Taoiseach Simon Harris has refused to be drawn on which parties he would rather go into government with after outgoing TD Charlie Flanagan said Fine Gael should strive to avoid “left wing” influence.
A former minister for justice, Mr Flanagan, who has been critical of the Greens in government in the past, tweeted on Sunday: “Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil must strive to rule together in a majority government. Last thing the country wants is another left-wing tail wagging two dogs.”
But speaking in Cork following a rally with Fine Gael supporters, Mr Harris refused to be drawn on possible coalition permutations until votes are counted after the November 29th election.
“I have a very low threshold for anybody taking any votes for granted in this election.” As of now, “no party has won one vote, no party has won on one seat,” he said.
Mr Harris said the only permutation that he was ruling out at this stage was Fine Gael going into coalition with Sinn Féin.
“My party does have a track record of working well with lots of parties. We’ve been in governments with Labour, with Independents, we’ve been in minority governments, where we’ve worked, across the Dáil chamber, and of course, most recently, we’ve been in a three party coalition.”
On Saturday in Cork, Tánaiste and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin sounded a cautionary note over the possibility of his party going into government with either Labour or the Social Democrats in any future coalition.
Mr Martin has already ruled out Fianna Fáil going into any coalition arrangement with Sinn Féin because of their very different economic policies.
“We need pro-enterprise tax policies – we need that in this country – and there are quite a number of parties in the Opposition who oppose that type of approach,” the Tánaiste added.
Policy proposals on how to improve the quality of life in Dublin and other urban areas featured strongly in the second full day of general election campaigning.
Fianna Fáil launched a policy document on “supporting urban committees” with proposals for improving the lives of people living, working and visiting Ireland’s cities.
Dublin Bay South TD Jim O’Callaghan said Fianna Fáil would recruit 5,000 gardaí over the next five years should it be returned to government, bringing the Garda to around 20,000 members.
Minister of State for justice James Browne said urban communities had faced real challenges around crime and urban decay.
He highlighted New York’s previous “zero-tolerance” policy which he said was not only about “getting tough on crime” but also about “putting that heart back into their communities, and that’s what we’re looking to do here”.
Mr Browne said Fianna Fáil would bring in new powers for gardaí, including dispersal orders to be directed at people are carrying out antisocial behaviour.
The Social Democrats outlined their plan to “restore and revive” Dublin with Dublin Central candidate Gary Gannon leading the charge.
The Social Democrats have promised dedicated Garda unit for policing events and protests and measures to boost the number of people living in Dublin city centre in a proposal aimed at reviving the capital.
The party’s Dublin North-West candidate Rory Hearne, who is seeking to hold former party co-leader Róisín Shortall’s seat after her retirement, said Government plans to encourage people to live over shops had not been effective.
The party highlighted a proposal that would allow Dublin City Council to levy a tax that would be higher than the vacant homes tax with the revenues ring-fenced to bring such buildings back into use.
People Before Profit was also focusing on Dublin on Sunday with Richard Boyd Barrett TD joining Paul Murphy TD in Tallaght to campaign on the high cost of living.
