Deal with Independents will harm FG in next election, Varadkar is warned
TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar is being warned about seeking the support of Independent TDs, including Michael Lowry, from constituencies where Fine Gael has no Dáil seats.
Mr Varadkar is hoping as many as six Independent deputies will back the government deal he has agreed with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party in a bid to bolster the prospective coalition’s Dáil numbers.
The various groups of Independent TDs are to meet the party leaders this week to be briefed on the programme for government’s contents.
Fine Gael senator Garret Ahearn has sought a meeting with Mr Varadkar over concerns he has that the leaders will strike lucrative constituency deals with Independent TDs that could cost Fine Gael in the next election.
“When we are risking so much as a party on entering government for a third term, why would we even entertain a conversation with Independents when it is not necessary,” Mr Ahearn said after raising the issue at the Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting on Monday.
Mr Ahearn is based in Tipperary, where he failed to get elected in February’s General Election. The party has struggled in the constituency since Mr Lowry, a former Fine Gael minister, quit in acrimonious circumstances in the 1990s.
Mr Lowry supported the outgoing Government in Dáil votes and frequently claimed responsibility for securing significant investment in Tipperary.
He has signalled an openness to supporting the next government.
Mr Ahearn added: “I raised concerns about giving Independents a platform. I spoke about [how] even Independents who have no interest in entering government will use meetings during government formation as somehow suggesting they had an input.”
Mr Ahearn also pointed out Fine Gael has no seats in Waterford or Roscommon where Independent TDs Matt Shanahan and Denis Naughten are based.
Mr Lowry, Mr Shanahan and Mr Naughten are all part of the Regional Independent Group, which also includes Cathal Berry (Kildare South) and Seán Canney (Galway East), as well as Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth), Noel Grealish (Galway West), and Verona Murphy (Wexford), who are based in three constituencies where Fine Gael lost seats in February.
Mr Varadkar said he wanted to get the numbers supporting the next government from 84 closer to 90 which, he said, would give the coalition “security” to last a full term.