Connacht Tribune
Stumbling blocks on every step of the road to Coalition
World of Politics with Harry McGee – harrymcgee@gmail.com
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar struck a note of optimism last Friday when he predicted that agreement could be reached on a programme for government by this weekend – but we are now well into the fourth week of negotiations and there’s no end is in sight.
The first few weeks found agreement on some of the supposedly easy issues – but the stickier ones have had to be kicked upstairs to be dealt with by the three leaders.
And there has been a bit of squabbling too.
Fianna Fáil suspects Fine Gael is not fully engaged and is still harbouring a second option. The Greens think Fine Gael is ideologically opposed to its key measures (which it probably is).
And Fine Gael thinks there is an air of unreality (and disconnectedness to the real world) about some of the Green proposals. And it also thinks Fianna Fáil is so desperate, it is willing to bend over backwards for the Greens.
The pace has been laboriously slow – but that’s the nature of this fragmented political landscape.
In a few days’ time, it will be four months since the election and we still do not have a government. Four of the Ministers who sit around the Cabinet either lost their seats or retired.
The Oireachtas can’t pass any legislation because there is not a properly constituted Seanad until an incoming Taoiseach names their eleven nominees. There’s a backlog of urgent legislation.
But at this stage, even having a government in place by the end of June seems optimistic.
Part of the problem has been social distancing. The rules that apply means the meetings can last no longer than two hours and then there must be a break. It has meant a maximum of three meetings a day.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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