Alarming prospect of SF/ FF coalition continues to loom

Listening to Mary Lou McDonald today, it is clear that Sinn Fein would have no problem whatsoever putting Fianna Fáil back in power.

On RTE’s Saturday with Claire Byrne, Deputy McDonald was asked whether there were circumstances where Sinn Fein would go into government with Fianna Fáil after the next election, and she said quite clearly that yes there were.

In other words, as far as Sinn Fein is concerned, the very party that brought this country to the brink, is once again, fit to govern.

Fianna Fáil was responsible for bringing about an economic and social catastrophe in this country. By the time they left office in 2011, we were losing 1,000 jobs a week, they had handed over our sovereignty to the troika and they had introduced the most savage spending cuts in the history of the state. Mary Lou may well be happy to forgive Fianna Fáil for the disaster that they visited upon Ireland between 2007 and 2011. I suspect the people of Ireland will have a different view!

This week alone we have seen where the number of people at work is at its highest since 2009, where the retail sector has posted its best numbers in years, and where consumer confidence has continued to increase.

Significant problems remain, there is no doubt about that, but thanks to the balance that Labour has brought to this government, the recovery is now beginning to be felt by more and more people, all around the country.

The last thing we need is to put the recovery at risk by putting into government building, some combination of Fianna Fáil, the party who created the economic problems in the first place, and Sinn Fein who couldn’t balance a budget to save their lives.