Grand coalition projected for Ireland

DUBLIN

Ireland’s politicians were preparing for a period of protracted coalition negotiations on Sunday night after every party fell far short of the seats needed to form a government.

A grand coalition between the liberal Fine Gael and center-right Fianna Fail appeared to be the only viable option after nationalist leader Gerry Adams ruled out supporting either of them.

Adams, whose Sinn Fein came third, said he could not support a coalition between the two biggest parties because it would not be “progressive”.

“We are not going to go in and prop up a regressive and negative old conservative government, whatever the particular party political complexion,” he told the Belfast Telegraph Sunday.

Both Fine Gael, led by Prime Minister Enda Kenny, and his Labour coalition partners suffered heavy losses after voters punished them for five years of austerity politics.

But nearly a third of voters turned to independent candidates and new, smaller parties in a mirror reflection of recent inconclusive elections in Spain and Portugal.

Sunday Independent columnist Brendan O’Connor said the election result meant the main parties had to learn from the political fringes.

“The fragmentation that people in media and marketing and technology and business have been dealing with for years [has] hit Irish politics,” O’Connor wrote in the newspaper.

“The Irish people want fairness and decency. But it seems most of them still want it carried out broadly in a centrist fashion. They trust capitalism more than socialism, but they want a humane capitalism.

“Whether it be music, movies or business, the mainstream has always survived by identifying subcultures and outliers who have good ideas and momentum and assimilating these into a new, altered mainstream. That is what the establishment needs to do now to survive,” he added.

Both Kenny and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said they would not comment on the results until the final seats are decided. The final results are not expected until Monday morning.