Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said today it did not matter whether Bertie Ahern or Enda Kenny is Taoiseach after the next election as it would be the junior coalition party that defined government policy.
Phil Hogan, Fine Gael
In a speech to a party meeting in Waterford today, Mr McDowell, who is president of the Progressive Democrats, described Labour, Sinn Féin and the Greens as "doctrinaire leftists" and said the electorate must choose between them and his party at the next election.
Fine Gael welcomed the "endorsement" of their leader, Labour accused Mr McDowell of partner-shopping and Sinn Féin dismissed the speech as a "right-wing rant".
Mr McDowell said the history of the last 35 years had shown that while the larger party may provide the taoiseach, the junior party provides the essential direction of the government. He described the media focus on who would be the next taoiseach as "overblown".
Mr McDowell said the coalition government of the 1980s led by Garret Fitzgerald had stood for election on a platform of cuts in public spending, but, because of the influence of Labour, public spending doubled under that government.
He contrasted this to the present coalition under which income tax levels had fallen because of the influence of the PDs, he claimed.
Mr McDowell said: "The real choice at the next election is not between FF and FG but between the interventionist Leftists of Labour, Sinn Féin and the Greens on the one hand and the economically liberal Progressive Democrats on the other".
He claimed it was a choice between "those who raise taxes and those who lower them."
Mr McDowell's speech was evidence that the current coalition cannot be returned to power, claimed Labour leader Pat Rabbitte. He accused the Progressive Democrats of "partner shopping" and said this showed his electoral strategy of affiliating with Fine Gael would be successful at the next election.
"Regardless of what either Fianna Fail or the PDs say we are going to keep focused on the job in hand and ensure that come election the people are presented with a viable alternative that will put both Bertie Ahern and Michael McDowell out of office," Mr Rabbitte said.
Fine Gael's enterprise spokesman Phil Hogan said he welcomed Mr McDowell's "endorsement" of Mr Kenny as the next taoiseach.
"The Minister for Justice's remarks confirm yet again that Fianna Fail and the PDs will not get sufficient seats to be returned to government after the next election," he said.
"The flashing of Michael McDowell's eyelashes at Fine Gael is simply a sign that the PDs want an each-way bet in a two horse race," he said. "As long as the PDs are part of Government they know they are heading for decline and extinction."
Mr Hogan predicted the only choice at the next election would be between a Fine Gael-Labour coalition or a Fianna Fail-Sinn Féin partnership.
Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghin Ó Caoláin described Mr McDowell's speech as a "right-wing rant" that showed he was "running scared".
"This Government has been defined by a Minister who welcomes inequality as good for society and whose attacks on Sinn Féin have been manna from heaven to Ian Paisley and the DUP, thus seriously affecting the peace process," Mr Ó Caoláin said.