Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has said he expects a government to be formed with Fine Gael and the Green Party by the first week in June.
Mr Martin said a new Government was a "doable proposition" within the next two weeks, but the formation talks had taken longer than he expected.
“They are serious. There is a lot of discussion going on and there is a good programme going on,”he said.
“We should get there not by the end of next week, but shortly after that. In early June we could sign off on a government, barring disagreements.”
Mr Martin told the Late Late Show there was earnestness on all sides and that last Sunday’s meeting between the three parties had cleared the air after a series of public spates.
He described himself, Leo Varadkar and Eamon Ryan as different people, but said they were "respectful and understanding of each other's challenges".
He admitted being “very disappointed” by the election result when Fianna Fáil finished with the greatest number of seats (38) although there was an expectation that the party might get 50 seats, and they fell behind Sinn Féin in terms of first-preference gains.
“We expected a greater number of seats. We wanted another three or four seats,” he said.
"There is no such thing as a first-preference popular vote in Ireland. We are a proportional electoral system."
Mr Martin said the surge in support for Fine Gael, showing the party at 35 per cent in some polls, was a “natural occurrence” given the exposure that Government Ministers have had since the Covid-19 crisis started.
Rural Ireland
Mr Martin said it was a “myth and an unfair assertion” that the Green Party was anti-rural Ireland. Many of its policies on biodiversity and putting together alternative income streams for beef farmers who are currently struggling could benefit rural Ireland, he suggested.
He singled out newly elected Fianna Fáil Cork South-West TD Christy O’Sullivan as one who was “as green as they come”.
"The last time that the Greens were in power with Fianna Fáil, a lot of good was done for rural Ireland and for farming," he said.
Mr Martin said the results of February’s election showed that people wanted change. “The election taught us one thing. People were not happy with Irish society as it was. They couldn’t get a house, they couldn’t get access to a quality health service and a lot of young people are concerned about their environment,”he said.
He identified housing, a fairer health system and climate change as the critical issues facing the next Government.
Mr Martin said he has been living in Dublin since the Covid-19 crisis started and has not seen his family since then.
He described it was a strange time for politicians, as most of them attended functions. Despite being a TD for 30 years, Mr Martin said he had never been able to explore Dublin properly until now and he was now able to exercise more and to read more in the evenings.
