The Taoiseach has said he wants the public to consider who will form a “stable government” when they are voting, asking whether the country would want to have “50 or 60” independent TDs in the Dail.
Simon Harris said it is not his place to tell people who to transfer their vote to but urged them to consider the make-up of the government after the election.
The Labour Party also said Mr Harris’s call for voters to transfer to centrist parties, where he named Fianna Fail and Labour, “smacked of desperation”.
The public will go to the polls on Friday and decide the political landscape for the next few years.
Speaking to the PA news agency on Thursday, Mr Harris said he was asking people to consider carefully which candidates they would give a preference to on the ballot paper on Friday.
“The point I am making is… of course I am asking people to vote for my party, to vote Fine Gael, and in the areas where we are running more than one candidate, to continue your vote for the rest of the Fine Gael candidates,” he said.
“But I am also very conscious that, when the election is over, whatever people decide is the decision, it is important that a stable government can be formed, and I have been making the point to people that my party has shown the ability to work well with other parties and I’m hoping that people would transfer their votes to other parties.
“There has been many good independent TDs in this country – I don’t make a pejorative comment at all in relation to any independent TD – but I do make the point, do we want to make up the Dail with 40 or 50, 60 independent TDs and how do we form a stable government if that is the backdrop?
“That is very much the point I am making. I am not going to tell people – it is not my place – as to who to transfer to, but I would hope people would consider, in their vote, who you would form a government at the end of all of this.”
Tanaiste and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said that forming a “coherent”, “stable” government that would last the next four-and-a-half years was “an important consideration”.
“But ultimately it is a matter for the people. I would never be over-prescriptive in saying to people who are exercising their democratic rights, it’s up to people to do that,” he said.
Speaking in Greystones, Co Wicklow, ahead of a canvass with Fianna Fail minister Stephen Donnelly, Mr Martin described the election campaign as “competitive” and “fragmented”.
“Transfers are going to be crucial and I’m saying to our candidates, campaign for the number ones, but campaign for the twos, threes, fours and fives as well. They’re going to be crucial in terms of the destination of final seats in constituencies across the country.
“So we’re going into this final two days positive but really understanding the competitive nature of this election.”
The latest opinion poll ahead of Friday’s General Election shows the country’s three largest parties remain in a tight race.
The Red C-Business Post survey shows support for Fianna Fail unchanged at 21%, only slightly ahead of its coalition partner, Fine Gael, which is down two percentage points at 20% and now neck and neck with the largest opposition party, Sinn Fein, which has gained two.
Mr Harris has said that his preference would be for a coalition.
He also said in an interview with the Irish Examiner that he would be voting for Fine Gael and transferring to Fianna Fail and Labour, while urging voters to vote for “centrist” parties.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik criticised the remarks as she appealed to voters to vote for “radical” change and “centre-left” parties.
She said: “I saw the Taoiseach’s comments today, and frankly, I think they smacked of desperation in the last few days of his campaign.
“I’ve consistently said for many months now, before this election campaign even started, that the first thing I would do if I am re-elected, after the people have spoken, is go to the leaders of other parties and other groupings who share a centre-left, green vision and those values that we hold dear in the Labour Party, because we want to ensure that that vision, those values, will shape the next government.”
Ms Bacik said there was an “appetite for Labour’s positive message of constructive change” among the electorate and said she was the only leader of a left party that had set out “a clear vision”.
“We are anticipating an increase in the number of Labour TDs will return to the next Dail,” she said.
Earlier, Mr Harris said there are too many young adults living at home with their parents.
He said: “I meet them right across the country and know they want to move out and buy their own home. And that is why we are prioritising 303,000 more homes, 40 billion euro investment in housing.
“But it is also the reason why we are refusing to pull the rug from under first-time buyers.
“The Help to Buy scheme may not be perfect, the First Home scheme may not be perfect, but it has helped so many thousands of people and we are committed to keeping that for the next five years.”
On Thursday, Mr Harris was asked on Newstalk’s The Pat Kenny Show about an apparent drop in his party’s support in the opinion polls.
He said it was down to “a couple of things”, including that he has “had to rejuvenate my party in real time”.
Mr Harris added: “I feel really good about tomorrow, I feel really hopeful about tomorrow, that people will lend us their votes so that I can continue my job as Taoiseach and so that we can really put together a stable government for the next five years.”
