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"Foes must become allies": Here's how the world has been reporting on our election

Most are agreed that it’s time for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to set aside a century of civil-war politics and form a government together.

THE IRISH GENERAL election isn’t just news here – it’s also making headlines across the world.

Here’s what they’ve been saying.

The New York Times

ny times headline

This rather staid headline tops this NY Times’ article on how things have been going this weekend.

Things look a bit livelier in its summing up of the early tallies:

ny times 2 NY Times NY Times

They picked up on the talk of an earthquake:

Political analysts believe the most likely result will be a hung Parliament, in which no single party has enough seats to take power. It is little surprise then that “earthquake” is the word used most on social media to describe the results so far.

wash post Washington Post Washington Post

Over in the Washington Post, they had this to say:

“… a comprehensive exit poll and partial official results from Friday’s election suggest that the governing Fine Gael of Prime Minister Enda Kenny and the main opposition Fianna Fail offer the most obvious combination to create a stable new government.”

We do like their ‘foes must become allies’ line.

guardian headline Guardian Guardian

In The Guardian, they again brought up the idea of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael being enemies:

Senior sources in Fianna Fáil, which expects to double its representation from 21 TDs in the last parliament to around 41 this time, said they would resist pressure to force them into government with their old Irish civil war enemies Fine Gael.

telegraph The Telegraph The Telegraph

The Telegraph leads with the suggestion that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will avoid a so-called grand coalition to prevent Sinn Féin from becoming the main party in opposition.
“The parties could form a grand coalition to govern Ireland, but are held back by old enmities that date back to Ireland’s civil war and the prospect that such a move would allow Gerry Adams’s Sinn Fein to foment left-right split in Irish politics.”
“We’re not going to play hind tit to Fine Gael,” said Rory Scanlan, a Fianna Fail member from Dublin in his 60s told Reuters, using a pig-farming analogy to explain how unappealing it would be for his party to enter a coalition as a minority partner.

Sky News for its part sent this slightly perplexing tweet early on Sunday evening.

Perplexing as Enda Kenny hadn’t made an appearance anywhere on Sunday.
Ireland’s Prime Minister has vowed to remain in office despite the coalition government suffering huge losses in the general election,” the article proper said.
Enda Kenny said his Fine Gael party would seek new allies with the sole aim of creating “as stable a government” as possible.
With several coalition combinations on the table, Mr Kenny refused to be drawn on the prospect of a pact with traditional adversaries Fianna Fail.

el mundo El Mundo El Mundo

Spain is a country that has been repeatedly brought up over the last days due to its own political strife and the period of political chaos that Ireland seems to be heading for.
The Spanish paper El Mundo sees the election result as a punishment for a pro-austerity government.
“Fine Gael would have achieved a Pyrrhic victory according to the exit polls,” the paper says.

The parallels with the situation in Spain are obvious: analysts foresee a “ungovernable” situation unless the two major parties bury their historical grudges in order to seal a “grand coalition”.

But the ‘Taoiseach’ Enda Kenny and opposition leader Micheál Martin have spent the election campaign denying that option.

le monde Le Monde Le Monde

France’s Le Monde keeps things simple.
“The outgoing government of Enda Kenny is in serious trouble,” it says. Hard to argue with that.
Will Ireland end up with a Spanish scenario, unable to form a government? The formation of a coalition will be something of a puzzle.
Exit polls give Fine Gael (centre-right), the party of the current Prime Minister Enda Kenny, 26% of votes. This is a drop of ten points from its 2011 parliamentary victory  - too narrow a margin to form a majority in Parliament.

 

austalian The Australian The Australian

The Australian’s headline is a simple one: “Ireland Election – voters maul major parties”.

“Ireland’s ruling coalition has been ousted by voters angry at the country’s uneven recovery, leaving Prime Minister Enda Kenny facing the prospect of trying to secure a deal with his biggest rival,” it says.

