Pearse Doherty: A second election would be ‘failure of politics’

"We're willing to talk to all parties, we have a mandate as do other parties, we respect that mandate. A government can be formed if there is a willingness there, if there is a bit of grown-up politics."

Pearse Doherty: A second election would be ‘failure of politics’

Sinn Féin has met with the Rural Independents Group and Social Democrats to further discussions on forming a government.

Negotiations centre around "burning issues" such as building houses, the current trolley crisis in Irish hospitals, and pension age.

The Social Democrats meeting, briefer than the one held with independents, is expected to centre around health due to Roisin Shorthall's prominent involvement with Sláintecare, with another meeting scheduled for later in the week.

Pearse Doherty said the idea of a minority government is one the party is "teasing out".

"We're moving into the stage where we're talking real policy now, so we've put forward to each of the parties engaging with us, six key areas of policy that we want to now drill down into, because this is the point where we need to be looking to see what common ground we have on these key issues, and that is where we're at.

"A minority government is one possibility, but there are other possibilities and we've said we're open to discussions with other parties. Whether they continue to hold the position that they won't discuss with us, that may hold and that may not.

We need to try and explore any and every option to bring forward a government for change -so that's where it's at. We need to inject urgency into that.

The Dáil is expected to reconvene on March 5, with no second vote for Taoiseach scheduled after a decision by The Business Committee of the House, a matter Mr Doherty called "disappointing".

"Not that I expect there would be an outcome then to that process, but failure to have that (vote) withdraws momentum and we can't sit back. There's real issues needing to be dealt with," he added.

"My view is that the Dáil should be meeting. It's important that the Dáil plays a role in injecting momentum into the talks, to be a staging post for progress or lack of progress."

The party had a seven and a half hour meeting with the Green Party on Tuesday, which it says was "productive", and plans to meet with Eamon Ryan's negotiating team again next week.

Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin have not spoken since last week after Micheál Martin and Mary Lou McDonald spoke on the phone, when the Fianna Fail leader ruled out forming a government with Sinn Féin. However Pearse Doherty did not rule out approaching Fianna Fáil again.

Despite its historic electoral success earlier this month, the party says it doesn't want another election, which many predict would see Sinn Féin run more candidates in each constituency, and continue to grow its Dáil showing.

"We don't want to see a second election, that would be a major failure of politics and it won't be of our doing," Mr Doherty said.

As I said, we're willing to talk to all parties, we have a mandate as do other parties, we respect that mandate. A government can be formed if there is a willingness there, if there is a bit of grown-up politics.

"There will come a point when we're finished these intense discussions whether we can see if that is possible or not."

When pressed on whether he had a date for such a decision, Mr Doherty replied: "No."

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