A Fine Gael minister has denied he was slapped down after declaring no objection to Sinn Féin in government, adding that many of his party colleagues share his view.
Jim Daly said he spent two hours with Leo Varadkar on Wednesday and the purported controversy over his comments that Sinn Féin's mandate was legitimate was never raised once by the Taoiseach.
In an interview with Hot Press magazine the Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People said: “I have no ideological objection to Sinn Féin being part of a government.”
The interview prompted Mr Varadkar’s spokesman to deem the comments inappropriate and “absolutely” rule out any coalition or confidence-and-supply deal between Fine Gael and Sinn Féin.
But Mr Daly rejected any suggestion he was slapped down, saying the issue wasn’t even mentioned during his lengthy meeting with Mr Varadkar.
“It certainly wasn’t raised as an issue, good, bad or indifferent,” he told RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke.
Mr Daly added that he doesn’t speak for the government, and made his remarks about Sinn Féin during an interview about his personal life and personal views.
“But I would also make the point that a lot of my colleagues would share the view that I have,” he said.
“You can not just say you will not do business with Sinn Féin because they are Sinn Féin - that is the point I am trying to make.
“You must have a valid reason for not doing business with Sinn Féin - they have a legitimate mandate, the people who vote for them are real people, citizens of this State. So they have to be acknowledged.”
The minister said there were some very able politicians in Sinn Féin, whom he works with everyday, adding that he “has a very good working relationship” with leader Mary Lou McDonald, working on mental health issues.
But he said he did not want to see Fine Gael go into coalition “after the next election,” because of his differences with the party over EU issues, taxation and other policy areas.
Mr Daly accepted the timing of his remarks could be seen as “unhelpful,” given UK Brexit secretary David Davis’s controversial claim that Sinn Féin’s growing influence in the Republic was driving a harder stance from Dublin in negotiations.
However, he said his just-published interview with Hot Press was done weeks ago.
