Fianna Fail’s refusal to include Sinn Fein in talks over the formation of a new government in Ireland is “stupid”, TD Claire Kerrane has said.
The Sinn Fein representative said her party’s mandate from the recent general election, when it emerged with the second largest number of seats, should be respected.
Fianna Fail secured 48 of the Dail parliament’s 174 seats in last month’s election, while Sinn Fein took 39 and Fine Gael won 38.
However, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are expected to partner in coalition, with exploratory talks under way with the aim of forming a government in the new year.
Fianna Fail, led by Micheal Martin, and Fine Gael, led by current Taoiseach Simon Harris, have both ruled out entering power with Sinn Fein.
Together, they are a couple of seats short of a majority of 88 and are expected to partner with some independent TDs to form a government.
Mr Kerrane told RTE’s The Week in Politics programme that Fianna Fail “and Micheal Martin in particular” had spoken for a long time about not wanting to speak to Sinn Fein about government formation.
She said: “Frankly, I think that’s stupid, I think he should reflect on that. We got over 400,000 votes.
“Why shouldn’t Sinn Fein be involved in the talks to go into government? We are in government in the north.
“He (Mr Martin) should come to the table and he should speak to us, he should respect the mandate.”
She added: “No matter what happens after a general election, everyone should be adults, they should get around the table and they should respect the mandate of every political party, including mine.”
Ms Kerrane said it was “unfortunate” that the second largest party after the election was “not getting a look-in”.
She added: “I am not happy with the idea that independents get deals when they go into government, I don’t think that is really how it should be.
“I think the government should be formed on the back of the numbers, we have the second largest numbers going into Dail Eireann, we should be part and parcel…we are not.”
Irish Labour leader Ivana Bacik has said it is unlikely her party would enter government (Gareth Chaney/PA)
Leader of the Labour Party Ivana Bacik, whose party won 11 seats in the election, has held separate meetings with both Mr Harris and Mr Martin since the election.
However, she has said it is “unlikely” Labour would enter government with the two larger parties.
TD Ciaran Ahern said the party wanted to be in government implementing its own policies, not “stewarding through someone else’s policies”.
He added: “We have some leverage, maybe we have more leverage than some people may give us credit for.
“But we do need to see the colour of their money. We have put proposals, given both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael our asks.
“In any negotiation someone has to put something on the table, there has to be an offer on the table.
“At the moment we have nothing, no offer from the government parties.
“If they are serious about involving us, if they want us in government, it can’t just be vibes.
“They have been flirting with us for the entire election but they have come with no concrete offer.”
The Social Democrats also emerged from the recent election with 11 seats, but has since suspended newly elected TD Eoin Hayes over misleading statements over his shares in a company linked to the Israeli military.
Party TD Gary Gannon said he believed his party was not the preferred coalition partner because they would make it “more difficult” for the larger parties.
He added: “But we are right there willing to enact our policies in government.
“We want to strike a hard bargain, but it won’t be easy for them (Fianna Fail and Fine Gael), so they will likely just go off with the independents.”