Fine Gael targeting seat gains in Munster ahead of election
Fine Gael is targeting key constituencies across Munster as they aim to win 15 more seats after the next general election.
Strongly ruling out going into Government with Sinn Féin, Tánaiste Simon Coveney has instead put forward his preference for a rainbow coalition made up of the Green Party, Labour, and the Independent Alliance.
He said his party will be using the local elections in May as a “springboard” for a national poll, with the main focus on claiming significant victories in Cork and other Munster constituencies.
“What we want is a successful local election that can be a springboard for gains in a general election,” said Mr Coveney.
The Cork South Central TD agreed that there is more scope to gain seats in Munster than the greater Dublin area in the next general election.
“I’d like us to be well into the 60s,” he said. “I am not going to put an exact number on it but certainly they’re the kind of target figures that we can credibly look to. And some of them need to come in Munster, there is no question about that. And some of them need to come in Cork.
“If you look at the Cork constituencies, Cork South-West, Cork North-West, Cork East, and Cork South-Central, these are constituencies where we have the potential.
“They are all highly competitive so I am not going to start making predictions constituency by constituency, but we are selecting candidates and have selected candidates that, in my view, can make gains for Fine Gael for all the right reasons.”
The party has poached former Independent councillor John Paul O’Shea to run alongside Agriculture Minister Michael Creed in Cork North West, while senator Tim Lombard, a staunch Coveney ally, will run with minister of state Jim Daly in Cork South West. Fellow senator Jerry Buttimer is on the ticket with Mr Coveney, while, in Cork East, Pa O’Driscoll will contest the election with minister of state David Stanton.
However, Mr Coveney admitted that Fine Gael would not have the numbers to form a Government and would seek the support of all other parties, except Sinn Féin, after a general election.
“We have ruled out Sinn Féin as a coalition partner,” he said. “That is a very real ruling out. It is not going to happen.
“Before the last government was formed, I would have been a very strong advocate for a very strong rainbow coalition with parties like the Labour Party and the Greens as part of that. It didn’t happen. Who knows, maybe it will happen after the next election.
“We will have to wait and see where entities like the Independent Alliance, where the Green Party is, where the Labour Party is.”
Mr Coveney said it was “far too early” to speculate on whether Fine Gael would support Fianna Fáil in any new confidence and supply agreement and it was “unlikely” that a coalition will be formed between the two largest parties.
“I think you are more likely to see, hopefully, a strong Fine Gael coming out of the next election, looking to build a partnership and an alliance with other parties where we share agendas and that we want to complete together,” he said.
