FORMER FIANNA FÁIL leader Brian Cowen has backed Micheál Martin’s view that his party should be willing to support a Fine Gael minority government if they were agreed on economic policies.

Speaking this afternoon, Cowen told RTÉ News that he would support Martin’s decision, outlined yesterday on Today FM, when he confirmed that Fianna Fáil would support a Fine Gael-only government if it pursued the same policies as the outgoing Fianna Fáil cabinet.

“I think that is in the interests of the people and of the country,” Martin told Matt Cooper yesterday. “If the right policies are being pursued, I would support them.”

This afternoon Cowen said he backed that position, explaining that regardless of whether Fianna Fáil stayed in power after the election, the party would be keen to adopt a responsible position.

If it came to pass, an agreement from Fianna Fáil to support a minority Fine Gael government would see the former return the favour from the so-called Tallaght Strategy of 1987, when Fine Gael agreed to support the Fianna Fáil government on economic matters.

Cowen added that he hadn’t yet decided whether to run in the general election; he is expected to make an announcement on his candidacy on Tuesday, either in the final meeting of the current Dáil, or at a meeting of his local branch of Fianna Fáil that night.

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