Fine Gael and Labour support slumps[br]Irish PM concedes voters maintain rejected his coalitionIndependents,Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin gain
Hung parliament may spark fresh vote
2m voters give verdict on austerity
9.59pm GMT• Ireland’s general election is on course to produce a hung parliament after voters punished the governing coalition after it implemented extensive austerity-led policies over the past five years in the wake of the country’s economic crash.
Fine Gael, the main party in the outgoing coalition, and was set to lose up to 20 seats as voters wreaked revenge on it and its junior partner,the Irish Labour Party.• Taoiseach Enda Kenny has conceded that the option of re-forming Ireland’s coalition government of his party is no longer available.
Ruling out stepping down – at least in the immediate term – he said that he had a responsibility as the head of government and would be considering options over the next 36 hours for providing a stable government for the country. 9.50pm GMTSo, is Fianna Fail really approximately to get into bed with its historic rival, and Fine Gael? The Guardian’s Ireland correspondent,Henry McDonald, has some possible answers:
Fianna Fail is hostile to the thought of a ‘grand coalition’ with Fine Gael because they fright handing over the lead role in the opposition to Sinn Fein.
Party sources told The Guardian tonight that they would prefer to try and form a minority government working with a range non-party aligned independent deputies in the Dail.
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Source: theguardian.com