Spring: FG reliant on independent TDs will fail

FORMER Tánaiste Dick Spring, who led Labour into two coalition governments with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, has said a Fine Gael government depending on support from independents is doomed to failure.

Speaking in Adare where he was canvassing with Limerick (County) Labour candidate James Heffernan, Mr Spring said: “If we have a minority government depending on independents there will be another general election within 12 months.”

He said if Labour and Fine Gael have the numbers, there won’t be any insurmountable problems in drawing up a programme for government.

Mr Spring said: “I have been an observer of politics for a long time.

“I think it’s in the country’s best interest to have a balance between Fine Gael and Labour if are going to tackle the huge financial and fiscal problems that this country is facing. They won’t have time for petty rows on the fringe, because the problems are so huge.”

Mr Spring said most people want a Fine Gael/Labour coalition.

“I think a balance between Fine Gael and Labour would be in the best interests of the country.

“I think we need a government with a strong working majority in the Dáil because the challenges facing the incoming government will be as great if not greater than any government we have ever elected in the history of the State,” he said.

On the current ongoing clashes between the two parties, Mr Spring said that once the votes are counted, Fine Gael and Labour could sit down and work out a programme for government.

He said it was the right of both parties to seek to maximise their votes in the campaign. “That is understandable,” he added.