dialect: an English word with a distinct meaning in Ireland (cute, meaning shrewd), an Irish neologism in English based on Irish phonetics (hoor, derived from whore) and a compound phrase with a distinct meaning of its own (cute hoor). In the entry for "hoor", Dolan notes "it may be used affectionately as well as pejoratively, especially when qualified by the adjective 'cute'... 'that man's such a cute hoor he'd build a nest in your ear'".
The distinction between "whore" and "hoor" was significant enough for a discussion about it to be entered into Ireland's parliamentary record.
History
On 10 March 1983, the Evening Herald ran an article on Terry Leyden (with reference to him and his running mate Seán Doherty) in which the phrase was first used in print:"Few politicians understand the punters better than either. In local parlance they are cute "hoors". But it is hard to say which is the cutest.... in spite of national swings against Fianna Fáil they have managed to hold onto two out of the three seats n Roscommon over the past four elections.... If their political know-how could be repeated by Fianna Fail in other marginals Charlie Haughey would never have lost power." A few months later, 'cute hoor' was first entered in the Dáil record on 3 July 1983 by George Birmingham: "When the choice is presented to them between leadership and stroking, between courage and cowardice, vision and the philosophy of "the cute hoor", I have no doubt as to whom they will choose. The people have enough confidence in themselves to respond to leadership which is and will be on offer in 15 months' time."In both instances, the implication (by rival politicians and journalists) was that cute hoor politicians had improved their careers by prioritising local concerns over the national interest. The phrase accelerated in use during the 1980s and 1990s when repeated coalition governments collapsed after corruption scandals or because the support of independent politicians was withdrawn.
Re-Election of Controversial Politicians
While politics in Ireland in the 1990s was focused on high-minded goals such as building the Celtic Tiger and the Peace process, at the ground level matters relating to political corruption were collapsing governments and being discussed in election debates. Many issues relating to corruption in planning and public procurement were investigated by tribunals such as the Moriarty Tribunal or the Mahon Tribunal. However, these tribunals did not often lead to criminal convictions and many politicians identified as having acted in an improper manner not only were re-elected but were in a position to leverage a coalition as an independent T.D.