Fianna Fáil ‘looking down their nose’ at 400,000 Sinn Féin voters
Fianna Fáil is “looking down its nose” at the second biggest party and the 400,000 who voted for them, the Sinn Féin president has said.
Mary-Lou McDonald’s party finished second in the General election with 39 seats in the Dáil behind Fianna Fáil with 48, but ahead of Fine Gael with 38.
None of the parties secured the 88 required to form a government by themselves, with Fianna Fáil leader Tánaiste Micheál Martin set to take part in talks with other parties this week.
These meetings are expected to include Fine Gael, Labour, Social Democrats and a group of eight independents.
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Mr Martin has previously indicated he did not plan to go into government with Sinn Féin
The Dáil is set to meet on December 18, however, it is unclear if political talks will have agreed a new coalition government by then.
Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party formed the last coalition government.
Ms McDonald told RTÉ Radio’s programme that she regrets her party did not secure enough seats to form a government.
“Fianna Fáil clearly has the numerical advantage. Fianna Fáil clearly has eyes only for Fine Gael. They have decided, it seems, that another five years of Fine Gael is what they wish to see. I think that’s a really bad outcome from this election, but the ball is at their feet,” she said.
“They’re talking to independents, they’ve talked to others. Interestingly, the only group that they’ve steadfastly refused to speak to is the second largest party in the Dáil, and I really think for Micheál Martin to look down his nose at over 400,000 people who voted for Sinn Féin and to disregard those votes en masse is really a bad look.”
Ms McDonald said she has already met with the Social Democrats and hopes to meet with Labour in the next week, adding that she also hopes to have the chance to meet with others, including Mr Martin.
“I think the least that he can do is show a level of respect to the Sinn Féin electorate,” she added.
Speaking on the same programme, Fianna Fáil TD Jim O’Callaghan said his party’s position is “very clear” and denied any disrespect to Sinn Féin voters.
“The position is very clear. Before the election, it was announced by Fianna Fáil that we wouldn’t go into government with Sinn Féin, and I think it would be very cynical now if after the election we decided to do a U-turn on that,” he said.
“And also I think we need to recognise that before the election, Mary-Lou and Sinn Féin were very definitive about how the country, they said, needed to see the back of Fianna Fáil so I think we need to respect what we said to the electorate before the vote and be consistent with it after the vote.”
Mr O’Callaghan said the process of reaching a new coalition government was at an early stage, but it was his own view that there is a “reliable cohort of independents who recognise there are national issues that need to be addressed”.
“I think there is a possibility that we could have stability within a Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and group of independents government,” he added.
He also said that no deadline has been set to agree a new government coalition, but given the “unpredictability of the world” a new Irish government should be in place before January 20 when Donald Trump is due to start his second term as US president.
Meanwhile, Michael Collins of Independent Ireland said the group he has joined, with the two Healy-Rae brothers and Paul Gogarty, have not received a call from anyone yet.
He said if they do not form part of a new coalition government, they will instead be a strong opposition.
When Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael entered coalition for the first time after the last general election in 2020, there was only a three-seat difference in their relative strength.
That resulted in an equal partnership at the head of the coalition, with the Green Party as the junior partner. The two main parties swapped the role of Taoiseach halfway through the term.
With Fianna Fáil’s lead over Fine Gael having grown to 10 seats following this election, the focus has turned to the future of the rotating taoiseach arrangement and whether it will operate again in the next mandate and, if so, on what basis.
There are similar questions about the distribution of ministries and other roles.
While Mr Martin has so far refused to be drawn on the specifics, on Wednesday he did suggest he expects Fianna Fáil’s greater strength of numbers to be reflected in the new administration.
Labour and the Social Democrats held talks about the post-election landscape at Leinster House in Dublin on Friday.
The Labour Party had called for a centre-left platform to engage with the larger parties as part of talks to form a government.
However, Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan said they would be going it alone and plan to meet with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael next week.
The two larger parties, with a combined 86 seats, are just short of the 88 required for a majority.
If they wish to return to government together, they would need one smaller party as a junior partner or a handful of independents.