Micheal Martin has insisted it is time to “get on with the work” after hailing his Fianna Fail party’s performance in Ireland’s general election. Fianna Fail is on course to secure the most seats in the Dail parliament, with party leader Mr Martin poised for another stint in the role of taoiseach. As the arduous count process enters its third day on Monday, with more than three quarters of the Dail parliament’s 174 seats filled, the return of an administration involving Fianna Fail and Fine Gael now looks a much more likely prospect than any government including the long-time main opposition party, Sinn Fein.
The two centrist parties that have dominated Irish politics for a century, and who shared power in the last coalition, both ruled out governing with Sinn Fein before Friday’s election, so it seems unlikely that either would countenance that option if they could form a workable coalition together. If it is to be a reprise of the Fianna Fail/Fine Gael governing partnership of the last mandate, one of the major unanswered questions is around the position of taoiseach, and whether the parties will once again take turns to hold the Irish premiership during the lifetime of the new government. The outcome in 2020 saw the parties enter a coalition on the basis that the holder of the premier position would be exchanged midway through the term.
Mr Martin took the role for the first half of the mandate, with Leo Varadkar taking over in December 2022. Current Fine Gael l.
