The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
McDonald ‘may well be next taoiseach’
Mary Lou McDonald has predicted she could be poised to become Ireland’s next leader.
The Sinn Fein president insisted she may lead a new government as taoiseach as her party continued to bask in a remarkable general election result that saw it top the popular vote, shattering Fianna Fail and Fine Gael’s long-time grip on power.
On an impromptu walkabout in Dublin city centre, Mrs McDonald said: “I may well be the next taoiseach, yes.”
Counting continued yesterday and, by 8.40pm, 146 of the Dail’s 160 seats were filled.
Despite receiving the most first preference votes, Sinn Fein’s place in the next government is not guaranteed.
The party failed to run enough candidates to capitalise on its surging popularity in Ireland, so it will not finish up with the most seats.
Fianna Fail is on course to be the largest party though Sinn Fein could finish in second place behind outgoing Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s Fine Gael, which is the big loser of the poll.
All three parties will fall well short of reaching the 80 seats required for a Dail majority so, barring another election, some form of coalition is inevitable.
The task of forming a government could be a long and tortuous one and may force either Fianna Fail or Fine Gael to back-track on long-standing pledges never to do business with Sinn Fein. Earlier, a senior Fianna Fail politician described a coalition with Sinn Fein as “untenable”.
Jim O’Callaghan also insisted his party leader, Micheal Martin, had not softened his stance on ruling out the party as government partners.
“We need to recognise we gave a commitment and, when you look at the policy differences between Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail, I don’t think it’s tenable to suggest that we should be in coalition with them,” he said.
Mr O’Callaghan’s views are not echoed by all his colleagues, with some Fianna Fail members having indicated a willingness to do business with the party.
Mr Varadkar has maintained his preelection stance and ruled out any Fine Gael-Sinn Fein coalition.
Mrs McDonald’s preference is for a coalition of left-wing parties, without input from the centre right Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. However, it is doubtful whether such an alliance could generate the sufficient numbers for a majority.
Another permutation could see the exclusion of Sinn Fein, with Fine Gael and Fianna Fail entering power together.