Gerry Adams won’t rule out Sinn Féin-Fianna Fáil coalition

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has declined to rule out going into coalition with Fianna Fáil if his party wins more seats at the general election.

The Louth TD said “we’ll talk to whoever is appropriate”, despite previously rejecting any possibility of going into government as a junior party with Fianna Fáil.

Latest opinion polls published late last month show Sinn Féin is currently on 21% and Fianna Fáil on 19%, compared to Fine Gael’s 30% and Labour’s 7%.

Responding to suggestions that the poll results mean the unlikely coalition is an option, Mr Adams said that his party will not “do what Labour did and go in with these bigger conservative parties”.

However, asked if Sinn Féin would join Fianna Fáil if it was the larger party, Mr Adams repeatedly declined to rule out the possibility: “When we know what comes out of it, then we’ll talk to whoever we want to talk to. We know about their conservatism, but their size, entirely like the size of Sinn Fein, is in the gift of the electorate.”

At a separate event yesterday, Fianna Fáil environment spokesman Barry Cowen mirrored his party leader Micheál Martin’s view by dismissing the potential move, despite some backbench TDs previously suggesting the option.