Leo slaps down FG junior minister for talk of SF coalition
JUNIOR Minister Jim Daly has been slapped down by his party after talking up a future Fine Gael-Sinn Féin coalition.
The Minister for Mental Health and Old Age said he has ‘no ideological objection’ to Sinn Féin forming part of the next Government.
Mr Daly acknowledged that it would be difficult to bridge the considerable gap in policy between the two parties, but added: ‘Politics is the art of doing – and who knows?
‘I don’t have an ideological objection. We live in a democracy. The will of the people has to be respected – and Sinn Féin’s mandate is as legitimate as any other party, as far as I’m concerned,’ Mr Daly told Hot Press magazine.
Last night, a spokesman for Leo Varadkar said ‘it was not an appropriate thing to say’.
‘Minister Daly certainly was not speaking on behalf of Government. The policies of Sinn Féin are far too radical, and far too different to the Fine Gael wing of Government,’ he said.
‘Mr Daly is a very capable minister, but he certainly wouldn’t be in a position to comment on the future coalition policies of Fine Gael.’
The spokesman added: ‘The Taoiseach has full confidence in his abilities as a minister.’
The spokesman ruled out any prospect of a coalition with SF, or even a confidence and supply agreement.
Quizzed about the comments, SF deputy leader Pearse Doherty left the door open for talks after the next election. ‘In terms of future coalitions, it’s up to the electorate,’ he said. ‘We’ve made it very clear... that we will enter into talks after an election, based on our mandate.
‘If we are in that position we will need a partner and if we’re in a junior position we will also need a partner. But it will be based on a republican programme for government.’
The development has sparked an angry reaction from Fine Gael’s backbenches, with Dublin-Northwest TD Noel Rock saying such a coalition wouldn’t happen in ‘the next 100 years’.
‘Sometimes people have a habit of misspeaking, especially during the Dáil recess. I expect that’s what happened with Minister Daly and I would expect him to clarify those comments, and I’m sure he will in the near future,’ Mr Rock told the Mail.
‘I think the majority of Fine Gael supporters would oppose it and, indeed, I think the majority of voters would oppose it.’ In February, while congratulating Mary Lou McDonald on her appointment as Sinn Féin president, Mr Varadkar also ruled out a coalition deal.
He said their economic policies and views on Europe made them ‘not fit for office’.
It is the second occasion in recent times that Fine Gael have backtracked on statements of support for Sinn Féin from one of their ministers.
Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty broke ranks in January last year to talk up a future coalition deal.
‘There are some incredible people in Sinn Féin; incredibly smart, articulate, thoughtful and could I work with them? Of course I could,’ she said.
This is the second time Minister Daly has been reprimanded by the Taoiseach in recent months. During Storm Emma, Mr Daly advised the elderly to leave their heating on 24/7, saying the Government would reimburse them.
The next day the Taoiseach clarified that the Minister’s comments were ‘not the advice of Government’, but days later was forced into an embarrassing climbdown.
‘Won’t happen in 100 years’
FINE Gael’s Jim Daly says, in principle, he has no objection to Sinn Féin being part of a government. In a sense, it’s hard to argue with the Junior Minister’s logic, given how we want the DUP to share power with its traditional enemy in order to restore devolved government at Stormont.
Against that, there is nothing to suggest, particularly from Mary Lou McDonald’s diehard nationalist rhetoric during her first ard fheis speech as Sinn Féin leader, that the country’s third-biggest party has cleaved from its Armalite-and-ballot-box strategy. But one only has to look at Sinn Féin’s economic policies to render questions about its fitness for democratic government somewhat immaterial.
Our new and better-than-expected growth figures bear out the effectiveness of prudent economic policies which respect business and seek to lower the tax burden on everyone. Sinn Féin’s economic policies, on the other hand, threaten to send us back into recession. Predicated on increasing taxation and hammering industries we depend on for so much employment and wealth creation, they risk unravelling our hard-won economic success.