'Prepare for civil war as Fine Gael and Fianna Fail go for each other's throats'

The country can prepare for civil war over the next few weeks as the two main parties in Government Fine Gael and Fianna Fail go for each other's throats on the General Election campaign trail.

You will be led to believe that there are huge differences between them and that they really hate each other's guts.

They will be fighting over housing numbers, who can deliver the most affordable homes, the state of the health service, childcare and why many of our towns and cities don't feel safe anymore.

READ MORE: 'The traitor in the Dail should be named shamed, charged and prosecuted'

READ MORE: 'Sometimes in life a few good men come along - you probably never heard of this one'

There will also be hell to play over the lack of Garda numbers on our streets, homelessness and the failures of Tulsa, the child protection agency.

You could be forgiven for thinking that these parties have been in opposition for years and haven't held the levers of power. They will be blaming Sinn Fein for everything and frightening the living daylights out of voters. You will keep hearing the sentence that the Shiners cannot be trusted in Government.

Well we don't know because they haven't been in Government down here in the south. There will be so many spin, lies and untruths that will get to the stage after 21 days that you won't know who to believe.

The reality and truth are totally different in real life. These are the two parties that have been running the country for the last four and a half years and making all the big decisions. They should have nowhere to hide.

If there are failings in the country and there are many - they are to blame no one else. They can either stand over their record in Government or they can't.

Fine Gael have been in office for a staggering 13 years. So it is very hard to blame others for the failings of the State when you have been the main captain and driver of the ship.

Trust me when I tell you in the coming days there will be absolutely no love lost between FG and FF on the ground in every constituency across the country. They will pull every known dirty trick in the political book to get one over their archrivals and especially if it can help them get over the line and win a seat or even two seats for their party.

It will be very hard to keep a straight face watching the Taoiseach Simon Harris and the Taniste Micheal Martin publicly debate with each other about what's best for Ireland when they have been bosom buddies at the cabinet table for so long.

Harris of course is the new kid on the block and is odds on favourite to be re-elected Prime Minister. He is only Taoiseach for several short months following the resignation of Leo Varadkar and is very very keen to hold onto the job. To do this he must get more Dail seats than Martin and Fianna Fail to put him in pole position to initially reclaim the job .

The problem for him is there is little or no difference between FF and FG in the polls with both running at around 21pc and he has lost a huge number of outgoing TDs who are not running for re-election. There will be a lot of new faces for Fine Gael running for the very first time.

Harris will be like superman running to every corner of Ireland once the campaign gets officially underway in a week or so. The public like the gut of his jib and he is enjoying an intense honeymoon period. Micheal Martin on the other hand is the wily old fox who knows every trick that needs to be played.

He is an excellent campaigner who feels comfortable mixing and chatting to the public. He also won huge respect for the way he led the country through the minefield of the Covid pandemic and voters can relate to him. The other plus for him is Fianna Fail are constantly underperforming in opinion polls.

For all their rhetoric neither Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have an official voting pact between them but transfers between the two parties proved crucial in winning many seats in last summer's local and European elections.

It will be vital this time round in the battle for the Taoiseach's office. And what about Sinn Fein, the leader of the opposition. The party leader Mary Lou McDonald needs to come out fighting and hit every town and village in the country.

She needs to outline an alternative realistic plan that will help improve the lives of working class families in this country. She can't be all things to everyone and she and her party need workable solutions to legitimate problems. Both the Social Democrats and the Labour Party have a chance to do really well on polling day.

They have some very good ideas and if they get their act together could yet be partners in the next Government. Their two leaders Holly Cairns and Ivana Bacik are impressive but they desperately need to amalgamate and build a centrist party of the Left.

A voting pact between them would also help however the egos in both parties will not allow either of the above to happen which is a great shame. We all want a better and more prosperous Ireland. Lets hope our politicians deliver a vision for the future during the campaign.

Sign up to the Irish Mirror'sdaily newsletter hereand get breaking news and top stories direct to your inbox.