Fianna Fáil is continuing its efforts to form a new government but has not decided who will be allocated the various ministries in a new administration, Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea said today.
Mr O'Dea said he did not know whether, as has been widely reported this weekend, the acting Progressive Democrat leader Mary Harney would return to the post of Minister for Health in a new Fianna Fáil-led coalition.
Speaking on RTÉ's Saturday Viewprogramme, Mr O'Dea said Ms Harney's support would be crucial if Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny wanted to try to form an alternative coalition government.
Asked whether Ms Harney would be given the health portfolio in a new government, which is her stated wish, Mr O'Dea said: "I'm not the Taoiseach and I'm not the leader of Fianna Fáil so I won't be making the appointment."
With regard to newspaper reports on the matter, Mr O'Dea said he took what was being said "with a grain of salt".
"I've no idea who's going to be minister for what."
He said there was an ongoing process to try to put a government together.
He said also that if Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny wanted to try to form a government, Ms Harney's support would be required. She could have "any ministry she wanted" in an Enda Kenny-led government "because he absolutely needs Mary Harney to form a government", Mr O'Dea said.
Fine Gael TD Sean Barrett, who regained his Dun Laoghaire seat in the May 24 thgeneral election, said the policies of the Fianna Fail/PD Government had been rejected by the electorate.
Together, the outgoing Government had won 80 seats in the Dáil, which certainly could not be called a rejection, Mr O'Dea said.
Speaking on the same programme, Labour TD Jan O'Sullivan said there was "no appetite" within the party to go into government with either Fianna Fáil or the Progressive Democrats.
"We campaigned to get rid of both parties in government," I don't have the authority to rule anything in or out."
"There is no appetite for going into government with either."
Mr O'Dea said the Labour Party had campaigned before the election to get rid of Fianna Fáil and the PDs, but he claimed Ms O'Sullivan was "still holding out the possibility of being in Government with the PDs under Enda Kenny's leadership".