Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has poured cold water in the idea of a February election insisting it should not happen before Easter.
Mr Martin said there should be a professional orderly wind-down of the Government in order to allow important legislation to be passed by the Oireachtas.
There needs to be clarity and certainty about Brexit, he told RTÉ radio’s News at One. “The natural cut off point for this Dáil should be Easter.”
“I am very clear on this and I've said it, and we need clarity and we need certainty now, because of the Brexit situation okay there will be legislation, taking us up to the end of January,” he said.
“The new spring session will commence, I think on the 15th of 16th of January. And maybe we should go ahead. There are 34 days If you'd like to have an orderly wind up. I think Easter, to me, is the natural caught off point of this story. And I think Fianna Fail have demonstrated a constructive approach. We've given stability to the country in the context of no deal Brexit,” he said.
There are key issues to be dealt with before the end of the Government which would require an orderly exit, he added.
When asked about the possibility of further no confidence motions in Government Ministers, Mr Martin said he has not “played games” and had demonstrated good faith.
“We've given a functioning government when we didn't have a majority ourselves after last general election. We do believe there should be a change of government. We do believe the Government has failed in health and housing, but we believe that there should be an orderly wind down and after Easter should be the right time for a general election,” he said.
Putting down motions was just political maneuvering and “a political stunt” during the by-elections by the Social Democrats.