A senior Clare Fine Gael Councillor believes there’s an onus on his party to act in the best interests of the country, even if that means forming a coalition with Fianna Fáil.
Joe Cooney been speaking ahead of a Fine Gael parliamentary party at which Leo Varadkar will tell his TDs that his party is ready for opposition, and will only enter Government as a last resort.
Today’s Fine Gael’s Parliamentary meeting is their first since their disappointing General election.
It will review what went wrong, and also cover government formation talks.
Leo Varadkar will tell his TDs that Sinn Féin should try to put together a left wing government, and that Fianna Fáil should try to form a rainbow coalition with the Greens, Labour, the Social Democrats and Independents.
It means he has not ruled out the much rumoured grand coalition between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, but that it’s not his first option.
Local Fine Gael members are also due to meet to discuss the future of the party and Bodyke Councillor Joe Cooney, who leads his party in Clare says the party should be acting in the best interest of the country.
Today, Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald has said she is continuing to try to form a left wing government, but admits it’s tricky to get the numbers.
The Acting Transport Minister says a Fianna Fail-Fine Gael coalition involving the Greens is the “only real option” to form a government.
Shane Ross lost his Dublin Rathdown seat in the election – and has revealed he’s planning to write a “behind the scenes book” about the last administration, but he promises it won’t be “vindictive”.
Meanwhile, some meetings are taking place today between the various political parties.
Solidarity People Before Profit are meeting with the Greens this afternoon and Greens TD Neasa Hourigan says communication between some of the parties needs to improve.
