History lessons in the building of coalitions

Des O’Malley’s volte face for Charles Haughey in 1989 shows that an FG-FF deal is possible

Haughey was supported by Des O'Malley in 1989 Pic: RollingNews.ie

The opinion polls suggest that Ireland is on course for a hung Dáil. The current political landscape does not present the same obvious coalition choices as before.

Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath first recognised this last August, when he said his party should not rule out entering government as a junior coalition partner. Dermot Ahern’s intervention last week was more explicit. The former justice minister suggested that Fianna Fáil could have no ...