Opponents of a coalition agreement with Fine Gael have promised a “vigorous” debate on the issue at the special conference of the Labour Party that is expected to take place on Sunday.
Jimmy Kelly, regional secretary of Unite, the second largest union affiliated to the Labour Party; two Labour councillors; and the chair of the party’s youth wing expressed their joint opposition to a deal during a press conference in a Dublin hotel.
Mr Kelly said if Labour went into opposition it could head up a total of 60 TDs who were opposed to a Fine Gael government from a left-wing standpoint.
Labour had an historic opportunity to become the official opposition in the Dáil, leading a greatly expanding parliamentary left, he said. The Irish people could be presented with a real alternative to what he characterised as Fine Gael’s programme of austerity, privatisation, and income cuts.
A minority Fine Gael government would be unstable and wouldn't last the full term, according to Mr Kelly. He claimed that the prospect of a left-led government within two to three years would be very real and very welcomed.
Dublin North East TD Tommy Broughan said Labour could better serve the country by rejecting a coalition pact in favour of heading the opposition.
He warned of "profound worries" within the party about the prospect of a deal with Fine Gael this weekend.
He said many younger members in particular did not want to be the "mudguard of some other outfit" for the sake of some power. "Putting the country first may well mean we would be better in opposition, by far," he said.
Fingal Cllr Patrick Nulty said it was an “historic election” that brought a “huge breakthrough” for the Labour Party but he did not believe that entering a government "dominated by Fine Gael” was in the best interests of the people or the country. Labour should lead the opposition, he said. “On Sunday, that’s the argument I will be making.”
Fingal Cllr Cian O’Callaghan from the Howth-Malahide electoral area said there would be “very strong, vigorous and healthy debate” on any proposed coalition deal. He said a lot of party members were adopting a “wait and see “ attitude, pending the publication of an agreement.
Labour Youth chairman Colm Lawless said a Fine Gael party with 76 TDs would not allow Labour enough “leverage” to have real influence on the issues. He contrasted the balance of forces in 1994 when Labour and Democratic Left were “nearly equal partners” with Fine Gael.
It was a “betrayal” of Labour’s electorate to allow a “discredited” Fianna Fáil to lead the opposition in the forthcoming Dáil.