The Social Democrats have told the Labour Party that they will be proceeding to the next steps in the formation of a government alone.
The move comes after the Labour Party made a campaign trail pitch for a centre-left bloc to jointly engage with the larger parties as part of coalition talks with the larger parties.
However, sources said that the position of the Social Democrats was that their mandate had been based on five principles, or red lines, not necessarily who they would go into government with.
“They’re looking at all the different options, as are we, but we have to stick to our commitments,” a Social Democrats source said. “It’s not within our remit to go beyond what we said we’d do which is talk to all parties.”
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Fianna Fáil is set to push for Micheál Martin to be taoiseach for the first period of the new government, with the party also eyeing up a longer stint at the helm for its leader and having extra sway at cabinet level.
Substantive talks between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil on forming a coalition are not due to begin until next week at the earliest, but informal discussions may take place today between the party leaders with Mr Martin and Simon Harris travelling to a British-Irish Council meeting in Edinburgh.
Senior sources said that with 48 seats – 10 more than Fine Gael – Fianna Fáil will want to see Mr Martin become taoiseach first and for longer than half of the expected lifetime of the administration, rather than a 50:50 split.
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