AP News, June 8th, 2007
Six days of negotiations to form Ireland's next coalition government collapsed Friday, leaving Prime Minister Bertie Ahern with limited options for returning to power.
Ahern's centrist Fianna Fail party had been seeking since Sunday to forge a government alliance with the left-wing Greens to sustain its 10-year run in power.
But the Green Party said such a coalition had proved impossible because of policy differences.
"We remain committed to forming a government, and will continue to explore all avenues with this in mind. However, the current deal on offer is not sufficient and would not serve the best interests of our country," Green leader Trevor Sargent told a Dublin press conference.
The impasse leaves Ahern still seeking majority support from other factions with time running short. The Dail Eireann parliament is supposed to convene Thursday to elect a prime minister.
Ahern's decade-old coalition partners, the right-wing Progressive Democrats, were nearly wiped out in May 24 elections, an outcome analysts said reflected frustration that Ireland's free-market boom since the mid-1990s has outpaced state-funded services.
Ahern's Fianna Fail won 78 seats in the 166-member parliament, five short of governing securely on its own.
Ahern's only possible rival for the premiership, Fine Gael party chief Enda Kenny, has virtually no mathematical chance of marshaling more votes than Ahern. But the prime minister says he wants to secure majority backing and ensure his next government can run its full five-year term.
A deal with the Greens' six lawmakers would have given Ahern a one-seat cushion. Now Ahern appears restricted to reviving a coalition with the Progressive Democrats and independent lawmakers.
Ahern's 1997-2002 government required support from both Progressive Democrats and independents. His 2002-2007 government required support only from Progressive Democrats.
However, the newly elected parliament has far fewer members of both: just two Progressive Democrats, down from eight, and five independents, down from 14.
The Greens have helped govern several other European countries but have never been close to power before in Ireland. Their key demands _ all opposed by Fianna Fail _ included cutbacks to highway building, a new system for regulating property development, a new carbon tax, and a clampdown on corporate donations to political parties.
