A prominent member of the Fine Gael party has defended Enda Kenny’s deal with Fianna Fáil to form a Government.

Regina Doherty said the compromise they had reached to suspend water bills for at least nine months did not show that Fine Gael was willing to take power at any price.

An official agreement has yet to be signed off by both parties, but Fine Gael is getting ready to speak to the Independent Alliance about it later today.

That means we could have a new Government by the middle of next week.

Regina Doherty, Fine Gael TD for Meath East (pictured below), said Enda Kenny should be proud of how the discussions had gone.

“It’s nothing to do with power,” she said. “The very night we knew the Dáil arithmetic was going to be odd to say the least, (Enda Kenny) was the first person to stand up to say he took the responsibility to form a government.”

And she added: “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be in government.”