Taoiseach Enda Kenny has categorically ruled out a coalition with Sinn Féin, saying that party’s policies would lead to massive job losses.
In a statement, aimed at clarifying comments he made earlier in the week in which he refused to rule out a future partnership, Mr Kenny said he did not believe the parties to be "in anyway compatible".
He said Sinn Féin’s policies would “seriously undermine business and investment” in the State.
“My focus and that of the government I lead is to manage the nation’s affairs in the interests of its citizens.
“We have immediate challenges that must be dealt with, including Brexit and we will meet those challenges head on as we have done successfully many times before.”
Speaking to political correspondents in Dublin on Thursday, Mr Kenny had declined to rule out a possible coalition with Sinn Féin, though he said he did not envisage such a scenario arising in the near future.
Mr Kenny's comments were in response to an interview Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald gave to The Irish Times, in which she raised the prospect of her party entering a coalition government after the next election as a junior partner.
Ms McDonald's comments to The Irish Times were significant since they mark a shift from the previous Sinn Féin position that it would only take office as the dominant party.
Asked a number of times about Ms McDonald's remarks, the Taoiseach had responded: "I said I wouldn't do business with Fianna Fáil so, depending on the result you gave as a member of the electorate, politicians have to work with the result."
A string of Fine Gael Ministers, including those most often tipped as possible successors to Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald, Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar, Minister for Housing Simon Coveney and Minister for Health Simon Harris, have all distanced themselves from the idea of sharing power with Sinn Féin.
Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Mary Mitchell O’Connor said Sinn Féin were “unfit” for Government.
“Sinn Féin have a lot of questions to answer - politically, what they have done in the past, and I don’t believe their policies on finance are coherent,” she told RTÉ radio on Saturday.
“We couldn’t work with them. There are people in Sinn Féin - in Dáil Éireann - that have questions to answer. We all know who they are.”
Heather Humphreys, Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, said Mr Kenny’s initial comments were taken out of context.
“The Taoiseach has said he doesn’t see Fine Gael doing business with Sinn Féin and that Sinn Féin have a long way to go before they are fit for office,” she said on RTÉ radio.
"What was reported in the papers wasn't the entire quote from that day. The entire picture wasn't revealed. Fine Gael will not be engaging with Sinn Fein and the Taoiseach has not changed his position on that."
Fine Gael TDs are likely to discuss the issue at next week’s parliamentary party meeting, according to a TD who has been critical of Mr Kenny’s leadership.
Carlow-Kilkenny TD Pat Deering, who has previously called on Mr Kenny to stand down as party leader, said it was "way off the mark" for Mr Kenny to decline to rule out a future coalition with Sinn Féin.
