ABSTRACT
The electoral shock in 1992 forced Fianna Fail to realise that coalition was more than a temporary expedient; it was a necessary condition of governing. By negotiating a coalition government with the newly buoyant Labour Party, Albert Reynolds not only neutralised opposition to his leadership within Fianna Fail but also seemed to have been absolved of association with the party's disastrous election performance. If the Fianna Fail-Labour coalition had a nationalist bias, the Rainbow Coalition had a greater appreciation of unionist concerns. Concentrating exclusively on the differences between the Rainbow Coalition and Fianna Fail would ignore the strength of consensus and continuity. In political terms there has been a growing recognition that coalition now provided the only means to form a government. Within the Rainbow the government remained committed to social partnership, actively promoting Partnership 2000 as the continuing basis for consensual development of the economy.
