The 34th Dáil will meet for the first time today after a general election which saw Fianna Fáil come out on top with 48 seats – and the main topic on the agenda is an election for the coveted post of ceann comhairle.
TDs will gather in Leinster House for the first sitting in nearly six weeks, with proceedings due to kick off at 10.30am when clerk Peter Finnegan will read the proclamation convening Dáil Éireann. Mr Finnegan will announce the names of all TDs elected from across 43 constituencies. Focus will quickly turn to the election of a ceann comhairle, with Independent Wexford TD Verona Murphy in pole position thanks to pledged support from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
The ballot is secret, however, which could throw a spanner in the works. A number of Fianna Fáil members have expressed an interest, including outgoing ceann comhairle Sean Ó Fearghaíl, who despite previously saying he did not want to seek a third term in the role then confirmed he intended to run again.
Other TDs in Fianna Fáil who expressed an interest included John McGuinness and Michael Moynihan, although Mr Moynihan is understood to have decided not to run. Sinn Féin has nominated Aengus Ó Snodaigh. Nominations will be declared in the Dáil on Wednesday and this will be followed by the secret ballot, with those votes counted in an ante room. The sitting of the House will be suspended for this count, due to happen at about noon.
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The Dáil will resume at 3pm when the successful ceann comhairle takes the chair. A draft agenda for the rest of the day was circulated among TDs on Tuesday afternoon and it provisionally included time for the nomination of a taoiseach. This would be a normal matter of course on the first sitting day of the new Dáil. At a meeting of the Dáil’s business committee on Tuesday night, however, it was decided not to proceed with formal nominations of a taoiseach as government-formation talks were ongoing between Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Independents, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats, although the latter two are viewed as being less open to entering government.
This will mean that no new taoiseach will be appointed on Wednesday, and government-formation talks will likely continue into the new year. Sources within the Regional Independent Group – which put forward Ms Murphy for the position of ceann comhairle – predicted that talks could move quickly in the coming weeks once substantive policy issues were agreed. It is believed that when the Dáil next sits, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin will seek the first term in the office of taoiseach, with Fine Gael leader Simon Harris due to take the latter term of government. Talks on the number of Cabinet positions for each party or Independent will likely not happen until the end of government-formation talks in January, but with 10 extra seats, Fianna Fáil could potentially take a number of extra Cabinet seats.
The next Dáil sitting could happen as early as January 22nd, although much is dependent now on how successful those government-formation talks are.
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