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Fianna F\u00e1il leader Miche\u00e1l 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>\nFianna F\u00e1il leader Miche\u00e1l 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
Fine Gael, Fianna F\u00e1il and the Green Party have been balloting their respective members to back the document, which took some five weeks to put together.<\/p>\n
The outcome of the membership votes among the three parties will be announced on Friday.<\/p>\n
The Green Party has the highest threshold of the three parties to secure the approval of its membership.<\/p>\n
Two thirds of members registered to vote on the proposals must back the deal.<\/p>\n
Mr Martin says if the program for government deal is voted down, a second election is possible and his party would talk to Independent TDs about forming a government.<\/p>\n
\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<\/p>\n
Asked what will happen if the deal is voted down, he told Today FM: \u201cThere could be a general election, that\u2019s fair.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecondly, we have had good discussions with Independent TDs and we have had good discussions with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are 18 or 19 center ground independents out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Martin ruled out Sinn F\u00e9in as a potential coalition partner if the Green Party don\u2019t back the program for government deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Social Democrats and the Labour Party wrote back to us so I wouldn\u2019t rule them out as a possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also warned there is no Plan B if the document is rejected this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know there are some people in my party who are counselling me and advising me to have a Plan B on the shelf, but I decided not to do that because we entered these coalition talks in good faith with Fianna F\u00e1il and the Greens,\u201d he told Newstalk FM.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it is defeated, we will have to sit down over the weekend and see what the options are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar said Fine Gael wanted to go into opposition and let Sinn F\u00e9in form a government, but it did not work out.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cSinn F\u00e9in, despite their protestations, never really tried.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn\u2019t even come up with a framework document with the far-left.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey voted for Mary Lou initially, but they couldn\u2019t even agree a common policy among themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the opposition on the left were so incapable of delivering on any of the promises they made, we felt that we should step back in and this was our best attempt and perhaps only attempt to form a government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sinn F\u00e9in president Mary Lou McDonald said that if the agreement fails to garner enough support, Sinn F\u00e9in will speak to other parties.<\/p>\n
While her party won the popular vote in February\u2019s election, Sinn F\u00e9in 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
\u201cWe will talk to the Social Democrats, we will talk to Green Party, People Before Profit and to independent formations, to establish in the first instance, can we agree on a very strong program for government and can we agree that we have a sufficiency to form the core or the spine of a government for change going forward,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that being the case, then it will be necessary, from a numbers point of view, to talk to the other parties as well, and that\u2019s consistent with what I\u2019ve been saying all along, which is I will talk to everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms McDonald told RT\u00c9 that the country is facing \u201cmore of the same\u201d of Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael, \u201cthis time officially in bed together\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have views around the track record of others, and the policy positions of other parties, but nonetheless, once the people have their say and the votes are cast, well then it\u2019s incumbent on every party to talk to each other and to establish the best basis for a government going forward,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best basis for the new government, on the back of the last election, is a government that is truly new and transformative and a government of change, and what\u2019s on the table at this point in time, a combination of Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael, the political establishment cemented together, is certainly not change.\u201d<\/p>\n