Voters ‘disregarded’ by coalition talks

Sinn Féin has said hundreds of thousands of people who “voted for change” are being excluded from negotiations on the next government in Dublin and has called on Micheál Martin to discuss an alternative coalition.

Party leader Mary Lou McDonald spoke out after its new cohort of 39 Sinn Féin TDs met at the Leinster House (pictured).

“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 has been accentuating the positive after an election result which strongly favours a return of the status quo. It has elected 39 TD, compared to 48 for Fianna Fáil and 39 for Fine Gael. The party is to meet the Social Democrats and the Labour Party in the coming days “to assess where things are at”. However, at 11 TDs each these groups do not have enough to form a government, nor is it yet clear they wish to enter a pact.

Party officials have been stressing the long game, pointing to Sinn Féin’s growth over the past two decades, while their right-wing rivals have seen their collective vote almost cut in half.

Despite coming a disappointing third, Fine Gael leader Simon Harris claimed voters had backed a return of the outgoing government – presumably without the Green Party, which retained only one of its 12 seats.

In a message to supporters, Ms McDonald said there is “real disappointment” that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael seem “dead set on picking up where they left off” before the election.

“But be absolutely certain of this - we will never give up. Too much is at stake. The work for a better future continues right now.”

She said her “first port of call” is to talk to similar parties of a similar mind “and then I do expect at some stage that I will put a call to Micheál Martin, I will want to talk to him.

“I believe that they are shaping up themselves with Fine Gael as a junior party to put together that government. But I also believe that you respect the democratic outcome of elections.

“We want a government of change. We remain committed to a government of the left.

“I reject Micheál Martin’s position that he can simply disregard and disrespect the votes of hundreds of thousands of people.”

Ms McDonald said she would advise the Social Democrats and the Labour Party not to go into government with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

“We said consistently that another five years of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil is not what this country need.

“So not alone would I urge the Labour Party and the Social Democrats, but any Independent worthy of the name Independent, not to go there.

“We don’t need five more years of what we have witnessed. So that would be my advice to them.

“Whether they will listen to us or not is an entirely different matter.”

But Ms McDonald seemed to accept that she would be leader of the opposition again.

She added: “At the end of the day, and this might sound obvious or revolutionary, depending on your perspective, it’s not actually about the political parties now. It’s about actually getting things done, and it’s about what’s right.

“We will be up and at it. Whoever the incoming Taoiseach is, just be aware we are coming after you, and not for a second should you imagine that continuing chaos in housing and across our hospital system is tolerable.

“Sinn Féin will be there to stand the ground of ordinary people very strongly.”

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín says he would be open to discussing a coalition government with Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil. He said a Fianna Fail-Sinn Fein-Aontú coalition pushing for Irish unity would be a powerful one.

“It could press strongly for a border poll by 2030 and make the necessary preparations,” he said.

“I’m very surprised that Sinn Fein hasn’t approached us about that. We would most definitely be open to discussion.”

Mr Tóibín, who was his party’s sole TD, will be joined in Leinster House by Paul Lawless, who was elected in Mayo. Aontú was in contention for two other final seats, but narrowly missed out. He said Sinn Fein hadn’t contacted him to discuss the formation of a coalition government.

“We would be open to talks, but our votes aren’t for hire. We would want to achieve certain policy objectives, and common platforms would have to be agreed,” he added.

The Aontú leader said he was baffled as to why Sinn Fein had urged its voters to transfer to the Social Democrats and People Before Profit, but not to his party.

“Those two parties might nominally support Irish unity, but it’s not one of their main objectives. It is for Aontú, and we are prepared to put our shoulder to the wheel to achieve it,” he said.

“We are energetic campaigners for Irish unity so it makes no sense that Sinn Fein didn’t ask its voters to transfer to us.”

Ahead of the election Sinn Féin had downplayed the possibility of going into a ‘republican’ coalition with Fianna Fáil.

“I think it might be a bit of a stretch to call Fianna Fáil, under the leadership of Micheál Martin, as anything resembling a republican party,” Ms McDonald said on Newstalk.

Briefings from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael indicate their focus is on brokering a deal with the independents who have been returned, including a number of TDs once associated with the two traditional parties of government. Between eight and 10 Independent TDs could be needed for a cleat majority.

Horse-trading over the shape of a future coalition between the two parties has also begun to feature in discussions, according to media reports.

“Let the merry dance play out,” one Fianna Fáil TD was reported as saying, while a Fine Gael TD said: “There’s only one show in town and that’s the Independents.”

Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin spoke of an alignment with “like-minded” progressive political parties on the left, who he said were now a stronger bloc. It made sense to talk to each other, as “things can change” in forming a government, he said, and refused to accept the inevitability of a return of the status quo.

He said “everybody seems to have accepted” that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have done a deal.

“They haven’t done a deal. And unlike 2020, Fianna Fáil has the upper hand. They have ten more seats and I think there’s going to be some real challenges to Fine Gael – do they really want to be the junior partner. Do they want to have less time as Taoiseach if they get a rotating Taoiseach? Do they want to have less ministries?”

Mr Ó Broin acknowledged it had been “a very, very difficult number of months” for Sinn Féin, but the party had “turned that around”.

“We have consolidated our position as one of the three large parties. We won back seats that we had lost because of defections, and we also gained seats with ten new TDs joining the Dáil.

”I think in fairness to both Mary Lou McDonald as the party leader and the party’s campaign teams on the ground, not just the candidates, but also the directors of election campaign team, in a very short space of time we turned that around to have what I think is a decent result.”

“Any election where you win more seats and when you consolidate your position, particularly given the difficult year we’ve had, there are lots of positives. Is it perfect? By no means. Nor would I describe it as a bad election.”

The following are the elected republican TDs:

Carlow-Kilkenny

Natasha Newsome Drennan (SF)
Cavan-Monaghan

Matt Carthy (SF)
Cathy Bennett (SF)
Clare

Donna McGettigan (SF)
Cork East

Pat Buckley (SF)
Cork North-Central

Thomas Gould (SF)
Cork South-Central

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (SF)
Donegal

Pearse Doherty (SF)
Pádraig MacLochlainn (SF)
Dublin Bay North

Denise Mitchell (SF)
Dublin Central

Mary Lou McDonald (SF)
Dublin Fingal East

Ann Graves (SF)
Dublin Fingal West

Louise O’Reilly (SF)
Dublin Mid-West

Eoin Ó Broin (SF)
Mark Ward (SF)
Dublin North-West

Dessie Ellis (SF)
Dublin South-Central

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (SF)
Máire Devine (SF)
Dublin South-West

Seán Crowe (SF)
Dublin West

Paul Donnelly (SF)
Galway East

Louis O’Hara (SF)
Galway West

Mairéad Farrell (SF)
Kerry

Pa Daly (SF)
Kildare North

Réada Cronin (SF)
Kildare South

Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh (SF)
Laois

Brian Stanley (Ind.)
Limerick City

Maurice Quinlivan (SF)
Longford-Westmeath

Sorca Clarke (SF)
Louth

Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF)
Joanna Byrne (SF)
Mayo

Rose Conway-Walsh (SF)
Paul Lawless (Aontú)
Meath East

Darren O’Rourke (SF)
Meath West

Johnny Guirke (SF)
Peadar Tóibín (Aontú)
Roscommon-Galway

Claire Kerrane (SF)
Sligo-Leitrim

Martin Kenny (SF)
Waterford

David Cullinane (SF)
Conor D. McGuinness (SF)
Wexford

Johnny Mythen (SF)
Wicklow

John Brady (SF)
Wicklow-Wexford

Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (SF)

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