“comfort of opposition is far more mesmerising than the constraints of coalition…”

When will SF join the Irish Government? Not as a mudguard, that’s for sure. Mary Regan in the Examiner on a party that is happiest in opposition…

Mr Adams is already playing hard to get. He says that “we don’t want to be in government for the sake of being in government” and that it would only do so “to advance the historic project which we set ourselves”.

Sinn Féin has shown many examples of pragmatism in the past and would likely do so again if it meant that great prize of power in 2016. It would only do so by moving some bit closer to the middle ground in order to be more acceptable to potential coalition partners.

Between now and then, Sinn Féin has the chance to present itself to the electorate as a credible party of government.

Currently, it would appear that for Mr Adams and his team of TDs, the comfort of opposition is far more mesmerising than the constraints of coalition.

Mick Fealty

Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty