Mícheál Martin, Fianna Fáil and coalition with Sinn Féin

» John Hedges

An Phoblacht Editor

There is a danger that voters are going to be led up the garden path again by many of those who happily stood behind and with Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen.

SO, after the Milward Brown poll published at the weekend has Fianna Fáil coming top at 27% (two ahead of their Centre Right counterparts in Fine Gael), Mícheál Martin says he won’t lead into Fianna Fáil into coalition with Sinn Féin (20%) after the next Dáil general election.

He sees no compatibility between Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, especially on economics – which is not surprising seeing as he and fellow Fianna Fáil leaders were responsible when the speculators and developers laughed all the way with the banks, unhindered by 'light touch' regulation.

Fianna Fáil’s only real difference with Fine Gael today is that FG is in power and FF is not. They both broadly have the same economic outlook.

It’s Sinn Féin that pundits should be asking if they’d share power with Fianna Fáil!

Matt Cooper, the Today FM radio drivetime host and commentator is astonished by the Fianna Fáil revival.

In his column in the Irish Examiner on Friday 15 February (before the weekend poll), Cooper wrote under the heading: “Fianna Fáil elephant in the room still there but we have the memory of a goldfish.”

Cooper pointed out that it was Fianna Fáil in government – when Mícheál Martin was at the top table – “in November 2010, that promised the lending troika of the IMF, ECB and EU that, as one of the terms and conditions, in return for the provision of money, it would introduce a property tax in the Budget for 2012”.

Cooper continues:

“The sheer effrontery of Fianna Fáil seemingly knows few bounds.

“It is campaigning now against cuts to the Garda budget when again it agreed the cuts in staff numbers with the troika, cuts the current government is now implementing.

“This week, Michael McGrath reacted to the broadcast of a major documentary on Irish Nationwide Building Society by demanding that a special report compiled by accountants Ernst & Young be published. This would be entirely reasonable coming from anybody else. Brian Lenihan as Finance Minister received those reports eight months before leaving office. Fianna Fáil hid them. [Our emphasis.]

“Of course it is helped by the fact that both Fine Gael and Labour, while in opposition, called for the immediate publication of the report but is now suppressing it.”

There is a danger that voters are going to be led up the garden path again by many of those who happily stood behind and with Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen.

Mícheál Martin was one of them.