Too soon?
How long will this useless government last?
‘sheet political analyst Shane Heneghan writes:
Fianna Fáil have put themselves on a tight rope trying to balance leadership of the opposition and prop up the government on issues of confidence and supply. The incentive for them to pull the plug in the event of them performing well in a few stray polls may prove unbearable.
Fine Gael may not be in too different a position to them and may feel the lure of another election in time if this arrangement starts to feel more and more like a hostage situation.
Unless, of course, Stockholm syndrome takes over and given how close the pair of them are ideologically that idea is not to be ruled out.
Sinn Féin probably stand to benefit the most from the situation as they can easily portray this deal as a cosy elite consensus that offers no real leadership. Only Gerry Adams’ twitter account stands between them and more gains.
Unless, of course Labour make a decent crack at recovery. It was interesting to see them vote against Kenny’s final nomination and it will be fascinating to see if any of their grievances from the last government are exposed or leaked in the coming weeks and months.
One of the issues Labour campaigned on was a referendum to repeal the 8th amendment. If they are wise and if they can, they should table a vote on the matter in the Dáil.
It won’t pass, of course, but it will be interesting for voters to see where certain members stand on the issue- particularly Sinn Féin who have been remarkably ambiguous on the matter.
With the appointment of Katherine Zapponne there are now two openly LGBT senior members of cabinet out of 15 – that’s 13% – a European/International record perhaps?
This is, of course, another small victory in terms of visibility and representation. But perhaps what’s more progressive still is that no one even bats an eye lid at this – it’s simply not an issue any more.
Shane Heneghan is a Brussels-based psepholig sepho psiv poltical scientist person.
Related: The 32nd Dáil: A Look Ahead