Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar has rejected speculation that his party wants to enter into opposition after the next general election.
Mr Varadkar was speaking to reporters at the Limerick Strand Hotel for his parliamentary party’s annual think-in.
The schedule for the two-day event features sessions on cost-of-living measures, policy discussion on law and order as well as agriculture and preparation for upcoming elections.
Mr Varadkar said: “Us being out of office would not be good for Ireland. We’re living through a period of extraordinary change and every year there’s a new shock from outside that we didn’t predict or people didn’t see coming – whether it’s a pandemic or war in Ukraine, or a financial crisis.”
He added: “We need a party that knows how to deal with a national crisis, that has experience, that knows how to manage budgets, that knows how to represent the country abroad.”
Mr Varadkar said it was “rubbish” to speculate that his Fine Gael party was resigned to entering opposition after the next election.
He said: “This is a party that wants to be in government. Unlike many people in politics, we actually try to form governments and on this occasion we stepped into the breach.
“Let’s not forget what happened after the last election. Sinn Féin made no serious efforts to form a left-wing coalition with left-wing parties, they didn’t really want it.
“They then tried to bully Fianna Fáil into coalition, but that didn’t work, and we stepped into the breach and we formed a coalition with the Greens that nobody predicted would happen, and that’s lasting, and it’s working.”
The Taoiseach said it is “easier” to be in opposition but said being in government is “the best part of politics”.
Mr Varadkar said: “People join Fine Gael, and they’re in Fine Gael because they want to be in government, because they want to make decisions that improve people’s lives and because they’re willing, sometimes, to make decisions that are unpopular, and that’s the kind of party we are, that’s our personality, this is the State that we founded and we want to be in government.”
The Fine Gael leader also said it was “helpful” that Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns had expressed a willingness to talk to all parties about forming a coalition after the next election.
He said: “Under the previous leadership of the Social Democrats in 2016 and 2020, they wouldn’t really talk to us. So I think it is welcome that she’s at least open to a conversation.”
However, Mr Varadkar was also asked about comments from Ms Cairns about politicians being out of touch with voters due to their high wages.
Mr Varadkar is entitled to a total gross pay of up to €230,372, as TDs are entitled to up to €107,376 and the role of taoiseach carries up to an additional €122,996.
He said he had been taking a voluntary pay cut and giving back some of his salary since 2007.
Mr Varadkar said he earns €96,000 “after tax and pension levies”.
The Taoiseach said he was aware of other politicians making social media posts featuring the forms for the voluntary cuts, adding he had not done that and describing the practice as “trashy”.
A number of farmers protested outside the hotel in relation to a range of issues, including the EU cut in Ireland’s nitrates derogation limit and the plan to delay payments to farmers in 2023.
The planned limit is to reduce to 220kg of organic nitrogen per hectare.
Asked about the protest, Mr Varadkar said: “I don’t think the dialogue that we’ve had in recent times has really been working, I think that needs to change.
“I’d like there to be a new partnership, the likes of which we have, for example, with the trade union, and the business groups where we sit down and we try and manage change in the interest of farmers, rather than trying to make out these changes aren’t going to happen or they can be stopped when we all know they can’t.”
