THE LIKELY date of the general election has been pushed back to March or even later, following a row at Cabinet between Fianna Fáil and Green Party Ministers.
The row between the Coalition parties erupted on the morning of the Budget when the two Green Ministers insisted their priority legislation on climate change, corporate donations and waste levies be enacted before the general election.
According to sources in both parties, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey was particularly vocal in telling the Greens that they could forget about an early new year election if they wanted their legislation passed by the Dáil. “There was a row, they wanted their own Green legislation pushed through,” said one Fianna Fáil source. “Basically they were told they should have thought of that before they called time on the Government.”
A spokesman for the Greens in Government would not comment on Cabinet proceedings but indicated the party could be persuaded to pull back from its original demand, made on Monday, November 22nd, that it wanted an election in the second half of January.
“It’s certainly worth looking at if it means getting key legislation through, but this can’t go on for ever and progress can be made pretty quickly,” the spokesman said.
However, another Government source confirmed that Fianna Fáil wanted “as long a lead-in time to a general election as possible”. The election had been widely expected to take place towards the end of February or the beginning of March.
Green Party sources said they did not expect Fianna Fáil would try and block its legislation but would try to prevent the election taking place until after St Patrick’s Day. The Greens wish-list when the Dáil resumes on January 11th includes the Climate Change Bill, the Electoral Amendment Bill banning corporate donations and legislation on animal welfare and waste levies.
The Dublin Mayoral Bill, which has been sent to committee stage, also forms part of the list. Details of the row on the morning of the Budget emerged as a cross-section of party TDs contacted by The Irish Times yesterday said any immediate threat to Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s position as leader of Fianna Fáil had receded after a series of robust performances this week.
A clear majority of the 25 backbench TDs contacted said they now believed Mr Cowen would lead Fianna Fáil into the next election.
However, a number of them said the situation could change in the event of further setbacks for the party, including any opinion poll that suggested continuing deterioration in Fianna Fáil’s position under his leadership.
His TDs were impressed with Mr Cowen’s challenge to Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil yesterday, as well as a more assertive tone in media interviews. A clear majority said they did not believe any Minister would move against Mr Cowen, now that he has asserted that he intends to lead the party into the election.
Kilkenny TD Bobby Aylward said he had never seen Mr Cowen as strong as in the past week. “If he wants to lead the party, he will,” he said. “I am happy enough to let him lead us into the next election.”
Other backbenchers who voiced unequivocal public support included Michael Mulcahy, Seán Ardagh, Niall Blaney, Niall Collins, John Cregan and Ned O’Keeffe. Mr Blaney said the hard decisions taken would mean that any new leader would face exactly the same wrath.
However, Dublin North TD Michael Kennedy said Mr Cowen’s problem was that he was not connecting with the public. “We need a new leader. If we wait too long, a new leader trying to establish himself will take too long.”