Taoiseach in move to cut deals with 22 non-party TDs

Caretaker taoiseach Enda Kenny will try to freeze out Fianna Fáil by cutting deals with 22 opposition TDs and convincing Labour to abstain from the April 6 taoiseach nomination vote.

The Fine Gael leader made the claim during a one-hour meeting of the party’s TDs last night — at the same time as Micheál Martin met with Labour’s Joan Burton in a bid to win support from the outgoing junior coalition partner.

In a detailed presentation to his parliamentary party, which one TD said is as likely to happen as “herding white mice down a winding rural road on a snowy day”, Mr Kenny said the blueprint is a path to victory.

This is because winning the backing of 22 non-party TDs would bring Fine Gael’s support to 72 seats, making it impossible for Fianna Fáil and others to vote the would-be government down if Labour abstains from backing either side.

Rejecting suggestions the strategy will herald the return of auction politics, Mr Kenny told colleagues it will instead be based on consensus on five key “principles” of a future government.

These, he said, will include health, rural affairs, disability, housing, and homelessness reforms — although crucially no actual details of what these reforms will be were detailed during last night’s behind-closed-doors discussion.

It is understood Mr Kenny told the meeting his 72-seat target will consist of 50 seats already controlled by Fine Gael, five from the loosely formed Rural Alliance led by ex-Fine Gael TD Denis Naughten, six from the Independent Alliance, and a number of other TDs. They include the Healy-Rae brothers, Green TDs Eamon Ryan and Catherine Martin, and seven unaligned Independent TDs, including Dublin South West’s Katherine Zappone and East Galway’s Sean Canney.

While the plan’s numbers add up if Labour abstains from backing Fianna Fáil on April 6 and was backed by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney during the meeting who said talks were continuing to progress, a number of Fine Gael TDs voiced significant scepticism. One TD told the Irish Examiner “the elephant in the room” remains talking to Fianna Fáil, saying regardless of the numbers “all these people know if they back a minority government they won’t have a seat next time around”.

Meanwhile, while Mr Kenny will attempt to nail down support by meeting with the Rural Alliance this morning and the Independent Alliance and Greens this afternoon, Mr Martin is bidding to regain control by seeking to win over Labour.

Mr Martin met with caretaker tánaiste Joan Burton for an hour yesterday .

Senior Fianna Fáil sources say they are prepared to work in opposition if Fine Gael will need their support to hold together a minority government, but have conceded it is likely Mr Kenny will have more support on April 6.

During the opposition party’s own TDs meeting yesterday, Mr Martin is understood to have come in for some criticism from Marc MacSharry, John McGuinness, and two younger TDs over claims the party has given too much control to “unelected handlers” and has not listened enough to backbenchers.