COALITION TALKS:WHILE FINE Gael suggested over the weekend that it would talk to other TDs and groupings, the strong view of senior deputies from the party last night was that the only realistic coalition was a coalition with Labour.
A number of senior TDs in Fine Gael and Labour have experience of coalition negotiations. Four of Labour’s current front bench, including party leader Eamon Gilmore, were involved in negotiations for the three-party coalition between 1994 and 1997. Ruairí Quinn and Brendan Howlin represented Labour, while Pat Rabbitte and Mr Gilmore represented Democratic Left, which later merged with Labour.
Fine Gael enterprise spokesman Richard Bruton, a brother of then taoiseach John Bruton, was one of Fine Gael’s negotiating team.
There was no contact between the parties yesterday. Mr Gilmore said he would wait to hear from Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny while Mr Kenny’s colleagues indicated no contact would be made until today. A spokesman last night confirmed the party would begin the process of contacting potential government partners today. He said the government must be formed quickly and the party’s negotiating team would be named by lunchtime today.
There was speculation last night that the party’s director of elections, Phil Hogan, would be centrally involved. The Fine Gael leader signalled as much when speaking this weekend.
“This has got to come together very quickly. We have no time to lose. We have no time to waste,” Mr Kenny told RTÉ. “We will look at the outcome. We will look at whatever options there are for the formation of government.
“We do not want a situation where this is dragged out. I will be deciding on it quickly,” he said.
He said his imperative was to give people and the country a strong government with a stable mandate, but he would not be drawn on the concessions he expected from Labour, or the ones Fine Gael might have to make.
Labour said “the ball is very much in Fine Gael’s court”. A spokesman added: “They are the biggest party. We are certainly willing to talk to them. [It is understandable] they are keeping their options open until they see the final seat allocation.”
Fine Gael’s communications spokesman, Leo Varadkar, said the make-up of the coalition and its programme for government would have to reflect the comparative strengths of the parties.
“Any project for government would have to reflect the will of the people and that is that Fine Gael has won twice as many seats as Labour has,” Mr Varadkar said.
A senior figure with experience of coalition negotiation told The Irish Timesthat both parties were very familiar with each other's "red-line issues" and negotiations could conclude very quickly, certainly within a week.
“Both parties have manifestoes. It will be very easy to identify areas of difficulty and areas of commonality,” said the TD, who wished not to be named. “The red-line issues are well-known and can be parked. We find what’s common and agree a programme. If there are still gaps, the party leaders can come in and have a role to play on some of those issues.”
