The vote for a new taoiseach has been suspended until tomorrow morning following chaotic Dáil scenes. The running order of the day had already been kiboshed by a concerted protest by the Opposition over the decision to grant Opposition speaking time to four Independent TDs who are supporting the Government.
Proceedings were suspended twice earlier over the protest and there had been hopes the matter had been resolved when the Dáil resumed just before 4.30pm.
However, that sitting lasted all of four minutes. Chief Whip Hildegarde Naughton said an agreement had been reached between whips but it was now in dispute. Then, she tried to press through the Order of Business amid loud objections from the Opposition.
When Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy began to proceed with the appointment of the taoiseach, starting with a speech from TD Albert Dolan nominating Micheál Martin, he was drowned out by the Opposition.
Amid much shouting and protests, Ms Murphy then suspended the Dáil until 10am tomorrow. It has now become a serious crisis.
Following the fiasco, Micheál Martin said “what we witnessed today was a subversion of the Irish Constitution”. He believes there was no intention ever to come to an agreement and said that it was the first time in over 100 years the Dáil had failed to achieve an election of a taoiseach.
Earlier Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín announced he had left the Regional Technical Group, later announcing that his party colleague Paul Lawless had also left it. They will join the technical group made up of the four Independent Ireland TDs and Paul Gogarty.
This means that the Regional Technical Group’s numbers have been reduced to six, comprised of four Independents: Michael Lowry, Barry Heneghan and Gillian Toole – and Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae, plus Carol Nolan from Offaly and Mattie McGrath from Tipperary South.
As such, the group is still there but the stand-off over its status continues. The departure of Aontú will be received as a blow, not only to it but to the two bigger parties.
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Opposition accuse the Government of farcical behaviour
The combined Opposition have just finished a brief press conference on the plinth of Leinster House where they accused the Government of indulging in farcical behaviour and of “incredible arrogance”.
Representatives of all the parties and groups in Opposition were present.
Sinn Féin Leader Mary Lou McDonald said the Opposition leaders were united in their position that a situation cannot be contrived where Gvernment TDs are designated as members of the Opposition.
“We believe that the government has demonstrated incredible arrogance. They believe clearly that they could come into the Dáil and ride roughshod over the collective opposition,” she said.
“The Government has known that its (arrangement) is unacceptable and, frankly, farcical.”
So what happened behind the scenes today?
So from the off today, the Opposition was determined to pursue the incoming Government parties on two issues - the fact that four members of the Independent group which supports the Government were being allowed to be part of an Opposition technical group. The second was that the Dáíl was being adjourned for two weeks until February 5.
So as soon as the Dáil convened, prominent Opposition TDs were on the bench with loud objections, and criticism. With persistent interruptions the Dáil was suspended by new Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy.
After the first adjournment this morning, whips from the Opposition parties met with the Clerk to argue the situation around speaking time for four Independent TDs had to be resolved. The Dáil then came back very briefly. When Murphy tried to take a vote on the Order of Business, it descended into bedlam and she suspended again amid further shouting and disruption.
There then followed a suspension that lasted over three hours and which involved discussions between the whips of all parties. The business committee met for half an hour but the impasse was not resolved. Opposition whips demanded that Michael Lowry and the three other TDs - Barry Heneghan, Gillian Toole and Danny Healy-Rae - declare themselves as Government Deputies but they refused to do so.
Hildegarde Naughton, the Government Chief Whip, later said that agreement had been reached to hold a meeting of the Dáíl reform committee this evening and tomorrow to resolve that situation. Michael Lowry has just told RTÉ's Six-One News that he and Sinn Féin whip Pádraig Mac Lochlainn had shook hands on the matter. That was denied on the same programme by Mairead Farrell of Sinn Féin.
Naughton told reporters just before 6pm that five and half hours of discussion were held. She said it had been agreed that the Dáil Reform Committee would be convened and would come back by January 31 with a resolution to the impasse over the status of the four TDs.
“We committed to passing a motion this evening but we can no longer do so because the Oppostion just reneged on that.”
