Labour leader Ivana Bacik has said it was clear that a "deal had already been done" between Fianna Fáil and the Regional Independent Group before "substantive" negotiations between Fianna Fáil and Labour began on possible Government formation.
Speaking on RTÉ's The Late Late Show, Ms Bacik said that the Labour Party was "very serious" about the possibility of going into Government "to deliver on our programme of change" and that she had held initial meetings with Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris before more "substantive" negotiations began between the parties.
"Can I draw back the curtains here on these negotiations for a moment, if I may, and say we had a very positive and constructive negotiation with Fine Gael and there was a lot of commonality," Ms Bacik told host Patrick Kielty.
"When we went to Fianna Fáil however it was very clear that the deal had already been done with the Regional Independents and there wasn't going to be any give from their side on our demands, on our policy programme," she added.
On the row over speaking rights that effectively stalled the return of the Dáil for weeks, Ms Bacik has said that the opposition parties had lost the vote but won the argument.
"I think the reality is that while we lost the vote, we did win the argument, people are with us, people saw through the stroke, they saw through this sham," she added.
On Tuesday 25 March, after a day of angry scenes in the Dáil, the Government won a vote to amend speaking rights, to allow TDs from the Regional Independent Group who support Government and coalition backbenchers speaking rights.
The following Tuesday, in an unprecedented move, the Dáil voted on and passed a motion of confidence in the Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy.
On that day, Ms Bacik said Ms Murphy's "position has become untenable because of a deal between the Government and Michael Lowry and his group."
The next day Labour TDs, led by Ms Bacik, were among those from the opposition benches to walk out of the Dáil chamber, as Regional Independent TD Carol Nolan availed of the new speaking time slot.
Speaking to Mr Kielty, Ms Bacik said "we didn't want to sit and listen to the Government talk to itself."
However, she added that "it's time to move on".
"I said in my speech on Tuesday, of course we accept the outcome of the vote, of course it is time to move on, the world changed utterly on Thursday with Trump's announcement and I think we were all mindful that this was imminently upon us so I was glad to see us move on, I think it's important that we did," she said.
