Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Minister Roderic O’Gorman (Brian Lawless/PA)
The general election should be held on November 29, Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman has said.
Mr O’Gorman told reporters in Dublin that it was his preference to hold the election before Christmas.
“I think the 29th is the date to go,” he said.
He said he has yet to discuss the date with the other leaders of the coalition.
Mr O’Gorman said he was “starting to get the sense people are getting a little tired, maybe, of the of the will they, won’t they?”
He added: “Probably now is the time to give some, degree of certainty to the Irish people in terms of the election date.
“I’ll be meeting the coalition with the two coalition leaders on Monday. What I’ll be saying to them is that I think we need to give clarity.
“And I will be saying my my preference is for a November election for the 29th of November.
“I think that gives us the opportunity to get those final pieces of legislation through.
“It looks like we’ll get the maternity protection bill, a bill I’ve been leading to allow women with a serious illness to deter their maternity leave.
“We’ll get that through next week, along with the hate crime legislation, which I set out as a key priority for ourselves in the Green Party, and then obviously, with the Finance Act.
“I think we can get those done over the next three weeks, in early November, and my view is that the election should be on the 29th November – get it out of the way before Christmas.”
The Greens have 12 TDs at the moment. He was asked how many they are you going to return with.
He replied: “All of them and more.”
