The sight of FF and FG doing a deal with the Regional Independents to run the government will sicken many. It has a distinct shade of an old Ireland returning to haunt us all.
The Regional Independents are die-hard conservatives whose lead negotiator is Michael Lowry. When he was a Fine Gael Minister, he received two secret payments from Denis O’Brien. The Moriarty Tribunal found these payments were “referable to the acts” of Lowry, which assisted O’Brien in getting a lucrative mobile phone licence worth millions.
Or people like Noel Grealish, a former member of the Progressive Democrats who implied that asylum seekers were transferring money out of the county ‘without proper controls’. This extreme neoliberal has learnt to dog whistle against vulnerable people.
When you add this type of TD to FF and FG, you get a return to old-style pork barrel politics. They will play an old game – the TD got you a grant or a new bridge or a new sports facility so ignore their wider agenda of protecting the privileged.
We can expect more mainstreaming of attacks on refugees; moves to bring Ireland closer to NATO; more protection for landlords and vulture funds; and more openings to a conservative right who hates all the changes that came with Repeal and Marriage Equality.
But every cloud hides a silver lining. For now, it looks like FF and FG will have no mudguard on which they can deflect anger.
The pity is that those parties who are staying away from an arrangement with FF or FG, did not commit to kicking them out of government during the general election. Instead, Labour, the Social Democrats and Sinn Féin all talked about their willingness to form a government with them if the price was right.
But we move on... The national chairperson of Sinn Féin has called for a united republican left front to oppose FF and FG. That is positive but the question is: unity for what? Is it just about speeches and motions in the Dáil or about mobilizing people outside it?
Exit polls from the general election showed that the main issue people were concerned with was housing. But there has been little or no mobilisations. Is it not time that tens of thousands took to the streets to force this right-wing government to introduce proper rent controls or build social housing?
Many are concerned about the cost of living in one of the most expensive countries in the EU, so isn't it time that the trade unions got back some fighting spirit and pushed for higher wages?
We need left unity to promote ‘people power’ opposition to this right-wing government. In 2025 let’s make this a reality.
OLD IRELAND RE-SURFACES- GET READY TO FIGHT BACK
