Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte has warned that the alternative to a pact with Fine Gael before the next general election could be a permanent Fianna Fáil-led Government which would corrode the character of Irish democracy.
In a speech in Cork last night Mr Rabbitte said he respected the view held by some within his party that Labour should go into the election on an independent platform. But he believed that if Labour committed itself to a credible alternative before the election, more and more people would vote for it.
"There are people who believe that they ought to be able to take it for granted that Fianna Fáil should be permitted to change partners and dance again.
"According to this view of politics, the only question is who will be Fianna Fáil's partner next time out. Thus if we swap partners, we can have permanent Fianna Fáil-led Government.
"That is bad for our democracy. There is no party better at using power to stay in power than Fianna Fáil. That kind of dominance gradually stacks the deck more and more against other parties, and corrodes the character of our democracy in so many small but important ways."
He said Labour's national conference in Tralee next month would approve the party's electoral strategy.
Acknowledging there were serious differences within the Labour party, he said: "I am sure that the debate on this occasion will be no less robust than in the past and that once decided, once the debate is over, the party will be totally united around the agreed strategy."
He said he was determined that Labour values and policies would be the driving force in any alternative government. Labour would not settle for "the situation that pertained in former times, when Labour ministers valiantly did their best to run so-called 'caring' departments within financial allocations set by others".
Voters' reaction to an alternative could not be measured until its potential partners put shape and substance to it.
"I believe that the partners to such an alternative can do precisely that, without compromising their own distinctive campaigns to maximise electoral support. If there is a credible alternative visibly on offer, with a broad but coherent agenda of reform, I am convinced that more and more people will vote for that alternative."