SINN FÉIN LEADER Mary Lou McDonald has not ruled out the possibility of her party forming a government with Fianna Fáil, if Sinn Féin were in a position to do so after the next election.

In an interview with Sky News this evening, the TD said, while the country has yet to go through with the election, she thinks there is a possibility “for the first time, to have a government without Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael”.

Asked to clarify if her remark means Sinn Féin would cut out the possibility of forming a coalition with the Fianna Fáil party, McDonald said: “My preference is for that government to change, without Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.

But I also know that to form a government, the numbers have to add up.”

A recent Ireland Thinks poll, published by the Sunday Independent last week, showed that 41% of the country would be in favour of the two parties forming a coalition, if they both earned enough seats in the next general election to do so.

Respondents were also asked for their preference, in a forced choice, of their preferred government after the next election; that showed 41% in favour of the current coalition – of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party – re-entering government in the next term.

Responding to questions by The Journal in September, about whether his position was softening towards going in with Sinn Féin, Tánaiste and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said: “You guys need to stop cheerleading them on … We don’t do coronations in Ireland.”

Martin said there is “huge incompatibility” between his party and Sinn Féin and that the party had been “very slow to bring closure to many victims of Provisional IRA violence”. 

“It reminds us of the need for Sinn Féin not to triumphalise the horrible deeds they did.

“They still try to triumphalise it, they still try to justify it. The problem with that is that you’re infecting a new generation of young people,” he said.

The Fianna Fáil leader previously said that Sinn Féin getting into power next time around wasn’t a “slam dunk” or a sure thing.

“As far as we’re concerned, we believe there’s huge incompatibility with Sinn Fein on range of policies, the most important one being, in my view, the enterprise model of our economy which I believe Sinn Fein would undermine,” he told The Journal.

The Ireland Thinks poll reflected that Sinn Féin are leading with 31% support from the Irish public, with Fianna Fáil placing third on 18%.

However, when surveyors asked the public to indicate their approval/disapproval of the party leaders, Martin topped the poll with an approval rating of  45%.

Mary Lou McDonald was a close second, tied with Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns, on 41%.