Paddy wants to know when ...Date for an election

THE will-she-won’t-she pantomime around an early election hardly inspires confidence and should be resolved one way or another before the fever animating Leinster House unnecessarily wakes backbenchers of all persuasions slumbering so very contentedly.

Some years ago a defined lifetime of a Dáil was established and this innovation added considerably to the stability of political life. If this destabilising silliness around when an election might be called — “in the best interests of the country” — continues if might be worth considering setting a date in the last year of a parliament’s lifetime by whch an election date must be declared.

It seems that the coalition is split on the issue. Fine Gael hope to be returned to office for the Christmas celebrations but Labour are far more reticent. It is hard not to think that Mr Kenny might conclude that the country’s interests might best be served by an early election if he was certain that he would not, after an election, need Labour support.