The Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar has denied the Government is being held hostage by Fianna Fáil.

Leo Varadkar did admit however that the Government will be able to do less than previous regimes because of the support arrangement.

The minority government cannot pass legislation without the support or abstention of Fianna Fáil.

However, Leo Varadkar said that did not mean Fianna Fáil was pulling all the strings.

He said: “Not hostage, but it is a new scenario. We are a minority government…a different type of one. We’re only about a third of the Dáil, and that does require us to do things differently.

“It means that we will probably be able to do less than we would like to do, or less than previous governments have been able to do.”