McDonald labels Sinn Féin’s exclusion from government talks “bad practice”

Mary Lou McDonald has stated that Fianna Fáil’s decision to exclude Sinn Féin from discussions regarding the formation of a potential government constitutes “bad practice.” Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are scheduled to convene this week to negotiate the establishment of the upcoming Irish government. Such a prospective coalition administration would necessitate additional backing to secure the necessary majority. Micheál Martin, the leader of Fianna Fáil, has already engaged with several independent Teachtaí Dála (TDs) to assess their level of support. Having secured the highest number of seats, 48 TDs, following Friday’s election, Fianna Fáil has previously dismissed the possibility of forming any government alongside Sinn Féin. McDonald asserted that the Fianna Fáil leader is disregarding the preferences of hundreds of thousands of voters, and she intends to contact Martin within the next few days. “I think it is bad practice for Micheál Martin to completely disregard Sinn Féin, given the scale of the mandate that we have, I think that’s wrong,” she said. “It’s no skin off any of our noses, I can assure you, but for the hundreds of thousands of people who vote for this party, who support this party, who want this party to get to work for them and to make a change in their lives, Micheál Martin’s position lands very, very badly with all of those people, and he should be aware of that.” Sinn Féin is scheduled to hold meetings with the Social Democrats and the Labour Party in the upcoming days. Nevertheless, these parties collectively lack a sufficient number of TDs to establish a government. McDonald indicated that it would be incorrect to presume an automatic five-year governmental term, and the parties involved will deliberate on various subjects, including alternative forms of government. “I can do what we can do within the mandate that we have. We want to assess where things are at,” she said. Simon Harris, the leader of Fine Gael, has designated Justice Minister Helen McEntee as the lead negotiator for the forthcoming discussions and stated that his party is receptive to engaging with independent representatives. Harris declined to elaborate on potential ministerial appointments within a new coalition government. “I think many people went out in the in the general election last week, and many people voted for a scenario where Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil would try to provide this country with stable government, with others,” he said. “We need to approach this from a point of mutual respect, from a point of grounding those discussions in policy, in deliverables, in reflecting what we heard from people across the country.” Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.