ANALYSIS:Labour mean the next election to be a three-way contest, writes DEAGLÁN DE BRÉADÚN, Political Correspondent
THE DUTY of oppositions is to oppose; surely nothing could be simpler? You take every opportunity to trip up the government and expose them as an irresponsible bunch of political layabouts who should be put out of office as a matter of national urgency.
Except that in the real world of Irish politics it’s more complicated. Fine Gael had let it be known for some time that it was going to take a much tougher attitude towards pairing arrangements in the Dáil with the Government.
That was reflected in the main Opposition party’s decision to refuse a request from Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills Mary Coughlan for a Fine Gael deputy to stand down for any Dáil votes that might occur while she was on an investment trip to the US this week.
No way, was the Fine Gael response: we’re not allowing any pairs except for meetings of the EU Council of Ministers, the North-South Ministerial Council and, of course, genuine cases of illness. Government sources insisted last night that it was normal practice for the Tánaiste to leave it until last Friday to apply for a pair in relation to a conference planned during the term of office of her predecessor, Batt O’Keeffe.
However, there was also the fact that she was due to take questions tomorrow in the Dáil on the controversial internal workings of Fás, the State training and employment agency.
Even the most benign Opposition elements would have to question whether this was purely coincidence, or was the Minister trying to pull a political fast one?
For Fine Gael, the entire business should have been as easy as taking candy from a baby, except that this Government has gone past the infant stage and, for all its mistakes, has also learned a thing or two along the way.
The point was made by Government sources that the refusal to allow Coughlan to promote investment and job-creation in the US was a major embarrassment to recession-struck Ireland. Fine Gael's stance was beginning to raise eyebrows but education spokesman Fergus O'Dowd stood his ground well on RTÉ's Morning Ireland. However, as the day went on, he found his Labour counterpart was taking a different view.
Ruairí Quinn’s attitude was that, if the Tánaiste’s trip was a serious trade mission rather than a junket, then she should be allowed go and Labour would facilitate her. He was impressed by an interview on RTÉ’s News at One where Enterprise Ireland chief executive Frank Ryan emphasised the importance of having a senior Government representative on the trade mission.
Quinn had consulted Labour leader Eamon Gilmore and other senior party figures before going public on the issue. Having been a minister himself and taken part in numerous trips to promote job-creation, he was prepared to put aside his political criticisms of the Tánaiste in what he saw as the broader national interest. Labour’s stance was the first major public breach in what has amounted to an informal united front against the Government since the parties took different positions on the bank guarantee scheme two years ago.
Fine Gael was now on the back foot and striving to recover lost ground. O’Dowd highlighted the fact that a key conference of guidance counsellors in St Louis, Missouri, was taking place over three days – Thursday, Friday and Saturday – and that the Tánaiste could still take Dáil questions tomorrow and head off to the US on Thursday morning.
O’Dowd also had a few “digs” at Labour while he was at it, but Fine Gael and especially party leader Enda Kenny had learned a sharp lesson, the smaller party mean it when they say the next election is “a three-way contest”.