[gandalf]

Looks like the labour party are ruling out going into Government with FF if the Sindo is to believed.

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independe...p3?ca=9&si=663

Gandalf.

[johnKarma]

the link seems to be broken. I'd be surprised if they did rule it out though, didn't they vote that they would go into coalition with FF at their annual conference?

[gandalf]

Hmm dunno why that link isn't working heres the text anyway

Labour rules out FF coalition - even if it means extra election

LABOUR leader Ruairi Quinn has hinted that he will not form a coalition Government with Fianna Fail - even if the decision triggers a second general election next year.
Mr Quinn insists that his party may choose not to do a deal with Bertie Ahern after the summer poll.
This is likely to cause further consternation in Fianna Fail in the wake of Ruairi Quinn's "get the bastards out" comments earlier this month.

Recent opinion polls show that Fianna Fail would almost certainly need co-operation from Labour to retain power and that an alternative rainbow administration would be impossible to form. However, the Labour leader and former finance minister says he will act in the best interests of the Labour Party - a move that could send the electorate back to the ballot boxes for a second time.

"We will certainly have the prospect of being in Government. We may choose not to go into Government if we feel it is inappropriate," Mr Quinn told the Irish Independent. Senior Labour strategists feel the party was punished by voters in the last election for coalescing with Albert Reynolds and Fianna Fail in 1992.

At the time, a FF/Labour administration was the only possible Government. Then Labour leader and Tanaiste, Dick Spring, argued that he had acted in the national interest.
"The (Labour) party has a good record of putting the national interest first and hasn't always been rewarded subsequently by the electorate," said current leader Ruairi Quinn. Mr Quinn has indicated that he is willing to sacrifice his own political career in order to cut the best deal for the party.

"I will not take any action, no matter what the short-term advantages may be if it is not in the interests of the Labour Party," he said.

Karl Brophy, Political Correspondent