'Certainty is more important' than general election, says Noel Rock
Now is not the time for a general election, according to a Fine Gael TD.
As the Dáil returns today some Fine Gael Ministers think it is time to go to the people with their party leading in the polls.
The confidence and supply arrangement with Fianna Fáil has to be renegotiated after October's budget.
But Fine Gael's Noel Rock says now is not the time to cut and run.
"People are stopping me on the street and they're saying to me, 'Noel, you're flying in the polls, why wouldn't you go now?'," he said.
"And to them I say I think certainty is more important, I think Brexit is more important.
"I think actually what Leo has offered in terms of 'let's agree an election date now, summer 2020' gets us all out of the woods on Brexit, serves the national interest and we can all aim towards a fixed timeframe.
"I think that's actually a very fulsome, reasonable offer."
Fianna Fáil's Thomas Byrne says they're not thinking about an election at the moment.
"The most important thing at the moment is the Budget," he said.
"We're completely focused on the Budget.
"I think the Taoiseach tried to distract us before the summer break and then a couple of weeks ago with his desire to enter into talks to extend the confidence and supply agreement.
"We resisted those two invitations. The reason for resisting those invitations was that we felt that the Budget was the most important thing that we have to do at the moment,"
