The leaders of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will receive a mandate from their parties on Wednesday to begin government formation talks, amid a fresh push from within both camps for serious negotiations with Independent TDs.
Both parties will hold their first post-election parliamentary party meetings on Wednesday where newly elected TDs will give their views on potential coalition options. Fine Gael leader Simon Harris and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin are expected to receive a mandate from their TDs to begin exploratory discussions with each other, parties of the left and Independents who are seen as reliable. Detailed negotiations on a programme for government are unlikely for some weeks, however.
The Social Democrats held its first post-election parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday afternoon, with some divisions emerging there on whether they should go into government or not. One source said the party would go through the machinations of talks with parties on the left and then the larger parties, but there was a view that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil would not facilitate their red lines in negotiations.
Another source said, however, that they firmly wanted to see the Social Democrats in government. Amid hesitancy in both the Social Democrats and Labour, there is a renewed push from within both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to hold serious negotiations with Independent TDs. With 86 seats between them, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are just shy of the 88-seat majority.
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Micheál Martin said on Tuesday that the first government he served in was reliant on three Independent TDs and was effectively a minority government, but survived for five years.
“A lot depends on the character of those who are supporting you. What I mean by that is people who can take the rough with the smooth and have the backbone to see it through.
“The numbers is one aspect of it, but the degree of commitment that individuals can give to a government is another.” He said he wanted “to test the waters too and see what others are saying”. Mr Martin also said it was unlikely that a new government would be in place by Christmas but said he wanted a new coalition to be formed as quickly as possible.
Opinion in the Labour Party, meanwhile, continues to harden against going into coalition if the Social Democrats are not also on board. Speaking privately, one Labour Party TD expressed particular reservations about going into government without the Social Democrats, saying that while they had concerns about the policy direction of a Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil government propped up by Independents, it “would be suicide for us to go in without the SocDems”, adding that Labour had “worked too long and too hard to get to this point where we are a viable political force again to go in and have that wiped out in a couple of years”.
Former Labour leader and one-time Cabinet minister Alan Kelly is among those who has publicly stated that the party should be open to government, while Ged Nash, the party’s finance spokesman, said over the weekend that the party wanted to be in government and that he wanted a full Cabinet portfolio.
Another Labour Party TD said they would “not be going near government”, explaining: “The numbers are not there for us, there’s enough for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and gene pool Independents and we need to continue to build.”
Meanwhile, Independent TDs continue to express interest in entering coalition talks, with Tipperary South’s Mattie McGrath the latest to do so on Tuesday. A bypass for Tipperary town, a relief road for Clonmel and “support the farmers instead of crucifying them” would be among his asks in talks. Sinn Féin will also hold a parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday, and talks with smaller parties later in the week.
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