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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has vowed to stand by his environmental commitments as he urged the parties to form a working government.<\/p>\nTaoiseach Leo Varadkar has vowed to stand by his environmental commitments as he urged the parties to form a working government.<\/p>\n
Fine Gael, Fianna F\u00e1il and the Green Party have been balloting members on proposals to form a new administration which took some five weeks to put together.<\/p>\n
The outcome of votes among the three parties will be announced on Friday.<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar said: \u201cI have been on the record that I believe the country needs a majority government.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are heading into what could be a very difficult recession during which difficult decisions will have to be made and also a lot of reforms need to be made to our public services.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is in the country\u2019s interest is a working Government.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Green Party has the highest threshold of the three parties, with a two-thirds majority needed to secure approval.<\/p>\n
Among proposals agreed by party leaders is a commitment to an average 7% reduction in carbon emissions annually over the next decade.<\/p>\n
The Taoiseach vowed: \u201cWe are not going to walk away from that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe changes in policies that we have made around climate action we will stand by them.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar appeared on RT\u00c9 Prime Time on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n
Legislation to renew the non-jury Special Criminal Court needs to be passed by Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Taoiseach said alternatives to forming a government were not appealing.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cMuch better is what we have been working on for weeks and weeks and that is putting together a coalition involving the three parties that can give the country a good government for five years.\u201d <\/p>\n
Fianna F\u00e1il leader Micheal Martin has said a second general election in 2020 cannot be ruled out if the Green Party votes down the program for government deal.<\/p>\n
If the deal was voted down, Mr Martin said his party would talk to Independent TDs about forming a government.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cIf the Green Party don\u2019t back the program for government then then we will not have secured the necessary backing and clearly won\u2019t have the support of a majority in the D\u00e1il.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in a political crisis and I don\u2019t think there is a solution to it in the short term.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no magic plan B.\u201d Mr Martin ruled out Sinn F\u00e9in, but not the Social Democrats and Labour Party as potential alternative coalition partners to the Greens.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sinn F\u00e9in president Mary Lou McDonald said that if the agreement fails to garner enough support, she will speak to other parties.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in won the popular vote in February\u2019s election.<\/p>\n
Ms McDonald\u2019s party failed to establish a left-wing coalition because they did not secure enough numbers to reach the 80 seats required for a D\u00e1il majority.<\/p>\n