Political Map

Irish politics is somewhat unique / confusing in that, unlike many other European countries which favour a straight Left / Right bi-polar political divide, Irish political parties define themselves on a multi-polar framework. The attached diagram is an effort to illustrate where Irish political parties, both in the Republic and in Northern Ireland pitch themselves idealogically.
Using the diagram one can see where, in terms of idealogy, a coalition between any two or more parties might place. For instance the current coalition government in the Republic of Ireland, of Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrates, can be defined as a right of centre coalition that would tend republican in its views on parition. The coalition position is placed closer Fianna Fail simply because of their majority share of power.
Interestingly no other party occupies this ground. This mirrors the Progressive Unionionist lone voice of left of centre unionism, to be found at the opposite side of the spectrum.
Currently the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein are in talks to establish a power sharing body to devolve power from Westminster. Using this diagram we can see that, of all the parties, the aforementioned two have the greatest idealogical divide to bridge and credit must be given to both parties if an agreement is brokered.



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