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Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has said his party will seek to form a government without Sinn Féin. Both parties have been seeking a path to a viable coalition since the Irish general election earlier in February. Fianna Fáil’s parliamentary party met last Thursday and decided forming a coalition with Sinn Féin “would not be the right thing to do”. On Wednesday, Mr. Martin said a steering group would be set up to formally engage with other parties. He said the group, made up of members of the Fianna Fáil front bench, would begin formal engagements with other parties and...

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald today blasted “arrogant” political rivals for denying her party a place in the next Irish Government. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has ruled out entering a coalition with the left-leaning party because of historic links to the IRA. Ms. McDonald told a party meeting in Belfast: “The political establishment of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are circling the wagons in defense of a status quo that will not deliver the change citizens voted for last weekend. Because they don’t want change. That is why they said they wouldn’t talk to us. And it now...

Sinn Féin has declared victory in Ireland’s general election and called for talks with other main parties to form a coalition government. Its leader, Mary Lou McDonald, urged Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to start negotiations with the republican party as the scale of its breakthrough confirmed a realignment of Irish politics. Irish general election: who won and what happens now? Read more “Sinn Féin has won the election. We have won the popular vote,” McDonald said, as counting of votes to fill seats in Dáil Éireann, parliament’s lower house, continued in constituencies across the country. With full results expected...

A new exit poll suggests that Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin are tied when it comes to first preference votes, making the result of the General Election too close to call. The exit poll, carried out by Ipsos MRBI for RTÉ, The Irish Times, TG4 and UCD, indicates all three parties have 22% of first preference votes. The margin of error in this exit poll is ±1.3% — which means any of the three parties could be as low as 20.7% support or as high as 23.3%. […] The poll suggests a move toward Sinn Féin among younger...

Pro-choice TD Troy is denied holy communion A Catholic priest refused to give communion to Fianna Fail TD Robert Troy at a recent funeral mass because the politician supported the introduction of legalised abortion services.Fr John Hogan, parish priest of Multyfarnham in Co Westmeath, withheld the host from Troy on January 4 during a requiem mass at St Nicholas’s parish church in the diocese of Meath.Troy, who had been regarded as “anti-choice”, revealed last month in an interview with Hot Press magazine that he voted yes in the referendum to repeal the eighth amendment last May. Last week the TD...

The Occupied Territories Bill is fully compliant with EU trade rules, according to new expert legal opinion given to Senator Frances Black. The Bill, which is due to be voted on by the Seanad next Wednesday, aims to prohibit Ireland from trading in goods and services from Israeli-occupied territories by prohibiting “the import and sales of goods, services and natural resources originating in illegal settlements in occupied territories”. Despite government opposition, the Bill has cross-party support from Labour, Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil as well as independent senators. Members within government such as Transport Shane Ross, Minister of State for Disabilities...

The State could face infringement proceedings by the EU or a third party if a Bill that would ban imports from Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories is passed, the European Commission has warned. A Government official privately sought the advice of the Commission’s trade directorate last week on the proposed legislation, which is sponsored by Independent Senator Frances Black and passed its first vote in the Seanad in July with the support of Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Labour and some independents. Fine Gael opposes the passage of the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018 on the basis...

Irish senators have adopted a non-binding motion on Palestine recognition, as the EU prepares to set out new red lines on Israel relations. The motion, tabled by Averil Power from the opposition Fianna Fáil party, passed without a vote on Wednesday (22 October) after winning cross-party support. It urges the Irish government “to formally recognize the state of Palestine and do everything it can to help secure a viable two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”. Power told the Senate that in the past 20 years “while pretending to talk peace … [Israel’s] illegal settlements in the West Bank have trebled...

A GROUP OF ABOUT 100 protestors – many of them carrying Sinn Féin banners – forced their way through the gates of government buildings earlier this afternoon, following a protest against the government’s handling of the economy. The group – led by Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh - were calling for the immediate resignation of the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, following yesterday’s announcement that Ireland had been forced to seek emergency bailout funding from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

The shock of Ireland's decision to seek a bailout, after weeks of denying it needed one, has proved too much for the fragile government. The junior member of the coalition, the Green Party, stunned Cowen and his Fianna Fail party by announcing Monday they want parliament dissolved in January for an early election. A Green withdrawal would destroy Cowen's three-vote parliamentary majority. Green Party leader John Gormley said his party would support Cowen through the Dec. 7 vote on the 2011 budget as well as the related four-year plan and the expected flow of the bailout money in coming weeks....

Ministers insist other countries must ratify deal despite Ireland's 'no' vote Germany and France moved to isolate Ireland in the European Union yesterday, scrambling for ways to resuscitate the Lisbon Treaty a day after the Irish dealt the architects of the EU's new regime a crushing blow. Refusing to take Ireland's 'no' for an answer, politicians in Berlin and Paris prepared for a crucial EU summit in Brussels this week by trying to ringfence the Irish while demanding that the treaty be ratified by the rest of the EU. The scene is now set for a major clash between the...

Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs has insisted there was "no truth" in reports of a secret deal between himself and Bertie Ahern over the leadership of their Fianna Fail party.For the uninitiated, Fianna Fail is sort of like the Democrats of Ireland. And about as corrupt. - Ivan Brian Cowen denied reports of an agreement that he would take over as leader of the party when the time came for Mr Ahern to gave up the post. Mr Cowen, speaking at a Nice Treaty news conference in Dublin, said he did not believe such rumours were distracting the public from...

BERTIE AHERN is not being investigated by the Flood tribunal about an IR£80,000 bribe, nor is any member of his cabinet. Shades of Clinton, impeachment but with an Irish tinge -Ivan Sources close to the taoiseach acknowledged that allegations published last weekend that a serving cabinet minister took the corrupt payments were directed at Ahern. However, the allegation, reportedly made by Tom Gilmartin, the property developer, is not contained in his affadavit to the inquiry. He is due to testify about planning corruption within weeks. The tribunal is not investigating the allegations that a serving member of the cabinet took...

I didn't find any thread about the latest Irish elections.