Elections 2024

Support within both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael for Taoiseach to call early election

Pressure building in wake of better than anticipated Local Election results for main Coalition parties and poor performance by Sinn Féin

Taoiseach Simon Harris has insisted that plans for the Coalition to serve a full term until next March were unchanged by the election results: Damien Storan/PA Wire

Cormac McQuinn
Tue Jun 11 2024 - 00:01

There is support within both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil for Taoiseach Simon Harris to call an early general election on the back of better-than-expected results for the two main Coalition parties in the Local Elections.

Mr Harris has insisted that plans for the Coalition to serve a full term until next March were unchanged by the election results.

However, the poor performance of the main Opposition party Sinn Féin in last week’s election combined with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil exceeding expectations has led to calls for a general election this year.

A Fine Gael minister said: “It’d make sense to have an election before the clocks go back at the very latest. No one wants a winter election.”

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Another Fine Gael TD said: “If we can have a good Budget, go to the country then”, adding: “nobody wants to go in January or February with bad weather and hospital queues.”

On Sunday former Fine Gael minister Michael Ring also said the general election should be in October.

Veteran Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea said the election should happen after the Budget in October.

He added it “would be an appropriate time to go because I think that there’s an expectation really that, more or less, the Government will have done everything it can do in its own lifetime by October”.

I wouldn’t be opposed to an October/November poll provided the Budget was agreed and there was economic certainty as a result

—  Malcolm Byrne - Fianna Fáil

He said that after the Budget would be a good time to “wrap it up and look for a fresh mandate”.

Another Fianna Fáil TD said: “It’s a no-brainer that we should go to the country in the autumn”, adding that the Budget should be brought forward to September to allow the passing of the Finance Bill – necessary to implement Budget measures – before the election.

The TD also said: “It would make no sense to run by-elections in the winter to elect people for a few weeks and then immediately in the new year go to the country.”

This is in reference to the need to hold by-elections if any TDs, as is likely, get elected to the European Parliament.

Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne said: “I wouldn’t be opposed to an October/November poll provided the Budget was agreed and there was economic certainty as a result.”

Given the rise in support for Independents in the Local Election, he also said: “Independents need to make clear as well as to whom they will be supporting for Taoiseach if they are running for the Dáil.”

On Monday Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien joined other senior Government figures in pouring cold water on the prospect of an early election.

Asked if he agreed with Mr O’Dea’s suggestion that it should be in October, he replied: “We’ve been very, very clear, the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Minister [and Green Party leader Eamon] Ryan, the Government will do its full term.”

There was not universal support for an early election among Coalition politicians contacted by The Irish Times on Monday.

One Fine Gael source said: “We should go to the very end. There’s major momentum and energy in the Government right now, there are 300 new homes getting under way every working day, the economy is solid, employment growing, and we need time for the benefits of all that to trickle down to the public.”

They added: “The public would quite rightly see an early election as nothing more than a tactical ploy to gain political advantage. They’re on our side right now, why damage that?”

Cormac McQuinn

Cormac McQuinn

Cormac McQuinn is a Political Correspondent at The Irish Times

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