This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

Ireland’s largest party, Fianna Fáil, has said it will not consider going into government with Sinn Féin, a decision likely to prevent the leftwing nationalists from entering power for the first time.

It effectively leaves Ireland’s two dominant centre-right parties – Fianna Fáil and Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s Fine Gael - with a choice of joining forces or risking a fresh election that could further boost Sinn Féin.

Sinn Féin, the former political wing of the IRA, shocked the Irish establishment by securing the most votes in a national election last weekend. Its vote almost doubled to 24% on promises of mass state housebuilding, a rent freeze and across-the-board increases in public spending.

But the low number of candidates it ran meant it was edged into second in terms of number of seats – a mistake it would not make in a repeat election. Fianna Fáil, which has 38 seats in a fractured 160-seat parliament, said on Thursday it would seek to form a government that does not include Sinn Féin’s 37 seats.

“We gave the party leader licence to speak to whoever he needs to speak to, with the exception of Sinn Féin,” Niall Collins, a senior Fianna Fáil politician, said as he left a party meeting, adding that it was fully behind that position.

The party’s finance spokesman, Michael McGrath, told national broadcaster RTE that Fianna Fáil would first speak to smaller parties before its historic rival Fine Gael, which has 35 seats.

Varadkar said during the campaign that he would consider entering a full coalition with Fianna Fáil for the first time. He added on Wednesday that he would be willing to help form a government if Sinn Féin failed to do so.

Both parties would need at least one of Ireland’s smaller parties to join them to reach a majority.



Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have long shunned Sinn Féin, citing policy differences and the party’s historic links to the IRA.

Both parties are also opposed to Sinn Féin’s high-spending promises, its pledge to scrap property tax, and plans to raise income taxes on high earners, which opponents say would discourage foreign multinationals that employ one in 10 Irish workers.

Sinn Féin on Thursday effectively admitted it could not enter power without one of the two large parties, with its leader, Mary Lou McDonald, saying it would be “very, very tricky to construct such a government”.

But she said a Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael coalition would be “a slap in the face to the Irish electorate” who had expressed a desire for change.

“I cannot imagine who would be prepared to facilitate these two parties,” she said.

Irish general election: full results Read more

The Green party, with 12 seats, and the Social Democrats on six are the two largest of the remaining parties that may be open to a coalition deal. Labour, which also has six seats, said it planned to sit on the opposition benches.

Several Fianna Fáil politicians, including McGrath, suggested the party could lead a minority government similar to the previous administration, led by Varadkar, that relied on a cooperation deal with Fianna Fáil, then the main opposition party.

Fine Gael is less keen on a mirror image of the “confidence and supply” agreement that led to both parties losing seats.

Any tie-up would also face considerable opposition within both parties, with lawmakers fearing it would undermine their respective identities and give Sinn Féin the platform of lead opposition party.

“We have always said we would speak to Fianna Fáil but I think that would be a difficult process,” the Fine Gael deputy leader, Simon Coveney, told RTE.