‘Politics is about compromise’
“In any coalition scenario you will have people who will find it difficult to accept, but this is a very unusual situation.”
Those are the insights of newly elected Fine Gael (FG) TD for Cork North Central Colm Burke in light of Tuesday’s historic agreement between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to enter into a coalition majority government.
The leaders of each party, Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar, met on Tuesday to finalise the agreement which will work towards establishing a five-year government, on the basis that at least on more party joins them in government.
It is believed that both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael would welcome working with the Green Party in power, with one condition of the coalition stating that any new government must put sustainability at the heart of fiscal policy. Although the agreement means a government may be a step closer, the Labour Party and the Green Party are not keen to go into government with the two parties, so a new government is far from certain.
“I have no difficulty with any party as long as it's constructive and we don't have a fallout every second month about an issue. Politics is about compromise,” Mr Burke told the Cork Independent.
Fianna Fáil councillor for Cork City South-East, Terry Shannon told the Cork Independent that he believes Ireland is in need of a stable government, however it will “not be plain sailing”.
He said: “The options available to us, especially now with this pandemic, are fairly limited. We made it clear that we're not going in with Sinn Féin. There are issues between ourselves and FG, there's no doubt about that, historically and otherwise.
“The writing's on the wall. You don't have to be Einstein to understand where we're going. This has to be done. We need a stable government.”
The agreement between the two parties calls for a “full and equal partnership”, with both parties now calling on smaller parties to declare their interest in joining them in government.
Commenting on whether the Green Party will enter in the new government, Cllr Shannon said that he feels the party has taken themselves out of contention. “The Greens seem to have taken themselves off the pitch. They seem to think their seats are more important than climate change,” he said.
Meanwhile, in Mayo, Fine Gael councillors have unanimously stated that they do not want to enter into a coalition government with Fianna Fáil, citing the party’s third place finish in the 2020 general elections among their reasons.