LAST UPDATE | 2 hrs ago
IT IS “UNLIKELY” that Labour will go into government with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, party leader Ivana Bacik has said.
It comes as a Fianna Fáil TD said at this stage it appeared that independents were “more interested” in government formation talks than Labour or the Social Democrats.
Representatives from Labour, including leader Ivana Bacik, met with Simon Harris and Micheál Martin on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of forming a coalition with the two larger parties, outlining its manifesto commitments.
After a parliamentary party meeting in Dublin today, Bacik announced that Labour TDs decided to seek one more meeting with both Harris and Martin next week so that they can get a “clear response” to their priorities.
She added: “We’re conscious of the numbers in the Dáil, but we do also have a duty to engage fully and to ensure that we are giving every opportunity to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to provide us with with their response to the policy priorities that we’ve outlined.”
She added that the “very small gap” between the two big parties and an overall majority would mean a small party would have “very little capacity, influence or leverage” to deliver on its priorities.
“We want to see a state construction company, we’ve been really clear about that. But equally, Micheál Martin has been very clear about his scepticism about that and these are the real policy differences that we have,” she said.
“This is what we discussed on Tuesday, but we want to give those discussions a little more focus and substance.”
There have been reports of a split within Labour as to whether or not the party should seek to enter a coalition with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael by themselves.
Labour initially sought to jointly enter government formation negotiations with the Social Democrats, but the fellow left-party rejected the proposal last week.
The Journal understands that there is now a “sense of uniformity” in the view that Labour should not enter into government. Separate reports this week suggested that Bacik has internally ruled out going into government without the Social Democrats.
On Wednesday, Harris claimed that Independent TDs, who are now seen as the likely third leg of the stool in the next coalition government, were “very serious” about forming a majority with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
He said that there is a “clear way” for his party and Fianna Fáil to form a government, but that a majority is needed. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil negotiating teams have met this week a number of times and have described the talks as positive.
Harris said he believes a government will be formed by the middle of next month. He said he would like an agreement to be finalised “ideally before” US President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office on 20 January.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil TD for Clare Timmy Dooley said that “it remains to be decided” how stable a coalition that included independents would be.
“There’s nobody putting pressure on anybody, there’s still time for those other parties such as Labour and the Social Democrats to decide do they want to participate and do they want to enter more formal discussions and negotiations.
“The independents from the start appeared to be quite interested,” he said on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne programme.
Independent TD Michael Lowry, of the Regional Independent group, confirmed this week that he has been invited to speak with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s negotiating teams early next week.
The discussions will be around getting the structure and the parameters of the technical group’s engagement in government formation talks agreed. Arising from those discussions the Regional Group’s will appoint their negotiators.
Asked this week if he will be the next Taoiseach, Micheál Martin said Fianna Fáil will continue its discussions with other parties first. He noted, however, that he has been clear, since before the election, that he would like to be leader of the country.
Martin said he was aware that the public are anxious for discussions to wrap up quickly so a government can be formed soon. He did not say, however, if an agreement would be made by January.
“I respect the talks process and we’ll see what transpires,” he told reporters.
-With additional reporting from Press Association
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