Pat Rabbitte will probably bite the ankles of the next person who asks him the "will you, won't you" question about Fianna Fáil. We all know the real answer. Yes, he will, if the conditions are right, and if he won't, he will be trampled in the stampede to replace him as leader.
Although history shows that it is a very, very bad idea to swear undying opposition to Fianna Fáil and then hop into bed with them, politicians are not strong on history. They are sustained by the virtue of hope - in this case the hope that the wipe-out at the polls after the Spring-Reynolds cohabitation was just a product of particular circumstances, and not an inevitable consequence of cosying up to Fianna Fáil.
On the other hand, Trevor Sargent is not being hounded to answer the same question. Most political commentators think the prospect of a Fianna Fáil/Green coalition is nothing more than a mild threat Fianna Fáil will dangle over Labour to make them behave when it comes to agreeing to a programme for government. The party of roads going into government with the party of public transport? The party of keep the economy purring, no matter what the cost, entering an agreement with the party that keeps bursting our bubble by pointing out that there is more to life than economic growth?
Sure, the idea would be laughable if ideology were a driving force in Irish politics. But it isn't. Fianna Fáil has thrived for decades on being an ideology-free zone. Or more accurately, in Bertie Ahern's case, he has thrived by allowing the junior party to provide the ideology when it suits him, and to distance himself from it when it doesn't.
Michael McDowell framed the last election with his slogan "Single-party Government? No, thanks!" It is now conventional wisdom that Fianna Fáil needs someone to keep an eye on them to curb their worst excesses. Yet people are heartily sick of the Progressive Democrats' belief that the market will cure everything from the health services to traffic congestion, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary.
Labour as watchdogs for Fianna Fáil? Frankly, what's the major difference any more between Labour and the PDs? And if Fianna Fáil are beginning to look a bit tired after being so long in power, the Labour Party looks positively jaded. What is fresh or new about Labour's message? "Let's get Fianna Fáil out" hardly counts as a policy platform. Sure, they are producing policy documents at a phenomenal rate with Fine Gael, but does anyone other than political junkies and those paid to read such things actually care?
It might seem cavalier to dismiss a Fine Gael/Labour/Green coalition. It is, of course, a real possibility. There is one problem. Although Enda is capable, decent, and has a workrate that would leave lesser men staggering, his party suffers from a serious lack of talent. Richard Bruton is an able individual, but who else springs to mind? Also, the Irish electorate is innately cautious. They will plump for the divil they know, unless given serious reasons to do otherwise.
It is a long, long way to the election, but I can see two factors sneaking up on the outside. One is the property market. Second-hand houses are just not selling. If it is not just a temporary stall, the mood among the electorate will be considerably darker.
Fianna Fáil's get out of jail free card - that they may have more than their fair share of chancers but at least they can manage the economy - will begin to disintegrate.
All those mortgage slaves commuting inhuman distances will be even more seriously fed up if the homes they don't even have enough time to relax in are devaluing before their eyes. The benefits for those who will be able to buy more affordable homes will not have kicked in before the election.
The other factor is climate change. Not so long ago, one would have said the only way that the general public would begin to take climate change seriously would be if Al Gore volunteered for Celebrity Big Brother. Having Jade Goody cuss at him for being a bloody wet blanket and a prophet of doom would immediately have alerted vast swathes of the world's population to the fact that the planet was really in trouble. However, such heroic self-sacrifice will no longer be required of Al. A tipping point has been reached, and people are beginning to realise that time is running out.
If people are beginning to take the environmental agenda seriously, there is a strong possibility that votes will begin to drift to the Greens, who have been taking the environment seriously for over 20 years. Again, conventional wisdom has it that all the parties have begun to take climate change, peak oil and environmental destruction to heart, and thus have stolen the Green Party's clothes. However, with most of the other parties, the rhetoric has changed, but it is little more than lip-service.
Most heavy-hitting Irish politicians have lived most of their lives during hard times in Ireland. As a result, they have an almost obsessive focus on keeping the economy healthy, in a way which often ignores long-term sustainability. A counter-balance is needed to that obsessive focus.
If Fianna Fáil could stop sniggering long enough to seriously consider a Fianna Fáil/Green coalition, it might have some advantages. It represents something genuinely new, a useful counter-balance to the weariness people feel at the same old faces. Yet it would also enable them to call the Greens' bluff. It is easy to be a kind of perpetual goody-two-shoes in opposition.
Could the Greens deal with the inevitable messy compromises that come with power? Some of the Green's wilder proposals on social policy such as family issues would also be exposed to electoral scrutiny, and might be a harder pill to swallow for many voters than any of their eco-friendly stances.
Decisions made in the next five years regarding the environment are vital, with Nicholas Stern and others telling us we have a decade at best to act.
No matter whether a Fianna Fáil/Green coalition remains in the realm of la-la land or not, every responsible voter will have to factor climate change into how she or he votes.