Martin did not strike any deals with Independents, Eamon Ryan says

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has said that he does not believe that Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin struck any deals with Independents during phone calls on Friday.

“I don’t believe any deal was struck with them on how they voted today,” he told RTÉ’s Saturday with Cormac Ó hEadhra.

“There wasn’t a deal struck because the government is made up of three parties.”

Mr Ryan also dismissed the suggestion that his own party’s leadership issue could have an impact on the work of the incoming government.

Micheál Martin elected Taoiseach as head of coalition

---

Taoiseach pledges ‘recovery and renewal’ at centre of new Government’s priorities

---

Michael McGrath: It’s time for a more mature politics

---

Miriam Lord: Immovable object beds down with irresistible force

---

The approach of solidarity that had been taken by all the parties to the Covid-19 crisis was an indication of what could be achieved when working together, he said.

It was a question of getting the balance right, he added, but that the opinion of health officials would be the guiding light.

Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin was elected Taoiseach on Saturday by 93 votes to 63, with three abstentions, in a historic Dáil vote that took place in Dublin’s Convention Centre.

The new Taoiseach had the support of nine Independent TDs as well as his own party and his coalition partners Fine Gael and the Green Party.

Mr Martin pledged that “recovery and renewal” will be at the centre of the new Government’s priorities.

He said that, starting today, helping society and economy to recover “will be at the very centre of everything the new government will do”.

The new Taoiseach said the three parties that make up the new Government come from very different traditions. “We do not and could not be expected to agree on everything. However, we have been able to agree on core democratic principles and on a balanced and comprehensive programme.