Dáil should not be adjourned even if no Taoiseach elected on Thursday – Gerry Adams

DÁIL ministers should be at their desks working to solve the ongoing crises in housing, homelessness and the health service even while Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil try 'jockey for position' to form a new Government, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has said.

Sinn Féin is opposing plans for the Dáil to be adjourned on Thursday if a Taoiseach is not elected.

“The Dáil should meet at least one day a week to hold caretaker ministers to account and debate issues of importance,” Gerry Adams said.

There is no good reason why they should take two months off because Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are absorbed in “political shadow boxing” and while there are important issues still to be dealt with, the Sinn Féin leader insisted.

He said that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil “have the same political outlook, the same policies, and the numbers to govern – these two parties have the votes to elect a Taoiseach tomorrow”.

Introducing to the media Sinn Féin's enlarged group of TDs – up from 14 to 23 – ahead of their first party meetings in the new Dáil, Gerry Adams said:

“Those on hospital trolleys and those sleeping in doorways should not be left waiting while Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael jockey for position.

“Sinn Féin has a different vision. We want to deal with the issues affecting people.”

● New TDs on the Plinth: Kathleen Funchion (Carlow/Kilkenny), Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North), Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City), Imelda Munster (Louth), John Brady (Wicklow), Carol Nolan (Offaly), Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central), Martin Kenny (Sligo/Leitrim), and Pat Buckley (Cork East)

◼︎ TDs Mary Lou McDonald and Aengus Ó Snodaigh revealed that Sinn Féin has held meetings with a number of Dáil parties and Independents about the “radically changed political landscape”.

These include TDs from People Before Profit and the Green Party, TDs supporting the Right2Change grassroots campaign movement, and the trade unions supporting Right2Change.