Minister for Education Norma Foley has said negotiators from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are “doing all they can” to put in place a government by 22 January, reports RTE.
Ms Foley – who is on the Fianna Fáil negotiating team – said there is an “absolute determination” among all those involved to agree a programme for government that can last for five years.
“We really want to get this done. We want the work to be done, we want it to be sustainable and the target is the 22nd of January if at all possible ” she told RTÉ’s Saturday with Colm O Mongain, reports RTE.
Speaking on the same show, Fine Gael TD Martin Heydon, a member of his party’s negotiation team, stated that both parties had reached a “broad agreement” and are moving closer to creating a draft government agenda.
“There is a pace there to them now, we made a lot of progress this week and we had a lot of late nights and early mornings too. We have a lot of work done between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and we have broad agreement on the challenges we face and where we want Ireland to be,” he said, reports RTE.
Both TDs defended their choice to engage in negotiations with Michael Lowry, the TD for Tipperary North, even though their parties had backed a resolution calling for him to resign as a TD following the 2011 final report of the Moriarty Tribunal.
According to Ms. Foley, the issue “doesn’t arise” and is “hypotheticial” because Mr. Lowry disqualified himself from a Cabinet role, reports RTE.
Negotiations are being led by Mr. Lowry on behalf of seven Regional Independents TDs.
“When a government is formed, the government will be ministers and I don’t expect Michael Lowry to be a minister in the next Government,” Mr Heydon said, reports RTE.
“The final arbiter of who decides a seat in Dáil Éireann is the electorate of a constituency. We need to be clear that the Regional Independents are negotiating as a group, there is no single individual,” Ms Foley said, reports RTE.
In order to create a government before the next Dáil session, many meetings are currently underway.
Later this afternoon, Michael and Danny Healy-Rae, independent Kerry TDs, are scheduled to meet with the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael negotiation teams.
Nonetheless, other sources have rejected claims that a super junior minister has participated in these talks thus far, reports RTE.
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