The Taoiseach's latest overture to the Labour Party is an acknowledgement that Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats cannot win the next election, Pat Rabbitte said last night.
The Labour leader said it was obvious that private research carried out on behalf of Fianna Fáil was showing the party would not have the numbers to get back into power with the PDs.
"If the Taoiseach thought he had a chance of winning a third term with the PDs, he wouldn't be looking towards Labour as an alternative partner," Mr Rabbitte said.
Responding to a Sunday Tribune interview in which the Taoiseach, for the third time in two months, repeated his willingness to form a coalition with Labour, Mr Rabbitte was dismissive.
"There is something very odd going on in a Government which has still some time to go to the end of its term of office. You have one party, the PDs, trying to get itself admitted to the alternative coalition next time around and you have the Fianna Fáil majority party trying to find one of the Opposition parties to do business with," Mr Rabbitte said.
It was very obvious that ongoing private polling research was telling Fianna Fáil that the numbers would not be there next time around for another coalition with the PDs. That was the reason the Taoiseach was persisting with the approaches to Labour, he added.
Mr Rabbitte repeated his commitment not to do a deal with Fianna Fáil after the election in any circumstances. "We had a full debate in the Labour Party and made a clear decision which has the support of 80 per cent of the delegates to rule out a deal with Fianna Fáil.
"We are committed to fighting the election on a common platform with Fine Gael and we are now concentrating on devising the policies to put before the people," he said.
Mr Rabbitte added that he had a strong conviction about the necessity for change after the election. "The Government has been too long in office and it has lost touch with the issues that are affecting Irish society.
"The fact that Fianna Fáil has been in power almost permanently for the past 20 years has led to abuses because a small number of people have the inside track. That is why we really need to change the Government," he said.
Mr Rabbitte said he saw it as his duty to offer the electorate an alternative. "To put Fianna Fáil back into power after the next election would be bad for the Labour Party and bad for the country," he said.
The Taoiseach in his interview said there would be pressure on Labour to change its stance. He was quoted as saying: "Sure Pat doesn't believe it himself. They know trade unionists vote for us. They had to try to distance themselves from us to hold on to their share of the vote. If it falls that way, Pat Rabbitte will listen to his trade union membership."