Sinn Féin are too hot to handle for potential coalition partners seeking power

The truth is no matter how the numbers stack up after polling day entering into a coaltion with Sinn Féin would be a disastrous move, writes Alison O’Connor.

If the report into the status of paramilitaries in Northern Ireland proves anything it is that Sinn Féin is too politically toxic for coalition in the Republic. It would be very foolish indeed for another party to enter into such an arrangement with Sinn Fein after the general election.

Sometime things can be as plain as the nose on your face in politics, and indeed many voters have long since accepted the blurred lines between Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin and the IRA. But it takes something particular to happen to make the implications of that fully hit home, in this case an official report. I usually take with a very large pinch of salt any protestations prior to a general election from political parties, that they will absolutely never ever coalesce with party x or y. Give a politician a whiff of power and they’ll soon manage to find their way around even the stiffest of principles.