Ruairi Quinn announcing his decision to quit politics at the next election last year.

Ruairi Quinn announcing his decision to quit politics at the next election last year.

FORMER MINISTER RUAIRI Quinn believes there is no alternative to the current Fine Gael-Labour coalition government.

The Labour Party TD believes that while this situation could change, none of the current opposition parties can muster enough support to form a coalition after the next election.

In a wide-ranging interview with Pat Kenny on Newstalk earlier today, Quinn, who is retiring from politics at the next election, believes neither Sinn Féin nor Fianna Fáil are commanding sufficient support to lead the next government.

“There is no alternative government. Sinn Féin are transfer toxic, we know that from the patterns that they’ll get a vote, but it doesn’t convert into a lot of transfers that increases their numbers,” he said.

The Dublin South East deputy said that independents TDs and candidates “can’t even agree on their own alternative discipline” and that there was “no coherent, united Fianna Fáil hovering in opposition”.

He questioned what role Fianna Fáil now has in Irish politics saying it was no longer the “wonderful political machine” it once was.

Quinn said his advice to the Taoiseach and Tánaiste would be wait until the last possible moment to call an election in spring 2016, saying:

I think they would be very unwise not to go all the way.

Interestingly, Quinn is the second Labour party minister to appear on Newstalk in the last 24 hours after Pat Rabbitte appeared on Moncrieff yesterday.

Unlike Quinn, Rabbitte said he wasn’t yet sure if he’d run for re-election, describing his current predicament as being “consigned to the knacker’s yard”.