Martin’s ‘no’ to an early election

THE leadership of Fianna Fáil is not seeking an early general election and will go into talks on the possible extension of the Confidence and Supply Agreement in good faith.

Micheál Martin’s position is that the agreement runs to a third Budget, to be delivered in October, and after that the party is willing to enter a ‘review’, as is provided for under the deal.

He will not publicly slap down critics of the deal within his own ranks, but his office has pointed to his reshuffle of the party front bench only last week as a sign that there will be bedding down for the next number of months. ‘We are not going into an election with a bunch of new spokespersons who won’t be able to speak to their allotted subjects,’ said a senior source. A spokesman for leader Mr Martin, who was at a family gathering yesterday, said the party would enter into the review, scheduled for November, in good faith. ‘Nothing has changed since the beginning of the year,’ the source said.

It was separately confirmed that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar wrote a letter to Mr Martin between Christmas and New Year saying he was open to earlier talks on a possible renewal of Confidence and Supply. The Fianna Fáil leader, fresh from victory in a standoff over the position of former Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald that almost tipped the country into an unwanted general election, merely acknowledged the approach in a noncommittal way. Both sides told the Irish Daily Mail that there had been no fresh developments since.

This is despite, newly appointed party spokesman on public expenditure Barry Cowen telling yesterday’s Irish Times that the agreement’s ‘natural lifetime may be over’. He said: ‘The expectation of politicians and the public was that it wouldn’t last, but to get as far as it has is an achievement.’

He added, however: ‘No more than my leader, I want the Budget to take place. It’s too easy to pull the plug.’