Sinn Fein should be hesitant over coalition role
Brian McKenna of Sinn Fein believes that his party should be remain cautious if, after this General Election, the position on offer is a minor player in a coalition government.
The North Monaghan local elected representative, and seasoned election campaigner, points to the situation where minority parties have historically fared poorly in subsequent elections.
“Its looking good for Sinn Fein. I think we will probably get the two seats,” he tells The Anglo-Celt based on early tally results.
Tallies are expected to be completed, he thinks, within the next hour, ahead of the results for the first count coming through at around 7pm.
But despite his party’s strong showing across the country in the election, Cllr McKenna acknowledges that the hard work is yet to come when, after the dust has settled, the push is on to form a workable government.
“If all the predictions are right, Sinn Fein should be in with a shout in terms of going into government. But that will go before the Ard Fheis is there is such a proposal. We’ve seen in the past when other smaller parties have gone into coalition, they got buried. Labour, the Green Party… there is a history of them all down the years. A smaller party in a government like that usual get the blame for everything, so I’d be hesitant with jumping into coalition.”
Considering the potential partners, he says: “Fianna Fail, there are obviously differences, but not so difficult they couldn’t be surmounted in discussions. But with that caveat, I wouldn’t particularly like going into coalition because the history tells us we’d be blamed for whatever goes wrong, if it goes wrong.”
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