Kenny hints at FG-Labour general election pact

The Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, has hinted at the possibility of an electoral pact with the Labour Party before the next general election. Mr Kenny said Fine Gael's byelection win in Co Meath gave his party and the Labour Party great hope for the future.

Fine Gael's Shane McEntee was elected to the Dail in the Meath constituency following a close-fought contest with the Fianna Fáil contender Shane Cassells and Independent candidate Catherine Murphy  won the byelection in Kildare North, beating Fianna Fáil's Áine Brady into second place.

Speaking on RTÉ's This Weekprogramme this afternoon, Mr Kenny said it was the first time under his leadership that a formal pact existed between both parties.

When asked if both parties would have a joint-programme for government in place before the next election, Mr Kenny said that if the Labour Party agreed, he would expect such a programme to be in place before the next general election.

Mr Kenny rejected a claim by the Minister for Communications, Mr Noel Dempsey, that the FG-Labour election pact had failed. He said the result was an indication that the Government had "grown to comfortable in office" and have "not delivered on what they had promised to do."

Mr Dempsey who is Fianna Fáil's election director, said the fact that neither Labour nor Fine Gael made it into the last two in the Kildare North constituency was a 'clear indication that all is not well in those parties' and said he didn't think the Labour-Fine Gael electoral pact was successful.

However, Mr Kenny said the lack of transfers to Fine Gael in Kildare North was affected by the fact that Catherine Murphy was a former Labour Party member. He said that of all the votes transferred in Meath some 61 per cent went to Fine Gael.

Mr Dempsey claimed the performance of Fianna Fáil's candidates in both byelections was remarkable considering the candidates were selected late in the campaign and blamed the low turnout in the Meath and Kildare North byelections for Fianna Fáil's failure to win a seat in either constituency.

He said the result was an indication of a poor voter turnout and insisted Fianna Fáil voters made up a good share of the 60 per cent who didn't turn out to vote.