Rabbitte refuses to rule out coalition with FF

LABOUR leader Pat Rabbitte has refused to categorically rule out a coalition with Fianna Fáil after the next election, in an apparent softening of his previous hardline stance.

Since forming a pre-election pact with Fine Gael, he has repeatedly insisted his goal is to “replace the parties in Government”.

Asked last year about a Fianna Fáil-Labour alliance, he said: “How can people say to me I am supposed to provide full-blooded opposition to the Government for the next two years and then put them back in Government?”