Fitzmaurice backs Halligan as he pulls out of FG-FF talks

Independent Alliance TD Michael Fitzmaurice has said that the Alliance supports Waterford TD John Halligan’s demand for 24 hour cardiac care to be restored at Waterford Regional Hospital.

Mr Halligan, one of the six members of the Independent Alliance, told Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil on Tuesday he would not negotiate on the formation of a new government until the restoration of services was guaranteed.

“We’re backing John on that, for the simple reason that that’s not parish pump stuff, that’s important to the whole region down there,” Mr Fitzmaurice told The Irish Times Inside Politics podcast.

Mr Fitzmaurice said Mr Halligan has broader interests than those of his own constituency at heart. “Wexford isn’t his constituency, but the man is thinking about the south east. The reality is there at the moment is that it’s either Dublin or Cork (for cardiac services),” he said.

“If we don’t address it, then you won’t have a programme for government, end of story,” he said.

Mr Fitzmaurice also said he would not indicate which party he supported to form a minority government until it was clear whether either party would agree to support the other in government, how long such an agreement would last and what agreement the parties reach on water, USC and submissions from the Independent Alliance.

“You cannot just go deciding something without knowing what road you’re on. are you on a dual carriageway, a motorway or a by-road? And that’s the first thing we have to know, have they agreed a certain length of time. I don’t believe in a government lasting six, nine, 12, 18 months. We’d be better off going to the country than that, to be quite frank about it,” he said.

Minority government

“The second thing is, do we know this minute, if we put our hand on our heart, that both will accept the other as a minority government? We don’t.”

Mr Fitzmaurice said the Alliance had received documents from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and would be responding to them on Wednesday.

“We have sent back responses to the documents, Waterford Hospital is one of the responses that’s in it. And let’s see what they come back with on that. They have to get their own time at that,” he said.

“Bear one thing in mind, there’s no whip on us. If we’re not happy, any single one of us, we can say it out straight. The world won’t fall on top of us, that’s the good thing about us,” he said.

Earlier on Wednesday Mr Halligan told The Irish Times that the situation at Waterford Regional Hospital was not a parochial issue, insisting it was a national scandal.

Mr Halligan said he hoped this would not split the alliance but he had made his position known to his colleagues.

Acting minister for agriculture Simon Coveney and acting Minister of State at the Office of Public Work held a brief meeting with five of the alliance on Tuesday night.

The two Fine Gael TDs urged them to clarify by Thursday who they were willing to support in a minority Government.

Independent TD Finian McGrath also urged the party to commit to appointing a Minister for Disability.