It has been hinted that there are talks going on between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael around the issue of forming a coalition after the next election. The fact that Brian Lenihan delivered the main oration at the Michael Collins commemoration at Béal na Bláth fans even more speculation in this regard.
This move, if true, is not to be welcomed for a number of obvious reasons. Number one is that the prospect, after an election, of the same people who were responsible for directing the financial and political way forward that has left us teetering on the cliff's edge still in positions of power, with state cars and all the expenses and perks that go with them, is an unwelcome one.
The proposed selling off of state assets, favoured strongly by both Brian Cowen and Enda Kenny, is a backward step in the long term, but looking ahead was never a strongpoint of either of their political parties. Garret FitzGerald as taoiseach was responsible for the giving away of many of our natural resources – oil and gas among others – for short-term gain.
On 19 June last year, Fianna Fáil, the Greens, Fine Gael, and Labour were responsible for another shortsighted blunder, using scaremongering tactics and false promises to get the people of this country to vote Yes in the very undemocratic re-run of the Lisbon treaty. This was in essence another giveaway of what should be dear to us: the power to make or break our own laws and regulations – what Michael Collins fought and died for. So much for the cross-party commemoration.
No parent worried about their children's future could draw comfort from a coalition of this kind, obsessed with privatization and bent on taxing every last cent from people who haven't got anything left to give.
Forgive me for not being more upbeat about the future, but if voting patterns are anything to go by, the future looks decidedly bleak.
J Woods,
Gort an Choirce,
Co Dun nGall