Fine Gael promises not to target ‘vulnerable’ Labour seats in General Election

Fine Gael will not target “vulnerable” Labour seats in the general election, because the party wants the Coalition returned to power, senior sources have revealed.

A new ‘Operation Save Labour’ strategy is to be rolled out by Fine Gael in the coming weeks to help the junior Coalition party recover to 10% in the opinion polls, between now and the election, which looks likely to be held on Friday, February 19.

Support for Tánaiste Joan Burton’s Labour party remains stuck in single digits. In the latest Red C poll, published yesterday, Labour were unchanged at just 7%, and the party expects to lose 20 seats.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is to host a meeting of all Fine Gael election candidates on December 9, in Dublin, to coordinate the new strategy. The collegiate approach is at the behest of Mr Kenny and marks a significant departure from a Coalition dogged by bitter infighting.

Last night, one Fine Gael Cabinet minister said that there was a realisation that a Fine Gael overall majority was not possible, so it makes sense to help Labour recover. “The Conservatives in Britain targeted Liberal Democrat seats to win a majority, but with our electoral system, an overall majority isn’t on the cards, so we won’t be targeting Labour seats,” the minister said.

Labour leader Joan Burton

Fine Gael’s messaging in the coming weeks will “reflect” the desire to help Labour recover and see the Coalition re-elected. “A lot of Labour seats are very vulnerable and they’ll be fighting it out with independents, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, for the last seat in many constituencies.

“Fine Gael wants the Government to be re-elected and our campaign and messaging will certainly reflect that. That’s why it’s important that as many spare Fine Gael votes as possible should transfer to Labour,” the minister added.

Mr Kenny and Ms Burton will do more joint announcements, as will Finance Minister Michael Noonan and his Labour counterpart, Brendan Howlin.

In conjunction with the Fine Gael strategy, Labour is to begin targeted criticisms of Fine Gael, to distinguish its role in Government, according to senior party sources. “Our message is about balance in Government. We will be saying the only way to achieve that is by having a strong Labour presence in there to balance the effect of Fine Gael,” said one party strategist.

Michael Noonan and Brendan Howlin

The purpose of the December 9 meeting is to bring together all TDs and senators who are contesting the election with new candidates who are not members of the Oireachtas. This is to help coordinate the party’s message.

“There is a feeling that those candidates who are not TDs or senators have been kept out of the loop and this will help address that,” said one Fine Gael strategist.

As for Labour, the party’s message will centre on balancing out the effect of Fine Gael in government.

“Balance is this big thing. We want to be as forward-looking as we can, what we want to talk about is that the Labour party can balance the next Government,” a senior party figure told the Irish Examiner. “One of the big reasons for not going in November was to allow the Budget changes take effect.”

Labour believe that the goodwill toward the Government back in January and February could be repeated in the new year.