Fine Geal to Sit it Out

The Fine Gael leadership has decided to go into opposition. The hope is that they will lead the opposition against a Sinn Féin/Fianna Fáil Coalition. Yesterday (18/02/2020) the Parliamentary Party of Fine Gael had a six hour meeting, at which they agreed to go into Opposition.

The Fine Gael Parliamentary Party met for six hours today and had a detailed discussion, following the views of those in attendance it was decided to prepare to go into opposition.

Outgoing Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, says that he "relishes the challenge to lead a strong and effective Opposition for the benefit of the country."

Fine Gael became the 3rd largest party following the general election, after getting just 20.9% share of the first preference votes, this returned just 35 seats, behind both Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin.

Varadkar hopes to rebuild his party following the loss of 12 seats in the General Election, after one of the worst general elections for the party.

Fine Gael now believe that the it is now up to Sinn Féin to form a Government of the left with support of independents. They have also said that if Sinn Féin cannot get the number then the challenge of forming a government passes to Fianna Fáil with a the Greens, Labour, the Social Democrats and Independents.

Varadkar will now engage with other parties to share their perspectives on the outcome of the General Election.

Fine Gael have said that "there will be no negotiations on a Programme for Government without a further mandate from the Parliamentary Party."

The Parliamentary Party will meet again next week.