Could a Government be formed without FF or FG?

Slideshowbob

With the polls giving FF and FG less than 50% between them could a rainbow coalition of the others be formed????

NSNO

God I hope not :eek:

Theoretically, yes. But it would mean Lab, SF, Greens, ULA and some independents forming a coalition. I would bet a mortgage on that coalition not going full term as there are too many different policies to think about.

There could be more chance if FG drop votes to Lab and a Lab/SF with possibly ULA (Honestly, I shudder at the thought) or Greens (ditto)

I can't see any independents in government this term. I'm pretty certain it'll be FG/LAB or LAB/FG come Feb 26th

Liam Byrne

Slideshowbob wrote: »

With the polls giving FF and FG less than 50% between them could a rainbow coalition of the others be formed????

Hopefully not, because the numbers would imply that the rainbow would include SF, the party with the second-most recent history of giving law & order the two fingers.

the groutch

labour and sinn fein would need to win almost every marginal seat to have any chance

johnmcdnl

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Hopefully not, because the numbers would imply that the rainbow would include SF, the party with the second-most recent history of giving law & order the two fingers.

when are the history lessons going to end - it's not SF's policies today that have left the country the way it is today...

Hannibal

johnmcdnl wrote: »

when are the history lessons going to end - it's not SF's policies today that have left the country the way it is today...

for that particular poster "history" lessons will never end.
I could see a Lab/SF coalition work but if they get the numbers but I somehow could see FG/FF supporting each other to prevent this from happening. At the same time I think FG/Lab would be a disaster for the country and wouldnt last 3 years, which will result in a swell of support back towards FF and they will come back on the crest of a wave.

mikemac

Paddy Power will give you 50/1 for this

Miserly odds, should be a lot higher then that

johnmcdnl

Dotsey wrote: »

for that particular poster "history" lessons will never end.
I could see a Lab/SF coalition work but if they get the numbers but I somehow could see FG/FF supporting each other to prevent this from happening. At the same time I think FG/Lab would be a disaster for the country and wouldnt last 3 years, which will result in a swell of support back towards FF and they will come back on the crest of a wave.

the fact that we're considering a FF/FG coalition in itself seems sureal - to think we'd be even considering it somehow even 2-3 years ago...

as for FG/Lab - it's kind of like USA/North Korea teaming up except less radical - their parties on either side of the spectrum how do they get policies to suit the left and the right at the same time
I know a lot of people wouldn't like to see Lab/SF - but at least their political ideologues are similar enough to prevent every single bill being held up in negotiating between coalition partners

I can't see SF doing well enough to be in this position but I do think at the end it'll be close enough to get a majority and most independents will probably side with FG..

FG will be the top pollers and independent will make up enough of the vote to be able to join FG - that's how I hope it ends up rather than an amalgamation of different policies in some sort of mad rainbow government...

Not that I support FG's policies with huge enthusiasm - but because it'll bring some form of stability - and let hope that FG might swap Enda Kenny out within the first year of government..

Liam Byrne

johnmcdnl wrote: »

when are the history lessons going to end - it's not SF's policies today that have left the country the way it is today...

You can't single out a word within a phrase. I said "most recent history", as in approx 18 months ago.

Oasis_Dublin

johnmcdnl wrote: »

the fact that we're considering a FF/FG coalition in itself seems sureal - to think we'd be even considering it somehow even 2-3 years ago...

That is not a serious consideration on FG's part. It is the Martin looking to dirty the name of FG by association with FF.

johnmcdnl wrote: »

as for FG/Lab - it's kind of like USA/North Korea teaming up except less radical - their parties on either side of the spectrum how do they get policies to suit the left and the right at the same time

It's not like that at all! Fine Gael are slightly more to the right of centre than FF (let's call it right-centre-right!) Labour are centre-left. There may well be some ideological disagreements but going into coalition is all about being willing to negotiate in order to get legislation passed, not being as stubborn and dogmatic as possible.

bryanw

johnmcdnl wrote: »

when are the history lessons going to end - it's not SF's policies today that have left the country the way it is today...

And I hope they never get that chance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UoGl78MzWY

chucken1

Slideshowbob wrote: »

With the polls giving FF and FG less than 50% between them could a rainbow coalition of the others be formed????

I've often wondered that myself over the years.
I've always thought it would be a good idea..I mean,why not?
The usual suspects ping ponging over and back has'nt worked..so why not think outside the box?
Surely they could pull together if it came to it?!

johnmcdnl

bryanw wrote: »

And I hope they never get that chance:

why not??? FF's economic policies seemed great so they got elected - turned out they were the worst ideas ever and left us the way we are today - How much worse could SF have done possibly????

Seth Brundle

johnmcdnl wrote: »

why not??? FF's economic policies seemed great so they got elected - turned out they were the worst ideas ever and left us the way we are today - How much worse could SF have done possibly????

We need a competent government, not the lesser of two evils. We settle for cronyism and corruption when we should be insisting on having an inspiring cabinet that can succesfully lead the country and not spend their tenure chasing their tail. Personally, I don't think any of them out there currently can do this.
SF are not competent. FF aren't either. the only difference is that SF have been telling us that they know little about economics whereas FF have shown us.

Kinski

There's probably a greater chance of an FG/FF coalition. A poster from P.ie has a blog (http://irishpollingreport.wordpress.com/) where he projects seat numbers based on opinion polls; his most recent post projects a combined 84 seats for those two parties, based on today's Sunday Business Post poll (not that this will necessarily reflect the eventual result). FG/Lab is still far more likely than any of the other possibilities.

johnmcdnl wrote: »

the fact that we're considering a FF/FG coalition in itself seems sureal - to think we'd be even considering it somehow even 2-3 years ago...

It's often been suggested though, ironically often by people on the left (e.g. Fintan O'Toole). There seems to have been some kind of assumption that having the two ideologically-similar main parties joining together would create a space for left-wing parties to grow and eventually lead to a Labour-led coalition of leftists.

Dotsey wrote: »

At the same time I think FG/Lab [...] wouldnt last 3 years

They've worked together before, and would enjoy an enormous majority...