In the Middle East, the ultra right ruled successfully with the Labour Party

Early Saturday, Billy Kelleher, Fianna Fáil’s director of elections reaffirmed his party’s long-standing rejection of coalescing with Fine Gael. Mr Kelleher’s statement was made despite the fact that a coalition between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil appears to be the only viable option for government.

The populist perception that a coalition between these two bitter political rivals is impossible because of civil war legacy issues tends to dominate grass-roots discourse; the main emphasis of any argument is that these historical divisions would make any co-operation, if it took place, unsustainable, and that it would almost immediately implode.

This position is without nuance; it ignores the realities of 21st century Irish political culture where it is almost impossible to differentiate between the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil position on political, economic and social policy.

Moreover, this type of coalition is not without precedent; In 1984, an agreement was reached between two parties that were ideological opposites since the foundation of the state. However, this was not the economic basketcase that was Haughey’s Ireland; it was Israel where the ultra-right nationalists of the far-right Likud Party and the socialists of the Labour Party after a period of political limbo where neither movement could muster support from a plethora of smaller parties. The agreement dictated a rotating prime minister which saw Labour’s Shimon Perez assume the premiership for the first 26 months, while Likud’s Yitzhak Shamir would serve as prime minister for the remaining 26 months of the electoral cycle. Even the most optimistic political scientist did not forecast this coalition of ideological opposites lasting the full term, however, to everyone’s amazement, it did.

This was an example of bitter political foes, with legacy issues that certainly matched, if not actually superseded the bitter division between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil working together because there was no viable alternative.

Perhaps Mr Kelleher’s position is based on the populist but out-moded post civil war legacy of non-cooperation? However, in all likelihood it is, as Willie O’Dea argued on Sunday, to do with remaining the voice of moderate republicanism rather than ceding this position to a resurgent Sinn Féin.

If so, this would indicate Fianna Fáil is once more acting for self-serving political reasons rather than the national good.

Kevin McCarthy

Kinsale

Co Cork