Labour keeps well away as FF look like the Toxic Troops

FIANNA FÁIL ears must have been burning yesterday. And what was being said about them was not good.

The Soldiers of Destiny are now the Toxic Troops. Like the country they govern, their stock is on the floor. Nobody wants anything to do with them (Except for the Greens, still aspiring earnestly in the field of purification as they trickle towards the plughole with their senior partners).

Even the Labour Party, a coalition trollop if ever there was one, is keeping well away.

Yesterday in Waterford, Eamon Gilmore couldn’t have been more explicit in his rejection of FF as a government partner had he torn up a picture of Brian Cowen and set fire to an effigy of Dev.

Short of waving a bargepole and wearing a beekeeper’s helmet, there wasn’t much more he could do to press home his point.

But no matter how many times he stressed to journalists that “the Labour Party will not be going into coalition with Fianna Fáil – not under any circumstances” they kept coming back with questions to make sure he meant what he had said.

The confusion started at the beginning of the party’s annual parliamentary party think-in at Faithleg House Hotel, when Gilmore said Labour “will put Fianna Fáil out of government. Full stop”. So far, so good. But then he added: “We’ve no plans to share power with Fianna Fáil.”

Alarm bells went off. The sentence was taken apart and analysed and suddenly, it was decided that Eamon had very definitely left the door open for future discussions.

No plans now, but what about later? These think-ins can be pretty dull affairs. If it wasn’t for the nice dinner and surroundings – Faithleg House and golf course looked wonderful yesterday – they’d be a complete dead loss. Any nugget of a story to emerge is gratefully grabbed.

Suddenly, there it was. Eamon Gilmore and the Labour Party is offering a lifeline to embattled Biffo and Fianna Fáil. He hasn’t slammed the door on them yet.

In the end, Eamon had to go live on TV3 news to say there isn’t a chance, not if hell freezes over, of his party throwing in its lot with Fianna Fáil after the next election. Then he had to hold an impromptu press conference to say it again.

So you’re not going in with FF? “No, they are not people we want to be in government with.” Sure? “We will not be going into government with Fianna Fáil.” Really? “After the next election, we will not go into coalition with Fianna Fáil.” But what if? “We want to put Fianna Fáil into opposition.” And on it went.

But if the collapse is as catastrophic as many are predicting, Eamon could become taoiseach in a coalition with Fianna Fáil as the smaller party. That’s tempting.

No. Not going to happen. No chance.

Deputy Gilmore became increasingly frustrated with the questioning, which continued until the journalists blew themselves out.

We tiptoed over.

“Eh, so that’s a no then?” We were lucky to escape alive.

This coalition question is a permanent thorn in Labour’s side. While the two larger political parties can get on with the job of talking themselves up, the party leadership is permanently stuck with having to declare what horse they intend to back after each election.

This constant harping on about coalition partners drives them mad – far better to keep your options open.

Members have always felt aggrieved by the media’s unswerving focus on their post-election strategies, grumbling that they’re damned

if they say anything and damned if they don’t.

Fudge and plenty of it, has always been the preferred solution.

But not yesterday, when Gilmore nailed his colours to the mast. Most unusual.

Of course, having extracted the desired defining statement, some observers began wondering

if Gilmore had now boxed

himself into a corner. Political leaders are not very keen on commitment and giving hostages to fortune.

But from where the Labour Party is currently standing – “an entirely new place” says Eamon – refusing to do business with Fianna Fáil seems a good bet.

“They’re poisonous now,” commented a handler, supplying a succinct explanation for Gilmore’s uncompromising stand.

Avoid at all costs.