Coalition options: The Progressive Democrats may encourage voters to offer second preferences to Fianna Fáil in the general election, but have ruled out a pre-election policy pact.
Though clearly favouring a renewal of the current FF/PD alliance, party delegates rejected a call for an advance agreement with their current government partners.
Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell reminded delegates that the party had suffered in 1989 and 1997 when they had pre-election deals with Fine Gael and with Fianna Fáil respectively.
Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens cannot win a majority on their own, he declared, and they would only survive with the help of left-wing independent TDs.
"The rainbow scenario, by any reasonable analysis, is a government which would be left dominated and dependent on the hard left," he told delegates attending the conference in the South Court Hotel.
Delegates agreed with, though they did not vote on, the tenor of a paper drafted by Mr McDowell, which argued that the PDs could enter a pact, rule one out completely or "send a clear message to voters" about second preferences.
However, a decision about whether to encourage PD voters to pass on their second preferences to Fianna Fáil would not be made until the campaign began and then only by the party's policy-making body, the general council.
Warning that the real choice facing voters is one between the PDs and Sinn Féin, he said Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness had already made it clear that they, Sinn Féin, are determined to win up to 16 seats and be the next Dáil's kingmaker. Though Mr McDowell said he accepted Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's word that he would not form a coalition with Sinn Féin, he said Mr Ahern could not stop it voting for him in a vote for Taoiseach.
If SF wins 16 seats, the only way they can be stopped from acting as kingmakers is by "a very unlikely grand alliance between FF and FG, or a complete abandonment by Labour of its declared position to do no business with FF, or an incoherent alliance between the PDs and the Rainbow and all the left splinter parties and TDs," he added.
The call for a pre-election pact with Fianna Fáil was made by Meath East general election candidate, Sirena Campbell, who said it would offer stable government: "I am hearing the voters tell me that they are relatively happy with this Government and many believe that there is no alternative to this current government."
Former Minister of State Liz O'Donnell said she believed voters will "vote for the return of a winning team" if the choice is between the current government and the rainbow.
"Why change a winning formula? Over the next year it will be our job to blow our own trumpet because nobody else will and challenge the contrived negativity about our achievements," said the Dublin South TD.
