Leo Varadkar sees splintering of support

Four or five political parties may alternate power into the foreseeable future, a Government Minister has predicted.

In an interview with The Irish Times, Leo Varadkar has said Irish politics is likely to fragment, as has happened in countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Belgium.

Mr Varadkar's views of an increasingly fragmented political scene are similar to those of other prominent political figures including Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who thinks four separate political groupings may have a similar number of seats after the next election.

The Minister for Health also said the coming years will see “flash-in-the-pan new parties” doing well in one election.

The Minister made his comments ahead of the announcement by his former Fine Gael colleague Lucinda Creighton that she is establishing a new party, which will be on the right of the political spectrum.

“Politics is inherently unpredictable and that’s what is interesting about it,” Mr Varadkar said.

“We could be going through what is common in Benelux and Nordic countries, where there are four or five parties that can alternate positions with each other.

“We could see that and, as is the case in other countries, we can see flash-in-the-pan new parties appearing and doing well in one election.”

Making decisions

Mr Varadkar said that the onus was on the Coalition to focus relentlessly on the business of government: on making and implementing decisions.

“People accept that the economy is recovering but economic recovery has to be about more than statistics and growth rates and fiscal targets.

“People need to feel the benefits of economic recovery in their pockets or in the form of improved services. The first instalment of that will be the child benefit increase in the new year. It will be the first time that people will see recovery in their pockets,” he said.

Asked about Sinn Féin, the Dublin West TD said they were doing well electorally and had “certainly become players” but he had seen no evidence to show they would get the kind of figures in elections they get in opinion polls.