Ireland’s acting prime minister has lost a vote in parliament that could have won him re-election, as efforts continue to try to form a government in Dublin.
Enda Kenny lost the vote to re-elect him by 80 votes to 51 in the Dail, a result that means Ireland’s two largest political parties, Fine Gael and Fianna Faáil, will hold further talks to try and create a new administration out of the gridlock of February’s inconclusive election.
Parties in the Irish parliament have been unable to create a viable coalition and elect a prime minister since the vote, which saw Fine Gael emerge as the largest party with 50 seats, with Fianna Fáil on 44.
Kenny, the acting taoiseach and Fine Gael leader, and Micheál Martin, the leader of Fianna Fáil, held talks in the capital to discuss a potential deal on Wednesday.
Martin also lost out in a bid to become an alternative Taoiseach by 95 votes to 43.
The most probable outcome of the negotiations, which could last for days, if not weeks, is that Fianna Fáil supports a Fine Gael-led minority administration without formally entering government.
Fianna Fáil sources continue to insist that its preferred option is for the party to remain the biggest force on the opposition benches, but that it will declare a “political ceasefire” for a fixed period to allow the Fine Gael minority coalition to govern.
Rather than enter a grand coalition and end the divide between the two parties stretching back to the 1922-23 Irish civil war, Fianna Fáil sources said the party would allow its old rivals to introduce at least one budget in the autumn. However, the price of a political ceasefire would be to let Fianna Fáil have some input into the details of the budget.
There is a reluctance within Fianna Fáil to join a grand coalition because this would leave Sinn Féin and its leader, Gerry Adams, as the strongest opposition force.
Sinn Féin returned with 23 seats in the February election, while the Irish Labour party, which ruled in a coalition with Fine Gael from 2011 until this year, won only seven seats.
Up to now, Fine Gael’s post-election discussions have focused on an amalgam of independent members of parliament. A non-aligned, non-party bloc of independents has 23 seats in parliament.
A series of deals will have to be struck with independent TDs before they shore up any Fine Gael minority government.
Between the two biggest parties, the demands from Fianna Fáil include a €10 increase in child benefit, the imposition of a sugar tax, allowing credit unions to offer mortgages and a reduction in savings tax. Fine Gael is offering to spend nearly €7bn extra on public services by 2021 and build 25,000 new homes to counter Ireland’s growing housing crisis.
