TD says Fianna Fail’s refusal to include Sinn Fein in government formation talks is 'stupid'

Fianna Fail’s refusal to include Sinn Fein in talks over the formation of a new government in Ireland is “stupid”, TD Claire Kerrane has said.

The Sinn Fein representative said her party’s mandate from the election, when it emerged with the second largest number of seats, should be respected.

Fianna Fail, led by Micheal Martin, and Fine Gael, led by Taoiseach Simon Harris, have both ruled out entering power with Sinn Fein. Together they are a couple of seats short of a majority of 88 and are expected to partner with some independent TDs to form a government.

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Ms Kerrane told RTE’s The Week in Politics programme Fianna Fail “and Micheal Martin in particular” had spoken for a long time about not wanting to speak to Sinn Fein about government formation. She said: “Frankly, I think that’s stupid, I think he should reflect on that. We got over 400,000 votes.

“Why shouldn’t Sinn Fein be involved in the talks to go into government? We are in government in the North.

“He [Mr Martin] should come to the table and he should speak to us, he should respect the mandate. No matter what happens after a General Election, everyone should be adults, they should get around the table and they should respect the mandate of every political party, including mine.”

Ms Kerrane added it was “unfortunate” that the second largest party after the election was “not getting a look-in”.

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