Resistance in FF to backing minority FG government, say sources

There would be strong resistance from within Fianna Fáil to supporting a minority Fine Gael government from the opposition benches, party sources have said.

There is speculation that Fianna Fáil might agree to this arrangement in the aftermath of the expected failure of the new Dáil to elect a government next week.

While some Fianna Fáil TDs are ruling out a coalition with Fine Gael, others are equally adamant that supporting a minority government would be bad for the party.

“Keeping a minority Fine Gael government in power would leave it open to Sinn Féin and the other Opposition groups and Independents to hammer us every day,” one Fianna Fáil TD said. “We probably would not be thanked for it, not least when we would eventually pull the plug.”

Another Fianna Fáil source said the Tallaght strategy – the conditional support for a minority Fianna Fáil government, adopted by the then Fine Gael leader Alan Dukes in the 1980s – was of little benefit to his party. "Labour became the real opposition and swept to power in 1992."

The source said any policy concessions made by a minority Fine Gael government would not be sufficient to convince many of Fianna Fáil’s grassroots that the party was on the right strategy.

“What would Micheál Martin do at opposition leaders’ questions?” asked a source. “He could hardly criticise the taoiseach of a government he was keeping in power.”

A Fianna Fáil TD said there were conflicting messages from the organisation. “They do not want any arrangement with Fine Gael, but neither do they want an election.”