DUBLIN (IRELAND) – Ireland’s two main centrist parties, which were bitter rivals since the civil war a century ago, have joined forces for the first time under a deal that requires alternating prime ministers during the worst recession in memory.
Fianna Fail leader Micheál Martin was named prime minister, replacing Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar, who will serve as Martin’s deputy. Half way through the five-year term, Martin will step aside and hand over the position to Varadkar.
“This is an historic occasion,” said Varadkar on Friday while packing his things, including a portrait of Michael Collins, Fine Gael’s founding hero who was shot dead in 1922 during the war that has divided Irish politics ever since.
“I believe civil war politics ended a long time ago in our country, but today civil war politics ends in our parliament.”
Varadkar leaves with a record 75% approval rating, which has doubled since the February election due to his handling of the virus outbreak, tamed with a lockdown that caused mass economic disruption.
The need to cooperate to fight recession should force the parties into a “spiky pragmatism”, said Theresa Reidy, a politics lecturer at University College Cork. But it also creates opportunities for Fine Gael ministers to undermine Martin and vice versa when Varadkar returns.
“There will be levers and tools at their disposal that undoubtedly they’ll want to use to advantage their own political parties,” Reidy said.
The Irish pact includes an equal share of cabinet seats and a rotation of attorney general, a role often held by a lawyer with links to the governing party. It may also include the finance minister.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field