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Independent TDs to meet Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael

The Green Party will meet remotely tomorrow to continue to work on a response to the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael coalition policy plan
The Green Party will meet remotely tomorrow to continue to work on a response to the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael coalition policy plan

The Regional Technical Group of Independent TDs will meet Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael tomorrow to discuss the possibility of forming a Government.

Independent TD for Galway East Seán Canney said the group would sit down and try to work out a programme for Government with costings.

He said: "As a group we will try to sit down and try to find agreement to help out. It's better to be inside Government than outside criticising."

"The Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael policy document is a mission statement we must leave that there now and try to start building brick on brick a programme for Government which will show costings and timelines."

Fine Gael said it is open to Independent TDs being a full part of government as part of a formal agreement. 

In a statement, Fine Gael said it has written to leaders of the Social Democrats, the Labour Party and the Green Party and also Independent TDs inviting to meet after they had considered the document. 

It said a third party is essential in any Government in addition to Independent TDs. 

Independent TDs Marian Harkin, Michael Fitzmaurice and Michael McNamara will also meet Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael tomorrow.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have 72 seats between them but a majority of 80 is needed to form a Government.

They are hoping to entice the Green Party, Independent TDs and smaller parties to increase their Dáil numbers.

The Green Party have 12 seats, Labour have 6, the Social Democrats have 6 and there are 19 Independent TDs.

A spokesperson for Fianna Fáil has said a letter will be issued tomorrow to the Social Democrats in response to their queries about economic projections in the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael joint policy document. 

Fine Gael also said it will respond in due course to the letter from the Social Democrats.

The Social Democrats want an up-to-date assessment of the economy and projections for the impact of Covid-19 so they can properly assess whether the promises in the document are realistic.

The Labour Party have been reviewing the document over the weekend. The Labour leader Alan Kelly has described the document as uncosted and purely aspirational with no mention of any timelines.

Meanwhile, the Green Party Parliamentary Party will meet remotely tomorrow to continue to work on a response to the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael coalition policy plan.

The party says the document is vague when it comes to detail and it wants clarity on a number of issues including carbon emissions and housing.

It is expected the party will draft a response to the document this week which will pose a number of questions to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael party leaders.

A spokesperson for the party said the format of their response had not yet been decided.

Yesterday, the Green Party's Neasa Hourigan said it was a vague document but she said there was good stuff in it.

"There is good stuff in it, it's good that they recognise that you can't go back to the old ways and it can't be a return to the status quo and talk about wellbeing and social contract."

However, she said the party wanted more clarity on issues including borrowing and climate action.

"I think we do have issues around clarity and detail, I understand the idea of setting out a principle document but on one hand if you can say you are going to plant 140 million trees but you can't tell us how many houses you're going to build, I think there is an issue there."

Asked if she trusted Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, she said it was not about trust and there needed to be agreements and contracts in place.