Taoiseach Enda Kenny has won overwhelming support from the Fine Gael parliamentary party for the stance he has adopted during initial discussions with his Fianna Fáil counterpart Micheál Martin.
At a meeting of the party's TDs on Thursday morning, Mr Kenny outlined how he had proposed a "partnership government" involving Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Independents at his meeting with Mr Martin the previous evening.
According to deputies who attended the meeting, Mr Kenny’s approach was strongly endorsed by all speakers. Some described the move as bold and brave and praised the Fine Gael leader for what was seen as him seizing the initiative.
One TD who attended the meeting said a measure of its unanimity was that the Waterford Deputy John Deasy - often seen as an internal critic of strategy and direction - "spoke in favour of what the Taoiseach said last night".
“It’s the only way to provide a stable government. At least if it forced an election, we could show that we made the effort and it would force an election,” said the TD, who spoke on the basis of anonymity.
The meeting did not really look at other alternatives such as the minority government option favoured by Fianna Fáil, or an early election.
Every Fine Gael Minister spoke at the meeting and all expressed the same view, according to those who attended. Minister of State Simon Harris told the meeting the party needed to from "a coalition of the willing".
Another TD said: “Some speakers said they would be prepared to come to the people again.”
“Fianna Fail, I think, were caught a little bit unawares by Enda Kenny during the first meeting.”
One Fine Gael Minister told The Irish Times the party might not accept a minority government proposal. And he said if Fianna Fail was not prepared to move on a shared government, an early election was inevitable.
“The mood was terrible earlier in the week,” said the Minister. “We felt we had to do something. Kenny has now taken the initiative.”
There was little discussion on the other issues that might arise in the event of a partnership government being explored, namely the question of a rotating taoiseach. Simon Coveney said on RTÉ earlier on Thursday that Fine Gael was still numerically stronger.
However, some TDs privately believe the most likely scenario is still Fianna Fáil abstaining for key votes to facilitate a Fine Gael-led minority government.
“They will look for concessions. I’m sure Irish Water will be one,” said one Deputy. “In return they will have to support two Budgets at least. There’s a lot of hard bargaining. This week has been only the opening shots.”
