Enda Kenny sparks Cabinet fury over talk of Sinn Féin coalition

The Taoiseach is under fire from senior cabinet ministers after leaving open the possibility of Fine Gael going into government with Sinn Féin in the future.

SF deputy leader Mary-Lou McDonald said they would be open to a junior coalition role and would have a “conversation” around this before the next election.

While strongly ruling out doing any deal with Fianna Fáil, Enda Kenny said “depending on the result you gave as a member of the electorate, politicians have to work with the result, so, Sinn Féin seem to be converted now to a position of changing their stance”.

But he said working with SF is “not going to arise” in the current administration.

His comments were met with shock and anger from members of his cabinet, who questioned his departure from the party’s long-held stance that it would not go into power with SF under any circumstances.

“This will not go down well with his party colleagues. What was he thinking?” asked one Fine Gael minister.

The Taoiseach indicated he would be staying on as Fine Gael leader until 2018.