Sinn Féin and Labour reiterate call for general election

But Tánaiste Micheál Martin insists the Government will 'go full-term'

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Sinn Féin and Labour have reiterated their calls for an immediate general election, as Tánaiste Micheál Martin insists that the Government will “go full-term”.

At Leaders’ Questions on Thursday, Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty took aim at the Government for its record, saying Leo Varadkar’s legacy would be the State having “the highest ever level of homelessness”.

“It has seen the highest house prices ever, the highest rents we have ever seen, and the lowest levels of homeownership in 50 years,” Mr Doherty said, calling it a “shame” for the State.

“That is Leo’s legacy, but it is also the Tánaiste’s legacy and his Government’s legacy.

“No matter who becomes Taoiseach from within this Government, it is the policies and the approach that are wrong.”

Mr Doherty said that the Government is now in “uncharted territory”, as no previous Dáil saw three different taoisigh.

“The next Taoiseach should have a mandate directly from the people, not from the Fine Gael parliamentary party only to be rubber-stamped by the Green Party and Fianna Fáil,” he added.

Responding to this, the Tánaiste said that the public does not want an election and that the Government has a five-year mandate to complete.

He defended the Government’s record in office, saying that Sinn Féin does not have policies for him to critique.

“Ours was the most comprehensive programme for government ever negotiated — and it is the programme for government, the policy, the substance that matters,” Mr Martin said.

“Sinn Féin does not have that.

“It does not have a single policy anybody could credibly critique because it does not have one. It has no substance behind any of its initiatives.”

In response, Mr Doherty said that if the Government believes in its record, it should go to the people.

However, Mr Martin said that he is “not afraid of an election”, adding that he has fought more of them than Mr Doherty, and that the Sinn Féin TD should not “lecture” him.

Labour’s Ivana Bacik said that the selection of a new Fine Gael taoiseach through the party and not through a general election is “against the democratic imperative”.

“The Constitution may permit this act of political self-preservation, but it is absurd to say this is in keeping with a democratic imperative,” she said.

She added that both Fianna Fáil and the Green Party are now “clinging” to the sinking ship of Fine Gael, given the exodus of TDs from the party in recent months.

However, in response, the Tánaiste said: “The Deputy mentioned sinking ships.

“She should be careful about referencing sinking ships in the context of politics.

“Her own party would want to rise a bit more before she lectures others about sinking ships.”