THE three government parties should make an electoral and policy pact in advance of the next general election, Senator Brian Hayes of Fine Gael said last night. This would force "the emerging Fianna Fail-Progressive Democrat coalition" to spell out its alternative, he said.
Stressing that he was speaking in a personal capacity, Mr Hayes said: "By agreeing a policy platform before the next election, Fine Gael, Labour and Democratic Left would put it up to Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats to spell out their alternative to the Irish people.
"Currently the PDs have a policy to radically after personal taxation at a cost of £2 billion, yet they have still to tell us precisely what cuts in public expenditure they would impose to achieve this policy objective. Meanwhile, the suitor to this potential political marriage, Fianna Fail, is trying to hedge its bets in advance of the election. It is time they spelt out where they stand in relation to this very costly PD policy objective.
"The next election in my view could provide the people of Ireland with very diverse and interesting choices for government - the choice between two political power blocs. By having such a choice Irish people could choose between two economic perspectives. In effect it is a choice between a centre-left coalition and a centre-right coalition, a choice between political parties who will support community and family endeavour and political parties who will focus on rampant individualism."
"Frequently the accusation is levelled that there is too much consensus in Irish politics. It is a point of view with which I agree. By giving the electorate a real choice between two combinations of government we would begin to see healthier political debate. The current Government will be re-elected if it continues to show real cohesion and determination on the key policy issues. The key to re-election, and by implication, continued reform of our society and its institutions, lies in an electoral and policy pact between the three Government parties," he said.
Commenting on the senator's proposal, Labour sources said "all options" on electoral strategy were probably being considered by all parties. An election was a long way off: "Whatever decisions we make about electoral strategy, we will make for ourselves and nobody else will make them for us."
Democratic Left sources said there had been no discussion between the three Government parties about a pact of any kind. "It's really too early to say."
But the DL sources pointed out that a motion at the party's last conference to bar a pre-election pact had been heavily defeated. "At the very least the party wants to keep its options open."