The leaders of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have asked their TDs to support Independent deputy Verona Murphy to be ceann comhairle despite their previous sharp criticisms of controversial comments she made about asylum seekers.
Taoiseach Simon Harris, Fine Gael leader, and Tánaiste Micheál Martin, Fianna Fáil leader, recommended their parties should back Ms Murphy in Wednesday’s secret ballot Dáil vote.
The move means the Wexford TD is the clear favourite to assume the prestigious role.
The Regional Group of Independent TDs – which nominated Ms Murphy – had asked both big parties to support her candidacy.
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Members of the group of Independent TDs are widely seen as the likely source of numbers to ensure a potential Fianna Fáil coalition with Fine Gael has a Dáil majority.
Ms Murphy’s career in politics began when she unsuccessfully contested the 2019 byelection in Wexford as a Fine Gael candidate.
She was later deselected by the party in advance of the 2020 general election over controversial comments linking migrants to Islamic State (Isis).
Ms Murphy apologised for the remarks and later went on to be elected to the Dáil as an Independent in 2020.
During the byelection campaign, Mr Martin said Ms Murphy’s comments were “offensive and quite dangerous as they have no basis in fact whatsoever”.
After being dropped by Fine Gael, Ms Murphy claimed she had been “silenced” by the party.
Mr Harris, then the minister for health, said at the time: “I think that anybody who engages in stoking what I believe to be unfounded racist fears has no place in the Fine Gael party.”
At Fine Gael’s parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday, Mr Harris recommended that his TDs support Ms Murphy for the ceann comhairle position.
He said this was “to support overall government formation”, that a new coalition could be formed in January, and “this is the right thing to do”.
Earlier in the week, the Taoiseach was asked at a press conference about his previous criticism of Ms Murphy and the possibility that he would ask his party to back her to be ceann comhairle.
Mr Harris said his party and Fianna Fáil were working to see how they could form a “stable government”.
He said: “Deputy Murphy is not a member of the Fine Gael party for very good reason but Deputy Murphy then went off and got elected to Dáil Éireann with a mandate from the people of Wexford and I have to respect that reality as well.”
He said there would be no whip applied to Fine Gael TDs for what would be “a private ballot”.
[ Five names in the mix in race to be next ceann comhairleOpens in new window ]
At Fianna Fáil’s parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday, its members endorsed Mr Martin’s proposal to support Ms Murphy’s candidacy.
The proposal to back Ms Murphy was made despite two Fianna Fáil TDs – outgoing ceann comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl and veteran Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness – putting their names forward to enter the race.
The other candidate for the position is the Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South-Central, Aengus Ó Snodaigh.
One reason discussed at the Fianna Fáil meeting for backing Ms Murphy was to maximise the party’s own Dáil strength by not losing one of their number to the ceann comhairle chair.
Ms Murphy did not respond to attempts to contact her.
Fianna Fáil has 48 TDs and, should it enter into a coalition with Fine Gael, the two big parties would have 86 seats. Electing a ceann comhairle from outside their ranks would mean they only need 87 seats for a bare Dáil majority, though in reality the two parties would want a buffer of support over and above that number.
In a series of interviews on Tuesday, Mr Ó Fearghaíl argued it was “not right” to use the position of ceann comhairle as a bargaining chip in government negotiations.
He has said that if elected for a third time, he will serve only between 18 and 24 months, to allow the 34th Dáil, which has more than 60 new TDS, to settle in.
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