Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin will go into government with Sinn Féin because this is his “last chance” to be taoiseach, Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar has claimed.

Mr Varadkar, in an interview with The Irish Times Election Daily podcast, claimed Mr Martin may lead people “on a merry dance” of fruitless government formation talks before eventually doing a deal with Mary Lou McDonald.

The comments come after the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll showed Sinn Féin as the most popular party on 25 per cent, followed by Fianna Fáil on 23 per cent and Fine Gael on 20 per cent.

Mr Martin has repeatedly denied he will enter into any deal with Sinn Féin after the election. He has claimed Mr Varadkar will enter government with Ms McDonald but the Taoiseach rejects this suggestion and says he does not believe Mr Martin’s denials.

The Taoiseach said: “I don’t. And I’ll tell you why. This is Micheál’s third time as party leader going into an election. He is not going to get a fourth. This is his only chance to be taoiseach. And he might lead us on a merry dance for a few months but ultimately he would go in with Sinn Féin in order to be Taoiseach. And, secondly, already the smoke signals are going off all over the country from his TDs saying it is okay.”

Speaking at Fine Gael’s headquarters in Dublin, Mr Varadkar said: “Fianna Fáil is divided on this. We are not. Fianna Fáil TDs are publicly sending out signals that a coalition between Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin is okay with them. Imagine all the ones who are saying it privately when so many are saying it publicly and this is Micheál’s last chance.

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“This is his third time as leader for his party in this election. He has to be taoiseach after this election or he is gone.”

A number of Fianna Fáil TDs have said, both recently and in the past, that they would be open to serving in government with Sinn Féin, but Mr Martin insists he will not do so.

“There will be a merry dance. It might go on for months and then under the cover of claiming it is what the country wanted having voted for change and all that kind of stuff, he’ll do it,” Mr Varadkar said.

‘Soft on Sinn Féin’

Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty three years ago said she personally would be open to working with Sinn Féin but Mr Varadkar claims she never backed such a coalition. Some Fine Gael ministers have also privately said the party should not rule out a deal with Sinn Féin but the Taoiseach said nobody had raised such an idea with him.

“Well actually Regina didn’t say it and no minister has said it to me,” he said. “They are actually saying the opposite to me: they are saying make sure you rule it out.

The Taoiseach described as “nonsense” the idea that because “Micheál and Mary Lou seem to dislike each other that somehow that means I am soft on Sinn Féin - I’m not”.

He said he still believes Fine Gael will win the election, and said polls “don’t predict the future”.

He said: “They are a snapshot in public opinion a few days ago and what they show is that all three parties are within 5 per cent of each other.

“So that’s the margin of error and that means this election can still be won by Fine Gael. We can still emerge as the largest party.

“We’ll be working night and day to make sure that happens. I do think it presents a warning. It presents a very real warning that we could have a government led by Fianna Fáil or led by Sinn Féin, or by the two of them together, and... that is very dangerous for our country.”