Sinn Fein election hopeful highlights 'nightmare scenario' with results on knife-edge

Sinn Fein’s Director of Elections has said that “the nightmare scenario” would be Fianna Fail and Fine Gael returning to government in Ireland.

Matt Carthy told RTE’s Morning Ireland that if Sinn Fein emerge as the largest party it would be a “phenomenal result”, adding the exit poll putting support for Mary Lou McDonald as the next Taoiseach at 34% was a “huge vindication” for her.

Asked who his party would talk to about forming a government, Mr Carthy - hoping for re-election in Cavan-Monaghan - said: “We will see how the numbers land. We will try and do everything in our power to create a government that doesn’t include Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.

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“I have to say the nightmare scenario as far as I’m concerned – as somebody who has an 18 and a 17 (year-olds) and younger kids at home – the nightmare scenario is Fianna Fail and Fine Gael returning to government, regardless of what the third leg of the stool is.”

He added: “I think we might be in for a few surprises yet over the weekend. All I can say is we went into these elections with many people predicting our demise, it now appears that we may be the largest political party.”

Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein appear to be neck-and-neck in an election exit poll released on Friday night, with Sinn Fein attracting 21.1% of the popular vote, followed by Fine Gael on 21% and Fianna Fail on 19.5%. The margin of error in the poll is around 1.4%, so there appears to be nothing between the main parties.

It means the election race remains “too close to call”, according to Fianna Fail deputy leader Jack Chambers.

Mr Chambers said the exit poll showed that the largest proportion of voters wanted party leader Micheal Martin to become Taoiseach, adding this “demonstrates the strength” of Fianna Fail.

The RTE, The Irish Times, TG4 and Trinity College Dublin exit poll showed 35% of respondents wanted Mr Martin as the next premier, narrowly ahead of Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald on 34%, and 27% for current Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris.

The exit poll suggests Fine Gael has “held ground”, according to the party’s general secretary.

John Carroll said the party entered the election with just 17 TDs standing for re-election. Eighteen of the party’s 35 incumbents did not stand again. He said Fine Gael did not have an incumbent running in 26 constituencies.

Speaking to RTE, Mr Carroll said: “The exit poll would suggest to us that we’ve been able to hold ground and make a bit of improvement on the 2020 general election. That’s quite encouraging from our perspective. But at this point of time, it’s an exit poll. We’ll know more later on.”

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