A senior ministry for disability and 50,000 affordable homes a year are among the Social Democrats’ red lines if going into government.
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns urged voters to give the Social Democrats “a strong mandate” to go in and wield as much influence as possible in the next government.
Ms Cairns also criticised the government parties for acting as if the election is “sewn up”.
“I see them even talking about which ministries they want, who might go first as Taoiseach, eyeing up their coalition partners – all of these kind of things is astounding to see,” she said.
“If there’s anything I learned from the last election, a lot can change in three weeks.”
Flanked by her party’s candidates at a campaign event in Dublin, she said they would speak to all parties after the election, but urged voters to “vote left, transfer left”.
Ms Cairns said 50,000 affordable purchase homes a year and a senior ministry for disability would be among the party’s “deal breaker” requests in any possible government formation talks.
She said it was “quite disappointing” that Fine Gael was setting out Help to Buy and the First Home scheme as their red-line issue.
“It is a scheme that has put petrol on the flames of a housing disaster, and basically increased the price of housing.
“It’s like giving somebody a tiny shovel to get out of a massive hole.”
Asked about the possibility of going into government with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, Ms Cairns said: “This is the first time no political party is standing enough candidates to have a majority in government.
“We have to be reasonable about the reality of this, there’s going to be a coalition. It’s about what can we get into that programme for government.”
She added: “We know that there has to be compromise.”
She said that one-off measures in the budget were a “massive waste of public money”.
“I think a lot of people see through this kind of style of campaigning, the one-off payments that evaporate so fast when cost of living is so high. I think people would like to see that investment and future proofing.
“A public model of childcare – lots of people can’t even access childcare – having genuinely affordable housing, these are the things that we would prioritise over indiscriminately splashing cash around, trying to buy people’s votes.
“I think that the government has miscalculated that, I think that people see through it and they don’t want to be bought.”
Ms Cairns, who is heavily pregnant while canvassing to be re-elected in the Cork South West constituency, said that the campaign would be a “juggling act”.
“In a very competitive constituency, having gone into this role and the pregnancy as well, but all we can do is play it day by day, and so far so good.
“I’m very grateful to have such a supportive party. It’s always been very supportive of women in politics, obviously founded by two incredible women, and so it is what it is.
“I mean, if I could pick, I wouldn’t pick this timing, it’s not ideal, but it is what it is.”
