Micheál Martin urged to 'come out of hiding' amid Government formation confusion

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has been told to “come out of hiding” as confusion abounds over how the next Government will be formed.

Mr Martin has not been seen in public so far this week as the results of the February 8th general election continue to reverberate through his party.

The Fianna Fáil leader is caught between something of a rock and a hard place given his aversion to talk to Sinn Féin and the fact that Fine Gael will not countenance either going into Government or operating a reverse confidence and supply deal with his party.

“There is a need for him to come out of hiding now,” said Fine Gael’s Jerry Buttimer, an unsuccessful candidate in Mr Martin’s Cork South Central constituency in the election. “The people have voted 10 days ago now. The Dáil is meeting on Thursday. We have made it clear that the obligation is now on him to start forming a Government with Sinn Féin and other political parties who have the votes." He needs to man up in terms of Government formation.”

New Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond meanwhile said it is Mr Martin’s “responsibility” to speak publicly as to his intentions.

“He leads the largest party in the Dáil for now and we meet on Thursday. We’ve a good few weeks ahead of us in terms of talks and discussion - he’ll have to start at some stage,” he said.

Fianna Fáil’s parliamentary party will meet once more in Leinster House tomorrow evening after last week’s marathon four-hour session.

However party representatives appear to be as in the dark as to Mr Martin’s intentions as everyone else.

“I don’t know who he has been in touch with,” said one TD. “He was supposed to announce the negotiating team yesterday, and that didn’t happen. There’s nothing happening, and the vast majority of the parliamentary party don’t know what’s going on.

“He’s just standing back to let the whole thing play out because he doesn’t know what to do. It’s not what you’d expect from your party leader."

While little dissent emerged from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting regarding Mr Martin’s stance on Sinn Féin, that has changed to an extent since with the likes of Eamon O Cuiv suggesting that common ground exists between the parties.

“We should be talking to everybody,” said the source. “Because no one knows how this is going to go. All Micheál keeps saying is that he doesn’t want a general election, but no one knows what he’s doing, and you’d suspect he doesn’t even know himself.”