The insistence by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that they need a third party and a majority in the Dáil before they sign up to a deal is irresponsible.
The timetable outlined at the end of last week is, frankly, incredible. Agreement by the teams on Friday, leaders getting the document on Monday night, meeting on Tuesday and then transmitting it to smaller parties within a few days.
What crisis?
Are we really to believe that the party leaders aren’t fully briefed on every word of the document? As someone with experience of six or so of these sorts of negotiations I know this isn’t the case.
It’s understandable that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael want a majority government; there are very difficult decisions post-Covid-19.
However, the immediate, important and urgent decisions of dealing with the pandemic need to be taken now. Any new government will be legislatively bullet-proof in the Dáil if they continue following the health experts’ advice.
Public health decisions are being taken on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer and health experts. However, decisions outside health, that affect our future post-Covid should not be taken by a caretaker government.
Within the next month decisions will need to be made about how the economy emerges from an induced coma. We will also need to decide what supports need to be extended or removed. In other words, the health statistics we watch every evening will become an input into a wider decision-making policy matrix that requires a set of ministers in situ.
The reality is that:
- The glacial pace of these discussions is theatrics and has no place in the face of Covid-19.
- The parties do not need to insist that a third party come on board.
- This prevarication threatens to undermine the credibility of a future government.
Some will cynically place the delay at the feet of Fine Gael saying they are enjoying positive opinion poll figures arising from their competent handling of the current crisis.
The reality is that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are keen to broaden the government base to all centre parties. This adds ballast to the future government but it has the extra bonus of weakening a Sinn Féin-led opposition.
In addition, another party or two would suffice to rebuff Sinn Féin’s accusation that a Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael Government doesn’t look like “change”.
At a minimum the two larger parties hope their efforts will result in some type of “confidence-and-supply” deal with one or more of the smaller parties. Labour certainly seem to be open to this.
Regardless of whether any other parties come on board, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael would only have to get the support of seven or eight opposition deputies to get legislation through.
Even if they fail to get anybody else on board is it credible to suggest that a combination of Sinn Féin, Green Party, Social Democrats, Labour Party, People Before Profit/Solidarity, Aontù and five Independents will be easy to muster to defeat a Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael government? The chance of that happening is so remote as to be negligible.
By all means try to get some other party on board. Send them the framework document and set a deadline for finalising any negotiations. The next government deserves at least 10 days in office to read themselves in before the next set of actions are decided on and announced.
So, let’s get on with it.
Noel Dempsey was a Fianna Fáil TD between 1987 and 2011 and held several ministries including transport from 2007-2011