New Irish government will need three parties - Fine Gael's Varadkar

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's Fianna Fail and Fine Gael will need the support of a third party to form a new government and cannot just rely on a group of independent lawmakers for a majority, Fine Gael leader and acting Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Thursday.

The centre-right parties hope to agree a joint policy paper next week and seek the support one of the smaller parties in parliament, Varadkar said. The historic rivals need the backing of at least one other party or 8 independents.

"I am firmly of the view that if Fine Gael is going to participate in the next government, we need a third party. We can absolutely work with independents but a government that relies on nine or 10 independents isn't one that is going to be stable... make the hard calls," Varadkar told a news conference.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin and Graham Fahy, Editing by Franklin Paul)