The Taoiseach appears to be signaling he is prepared to talk with Fianna Fáil about the formation of a new Coalition Government.

Enda Kenny said last night that Fine Gael wants to form a new coalition, and it is prepared to engage "fully and inclusively" with other parties.

That is being read as a signal he is prepared to talk to Fianna Fáil and possibly Sinn Féin.

Deputy John Halligan of The Independent Alliance has said his grouping will talk to all sides.

But they will be looking for Dáil reforms like the abolition of the whip system: “It shouldn’t be the case that because some deputies rebel on a particular issue or on a piece of legislation that Government should fall or the whip should be removed, it doesn’t happen in England.

“A Government will fall in the British parliament on a vote of confidence but quite often, I can think of the Iraq war on a number of occasions, where conservatives and Labour parties voted against their own governments and it hasn’t been catastrophic.”