Mary Lou McDonald has said Sinn Féin voters should consider transferring to parties such as the Social Democrats and People Before Profit in Friday’s general election.
Speaking to reporters in a final press event outside Government Buildings in Dublin, the Sinn Féin leader was asked to elaborate on her view that her party’s voters should support parties of change.
“I think each constituency will differ, but I think we can identify parties like the Social Democrats which would share ideas on housing and other policies, People Before Profit candidates of the left, some other Independent candidates,” she said.
She accused government parties of “scaremongering” on the economy in the run-in to polling day, with warnings about the potential of economic shocks from Fine Gael in particular a “mark of desperation”.
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Asked about potential coalition partners for her party, and what her path to power would be, she said she was going to talk to everybody once all had gathered their own mandate. “I’m not making eyes at anyone,” she said. “I believe in absolute fidelity to my cause,” she said, joking: “We’re not at the flirtatious stage just yet. We have to get to first base before we pass it.”
Fianna Fáil
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he had the support of his party in his decision to rule out holding government formation talks with Sinn Féin, and said he felt the question was being asked “for mischievous reasons”.
The Fianna Fáil leader was in Greystones, with outgoing Minister for Health and Wicklow TD Stephen Donnelly on Thursday as campaigning drew to a close.
“I’m always intrigued that in the last two days of the last two campaigns, this kind of question is raised,” he said, after being asked again about ruling out going into coalition with Sinn Féin.
“I think it’s raised for mischievous reasons to try and undermine the Fianna Fáil position, by some of our rivals perhaps, or even by some of those we might have been in government with ... The bottom line is their policies are not compatible with ours.”
Asked what the overarching themes were of the general election campaign, Mr Martin referenced housing and access to disability services.
Fine Gael
Taoiseach Simon Harris has claimed that if Sinn Féin becomes part of the next government, people could end up “skint”.
In his final press conference, the Fine Gael leader said people should examine the kind of policies Sinn Féin is pursuing behind its message of change.
“Sinn Féin is promising change. That could mean change in my pocket. A lot of people could end up skint. Don’t end up with buyers’ remorse,” he said.
Mr Harris was speaking at St Joseph’s Secondary School in Lucan along with Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe.
Mr Harris said the election was about issues, that he had been Taoiseach for only seven months and wanted to have a chance to do more for the country.
Labour
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said she was confident her party could gain seats in the general election and be in a position to establish a strong platform consisting of centre-left and green parties and TDs.
In her final press conference of the campaign, Ms Bacik also dismissed Mr Harris’s description of Labour as a centrist party, saying it “smacked of desperation in the last few days of the campaign”.
“I’ve consistently said for many months now, before this election campaign even started, that the first thing I will do is go to the leaders of other parties and groupings who share a centre-left and green vision, and those values that we hold here in the Labour Party,” she said.
Ms Bacik said that party’s main campaign message was to create what she said was an “active State” that would drive a radical reset of housing policy and deliver a publicly-provided childcare system. She said her party would deliver the homes people need, tackle the “scourge of vacancy and dereliction”, and provide stronger protection for renters.
Social Democrats
Speaking to reporters at the Social Democrats final pre-election doorstep, Dublin Central TD Gary Gannon said he would encourage his party’s voters to “vote left, transfer left”.
He said he wasn’t in a position to tell people where to transfer, but what he had said all along was to transfer to progressive parties and parties of the left and that he considered Sinn Féin to be a party of the left.
Party leader Holly Cairns, who has been campaigning while nine months pregnant, posted a video on social media on Thursday while she said she was travelling to Cork University Maternity Hospital for a check-up.
“I can feel the swell of support behind the party,” she said. “It’s coming from a place of people just wanting a party that will address these issues on housing, health, disability.”
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Green Party
Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman has said “it’s very clear that smaller parties and Independents are going to be crucial in the formation of next government” and “smaller parties can be absolutely pivotal”.
He said people would have to ask what sort of smaller party they wanted whether it was a progressive party such as the Greens “that shows it delivered on its priorities but also created stability? Or do you want parties that are what brings to the right, whether it’s anti-climate, whether it’s anti-choice, whether it’s anti-equality, but also are so incoherent in themselves that you won’t have that element of stability as well.”
Mr O’Gorman, a TD for Dublin West, said “the Green Party represents the best value for your vote”.
He said: “People recognise the influence we’ve had in this Government ... We’ve been able to deliver a huge amount of our policies, far more than any smaller party has been able to deliver.”
People Before Profit-Solidarity
People Before Profit-Solidarity leader Richard Boyd Barrett urged people who do not want a return of the present Coalition to vote for his party.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael had done an “amazing feat” of having so much money but they had failed to do the basics of being able to put a roof over people’s heads, he said, in the party’s last press conference before the election.
He repeated that parties of the left needed to pledge that they would not prop up Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael after the election.
Fellow TD Paul Murphy said “it is not true” that voters could change the government only by voting for Sinn Féin. He criticised Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats for not ruling out coalition with Government parties.
Aontú
Aontú used the final day of the campaign to launch a cost of living policy document in the Dublin West constituency of Mr O’Gorman.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said his party stood “a good chance” of taking the Green Party leader’s Dáil seat.
Mr Tóibín said the Green Party in government had failed to protect families from the effect of high energy prices and the rising cost of living.
He said “it’s likely that our vote is going to more than double”, adding: “I think that the story of this election in many ways has been Aontú, the plucky underdog, fuelled by conviction and hard work, taking on the political establishment and winning.”
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