Incumbent Enda Kenny falls far short of votes needed to remain taoiseach as Dáil unable to agree on new coalition

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Ireland has entered new constitutional territory after its parliament failed to elect a prime minister and government following last month’s inconclusive general election.

The Dáil, the Irish parliament, sat on Thursday to try to elect a taoiseach and agree on the formation of a fresh coalition – but incumbent Enda Kenny fell far short of the votes needed to become prime minister and form an administration.

The outgoing Fine Gael-Labour coalition government, which imposed austerity measures in Ireland during the economic crisis, was punished by voters in the election, losing its majority despite a now fast-growing economy and falling unemployment rate.

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On Thursday, as Kenny failed to amass the 79 votes needed to be reappointed taoiseach, new figures revealed that Ireland’s growth rate for 2016 would be close to 8% – the highest in the European Union.

The figures were not so good for Kenny, who managed to scrape up only 57 votes from his party, Fine Gael, and Labour. Fine Gael lost 26 seats in the 26 February election and now has 50.

Negotiations to break the deadlock and form a government are now likely to continue at least until Easter.

Kenny will remain as caretaker taoiseach for St Patrick’s Day on 17 March, and is expected to take the salute during commemorations at the end of the month for the centenary of the Easter Rising against British rule.

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Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, the two main parties in Irish politics, are still ruling out creating a historic “grand coalition”. The Sinn Féin MP Pearse Doherty challenged them both on Thursday to “end the charade” and form a government together, but Fianna Fáil sources are adamant the party will not walk into a coalition that would leave Sinn Féin as the main opposition force in Ireland.

The FF leader, Micheál Martin, said: “We didn’t get a mandate to go into government with Fine Gael and we certainly didn’t get a mandate to put Fine Gael back into government.”

FF sources have said they want a “political ceasefire” that would allow Fine Gael to cobble together a minority administration propped up by independent Dáil deputies.

One of the many non-party independents recently elected, Danny Healy-Rae from Kerry, said the Dáil was “like a wedding but the bride and groom haven’t shown up”.