The Taoiseach said he believes voters knew what Sinn Féin ‘was selling’ in the local elections but didn’t buy it.
The race is heating up between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to be the largest party in local government.
State of the parties:
Counting in the local elections has reached the half-way point with 484 seats filled.
- Fine Gael is on 22.8% of first preference votes
- Fianna Fáil is seeing 22.7% of first preference votes
- Independents and Others are on 28.8%
- Sinn Féin currently stands on 11.8%
- Labour: 5.6%
- Greens: 3.7%
Sinn Féin is also looking at-risk of failing to secure a European Parliament seat in each of the three constituencies.
The performance has led to some Fine Gael TDs calling for an early general election, such as Michael Ring from Mayo.
Speaking in Dublin, Taoiseach Simon Harris said the Government still has a lot of work to do.
“My answer in relation to a general election remains the same; I’ve answered this question many times since becoming Taoiseach,” he said.
“But my position in relation to that hasn’t changed.
“I’m absolutely delighted with the performance of the Fine Gale team right across the right across the country.
“It’s really great to see hard-working councillors being rewarded in their communities and being joined by new candidates hungry to contribute to their community”.
‘Penny has now dropped’ for Sinn Féin
Mr Harris said while it was for Sinn Féin to comment on their performance, he found two aspects from party leader Mary Lou McDonald interesting.
“Firstly that the penny has now dropped that if you want to lead government you have to have solutions and policies,” he said.
“Six years as leader of her party, two local elections she’s lead her party through – I welcome the fact that there’s a realisation now that politics isn’t just about highlighting challenges but is about coming up with solutions.
“The second thing I think, which was rather unedifying today and quite insulting tot the Irish people, is to try and second guess them.
“I was very disappointed to hear her comments in relation to, ‘Maybe the people on this occasion didn’t really understand this.’
“I think the people knew exactly what Sinn Féin were selling and they just didn’t want to buy it,” he added.
Mr Harris said also thanked the Irish people “for voting in general.”
