Ireland's largest party Fianna Fail will not consider going into government...
DUBLIN - Ireland’s largest party Fianna Fail will not consider going into government with Sinn Fein, it said on Thursday, in a decision that is likely to prevent the left-wing nationalists from entering power for the first time.
Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army, shocked the Irish establishment by securing the most votes in a national election last weekend. Its vote almost doubled to 24% on promises of mass state house-building, a rent freeze and across-the-board increases in public spending. Senior Fianna Fail lawmaker Niall Collins had earlier told Reuters that the party fully backed the position.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have long shunned Sinn Fein, citing policy differences and the party’s historic links to the IRA, which fought British rule in Northern Ireland for decades in a conflict in which some 3,600 people were killed before a 1998 peace deal. But she said a Fianna Fail-Fine Gael coalition would be “a slap in the face to the Irish electorate” who had clearly expressed a desire for change.The Green Party, with 12 seats, and the Social Democrats on six are the two largest of the remaining parties that may be open to a coalition deal. The Labour Party, which also has six seats, said it plans to sit on the opposition benches.
Fine Gael is less keen on a mirror image of the “confidence and supply” agreement that led to both parties losing seats.
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