A ‘New Ireland Coalition’

Una Mullally isn’t wrong in arguing that at the next election 

From the nitrates derogation to addressing the intensification of agriculture, from biodiversity to emissions, from getting cars out of cities to forestry, it would make sense for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to align themselves with Independent Ireland and other right-wing Independents as potential coalition partners, and jettison those pesky Greens. That’s probably quite a depressing vista for plenty of people. But hey, who cares about the planet when there are votes to be got?

Sinn Féin will not be able to sell its message of “change” if it is offering something similar. To capture volatility, vacuum and verve, it’s pretty obvious that presenting a left-wing coalition to the electorate before the general election would immediately define a Sinn Féin-led government as the “change” it speaks about. Then everyone will know: it’s one or the other. This would probably never happen, but if you wanted to build a progressive movement that mobilised voters, then clearly outlining the potential, the intentions, the ambitions and the composition of a New Ireland Coalition, or whatever you want to call it, does that.

The optics are obvious: for example, Mary Lou McDonald, Holly Cairns, and Ivana Bacik side by side, versus Simon Harris and Micheál Martin. Which one looks like “change” to you?

And yet. To say that is to ignore the very real reasons why getting them side by side would be a significant challenge in itself.

While the Social Democrats appear more open to working with Sinn Féin in government, I’d doubt Labour would be quite as willing. That is driven by many factors, not least a strand in the LP which is deeply hostile to SF due to the conflict. But it’s not just that. All three parties are in some ways in competition for the same votes. This is the flip side of the point that mergers make little sense since the parties address different pools of voters. But not entirely different pools and each would want to maximise its own vote share as against its rivals. Small wonder the noises from the LP about mergers. They want to be bigger. So do the Social Democrats. 

Ideology is going to have to enter the chat at some point. That’s not an argument for polarisation or binary partisan fandom. It’s actually about pragmatism and clarity for voters. We are already in an era where the far right is moving the dial into the danger zone, globally. Ireland can do things differently. It’s about time the left asserted itself with a cohesion it rarely manages.

Rarely? Almost never, I’d have thought.  

And only last night we saw how on Dublin City Council there was division between various parties in terms of forming a ‘progressive alliance’.  

If it’s not possible to do so in the context of DCC you’d have to wonder about an election. And for all the talk of ideology and pragmatism, these are issues on which there are substantial differences and ignoring those differences isn’t going to wish them away.

Given all that the question occurs, is there anything that could be done to encourage parties of the broad left (however we define that term) to work in the same direction, if not together? And is the best one can really hope for the prospect that perhaps, maybe, after an election they might talk about forming a government if the numbers were right?