Rabbitte rules out coalition with Fianna Fáil, but what about Labour?

PH01

So does this mean that Rabbitte will resign as party leader when FF and LAB form the next Government?

On this morning's Pat Kenny radio show the Rabbitte stated that "...as regards the electoral strategy I have risked my reputation as leader in constructing a platform with Fine Gael in order to ensure that the people will have the opportunity of an alternative government, and I have no intention of doing any business with Fianna Fáil"

Interesting that he didn't say "Labour has no intention of doing any business with Fianna Fail"

Or am I reading too much into this?

road_high

PH01 wrote:

So does this mean that Rabbitte will resign as party leader when FF and LAB form the next Government?

On this morning's Pat Kenny radio show the Rabbitte stated that "...as regards the electoral strategy I have risked my reputation as leader in constructing a platform with Fine Gael in order to ensure that the people will have the opportunity of an alternative government, and I have no intention of doing any business with Fianna Fáil"

Interesting that he didn't say "Labour has no intention of doing any business with Fianna Fail"

Or am I reading too much into this?

I think this has been debated to death. They (Labour) are quite clear in my view as regards coalition; their priority is with FG far as I can see.
I think the FF of course love this debate as it would mean another 5 years of unbroken power for them if Labour were to go in with them.

Jackz

I don't think he can say for definite that Labour will not. Some parties may be able to say that they will not go into government with another party because they are confident the party membership would agree. Have you heard Rabbitte answer No to this question; Will labour go into government with FF after the next election if it is not possible to do so with FG etc? I havn't.

Chakar

Pat Rabbitte said he has no agenda with Fianna Fáil after the election at the debate last night. I reckon he'll be replaced by either Brendan Howlin or Eamon Gilmore with the former being more likely to succeed in a leadership contest. This could happen if there is a hung Dáil with no other coalition except Fianna Fáil and Labour being able to achieve an overall majority.

PH01

mfitzy wrote:

They (Labour) are quite clear in my view as regards coalition; their priority is with FG far as I can see.

I agree that their (Labour) priority is with FG, but if the numbers don't make the mark then priority shifts.

And also it's interesting to see that Rabbitte says that he rules out coalition. Has he ever said that the Labour Party rules out coalition with FF? There's a lack of clarity here isn't there? As in today's interview...

When pressed by Pat Kenny as to whether there was "no possibility" of a coalition with Fianna Fáil, Mr Rabbitte said: "As far as I am concerned, Pat, there isn't."

Note that he didn't say "As far as the Labour Party is concerned, Pat, there isn't".

In politics, it isn't what they say which is important, it's what they don't say. And what is Rabbitte not saying?

28064212

If the only viable government after the election is FF/Labour, I think we'll see it, but with no Rabbitte and no Bertie. I think Labour are going to want a sacrifice to maintain a shred of credibility

Chakar

Pat Rabbitte couldn't say that the Labour party would oppose an coalition with Fianna Fáil. That would be completely unreasonable of Rabbitte to impose that on the party before an election. Anyway I'm sure the Labour party's priorities will change when they're unable to form a coalition with Fine Gael.

Though it has to be noted that Labour Youth and a substantial part the Labour membership would oppose a coalition with Fianna Fáil. There's no way Fianna Fáil will sacrifice Bertie Ahern.

DeepBlue

Chakar wrote:

There's no way Fianna Fáil will sacrifice Bertie Ahern.

If FF do badly in the election then they won't have any difficulty shafting Ahern if that's what it takes to secure a coalition. Arguably they made a mistake by sticking with him when the house payment fiasco broke last year as that issue has weighed them down like an anchor since the start of the election campaign.

If FF do badly electorally many in the party will probably wonder if they could have done a lot better if they'd gone into the campaign with the likes of Brian Cowen, Dermot Ahern or Michael Martin as leader.

PH01 wrote:

Interesting that he didn't say "Labour has no intention of doing any business with Fianna Fail"

Or am I reading too much into this?

I think you may be reading just a little bit much into it but it's easy to see why.

Rabbitte has never really decisively ruled out dealing with Fianna Fail afaik. If the numbers fall a certain way then he can say that while he "never intended" to work with Fianna Fail he can't ignore the will of the people etc etc.....

I think a significant minority of voters do think that an FF/Lab coalition will be the outcome of the election. FG may not get the numbers as they do have a huge mountain to climb as they lost so many seats the last time and Rabbitte can claim that he secured "a change in Government".