Key Irish government negotiator expects new coalition by Jan. 22

DUBLIN (Reuters) - A new Irish coalition government will likely be in place by next week, a senior member of a group of independent lawmakers negotiating with the two large centre-right parties said on Monday.

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, Ireland's dominant parties who led the outgoing government, need the support of a handful of independents to form a comfortable majority as they sit just one seat short of the 87 needed to govern after a Nov. 29 election.

The sides held talks through the weekend ahead of the next parliamentary sitting on Jan. 22 when a new government could be elected if the talks are wrapped up.

"I would anticipate that we will have a government by January 22," Michael Lowry, who is part of a seven-strong group of non-party aligned lawmakers, told national broadcaster RTE before resuming talks on Monday.

Lowry said positive progress had been made in recent days with effective alignment and agreement on a number of areas but that there was "still a body of work to be done".

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are holding separate talks with two other independent lawmakers to further strengthen the prospective coalition's majority.

The two large parties are aiming to wrap the talks up this week as both need to hold meetings for their members to ratify a deal. Those votes are seen as a formality given the parties campaigned to return to government together.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Catarina Demony)

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