Fine Gael wishes Fianna Fáil did not have such a say on Budget 2017

The centre must hold, Fianna Fáil's Michael McGrath told the Dáil as he outlined his party's response to Budget 2017.

Judging by the budget the centre is holding - but it is holding in a way that suits Fianna Fáil.

McGrath, the party's finance spokesman, and Dara Calleary, the public expenditure spokesman, delivered their opposition speeches after listening to Ministers Michael Noonan and Paschal Donohoe outline Budget 2017.

McGrath and Calleary have, of course, spent the past few weeks in negotiations with Noonan and Donohoe to ensure the package was acceptable to Fianna Fáil.

A line-by-line analysis of the budget may not show if Fianna Fáil was successful in achieving a raft of specific policies - as had been expected. The party did secure the much-touted €5 pension increase, but it did not get all it wanted in increases to third-level education.

Yet the overriding theme of the budget - of a huge emphasis of spending increases over tax cuts, on a 3:1 basis of the €1.3 billion package - was shaped by the party’s success in the general election and its often repeated message of investment in services.

‘Overwhelming message’

Calleary outlined this view in his Dáil speech, saying the “the Irish people sent an overwhelming message that fairness in public policy and associated and necessary investment in public services was their highest priority”.

Acknowledging it had to deal with Independents in government and with the support of Fianna Fáil from opposition, Fine Gael has shifted further towards increased spending than many in the party would like.

Despite helping to shape the budget, Fianna Fáil was readying itself for sharp criticism from Sinn Féin and others for allowing it to pass, in the first real test of the confidence and supply agreement it struck with Fine Gael.

If you wanted a perfect rationale of how Fianna Fáil views its current position of facilitating the minority government, it was offered by McGrath.

"The bigger picture is the centre ground of politics is under attack, not just here in Ireland but throughout Europe, " he said in his preamble, before he critiqued certain policies while claiming his party's fingerprints were still on the overall package.

“When you look at the alternative, you realise just how vital it is the centre holds.”

Electoral reasons

Fianna Fáil critics, on the other hand, would claim it stayed out of government for its own electoral reasons. It would never accept the ignominy of being junior to Fine Gael in any coalition, that argument goes.

This budget was a managerial one, and Noonan and Donohoe both said it will set the course for the next two budgets, which will see Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael up to their end of the confidence and supply agreement.

We can therefore accept more of the same up to Budget 2019.

The centre is now crowded with Fine Gael, some Independents and Fianna Fáil all gathered around a very tight set of policies, leaving little leeway for anyone to strike out with distinct positions of their own.

The centre may hold, but there are many in Fine Gael who wish it was not so much on Fianna Fáil terms.