Everyone in Labour's parliamentary party is agreed on one point - they don't want to go into coalition with Fianna Fβil. But only Pat Rabbitte has gone the further step in saying that not only does he not want to do it, he won't do it.
Mr Rabbitte's statement on RT╔'s Questions & Answers programme on Monday night surprised his party colleagues. His antipathy to Fianna Fβil was well known, and has been expressed more strongly by him than by almost anyone else in the party - notwithstanding Ruair∅ Quinn's "bastards" remark.
But nobody had expected this ambitious and capable politician to make a move that could rule him out of office. The party leader, Mr Quinn, was understood to be deeply irritated at Mr Rabbitte's solo run on the issue.
Yesterday Mr Rabbitte would not elaborate on what he said, except to say that he meant it. In ruling out taking a cabinet seat, he said yesterday, he was ruling out taking a junior ministerial post as well.
Asked whether he would vote in the Dβil for the election of a Fianna Fβil Taoiseach in the event of a Labour conference endorsing a deal with Fianna Fβil, he said: "That's an awful lot of bridges crossed down the road, but I have always been a model loyal and disciplined party member." This seems to imply that, however reluctantly, he would vote in accordance with the party's wishes.
Those who know him say his stance has emerged from two considerations. The first is that he means it. He regards the involvement of some in Fianna Fβil with past sleaze as too recent to overlook.
The second is tactical. He has argued for some time within Labour that it must take a more robust anti-Fianna Fβil position if it is to bring about the election of an alternative Government involving Labour. This of necessity involves associating itself with Fine Gael and the Green Party in the public mind, and having no reservation about castigating Fianna Fβil.
The party leadership, however, has taken a different position. It tries to be seen as anti-Fianna Fβil, yet leaves open the prospect of going into government with them if a Rainbow Coalition is not an option. The party has moved itself carefully towards a more robust anti-Fianna Fβil position recently, allowing itself to be seen as part of a potential alternative government.
Mr Quinn has made it clear that his preference is for a government with Fine Gael and possibly the Green Party. The party conference in Cork in September, although overwhelmingly voting to leave the Fianna Fβil option open, made it clear this would be a last resort.
The party regularly criticises Fianna Fβil but occasionally displays nervousness about it. Attacks on Fianna Fβil could poison relations so much that coalition with them would be impossible. If the voters ensure that only Fianna Fβil and Labour could form a stable option, the party would then face a credibility crisis. Do they go in with a party they have cast as pariahs? Or do they refuse, thus possibly precipitating an unwanted second election?
Although Labour regularly boasts that it has well-worked out and distinctive policies, it recognises that in an election campaign, most of the media will be, as another front-bench member says, "less concerned with what we plan to do than who we plan to do it with".
Mr Rabbitte's move once again puts him in the vanguard of the anti-Fianna Fβil view in the party with which he and Democratic Left merged just three years ago.
Mr Rabbitte was then seen as the leading DL personality. De Rossa was opting for a career in Europe, and Mr Rabbitte was first seen as the leading former Democratic Left contender for ministerial office.
However, Eamon Gilmore is now the DL deputy closest to Ruair∅ Quinn, while Liz McManus has had a very high profile as health spokeswoman. Senior Labour sources say that Mr Rabbitte's experience and ability do not make him an automatic choice for cabinet in a government in which Labour is involved.
Mr Rabbitte is therefore in a curious position within Labour. He is among the highest profile politicians among the public, known for rhetorical sharpness and humour. Yet among his new Labour colleagues he is not universally popular, seen as holding onto an independence earned from his political life before the merger with Labour, and from his work on the DIRT and mini-CTC parliamentary inquiries since.
He found himself on the wrong side of the mainstream party position when the amnesty for holders of bogus non-resident accounts was announced earlier this year. He welcomed it initially on pragmatic grounds, only for the party leadership and general council to oppose it. He has also been unambiguous in his opposition to the Taoiseach's national stadium plan, while the party leadership has been more equivocal on it.
There is plenty of support within Labour for his antipathy to Fianna Fβil, but not for his action. Ms R≤is∅n Shortall, among the most vocal opponents of having anything to do with Fianna Fβil, said yesterday that "the party members will decide what will happen, but I have a very strong view that we shouldn't consider" entering government with Fianna Fail.
Another member hostile to Fianna Fβil, Mr Tommy Broughan, said decisions such as whether he would accept any post in a Fianna Fβil administration, if offered, were "a long way off. I have to get re-elected". He said he had "great respect" for Mr Rabbitte's views, but declined to state a similar position.
However, both he and Ms Shortall said they would urge Labour to go into government with neither of the two big parties.
Said Mr Broughan: "We did it in the 1970s and in 1977 we lost a lot of seats and two ministers; we did it in the 1980s and in 1987 at one stage in the count we looked like we'd be down to four seats and lose our leader; and we did it in the 1990s and in 1997 our seat numbers were cut in half. What's in it for us?" Their views are very much in the minority. The current presumption is that if the numbers add up, Labour will go into Government with Fine Gael and the Green Party - if the Greens will have them - possibly with the support of some independents, if necessary.
If those numbers don't add up, Labour will have to agonise over Fianna Fβil. Sources close to Mr Quinn say he will then see it as his main challenge to become the first Labour Party leader to bring his party out of government strengthened rather than demoralised and electorally devastated.
Mark Brennock is political correspondent of The Irish Times