His government appeared to be the latest victim of European voters’ growing antipathy to mainstream politics, hit by a backlash against years of austerity and a perception that Ireland’s poor are not benefiting from the fastest economic growth in Europe.
With prospects for a new ­coalition government in deep disarray, weeks of protracted negotiations are on the cards after Mr Kenny ruled out resigning or re-running the poll.
Additional reporting Aoife Barry

Read: THE WINNERS: Here are all the TDs who have been elected so far

Read: THE LOSERS: The TDs we’re saying goodbye to after they lost their seats

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35 Comments
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    Mute Martin Byrne
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    Feb 29th 2016, 6:38 AM

    2 foes become friends and then really shaft a country. Good god it’s depressing.

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    Mute Alien8
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    Feb 29th 2016, 7:57 AM

    even though i despise both of them, and think they would both destroy the country again at the drop of a hat, shouldn’t FF/FG be forced to work together as the 2 largest parties. their policies are identical, they have no “red line” issues, and the only reason they have put forward is that one of them as individuals want to have a certain title (which apart from firing the garda commissioner, a bit of cronyism and allowing the contemptible noonan a job has not really wielded any power). what would another election do? we have already voted, now do your bloody job and just get on with it.

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    Mute Patrick McGarry
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    Feb 29th 2016, 8:08 AM

    Bloody democracy, Always pissing off the twitteratti

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    Mute C O'Neill
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    Feb 29th 2016, 8:18 AM

    Yes Martin but it will be short lived. I give it a max of 18 months.

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    Mute Mark Symmons
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    Feb 29th 2016, 8:32 AM

    Absof()ckinglutely!

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    Mute John Joseph McDermott
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    Feb 29th 2016, 8:48 AM

    Why will it be short lived.?
    They have the country stitched up with 100 seats in government between them.
    Policies are mirror image..

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    Mute Boganity
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    Feb 29th 2016, 9:02 AM

    Martin the voters have spoken respect that, we just don’t know what they said.

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    Mute C O'Neill
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    Feb 29th 2016, 9:07 AM

    Do you think FF will continue to agree with FG on policy after this electipn result and risk losing the gains they made? If the people who voted them back in see that they have been swindled again then its adious FF and FG will be a virtual non entity.

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    Mute Alien8
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    Feb 29th 2016, 10:21 AM

    what is different in their policy? retain water bills and preparing IW for privatisation, check. continue paying ex-promissory notes, check. “jobs”, check.

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    Mute Jock O'neill
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    Feb 29th 2016, 7:16 AM

    Imagine going into mr Kenny on a Monday morning with no homework done.

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    Mute Shane K
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    Feb 29th 2016, 7:45 AM

    Considering his brother taught at my school I don’t really have to imagine that haha.

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    Mute Alien8
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    Feb 29th 2016, 7:58 AM

    they’re not supposed to actually teach! it’s only a cover until they get on the council/dail.

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    Mute John Joseph McDermott
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    Feb 29th 2016, 8:47 AM

    We do like their ‘foes must become allies’ line.
    Foes my big foot.!
    Cronies in sham competition.!
    United (officially) at last.?

    48
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    Mute Dan Mc Carthy
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    Feb 29th 2016, 9:20 AM

    Two cheeks of the same arse.

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    Mute Steve McMahon
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    Feb 29th 2016, 7:03 AM

    Wonder what will happen when two of the biggest liars in the country get together .. Their quotes of “oh I will never go into government with them “will soon be forgotten . Then they ll just end up filling us up with their lies instead . What a country eh

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    Mute Joe Smith
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    Feb 29th 2016, 7:24 AM

    Why are sf and others not steeping forward to serve the people ? Could it be that they are so comfortable in the world’s of opposition, plenty of rhetoric but that seems to be as far as it goes

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Feb 29th 2016, 7:32 AM

    Be careful what you wish for…

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    Mute pjm
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    Feb 29th 2016, 8:11 AM

    Joe SF have 22 seats, how can they get up to 79 seats? FF/FG is the only possible government. They are near identical so they have no excuses. If they did call another election I think the electorate would punish them even more so it’s a win win for SF whatever happens!

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    Mute C O'Neill
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    Feb 29th 2016, 8:21 AM

    Exactly pjm, it will be a temporary Government as well. This coalition is only going to have negative consequences for both parties. FFs gains will be short lived while FG will continue on a downward trajectory. All good news for the opposition parties.

