Election 2024

Independents line up with enthusiasm to agree deals to support the next government

Electorate did not back Independents at level suggested by polling during the campaign but they could still play major role in 34th Dáil

Galway West Independent Seán Canney, who was re-elected, said he was open to discussions about the possibility of supporting the next government. Photograph: Alan Betson
Galway West Independent Seán Canney, who was re-elected, said he was open to discussions about the possibility of supporting the next government. Photograph: Alan Betson
Cormac McQuinn's picture
Cormac McQuinn Political Correspondent
Sun Dec 01 2024 - 20:46

Independent TDs are lining up to express their willingness to agree deals with the big parties in return for their support for the next coalition government.

The people did not vote for non-party TDs at the rate suggested by poll results near the start of the campaign.

However, Independents could still play a major role in the 34th Dáil if likely coalition partners Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael need them to make up the numbers to reach the 88-seat majority or build a protective buffer beyond that number.

In the first Irish Times/Ipsos B & A poll published earlier this month, a week into the three-week election campaign, support for Independent candidates stood at 20 per cent.

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This fell to 17 per cent last week – a figure that was borne out in the final election result.

As of 8pm Sunday, 10 Independent candidates had been elected along with a further three TDs from the new Independent Ireland party. Counting was continuing last night.

Sources in both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were stressing it was too early to say what approach the two parties would take to the possible need for Independent support for a coalition government.

Fianna Fáil will assess the final Dáil numbers before discussions with likely coalition partners. There is an acknowledgment within the party that Labour leader Ivana Bacik has said she will speak with others on the centre-left in the first instance before possible coalition talks with the larger parties.

A stable, long-lasting government is said to be the focus for Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.

Fine Gael sources said the party was not “rushing into anything” and that its approach would be “all about policy and stability”.

The Independents elected include deputies who often supported the last government in Dáil votes such as Michael Lowry in Tipperary North and those who did not, such as Mattie McGrath in Tipperary South.

Galway West Independent Seán Canney, who was re-elected, supported the last government on a case-by-case basis but voted against the elections of Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar as taoisigh.

A junior minister in the Fine Gael-led 2016-2020 minority government, Canney told The Irish Times on Sunday that he was open to discussions about the possibility of supporting the next government.

Asked would he seek ministerial office again in return for his support, he said: “At this stage it would be a step too far to go in looking for a position without knowing what the make-up of a programme for government would be and how best I could support it.”

He wants to see “like-minded Independents” forming a bloc similar to the Regional Group of Independents that was formed in the last Dáil. This group included Lowry and Verona Murphy in Wexford, who retained her seat.

Murphy confirmed she would be open to the prospect of a new group of Independents being formed.

Asked whether she would support a government, she said: “I’ll talk to anyone who wishes to talk common sense, but it has to transpire in delivery and be an advantage to the people of Wexford.”

Lowry told reporters at the count centre in Tipperary that he would “absolutely” be open to talks about supporting the next government.

Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins told the Business Post that his party would enter talks with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael if invited, saying: “We don’t want to be hurlers on the fence in this country.”

Michael Healy-Rae and his brother were also re-elected in Kerry.

Their father, the late Kerry TD Jackie Healy-Rae, famously agreed a deal with Bertie Ahern in 2007 in return for his support of the Fianna Fáil-led government that took office that year.

“Our phones are turned on,” Michael Healy-Rae told The Irish Times.

“If somebody wants to ring me, they’re very welcome to ring. We’ll answer the call. We’ll talk. We’ll say what we need for Co Kerry, not what we need for the Healy-Raes.

“The three priorities are as follows: ‘Kerry, Kerry and Kerry’ – be that roads, infrastructure, housing, health, fishing, farming.”

It may be some time before it becomes clear whether Independents are called on to bolster the next government. They are unlikely to be shy about what they want in return.