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What Independent TDs get for supporting the Government is far less clear than in decades past

Coalition deals with Independents have been commonplace for decades, though Simon Harris has ruled out ‘transactional’ arrangements on his path to the Taoiseach’s office

Simon Harris: he been meeting Independents in advance of Tuesday’s Dáil vote to elect him as taoiseach, but has ruled out agreeing deals. Photograph: Eamon Ward/PA Wire
Simon Harris: he been meeting Independents in advance of Tuesday’s Dáil vote to elect him as taoiseach, but has ruled out agreeing deals. Photograph: Eamon Ward/PA Wire
Cormac McQuinn's picture
Cormac McQuinn Political Correspondent
Fri Apr 05 2024 - 07:00

There was a time in Irish politics when it was clear to the public what Independent TDs were getting in return for supporting an incoming taoiseach. Constituency deals, backed by millions of euro in funding, were commonplace for years.

The prototype for such arrangements remains the legendary “Gregory Deal” of February 1982. Fianna Fáil leader Charles Haughey agreed to a multimillion pound investment to the disadvantaged Dublin Central constituency to win the support of newly-elected Independent TD Tony Gregory for his party’s return to power.

In later years Bertie Ahern’s government needed the support of Independents, most notably Kerry South TD Jackie Healy-Rae and Tipperary TD Michael Lowry after the 2007 general election. Healy-Rae was able to claim credit for huge investment into his home county. “There were always bits of roads, bits of bends, bits of housing...and all the things that were important to the local people,” Ahern later said of his deals struck with Healy-Rae.

In recent years the benefits for supportive Independent TDs have been a lot less obvious.

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But the benefits running the other way are clear: the backing of the Independents has bolstered the current Coalition’s slim majority on numerous occasions such as for votes to elect taoisigh and confidence motions. There has been a general insistence by Government that no constituency deals are done in return for such support.

One of the clearest examples of Independents supporting the Government in a crunch Dáil vote was the defeat in March 2023 of a Sinn Féin motion calling for the temporary eviction ban to be extended. The Government secured a majority of 83 votes to 68 in the Dáil having put forward a counter-motion with an amendment from the Regional Independent Group which had proposed various housing measures. Then minister for public expenditure Paschal Donohoe said that the measures suggested by the Independents had also been proposed by the Government parties.

The new Fine Gael leader, Simon Harris, has been meeting Independents in advance of Tuesday’s Dáil vote to elect him as taoiseach, but has ruled out agreeing deals, saying the meetings would not be “transactional”.

Five Independents have already indicated that they will support Harris. They includes Lowry whose talks with Harris covered issues including small businesses and the overcrowding situation at University Hospital Limerick that treats many of the Tipperary TD’s constituents.

On small business there have already been calls from within Fine Gael for new supports before the summer so Lowry may well be pushing on an open door there.

Any incoming taoiseach would want to be seen to be taking action to address problems at a major hospital in the midwest region.

The support of Independents may become more crucial should the Government’s numbers tighten further before the next general election, which must be held by next spring.

One thing Independents undoubtedly secure out of the Government’s paper-thin Dáil majority is access to senior Coalition figures, from which they can claim to influence policy when they next face voters. What they secure in return for their support is much less clear than it has been in the past.