Grassroots members encourage Fianna Fáil to enter 'National Emergency Government'

The decision not to speak to Sinn Fein has split Micheál Martin's parliamentary party, with as many as 17 of the party's 38 TDs open to discussions with Mary Lou McDonald's party.

A grassroots group of Fianna Fáil members has written to the party's TDs encouraging them to form a "National Emergency Government", or face the end of the party entirely.

The group, Cosmhuintir Fianna Fáil, who are understood to have hundreds of members, say they are made up of "loyal and hardworking members of the party".