A chara, – The suggestion from Nollaig MacCanna (Letters, January 21st) that "a grand coalition of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil might be best for the country" is not new, having previously been floated by several letter-writers, including myself (March 26th, 2016).
Such a coalition would require party leaders who are willing to put the good of the country before party, and I suspect that neither Leo Varadkar nor Micheál Martin are sufficiently brave or confident to be such leaders. – Is mise,
GREG SCANLON,
Shannon,
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Co Clare.
Sir, – I wonder if I am alone in finding Nollaig MacCanna’s justification for the desirability of a grand coalition of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael forming the next government thoroughly perplexing. He describes how Fianna Fáil “ruined the economy” while in office and how Fine Gael “utterly failed the people”, and yet he apparently sees no contradiction in arguing that a coalition of these same parties would provide “strong and stable government”. Indeed he goes further to say that such a coalition is “the only way that these vital issues can be tackled in a focused and coherent way”.
If one were to hold such a dim view of both of these parties’ records in office, can fervent calls for government by both of them really be logically sustainable? – Yours, etc,
CHRISTOPHER
McMAHON,
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.