Hypothetical Dáil

[Gladstone]

I pray no govt has to rely on those parish pump indos.

[Whig]

Like Gladstone, I was half-hoping Risteard would answer the 1957 yes, 2002 no question, but I knew I was waiting in vain.

To be more on topic, people assume that the only stopping a traditional left-right divide in the country is the dominance of FF and FG, thatif only they would go into government together or merge, Labour, the PDs and the Greens would go up in popularity. This might have been true back in the early years of the state, but at this stage no one is voting because of civil war politics, they vote for the two because they agree with them. However much we may dislike the fact (I don't mean to sound defeatist here), Ireland is a relatively conservative party, and were the two to merge the vote of the new party would not be that much less that the two parties had been. People will continue to vote for those parties for local and family reasons, and the party would only occasionally need the support of another party. I think the current system is preferable for small parties. The number of seats the smaller parties would have would probably increase, but they would have less chance of being in government.