Underlining the absurdity of Ireland’s proportional representation system – and make no mistake about it, if we had a proportional system in Britain, it wouldn’t be that nice Paddy Ashdown holding the balance of power, it would more likely be the Reverend Ian Paisley and a couple of Welsh Nationalists the issue of whether or not Cable & Wireless Plc can buy a stake in Telecom Eireann could bring the coalition government down: Fianna Fail realises that in order to bring in outside investment into the debt-strapped state phone company and increase the lamentable penetration of just 31 phone lines per 100 people, there is little alternative to privatising the company outright or at least bringing an outside investor, but Dick Spring, deputy prime minister and leader of the Labour Party, minority partner in the coalition, issued a statement saying that any privatisation would represent a breach of the programme of government.
