Election promises and portents

Madam, - The historic deal between Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams could have a great bearing on the coming general election.

Madam, - The historic deal between Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams could have a great bearing on the coming general election.

It now seems likely that the power-sharing Stormont institution will be up and running just before the people of the Republic go to the polls. This will undoubtedly boost Sinn Féin support and increase its number of seats in the Dáil. The party most likely to suffer from the Sinn Féin surge is Fianna Fail, with Labour also affected to a lesser degree.

If this is what transpires, a weakened Fianna Fáil, after being rejected by Labour leader Pat Rabbitte and with the PDs not having enough seats to bring the current coalition back to power, will surely not ignore Sinn Féin as a potential coalition partner. This could be justified by the simple argument that if Sinn Féin has reformed enough for Ian Paisley, the near-lifelong naysayer, it has reformed enough to enter government in the Republic.

Bertie Ahern's solemn pledge not to enter a Government with (or even dependent on) the support of Sinn Féin will be consigned to the dustbin of history alongside the famous "no cutbacks" pledge of 2002. This is a very real possibility and should not be obscured by the clouds of tax-cutting or the multitude of other promises that will be made in the next two months.

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Are the people of the Republic really ready for a government including (or dependent on the support of) of Sinn Féin, a party that still officially campaigns for the release of the killers of Det Jerry McCabe? What concessions will it receive in return?

Fianna Fáil has given ample evidence in the past that it will erode any moral principle and adopt any policy to achieve the ultimate aim of continuing in Government.

The option facing the electorate, therefore, is not the present coalition or a "slump coalition", as Michael McDowell would have us believe. Instead, it could well be a choice between a "mafia marriage" of Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, or the alternative coalition of Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens. - Yours, etc,

JIM FORD, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.