Thursday, March 10, 2011

The follow-up

Here's how it worked out:
Fine Gael: 76 [Centre-right]
Labour: 37 [Centre-left]
Fianna Fáil: 20 [Centrist]
Sinn Féin: 14 [Quasi-Marxist, Nationalist]
Socialist / People Before Profit / ULA: 5 (Includes Seamus Healy) [Leftist]
Green: 0 [Environmental]
Independents: 14 (4 stated leftists, 1 stated conservative)

Right. So. Fine Gael / Labour coalition recently finalised. Endy Kenny, head of Fine Gael, is Taoiseach. Fine Gael takes 10 cabinet positions (similar to U.S. cabinet) and Labour takes 5. The full cabinet is described here. Independents are working to form an ad-hoc alliance. The five ULA seats, along with at least three other like-mindeds, appear headed for cahoots-dom. Sinn Féin will probably vote with, but not be aligned with an independent lefty alliance. However, there are a number of independents with centre-right sympathies (a la Fine Gael). So it seems the majority government won't have too much trouble passing legislation. They will, though, be tempered by Labour's large involvement--so we're likely to see a productive, centrist government. And! Renegotiating the EU/IMF bailout is on the table (thank goodness...) Sad to see the Greens go but happy to see a number of leftists come in.

Ah. And as for collecting election posters: our house has two Fianna Fáils, a Fine Gael, Sinn Féin, Labour, and an independent -- all from the Dublin Southeast constituency.