Colm Keaveney - The same difference

If the declaration by Bertie Ahern that he was one of the few socialists in the Dáil provoked a degree of mirthful scepticism, then yesterday’s announcement that former Labour Party chairman Galway East TD Colm Keaveney had joined Fianna Fáil confirmed again that our three main parties are more or less interchangeable, centrist and conservative.

They are parties divided more by personalities than philosophies.

The change is almost as remarkable as the statistic it generates: Mr Keaveney’s enrolment will bring that once proud party’s Dáil representation up to a mere 20.

Mr Keaveney shares his Galway East constituency with Fianna Fáil grandee Ceann Comhairle Michael Kitt so, come election time, he may discover that he is, as he might blithely describe himself, incidis in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdim — out of the frying pan into the fire.