Sinn Féin has confirmed it is seeking legal advice over whether members of the Regional Independents group which will form part of the prospective new government can also form a technical group on the opposition benches.
At the Dáil business committee on Thursday, members of the Regional Independents group said they want to establish the opposition benches technical group despite also being in the potential new coalition.
The seven-TD group said this is because while four of its members will be either super junior ministers or junior ministers, three members of the group - Michael Lowry, Gillian Toole and Barry Heneghan - will not have a formal position.
As such, the group has argued that Deputies Lowry, Toole and Heneghan - the latter of whom is strongly tipped to become the Government's assistant chief whip - could be able to form a technical group on the opposition benches as they would only be supporting government rather than be in a formal government position.
The group has argued this move - and a potential plan to form a technical group in opposition with Independent TD Danny Healy Rae, Independent TD Carol Nolan and Aontú TDs Peadar Tóibín and Paul Lawless - is allowed under Dáil standing orders.
This would allow them to have more Dáil speaking time, and to have additional backroom Oireachtas supports.
However opposition parties have ridiculed the plans, including Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, who said it was a case of the Regional Independents trying "to have their cake and eat it".
Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy said it means the Programme for Government is "a chancers' charter".
In a statement to RTÉ News, a Sinn Féin spokesperson said the party has now "sought legal advice regarding the proposed formation of a new regional Independent Dáil technical group".
The spokesperson said the party "is deeply concerned that this proposal, where TDs who support the government and who helped draft the Programme for Government, would sit on the opposition benches to avail of extra speaking time intended for the opposition.
"Not only do these so-called Independents want the trappings of power, they also want to take away the limited resources afforded to the opposition," the spokesperson said.
Sinn Féin said it expects to receive its legal advice by Monday.
The new Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy, who until recently was a Regional Independent TD, will issue a verdict on the Regional Independents proposal after the new government has been formed.
