The Labour Party will play no further part in government formation talks with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, following a meeting of its parliamentary party on Thursday.
Party leader Ivana Bacik has made contact with the leaders of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to communicate the decision.
Members of the parliamentary party met on Thursday to discuss their options, and decided to exit the talks with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
In a statement after the meeting, Ms Bacik said her assessment was that the policy gap between her party and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael was such that it would not be possible to implement its priorities in a programme for government.
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Ms Bacik specifically singled out Fianna Fáil as being less interested in meeting Labour’s demands in government formation talks, during which she said there were “clear policy differences” on its goal of a State-owned construction company, outlining her view that there was “scepticisim” within Micheál Martin’s party about how such a body could be delivered and about “their willingness to deliver on it”.
This was also the case on a publicly provided system of childcare, she said, “again perhaps more clearly from Fianna Fáil than from Fine Gael, a reluctance to engage on that”.
“We needed to be sure, to be convinced and persuaded that we would be able to implement our policies by going into government, and we just haven’t reached that,” she said.
She also indicated that the decision by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to back Verona Murphy for Ceann Comhairle was a contributory factor to their decision. While emphasising that the Labour Party respected the outcome of the ballot, she said the “direction of travel in terms of government formation was very clear” from the two larger parties’ decision to back Independent TD Ms Murphy for the role.
Ms Bacik said the party would not enter government with counterparts that did not commit to a more active role for the State, and whose plans she said would narrow the tax base.
“That vision we do not see as possible to be implemented by going into coalition with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael,” she said, adding that the Labour parliamentary party was unanimous in its decision to leave talks.
She added that the numbers were “always going to make it difficult,” as Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil need just a handful of TDs to form a government, which appears to be available from the ranks of Independent deputies.
“That was always there, it was evident to everyone,” she said. “They were so close to an overall majority that it was difficult to see how a smaller party could achieve implementation of their policies, because they simply wouldn’t have the leverage.”
Ms Bacik recommitted to the Labour campaign trail promise to build a centre-left platform. Asked why her party had voted against Mary Lou McDonald’s nomination for taoiseach on Wednesday, she said Labour had “significant policy differences” with Sinn Féin as well Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
Referring to how her first contact with other parties after the election was with the Social Democrats and the Green Party, she said that “in the first instance, we have to forge strong collaboration among our three parties”, saying her “first priority” is to work on closer collaboration with them.
“We are going into this next Dáil really intent on building the centre left to a point where we can see a centre-left-led government.”
Ms Bacik appeared more lukewarm on the prospect of collaboration with Sinn Féin, saying: “I have also met with Sinn Féin and of course we look at how we collaborate across opposition but it seems there may well be a quite wide range of different voices out of opposition, and we’ll see as the government formation talks proceed”.
However, she said nonetheless it would “be useful over the course of the next Dáil to have good, constructive engagement across opposition”.
The move will switch focus to the Social Democrats who, as of Thursday afternoon, remained involved in the talks on potentially forming a government with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
However, there is widespread expectation that these talks will ultimately see that party exit discussions, clearing the way for the next government to be formed between Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Independents.
This will take centre stage after the Christmas break, with Independent TD for Tipperary North Michael Lowry on Wednesday indicating that talks would conclude on Friday and resume on January 6th.
Lobbying for ministerial roles has already begun among the ranks of the regional Independent group, of which Mr Lowry is the de facto leader during talks, although he is not expected to take a formal role within government.
Galway West TD Noel Grealish said in a statement on Thursday that while ministerial roles had not been discussed in the talks so far, “I wish to confirm that I am interested in such a position, if it becomes available at a later stage of negotiations”.
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