Two of Ireland’s biggest political parties are close to finalising a deal to form a coalition with independent politicians to return to power for another five-year term.
Two politicians have indicated an agreement is close to allow Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to govern – the centre-right parties are the largest members of the outgoing coalition.
They collectively fell just short of the 88 seats needed to form a majority in the general election held on 29 November.
Irish media are reporting both parties have now secured support from seven independent candidates, who make up the Regional Independent Group.
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The election result left Fianna Fail the largest party in Ireland – led by deputy prime minister Micheal Martin – on 48 seats out of 174 in parliament.
Sinn Fein secured 39 and Fine Gael – led by prime minister Simon Harris – won 38.
Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have refused to work with Sinn Fein because of its historical ties with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during three decades of violence in Northern Ireland.
Peter Burke, senior Fine Gael TD (TDs are members of the lower house of parliament or Dail), told RTE radio that talks had not yet concluded, but a programme for government “should be published within the next 24 hours”.
Meanwhile, one of the seven independent TDs, Barry Heneghan, told Reuters they had each finished talks with the two larger parties and would meet on Wednesday to decide whether to back a draft policy programme the sides have worked on.
“We have to meet as a regional group to go through everything with a fine tooth comb and see if we’re happy to put our names behind that,” said Mr Heneghan.
The parties are hoping to sign off on the deal before next week’s US inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump. A new Irish parliament is also due to meet on 22 January.
Mr Trump’s pledge to slash corporate tax and impose tariffs poses a potentially major threat to Ireland’s foreign multinational-focused economy.
The main opposition performed badly during the November poll compared to the previous election in 2020.
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Sinn Fein topped the poll in 2020 for the first time with 24.5% of first-preference votes.
But four years on, despite being in opposition to a relatively unpopular government, the party’s vote share fell to 19% – the largest fall for any party at this election.
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The Green Party, which had been part of the coalition, did particularly badly, losing 11 out of 12 seats.
After the 2020 election, it took almost five months for Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens to form a government.
At that time, it was agreed the leaders of the two larger parties would rotate the Irish prime minister or “taoiseach”.
It is not clear if that arrangement will continue, given Fianna Fail has increased the number of seats it has over Fine Gael.
