OPINION: 'Shock and awe' as Willie threatens to quit FF if they enter another coalition

OK folks, this is not going to be easy. Yes, we have wars and rumours of wars, pestilence and plague, and storms to beat the band – Dudley, Eunice, and Franklin so far with Gladys and Hermon waiting, briefly, in the wings. Yes, it would appear the end of the world is nigh. Still the one story riveting people in Ireland this week, not least in Limerick, is the news that Willie O’Dea has announced he would quit Fianna Fail rather than support another coalition government involving his party.  

That is not all. After 40 years service as a Fianna Fail TD for Limerick he has threatened the ultimate sanction on his party, should it ever go into a confidence and supply coalition again, - he would stand as an Independent! Not since Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the Schlosskirche (Castle Church) at Wittenberg in Germany on October 31st 1517 – paving the way for a split in Western Christendom – has one man’s action met with such equal and apposite reaction.   

Shock and awe, would be fair description. Not least as Mr O’Dea had, admittedly in that different country which is the past, supported coalitions involving his Fianna Fail party a number of times before.  Not just that, dear reader, he served in them. 

In 1992 Mr O'Dea he was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Justice by then new Taoiseach Albert Reynolds in that unfortunate Fianna Fail – Labour Coalition. It collapsed in 1994. 

Undeterred by that, seemingly unhappy Coalition experience, Mr O’Dea - gallantly - put aside any reservations he may have had in 2002 and agreed to serve as Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality, and Law Reform with special responsibility for Equality and Disability Issues in that Fianna Fail – Progressive Democrats Coalition government. 

Not alone that but in 2004 he progressed (while remaining in Fianna Fail!) to the position of Minister for Defence in that government. Ok, that did not exactly run smoothly, but it had nothing to do with coalition. In  November 2005 he was photographed at a media event in the Curragh pointing an automatic pistol at a photographer. The photo appeared on the front page of  The Irish Times and he apologised saying it was not his intention to glamorise gun crime. Look, it happens. Ok? 

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He continued as Minister for Defence in another coalition government, now involving the Green Party and the PDs (I know it’s hard to keep up through all these coalitions he served in, but bear with me) until February 2010 when he was `done down’ by the Greens.  

Between ourselves, it involved a somewhat sensitive case. Mr O’Dea had asserted, falsely, that a Sinn Fein rival’s brother in Limerick was running a brothel. However, in December 2009, Willie did the honourable thing. He settled the case out of court and apologised to the Sinn Fein man concerned for making "false and defamatory statements" during the relevant interview with the Limerick Leader newspaper. Admittedly, this followed the production of a tape recording of the interview he did with the newspaper. He also paid an undisclosed sum in damages to the relevant Sinn Fein local election candidate.  

It happens. Right? But, not if you’re a purer than pure, whiter than white, Green. (Is there any other kind?) They were not satisfied with Willie’s apology or (no doubt) his generous settlement in the case. But worse, much much worse were those damned Blueshirts. True to form, as always. Persil white compared to the Greens.  

Fine Gael tabled a no confidence motion in Willie. But `the boys’ rallied round. Yes, they did, including the Greens, and he was saved. Still, the Greens could win that struggle with their conscience only for so long. Their then party chair Dan Boyle lost it and tweeted that he had no confidence in Willie and that was that. Willie ended up being the sacrificial lamb to Green propriety and took that road less travelled by Irish politicians generally, he resigned.  

That was 12 years ago, a long time to be a senior politician without ministerial portfolio. Not least when your party is in government. Yes, Mr O’Dea has served under Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin as spokesperson for Communications and spokesman on Social Protection and Social Equality. But that was when Fianna Fail was in opposition and before the general election of 2020. Since when it’s been silence where Willie’s political ambitions are concerned. Or, possibly, that should read 'where Micheal Martin is concerned'. 

So, facing his 70th birthday on All Souls Day next (November 1st, for all you pagans) Willie has decided he has nothing to lose. So at the weekend he blew storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin, a likely war in Ukraine and news of a new highly transmissible Covid variant, off the front pages by declaring `non serviam’. He will not serve. In fact he threatened to quit Fianna Fail and run as an Independent rather than support another coalition government anchored by a confidence and supply deal. So there. That told them. 

He criticised Taoiseach Michael Martin for extending a  power-sharing deal to Fine Gael after the 2020 general election, claiming it alienated Fianna Fail voters and that it did not fit with the more elevated theories of the McGregor School of Politics.  He criticised the Taoiseach for not being more Conor McGregor-like in his dealings with Sinn Fein after the 2019 local elections, in which that latter party did badly. 

To be accurate and fair, Willie wouldn’t consider MMA fighter McGregor “as any kind of intellectual” but McGregor’s attitude would be, he said, that “when you get a fella down, don’t let him get up. But Michael Martin seems to have a different mentality to Conor Mc Gregor, so not only do we allow Sinn Fein to get up, but we allowed them plenty of time to reorganise and figure out what went wrong (in the 2019 local elections).”  

He continued “we have lost ground by being indistinguishable from Fine Gael” and that “if we do lose more ground and the party was proposing to go into coalition with anybody, I wouldn’t be voting for that coalition.” Another term in government would be the finish of Fianna Fail anyhow, he said. 

All that said he would support Dublin Fianna Fail TD Jim O’Callaghan as the party’s next leader. Fianna Fail in the future must have “a new modern image,” he said, and be made up of “people who have no association really with the past.”

So where does that leave Willie himself? Well, he’s not going down alone. “What’s equally important”, he said,” is to have people who don’t really have too close an association with the present Government.” 

It may all be academic for Willie O’Dea anyhow as, should this Government survive to 2025 – and who can say at this early stage? - it may even be too late for Willie to consider even standing again. At 73 then he may pause for thought. Besides, the growing likelihood of his party then entering government with Sinn Fein may prove just one bridge too far for him. Though they like their bridges in Limerick. Even if his preferred party leader Jim O’Callaghan was already making eyes in that direction after last year’s general election. 

Perish the thought, but could Willie be seriously expected to accept a ministerial portfolio in a Sinn Fein – Fianna Fail coalition government? It’s one thing serving in coalition with the PDs, the Greens, Labour, Independents, and to support government with Fine Gael, but Sinn Fein! 

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