A stint in opposition could put Fine Gael in a commanding position to regain 20 seats at the next general election, Leo Varadkar has suggested.
The health minister threw down the gauntlet to Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein yesterday, pointing out the similarities in their policies and suggesting they should form a coalition together.
While the 32nd Dail convenes for the first time on Thursday it is unlikely that any party leader will be elected taoiseach, consigning the political system to further weeks of limbo.
Mr Varadkar insisted that Fine Gael, despite having the most seats, would not go into office for the sake of it and seized on comments made by Gerry Adams last week.
The Sinn Fein president said his party would wait and see what proposals were on the table before he would consider supporting a minority government.
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“Fine Gael is not looking to be in government at any cost, we don’t have the sole responsibility to form a government,” Mr Varadkar told the RTE The Week in Politics programme yesterday.
“I noted what Gerry Adams said in the past few days which seemed to indicate the possibility of Sinn Fein supporting a Fianna Fail minority government; that could be the outcome.
“There is a lot of commonality between the Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail positions. Gerry Adams has said he wants a government that would get rid of the local property tax, the water charges and invest in public services; Fianna Fail is in that exact space.”
Mr Varadkar said that while his party did not win the general election, it “didn’t lose it either”, stressing that Fine Gael now has more seats and more votes than any other party.
“It’s a reduction in support but it is still the largest party,” he said. “Fine Gael is in a much stronger position than people believe: either we will be in government and that government will reflect our policies and values; or we will be in opposition and we will build on the 50 seats we have now to win 60 or 70 the next time out.”
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“We’re very clear that we don’t want to be in government for government’s sake, we don’t want to cling to power and we will only be in government if it is stable.”
Marc MacSharry, the newly elected Fianna Fail TD for Sligo-Leitrim, has suggested that his party could be willing to go into coalition as long as a rotating taoiseach was put in place, giving the leaders of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael the opportunity to lead the government during an agreed term in office.
Mr Varadkar appeared to reject the idea yesterday, saying it would not be one of his “favourite options”.
He said: “I would have an enormous difficulty with that because both parties were adamant that we wouldn’t do that. Departing from that would be a big deal; we would have to consult with our parliamentary parties and our members.
“There is enormous distrust between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael; putting together a coalition would be extremely difficult. We would much prefer to put something together with Labour and the Social Democrats, the Greens and independents.”
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Róisín Shortall, joint leader of the Social Democrats, said yesterday that it was unlikely her party would support Enda Kenny’s nomination for taoiseach on Thursday.
The three Social Democrat TDs were focused on ensuring Dail reform was implemented first, she said.
“There is a responsibility on all people elected to work towards forming a government. I don’t believe it is possible to form a government without two of the main parties. The Social Democrats have said from the beginning that the policies are more important than the personalities or the numbers involved.”
Ms Shortall also took a swipe at Fine Gael, saying its policies had caused social inequality.
“There are different ways of interpreting this election but the one clear message from it is that Fine Gael-type policies were rejected by the public,” she said. “When people see Fine Gael politics in action they don’t like it because it creates a divided country.
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“It’s quite clear that the outgoing government lost this election. It would be unthinkable [for] Fine Gael would come back to form a a minority government. There are three blocs together; Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Sinn Fein, there is an onus on them to work together to put in place a government that will last the test of time, at least a few years.”
Experts believe that the vote on Thursday will lead to a stalemate, with independents TDs and smaller parties expected to abstain on all three or more votes for taoiseach.
Informed sources have said that when Mr Kenny’s name is put forward he can expect to get no more than 57 votes, that of his own party and Joan Burton’s Labour, who have promised to support him for one final vote. Micheál Martin, the Fianna Fail leader, is expected to get 44 votes and Gerry Adams 23; the number of TDs elected to each of their parties.
Talks continue today between smaller groups and the two main rivals for taoiseach. Members of the Independent Alliance will meet Mr Martin to show him their proposals. Top of their agenda is a full cabinet portfolio responsible for rural affairs.
Michael Fitzmaurice, the Roscommon-Galway TD, said the new minister would oversee five departments; tourism and transport, agriculture, finance, communications and energy, and jobs. The portfolio would not come with a budget but it would have the power to veto anti-rural decisions and would drive policy measures that would grow rural communities.
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Mr Fitzmaurice brought this proposal to Mr Kenny last week and he is due to come back to the Independents Alliance with an update on whether the proposals are possible. The taoiseach will meet the Social Democrats tomorrow.