News Editor Adam Behan covers the turbulent process of government formation after the November election
A Rocky Start: Dáil Suspended Three Times
Amidst a row begun in the fully-packed Dáil chamber on Wednesday 22 January, Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy suspended the House three times, preventing the appointment of Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin as Taoiseach until Thursday 23. The suspensions were made after members of the opposition shouted over the Order of Business due to their dissatisfaction with the allocation of opposition speaking time to a group of regional independent TDs in support of the Government.
A Look Back: Government Formation
Following the November 2024 election, the Republic of Ireland is set to receive its next administration led by a coalition of Dáil Éireann’s two largest parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and a group of nine TDs from the Regional Independent Group. The negotiations for the regional group were facilitated by Tipperary TD Michael Lowry, who was the subject of the Moriarty tribunal in 2011, which investigated tax evasion by him and former Taoiseach Charles Haughey in the 1990s.
After inter-party discussions, deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan of the Social Democrats ruled out his party’s participation in the new government, instead keeping the party’s role in the broader informal Left opposition with Sinn Féin and other smaller parties. The new coalition begins its government after the nomination of the new Taoiseach on Thursday 23 January by members of the Dáil, and reaches the end of its mandate in November 2029, five years after the most recent election.
An agreement has been reached for Ministers of State to avail of travel expenses of up to €32,535 annually.
In an agreement between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, Micheál Martin will assume the role of Taoiseach for half of the 35th Government of the state, with Simon Harris as Taoiseach for the latter half. Mr Harris will be the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs while Mr Martin is Taoiseach.
The new government will have 38 ministers, making it the largest since the foundation of the state. 15 will sit at cabinet as Ministers of Government, the constitutional limit, while 23 will have Minister of State (or junior) roles, of which up to 4 could constitute ‘super juniors’. A super junior is a minister of state permitted to attend cabinet meetings but without the right to vote in them.
As elected TDs, all Ministers of State currently earn an annual wage of €113,679, and a ministerial wage of €45,846. Super junior ministers have an additional wage of €16,000. As reported by the Irish Daily Mail, an agreement has been reached for Ministers of State to avail of travel expenses of up to €32,535 annually. Independent TD for Kerry Michael Healey-Ray is set to take up a role as a super junior minister in the Department of Agriculture, with his fellow Kerryman and brother Danny Healey-Ray TD also supporting the Government. Independent TDs Noel Grealish and Seán Canney have also been earmarked for super junior ministerial roles.
The Next Step: Programme for Government
In addition to the structure of the new coalition having been formulated, a draft proposal for the new Programme of Government was accepted by the constituent members of the coalition. The 162-page programme contains various commitments and pledges for the incoming government to uphold.
For students and prospective students in higher education, the programme acknowledges some key areas that will take the new government’s attention for the foreseeable future, such as increasing places in Further and Higher Education, a commitment to continue reducing the Student Contribution Charge, SUSI reform, increasing places for apprenticeships, a multi-annual plan to provide state-financed purpose-built student accommodation, and notably the introduction of a ‘Second Chance’. If implemented, the ‘Second Chance’ scheme will offer Free Fees coverage for students who are repeating a year or changing courses only once.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties condemned the programme for measures that “contradict the human rights obligations of the state,” such as the expansion of police powers, the retention of the Special Criminal Court, and the introduction of facial-recognition technologies into policing.
The draft programme also outlines the Government objective to deliver over 300,000 new homes by 2030, with 60,000 of these homes to be social housing. Several measures indicated in the programme highlight how the Government aims to achieve this target, such as the establishment of a Central Housing Construction Supply Unit in the Department of Housing to accelerate the delivery of construction projects. In 2024, the Government failed to hit their target of 40,000 new homes.
Some proposals have been criticised by civil action groups despite the programme’s ratification by all parties to the coalition government. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties condemned the programme for measures that “contradict the human rights obligations of the state,” such as the expansion of police powers, the retention of the Special Criminal Court, and the introduction of facial-recognition technologies into policing. The Irish National Teachers’ Association welcomed the provisions for reducing class sizes to 19 to meet the EU average and extra support for special schools and classes, but regretted the lack of attention given to addressing the strain of staff shortages in small schools in Ireland.
The Irish branch of Amnesty International were reassured by the programme’s commitment to protect the rights of LGBTI+ people in Ireland, but were disappointed that the government made no commitment to ratify the Occupied Territories Bill, which has instead opted to replace the bill with new legislation which significantly revises the legislation. Mr Martin has affirmed that the amended legislation will not ‘water down’ the now dropped bill, but will instead address ‘deficient’ and ‘unconstitutional’ aspects of the original bill.