grand coalition

ivan087

did FF+FG ever form a grand coalition?

if so, was there any damage done to either party after the coalition collapsed?

its always been very strange to me that the two parties in Ireland are very similar. other countries seem to have contrasting parties - democrats/republican, conservative/socialist, etc.

Is it healthy for our country to have this situation. Or are we lucky that we do not suffer from ruling parties that have extreme right wing and left wing policies?

No

Might happen in 15-20 years when everyone has completly forgotten about the civil war. Apart from that they'd be ideal coaltion partners policy wise. They'll probably merge eventually, but that's a long way away.

I think it'd be healthier for Irish democracy if the two major parties were more distinct in terms of policy. It gives a lot of influence to smaller parties, to an extent that voting for FF/FG is somewhat akin to wasting a vote, as the smaller party will be have a proportionately influence on policy.

Victor

The nearest thing was the 1987-1989 "Tallaght Strategy" where FG supported the FF minority government provided they stuck to the straight and narrow.

Deleted User wrote:

Might happen in 15-20 years when everyone has completly forgotten about the civil war.

15 years time will be the anniversaries of the Civil War. :eek:

samb

ivan087 wrote:

did FF+FG ever form a grand coalition?

if so, was there any damage done to either party after the coalition collapsed?

its always been very strange to me that the two parties in Ireland are very similar. other countries seem to have contrasting parties - democrats/republican, conservative/socialist, etc.

Is it healthy for our country to have this situation. Or are we lucky that we do not suffer from ruling parties that have extreme right wing and left wing policies?

I think Irelands democracy works well and that we are lucky. Two party systems are never good such as US and UK kinda. FF, FG are elected based on policies ussually and not an ideolgical loyalty (although many vote FF because daddy did, espiecally in rural areas.). Coalitions are definetly healthy for democracy in my opinion.

ivan087

samb wrote:

I think Irelands democracy works well and that we are lucky. Two party systems are never good such as US and UK kinda. FF, FG are elected based on policies ussually and not an ideolgical loyalty (although many vote FF because daddy did, espiecally in rural areas.). Coalitions are definetly healthy for democracy in my opinion.

yeah i agree. i think that having a partner in government will keep the larger party on their tows. it also broadens a governments points of view, e.g. a government with the greens involved will mean the enviornment gets a higher priority.
i've always been amazed by people who will vote for a certain party no matter what. Its good that this dosnt happen in ireland that much (more and more so as we move away from civil war politics). and hopefully ireland will stay away from far right and far left politics.

Fine Gaeler

As I've said before having two largely centrist parties guarentees that majority opion will be represented both in Government and opposition which is something we should be delighted with.

Sand

As I've said before having two largely centrist parties guarentees that majority opion will be represented both in Government and opposition which is something we should be delighted with.

The disenchantment with mainstream parties might be related to the view "shure theyre both the same" though. Your vote is best spent on a smaller, idealogical party like the PDs, Labour or even the Greens on a long shot, as they will accent the centrist party they are teamed up with be it FG or FF. Id prefer parties/options that are idealogically defined rather than defined on who shot whose great granddad back in 1922. Theres nothing really stopping a FF-FG merger other than theyre used to disliking each other.

samb

Sand wrote:

. Your vote is best spent on a smaller, idealogical party like the PDs, Labour or even the Greens on a long shot, as they will accent the centrist party they are teamed up with be it FG or FF. .

This is a good point. Most people think the greens are a bit mad and would destroy the economy (true if they had a majority) and I would agree. But I think I might vote for them because they would push for and get thier more sensible policies on the agenda. Eg planning reform and public transport. If they were a bigger party certainly wouldn't. The system we have tends towards moderation. In some ways this can be a bad thing because dramatic decisions are generally not taken when sometimes they may be needed. I think the present Government makes out that the opposition would ruin the economy but I think that in reality the opposition would not be much different. They are trying to make the opposition seem like risk. Unless we all start voting for the shinners, there is no real risk (Oil prices, world economy etc not withstanding).

Fine Gaeler

Fine Gaeler wrote:

As I've said before having two largely centrist parties guarentees that majority opion will be represented both in Government and opposition which is something we should be delighted with.

Shouldn't governments seek to represent as many people as possible rather than just a simple majority. Multi party assemblies do this better than ones with just two parties