Sinn Féin leader Mary McDonald has announced that she will be engaging with other party leaders this week and expresses her intention to meet with Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, reports RTE.
During her appearance on RTÉ’s This Week programme, Ms. McDonald mentioned that, although she had campaigned for a government without either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, the most unfavorable scenario would be a coalition involving both.
She accused Mr. Martin of dismissively regarding the over 400,000 individuals who supported Sinn Féin, stating that it is now up to Fianna Fáil to decide whether it wants to reinstate Fine Gael in government, reports RTE.
According to her, a Sinn Féin-led government would result in “a better outcome for many issues – including housing, community investment, and addressing immigration effectively.” She criticized the previous administration for their divisive actions, saying they handled these matters “terribly, terribly wrong.”
Ms. McDonald asserted that the election results demonstrate that Sinn Féin’s success in 2020 is “not a one-time event” and highlights the party’s status as a significant political entity in the south.
On the other hand, Fianna Fáil TD Jim O’Callaghan indicated a preference for his party to partner with Fine Gael and Independents to establish a government, reports RTE.
During the same program, he mentioned that there exists a group of “reliable Independents” that he believes could be trusted to create a stable government.
He argued that Fianna Fáil’s greater number of seats in the election should influence the composition of the government and that his party should have the Taoiseach role for a longer duration if the position rotates, as “this would need to be reflected by the proportionality of each party’s strength in the Dáil.”
He also stated that the new government should be established before Donald Trump takes office in Washington on January 20, reports RTE.
Labour and the Social Democrats conducted discussions regarding the post-election scenario at Leinster House on Friday.
The Labour Party has advocated for a center-left coalition to engage with larger parties during government formation negotiations, reports RTE.
Conversely, Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan remarked that they will be proceeding independently and aim to meet with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael next week.
The Dáil is scheduled to reconvene on December 18; however, it remains uncertain whether political negotiations will have led to a new coalition government by that time, reports RTE.
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