November election would be a ‘stroke’

FIANNA Fáil leader Micheál Martin says that any attempt by Leo Varadkar to call a snap general election before Christmas would be a ‘stroke’.

There was rampant speculation in Fine Gael this weekend that the Taoiseach could go to the country quickly if a Brexit deal is struck before October 31.

Fine Gael ministers and TDs told the Irish Mail on Sunday, in a series of briefings yesterday, that they are encouraging him to do so.

One minister said they would be able to ‘capitalise on a historic achievement’ just like Bertie Ahern was able to ‘gain political capital from the Good Friday Agreement for years’.

However, Mr Martin told a Fianna Fáil gathering in Dublin last night that if the Taoiseach pulled such a move he would have to ‘explain’ to the electorate the chaos caused by the rush to get the Finance Bill through in a few weeks. Mr Martin was addressing the annual Fianna Fáil Cairde Fáil dinner at the Clayton Hotel in Ballsbridge.

He said: ‘There will be an election next year unless the Taoiseach decides to try to pull a stroke of some sort because he thinks it will benefit him. It’s already obvious that he is constantly looking for party political angles on everything.

He said: ‘It will be up to him to explain himself if he decides that we actually don’t need to complete parliamentary scrutiny of the Finance Bill, the Welfare Bill and of course the supplementary estimates, caused by his ministers failing to deliver projects without massive delays and overspending. Whatever happens we will be ready and it is now clear where the dividing lines between the parties will be.’