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    Mute Joe Smith
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    Feb 29th 2016, 8:22 AM

    Pjm FF & sf along with many others have promised to abolish water charges, both claim to be republican parties, they have sung off the same sheet many times in opposition, so step forward, time for talk is over, time to walk the walk

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    Mute pjm
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    Feb 29th 2016, 8:39 AM

    FF ain’t no republicans, they couldn’t care less about the north and are the party most closely aligned with the Catholic Church. Those conservatives are the furthest thing from SF you could get. Did you not see their Dublin West TD, he’s only 15 but is like something from the sixties. As a SF supporter bring on a new election, they can’t use Slab and the SCC the next time as they did this time!

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    Mute pjm
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    Feb 29th 2016, 8:45 AM

    *25 but looks 15

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    Mute Rory J Leonard
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    Feb 29th 2016, 6:44 AM

    RIP Fr. Jack!

    Can yourself and Fr Ted please arrange for hell to freeze over, in the interests of political stability here in Ireland, or we’re all fecked?

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    Mute Tony Murphy
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    Feb 29th 2016, 8:24 AM

    These two will not work together??? The lure of power will throw the party politics and history out the window. Bedfellows in no time

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    Mute Al Ca
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    Feb 29th 2016, 8:45 AM

    The Aussies summed it up.

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    Mute Mark Andrew Salmon
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    Feb 29th 2016, 11:07 AM

    I would think that its pretty bloody obvious that “de peeple” didn’t think about voting for a government. There were protest votes, personal votes, traditional party votes etc. The one thing that wasn’t voted for was a government. Personally I dont support any party but I think its a bit silly to hear commentators say that FF and FG “must” form a government, total rubbish! No party has an overall majority. Only FG and Lab ran as a government and were rejected therefore there is an equal responsibility on all parties in the Dáil to assist in forming a government instead of whinging and calling each other names.

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    Mute Mark Andrew Salmon
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    Feb 29th 2016, 11:08 AM

    Not that it really matters as there is no party in the country really capable of governing anything anyway.

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    Mute Kieran OKeeffe
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    Feb 29th 2016, 9:22 AM

    If Enda and FF somehow pull off a merger..leaders questions shoud e gas..the old stock answers wont cut it..cant really tell your partner in govt “You rined the country” “You put us into penury” etc etc..

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    Mute Simon Quinn
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    Feb 29th 2016, 8:37 AM

    Old Civil war enemies Fine Gael? Eh what? Fine Gael were not formed until well after the civil war. In fact, Fianna Fáil was only formed in 1926 itself, about 3 years after the end of the civil war. De Valera in fact split from Sinn Fein that were by far the dominant party at the time. The other main party being The Irish Parliamentary Party.

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    Mute gerry o donell
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    Feb 29th 2016, 11:56 AM

    german media have already published the make up of the new government and the next five budgets. merkel has said she is delighted. “Kenny and martin vill do as they are told” and “ze irish vill take there orders from me, de are covards” in five years time the leaders debates vill be in deutch.
    when asked if she thought Gerry adams would stand for this she went white and said something about denis o brien taking care of ze problem

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    Mute Michael Kenny
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    Feb 29th 2016, 9:45 AM

    They have to form a governent together and sort out the differences now for the people of ireland,we can’t have another election because they be insulting the irish people who voted for them, this is a perfect way to commerate the 1916 rising by having two main goverments together

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    Mute Michael Kenny
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    Feb 29th 2016, 9:52 AM

    Two parties together not goverments

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    Mute gerry o donell
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    Feb 29th 2016, 11:58 AM

    true Michael and like 1916 it will be an abject failure but will lead to independence for a 323 county ireland

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    Mute Rashers Tierney
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    Feb 29th 2016, 2:35 PM

    Gosh, “the World” is interested in our little election? Are they scared we’ll stop paying?

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    Mute mmz
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    Feb 29th 2016, 7:05 PM

    The reason they will not easily combine to form a government is that they will each then have only half the patronage power to appoint usually no nothing, seat warming gombeen to the 1500 odd quangoes that the public is paying for. This is major corruption of the democratic process but don’t expect any comment from the political elite. Instead expect a whole raft of new quangoes to be created soon. Why else would anyone canvass for any of the major party clowns except in the hope of “political advancement?”

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