Centrists urged to unite to block extremes

The chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission has warned the “forces of the centre” need to unite if the country is to avoid a period of political instability and a series of elections in quick succession which could undermine the recovery.

Kieran Mulvey said the country appeared to be entering a period of parliamentary uncertainty where potentially the balance of power after the next election might be held between “independent-minded groupings of the ultra-left and the hard right”.

“It is time for the forces of the centre to unite if we are to avoid a period where, having done all the heavy lifting in the ‘austerity period’, we arrive in a period of political instability or potentially a series of national elections in quick succession which could undermine our recovery,” Mr Mulvey said in a recent speech obtained and reproduced by Industrial Relations News.