Responding to the announcement tonight that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party have agreed to enter government together, Sinn Féin’s deputy Dáil leader Pearse Doherty TD has said:

“People voted for change in the general election, they voted for a fresh start and for a new beginning. They voted for a move away from the two parties that have shared power in this State for nearly one hundred years.  

“Faced with the prospect of a Government of Change, the two old parties have come together to circle the wagons to exclude Sinn Féin, and they are using the Green Party as a fig leaf to do this.

“The reality is that the desire for change is even stronger now than it was in February. People know what it’s like to have Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in power together.

“At a time when Ireland needs ambition and big ideas, we have a Programme for Government that fails to deliver on affordable housing, on building up capacity in our health services, on getting people back to work and having enough to survive, on childcare, on the right to retire at sixty-five and on planning for Irish unity.

“Sinn Féin wanted to lead a Government for Change and we wanted to lead a government that will deliver.

“We will be equally determined in leading the Opposition.

“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will be faced with the most determined opposition they have ever seen because Sinn Féin will stand up for ordinary workers and families.

“We will continue to put forward solutions and we will continue to build support across Ireland to deliver the change that people want and deserve.”