Coveney: ‘I hope we will have a government on Thursday’

Fine Gael Minister Simon Coveney said he is hopeful that the new government will be formed by Thursday.

Speaking in Cork on Sunday, the member of the four-person Fine Gael team that is negotiating with other parties and Independents said the process was now entering the endgame and it was possible to put together a government this week.

Mr Coveney said: “I hope we will have a government on Thursday, that would be my guesstimate. We are meeting formally with the Independent Alliance at 10am tomorrow and we will work with them intensively to try and move things on.”

Mr Coveney said he was not taking any of the Independents for granted but after 70 hours of discussions with Independents believed the “process is in the end game. We want to conclude it now so we can get on with governing Ireland and solving people’s problems.”

Following the meeting with the Independent Alliance on Monday Fine Gael will meet a number of rural TDs.

“We will have all of our key ministers there to answer questions and of course the Taoiseach will be there as well if he has to sign of on any agreements.”

Mr Coveney also said his colleague Leo Varadkar was stating party policy when he said that suspending water charges – for a nine-month period, as demanded by Fianna Fáil – was a mistake.

Mr Coveney said the party position was that affordable domestic water charges were in the public interest.

“We recognise that politically it is not possible to have that now, immediately, so what the party has agreed to do, with Fianna Fáil, is to temporarily suspend to create an opportunity for debate.”

Minister Convey also issued an appeal to smaller parties such as the Social Democrats and the Greens to be part of Governing Ireland.

“ We want them to be part of theGovernment if they want to be.We will accommodate their concerns and policies as part of that. But it is up to them.They may, even at this stage, want to sit down and talk to us seriously about how they could help govern Ireland with us rather than simply work with us from Opposition.”

“Likewise, with the Green Party, they will have three Oireachtas members now and it is difficult for their membership to get their head around going into Government when they were expected to be a radical voice from Opposition on Green Party issues.

“I don’t necessarily say it with any confidence that it will happen but I certainly would like to appeal to them to think about they could play a dynamic and potentially radical influencing role within Government in the areas where they are very strong.”

“I think the focus really for the next 48 hours or so will be to work with independents that we have been working alongside.”

“I think I have spent 70 hours of discussions with independents already at this stage.”

“We need to bring that to a conclusion now so that we can operate a minority Government but in a situation where it can function.”

Meanwhile, Minister Coveney also hit out over speculation over Enda Kenny’s future as Taoiseach saying “papers will write what they write.”

“That is their job tospeculate. But he has my full support. He has the party’s full support actually. Enda’s focus for the last number of weeks has been to take on the responsibility as leader of the largest party to put a Government together.

“I think Fine Gael had a huge responsibility to do that. Otherwise we would go back to the polls again which I don’t think is what people want.”

Fine Gael is seeking to secure the 58 Dáil votes Enda Kenny needs to be re-elected taoiseach, when Fianna Fáil abstains.

Under an agreement reached on Friday night, Fianna Fáil has pledged “confidence and supply” support for a Fine Gael-led administration, the first of its kind in the history of the State.

Main points of Fine Gael - Fianna Fáil agreement

Deal will last for three budgets - until autumn of 2018

Fianna Fáil will support Fine Gael on Lansdowne Road agreement on public sector pay.

A commission on pay in the public sector will be set up

Commitment to raise rent allowance by 15 per cent in next budget

An initiative to tackle waiting lists in the health service