The lure of power is simply too strong to pay heed to pre-election resolutions of not entering into a coalition with them fellas, as one might put it.
Now that the outcome of the election is becoming clearer, and that no outright winner is likely to emerge after a number of recounts, the two parties will first eye each other shyly from across the Dáil, awkwardly shuffling their feet. Then, someone will gather the courage to make the first move and ask somebody in the other side to dance. And after an initial period of clumsy prancing around the stage, the two parties will join hands and sing Cumbaya together, and so the merry go round will begin its endless journey of same old, same old.
The more things change, the more they stay the same, as the old adage goes. Shoving the shattered remnants of the Labour party aside, the two main contenders to the Dáil throne will become strange bedfellows, not in love, but in lust for power.