Politics

What we learned about incoming Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-Independent administration on Dáil’s first day

Without any business of real political significance to settle it was a day mostly about symbolism and ceremony

Independent TD Verona Murphy in her office at Leinster House after she was elected the new Ceann Comhairle. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
Independent TD Verona Murphy in her office at Leinster House after she was elected the new Ceann Comhairle. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
Pat Leahy's picture
Pat Leahy
Wed Dec 18 2024 - 19:00

A great day in the Dáil for first time and returning TDs, whose families and supporters crammed the precincts of Leinster House from an early hour on Wednesday, their wide-eyed enthusiasm a welcome antidote to the world-weary cynicism that can sometimes hang around the place.

But without any business of real political significance to settle it was a day mostly about the symbolism and ceremony of our democracy rather than substance. The real power games will come in the new year.

The centrepiece of the day – the election of a new Ceann Comhairle – went more or less according to expectations. The recommendations of the leaders of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to their parties to support Independent TD Verona Murphy were enough to see her over the line for a comfortable enough victory.

Micheál Martin had told his troops on Tuesday that the position of Ceann Comhairle was not important to what the party had been elected to do, and that electing an Independent candidate would be a useful confidence-building mechanism. The message from Simon Harris was similar. Most of their TDs appeared to have accepted that.

READ MORE

For Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael – always, always interested in actual power, and not just the appearance of it – the chair of the Dáil is a bauble to be bartered for something more important.

Why the Regional Group of Independents are prepared to sacrifice finite political capital on securing the position for Murphy is less clear, though. The firm view in the two main coalition parties is that having secured this position the Independents’ hand to demand further ministerial positions is weakened.

[ Why were the Independents so keen on the Ceann Comhairle job and how did Verona Murphy get it? ]

As Ceann Comhairle, and the first women to hold the job, Murphy will occupy a role that is prominent in Leinster House and symbolically important. What use she is there to individual Independent TDs is harder to fathom.

There was more symbolism to come. Despite having previously given signals to the contrary, Sinn Féin decided to nominate Mary Lou McDonald as taoiseach and force a vote on the issue – most likely in an attempt to show that the party intends her to be seen as the clear leader of the opposition again for this Dáil term.

That makes sense. Sinn Féin knows that McDonald will have to share the limelight with Ivana Bacik and Holly Cairns a lot more than she did previously, and she is unlikely to dominate the opposition in the way that she did previously. So setting down a marker today was understandable.

Everyone knew it was just a gesture, though. Mary Lou got 44 votes – the other left TDs and parties variously opposed her or abstained. Though the centre and centre-right seem set to form the next government, the various strands of the left remain divided.

[ Verona Murphy’s path to Ceann Comhairle role marked by controversy ]

What did the day tell us about the emerging Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-Independent administration?

We learned from the acceptance speech of Verona Murphy that her nomination was the idea of Michael Lowry, the Independent Tipperary TD who, it is increasingly evident, will be play the key role in negotiating the terms of the Independents’ potential support for and participation in government. He is the central figure.

Simon Harris – before he hightailed it to the European summit in Brussels – signalled familiar priorities for the next Dáil and the government it elects: housing, disabilities, the cost of living – familiar themes from the election campaign. His parliamentary party looks very different than it did a few weeks ago.

Micheál Martin elaborated on those themes in his contribution, along with familiar refrains of his own – focusing on the “substance” of “delivering for the people”. Expect to hear more of that if and when he becomes taoiseach for the second time next month.