MARY LOU MCDONALD HAS been in contact with the leaders of Social Democrats and Labour. 

Labour’s Ged Nash said this afternoon he was somewhat taken aback by the “hard neck” of McDonald contacting his party leader, stating that the party didn’t see fit to ask Sinn Féin voters to transfer left before the election. 

He said it is “some stretch” to describe Sinn Féin as a left party. 

As the election count continues, and a handful of seats are still in play, Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin confirmed McDonald has reached out to the leadership of the two parties.

Despite overtures for talks, the path to power for Sinn Féin seems to have come to a dead end. 

Sinn Féin, as is stands (with Cavan Monaghan still to declare), will have at least 38 seats in the new Dáil, one more than it won in 2020. However, there has been an increase in the number of seats since the 33rd Dáil. 

The magic number to reach for a majority government is 88, a number Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are likely to meet.

As the final numbers come in, all eyes now turn to government formation. 

Ó Broin conceded in a statement today that the numbers are there for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to form a government together.

“This would be the worst possible outcome for the people of the country,” he said. 

However, the numbers game would be a difficult one for Sinn Féin to meet even with Labour, the Social Democrats and a hefty count of Independents thrown into the mix also.

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“It looks like Micheál Martin is intent on bringing Fine Gael in as a junior party for the next five years,” Ó Broin said today.

This would be “disastrous for people who need housing, for people who are on hospital trolleys, for people who are suffering with the cost of living crisis, for young people who are considering leaving Ireland because they see no future here”, he said.

“People need a government that will sort out all of that.

“Today we have made contact with the leaders of the Social Democrats and Labour Party and we will be contacting the other progressive TDs and groupings this week.

“Our new increased parliamentary team will meet on Wednesday in Leinster House with Mary Lou McDonald and we will assess where we take things at that stage,” he concluded. 

Speaking on RTÉ Radio One this afternoon, Sinn Féin’s director of elections Matt Carthy said it now seems clear to him that if Fianna Fáil wants to re-enter government they are very close to the numbers.