Social Democrats to engage in 'focused' Government formation talks

The Social Democrats will engage in “focused” government formation talks starting next week.

It follows meetings with Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and the Labour Party this week and last week, which deputy party leader Cian O’Callaghan described as “exploratory”.

Mr O’Callaghan said on Wednesday evening that the parliamentary party would meet and decide by the end of the week whether to continue to engage in government formation talks.

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In a statement on Thursday morning, the Dublin Bay North TD confirmed that the party will continue to engage in formation.

Mr O’Callaghan said: “At a meeting of the Social Democrats parliamentary party [on Thursday] morning, a decision was taken to continue talks with the four parties we have already engaged with – Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and Labour.

“Earlier, during the meeting, I and the other members of our negotiation team – Jennifer Whitmore and Gary Gannon – updated the parliamentary party on those meetings.

“We reported that the meetings had been positive and constructive with a good exchange of views.

“These talks have been exploratory to date but I expect that next week they will become more focused – particularly on the dealbreakers we highlighted during the election campaign.”

Mr O’Callaghan said that the dealbreakers include 50,000 affordable homes over a five-year government term, the full implementation of Sláinte

“Those dealbreakers were the delivery of 50,000 genuinely affordable homes during the lifetime of the next government; the full implementation of Sláintecare, public childcare, a senior minister for disability and “credible climate action”.

“In continuing these talks, the Social Democrats are delivering on a commitment we gave to the electorate to talk to every party after the election with a view to forming a government and delivering on our mandate,” Mr O’Callaghan added.

Meanwhile, the Labour Parliamentary Party will meet this lunchtime [sat] to discuss the outcome of meetings with the leaders of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik met with Simon Harris and Micheál Martin individually on Tuesday.

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