‘Nobody’s knocking but it’s early days’: Cork Independent TDs eye part in new government

Independent Ireland leader, Cork South West TD Michael Collins, said he is still waiting on Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael to talk about Government formation post-election, while party colleague, Cork North Central TD Ken O’Flynn, said smaller parties being “afraid of what happened to Labour or the Greens” is a “cop-out”.

Mr Collins said: “At the moment, nobody’s knocking at the door, and until there’s a knock at the door, we can’t walk in — and our doors are open,” he said.

“We’ve made very clear that we have strong policies — our policies, to me, are policies every party in the country should have — they haven’t come knocking but it’s early days yet.

“I don’t think they’ve sat down with any party in the country bar themselves, and we await their call.”

Mr Collins was speaking with The Echo following a week of positioning by different parties, Independent TDs, and groupings as the two main parties in the outgoing coalition negotiated over the airwaves about the likely structure of the incoming government.

Mícheál Martin and Simon Harris met at the fringes of a British Irish Council meeting in Edinburgh and have agreed, according to reports, to begin formal government formation talks.

On Saturday, Independent Ireland announced it would be forming a technical group in Dáil Éireann which would include the two Kerry TDs, Michael and Danny Healy-Rae, as well as Dublin Mid-West Independent TD Paul Gogarty. This would ensure that the members of the technical group would have enhanced speaking rights while not constituting a party. With four TDs, Independent Ireland fell short of the threshold of five TDs to get full speaking rights and parliamentary status.

Mr Collins called on all independent TDs or groups seeking to make a deal around Government formation with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to make rejection of Mercosur a red-line issue.

MERCUSOR

He said that the Mercosur deal would lead to the Irish market being flooded by cheap beef and poultry from South America and the devastation of the Irish agriculture sector.

“By forming this technical group, we are ensuring that independent voices are amplified in the Dáil, and we can better advocate for the needs of the people we represent,” said Mr Collins.

The technical group is currently in discussions with further Independent TDs who may join the grouping before the commencement of the next Dáil. Any expansion would further strengthen the group’s capacity to influence policy and hold the government accountable.

In an interview with BreakingNews.ie, Mr O’Flynn said: “We’re not stupid enough to think we’ll get everything. We know there has to be compromise. We’re not afraid of going into government.

“The Greens lost their seats because of their policies, Labour did the same because of their water charge policies and not listening to the people. I think it’s a very cynical view to take that if you’re the junior partner you always get screwed.

“The prime example of that is the Progressive Democrats, who went into government with Fianna Fáil twice and came back with more seats because they were a watchdog, and they promoted themselves as a watchdog.

“We’d like to be a similar watchdog for government overspend, holding people to account for the bike sheds and security huts, all that stuff.”