Irish parliament vote points to centre-right coalition with independents

Ireland's two main centre-right parties moved closer to securing a coalition deal with a group of mostly conservative independent lawmakers on Wednesday as they helped elect one of the group as speaker of the lower house of parliament.

In Ireland's Nov. 29 election, the Fine Gael party of prime minister Simon Harris and the Fianna Fail party of deputy prime minister Micheal Martin together fell just two seats short of the 88 needed to govern.

Their two main options to secure a comfortable governing majority are to either win the backing of a group of independent lawmakers or one of two small, centre-left parties: Labour or the Social Democrats.

While talks continue with both centre-left parties, most commentators have pointed to a deal with the independents as far more likely.

Members of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail helped elect Verona Murphy, one of nine independent members of parliament in the Regional Independent Group, as speaker of the lower house, one of the highest paid political roles in the country.

Ahead of the vote Harris recommended that his party members support Murphy "to support overall government formation," Fine Gael said in a statement.

The appointment "paves the way" for a new government made up of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Regional Independent Group, state broadcaster RTE reported.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have said they hope to secure an agreement on a new coalition government early next year.