FG/Labour pact dead in the water, says Hayes

THE political pact struck between the two main opposition parties nearly three years ago is effectively dead in the water, according to a Fine Gael frontbench TD.

Brian Hayes, the party’s interim spokesman on health and a newly elected deputy, said the Mullingar Accord had reached its “end point”. Fine Gael and Labour agreed the pact in September 2004, primarily to offer voters an alternative government at election time.

It also acted as a blueprint for co-ordinating policies, council work and ultimately led to a voting pact.

Several leading Labour figures after the election though criticised the pact, saying it had damaged the party’s votes.

Disagreements between Fine Gael and Labour also emerged when the new Dáil sat. The parties broke ranks on the appointment of Labour’s Brendan Howlin as the Leas-cheann Comhairle.

Deputy Hayes has admitted that, in the short term, both parties will go their separate ways and any pact is now redundant. In an interview in the Irish Medical News, the Dublin South West TD said:

“I think it’s utterly right from Fine Gael and Labour’s perspective that we each paddle our own canoe over the next number of years.”

He added that the Mullingar Accord was, in effect, over.

The political alliance “had its end point” when the new Dáil met, he explained. Both parties “effectively had a blank canvas” and a duty to boost voters’ numbers nationwide, he said.

However, Deputy Hayes also added: “But that doesn’t mean we won’t be co-operating on a continuous basis, particularly in parliament.”

Fine Gael and Labour will no longer be publishing joint documents.

“I don’t think that is going to happen in the short term. Whether it happens on the other side of the local elections is another matter,” he said.

Labour yesterday admitted both parties may still join forces during Dáil time, but effectively any pact was finished.

“That is exactly the position. It was designed for the general election. (Joint policies) They’re not on the cards. we will co-operate on Dáil tactics but we will be pursuing our own agenda,” said a senior spokesman.

Fine Gael officially said it backed what its TD had said.

“There’s no pact for the foreseeable future,” explained a spokeswoman.