Irish Examiner View: Their first dance could be their last

If we were not otherwise distracted, otherwise so terribly pressed, it is easy to imagine that, this weekend, at least half of this society would enthusiastically midwife the prospect of a deal between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

The parties — tribes is a better description — seem a step closer to working together in coalition. And the sky has not fallen in.

Hurdles remain to be negotiated. First, they must win the support of, probably, Labour or at least eight others.

At this moment of huge uncertainty, it would be unwise to underestimate that challenge but it is not insurmountable.

Nevertheless, if it is to be done in a sustainable, authentic way, one that might in time seem like progress, it may be more complex than is obvious. Some of those complexities are emotional rather than political. Grandfathers, grandmothers too, may spin in graves but it is long past the time to turn a deaf ear.

As this coronalition seems to move a step closer, historians might remind us of the visceral divisions that, for too many generations, stood between this society and real progress.

The last newspaper librarians might dust off old pictures of those most vehemently opposed to political compromise — a few still haunt the land — so they might be used one last time but only if their successors can finally step over intransigence and antipathy so long dressed as principle.

Seamus Mallon’s infamous denounciation might be tweaked to describe the prospect as democracy for slow learners.

Coronavirus, and the dreadful legacy it promises, may bring about what should have happened decades ago.

Two parties with far, far more in common than they might care to admit lest their contrived differences be seen as transparent, might devote their energies to working together for the good of all rather than to undermining each other. Imagine.

The novelty of such an arrangement might inspire confidence and, for those of an optimistic bent, promise progress but it does not by any means guarantee it. Politics may be the art of the possible but possibility is not a panacea.

It may seem churlish to, at the moment the parties show they understand that co-operation is sometimes an obligation to point out that huge challenge awaits the next government.

The list is as long as it is well known but the next government has and advantage its predecessors did not. The pandemic has shown that shibboleths can, if there is the will, be toppled.

The move on private hospitals, for so long regarded as an impossible blasphemy, epitomises how the next government must finally, unflinchingly tackle institutionalised inequities. The social contract must be rejuvenated and be given a new relevance.

The lustre of the new has its own attractions but there are always caveats. Like a middle-aged couple who courted for far too long, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael may have left it too late.

Should they finally coalesce, they must bring real change, the kind they and their predecessors opposed. If they don’t, then justified oblivion awaits when they go to the country, and that may not be too far away.

Ironically, their first dance together could be their last unless they confound themselves, and others too, by making this marriage work.