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| - Sinn Fein's bid to form a new Irish government appeared to stall on Thursday after the leader of the centrist party it has been holding talks with said they had "irreconcilable differences". With no party in the next parliament having secured a majority in Ireland's general election Saturday, talks to thrash out a deal started soon after the results were announced. But Micheal Martin, who heads the centre-right Fianna Fail, said his party's 38 lawmakers elected had now agreed at a meeting not to enter into government with republicans Sinn Fein. He added the party, which won the most seats in the poll but finished narrowly behind Sinn Fein in the popular vote, would now talk with other "like-minded parties". However, Martin heightened speculation that Irish voters may have to head back to the ballot box amid the faltering efforts at forming a government. "I wouldn't rule out another general election -- this is going to be so difficult," he told Irish broadcaster RTE. Earlier Thursday, Sinn Fein had challenged Martin to do a deal, after its dramatic election surge brought it to the threshold of power -- ending up with just one seat less than Fianna Fail. With its 37 seats, the left-wing party long tarnished by its past associations with nationalist paramilitaries, broke the stranglehold of two-party politics in Ireland. The other centre-right party that has dominated Irish politics, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar's Fine Gael, finished third with 35 seats. Eighty seats are required for a majority in the Dail, Ireland's lower house of parliament, making a multi-party coalition inevitable without another election. The results capped a remarkable transformation for Sinn Fein, once shunned for its links to the IRA but whose policies to tackle a housing and health crisis now have popular appeal. Leader Mary Lou McDonald on Thursday told party lawmakers she had met representatives from smaller parties the Greens (12 seats) and Solidarity-People Before Profit (five), and had spoken to Labour (six). Further meetings were planned with the Social Democrats (six seats), she added in a speech in Dublin. "Those talks will continue. Last night (Wednesday), I also wrote to the Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin to seek a meeting," she said. While acknowledging "big policy incompatibilities" between the two parties, she had said a "government of change" was needed in Ireland to address the country's most pressing issues. "The question is this: will Fianna Fail sign up for that type of change? The type of change that people voted for? Can Fianna Fail be part of that change? That is a big question." Martin has previously said he would not join forces with Sinn Fein, which is also the second-largest party in the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom. Sinn Fein's flagship policy is a reunited Ireland and it wants to call a referendum on sovereignty within five years, potentially creating another constitutional headache for Britain. London is already under pressure from Scottish nationalists, who want a new referendum on independence. McDonald has said she could become Ireland's first female taoiseach, or prime minister, and might even try to govern without the support of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail if she secures the support of the smaller parties. bur-phz/jj/bmm
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