She said: “I walked back into the Dáil within the last hour (at circa 5pm), and I saw Mary Lou MacDonald walk over to the Clerk of the Dáil and said something to him, and then I realised all bets were off.”
The Opposition parties also said they requested a meeting of all the party leaders but that was turned down by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
The leaders of the Opposition are due to appear for a joint press conference shortly to give their perspective on what happened today.
‘Utterly farcical’
Taoiseach Simon Harris has said what happened today was “utterly farcical”, reports Jennifer Bray.
“There was a clear majority ready to elect Micheál Martin, instead what we saw was an effort to obstruct and shout down… Today was unprecedented, unseemly and tomorrow Dáil Éireann must reconvene.”
Micheál Martin, who was due to be voted in as taoiseach today, said “what we witnessed today was a subversion of the Irish Constitution”. He said he believes there was no intention ever to come to an agreement. He said it was the first time in over 100 years that the Dáil had failed to achieve an election of a taoiseach.
He said it was “unacceptable and unprecedented” and that “government cannot involve itself in the formation of groups or technical groups. On another day, if government had the power to say what constitutes a technical group there would be extreme opposition to that.”
“These are not issues that justify the failure” to achieve constitutional obligations, Mr Martin said.
Mr Harris said “Mary Lou McDonald came into the Dáil today with one intention and one intention only: to stop the election of Micheál Martin”.
Fine Gael TD and Government Chief Whip Hildegarde Naughten said a Dáil reform committee cannot come into existence until a government is elected. “What we gave today in our four meetings over five hours . . . we committed to passing a motion to set up a Dáil reform committee.” This would have met at midday tomorrow and said it would come back by the 31st of January with a resolution to be agreed by February 5th on speaking rights.
The Chief Whip also said it became clear in the Dáil chamber that just as proceedings were due kick off, all bets were off after Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald approached the clerk and “said something to him”.
Mr Martin said there were attempts to “hold the government to ransom” and the “Constitution was subverted . . . This has never happened in the history of the State before.”
Election of Taoiseach descends into a day of bitter exchanges and angry recrimination
Taoiseach Simon Harris and Tánaiste Micheál Martin are holding a press conference just now with and have reacted with some choice adjectives of outrage and fury to what has happened today.
Harris described the events in the Dáil today as a farce. Martin went further suggesting it was a subversion of the Constitutional role of the Dáil to elect a Taoiseach.
Both alleged that the Opposition, particularly Sinn Féin, went into the chamber today with an orchestrated and coordinated plan to undermined the election of Martin as Taoiseach.
Martin said he has been a TD since 1989 and has never witnessed anything like that.
He alleged that Opposition TDs acted in an appalling manner today, “bullied” Verona Murphy from the outset, used intimidation, and was scathing of Mary Lou McDonald who, he said, described democratically elected TDs as “cronies”
Harris said: “The the out-workings of the general election was the delivery new government. That was deprived due to stunt politics, It is utterly disgraceful.”
He said that McDonald came into the Dáil with “one intention and one intention only, to stop Micheál Martin being elected Taoiseach, and therefore to deprive the people of Ireland of the outworkings of the last general election.”
He later said: “It was only one leader who spoke, and she spoke with one purpose and one purpose only, to stop a government being formed, to stop a taoiseach being elected, to obstruct, to spin, to divert and to distract, to conflate different issues.”
It was “stunt politics on speed”, he claimed.
Opposition respond to Martin and Harris as crisis escalates
The exchanges coming from either side of the Dáil are becoming more strident and outspoken.
In the past few minutes a number of prominent Opposition TDs have responded to the claim of Micheál Martin that what happened today was a subversion of democracy.
Watch - The Ceann Comhairle suspends proceedings until tomorrow amid chaotic scenes.
Micheál Martin will not be elected Taoiseach today
It’s an unusual, perhaps unprecedented, situation. What was essentially a pro forma day has descended into a fiasco.
Verona Murphy’s first full-working day as Ceann Comhairle was probably worse than that of John O’Donoghue in 1997, when he was baited by the Opposition and quickly lost his temper.
Murphy had to suspend the Dáil a total of four times amid the row over the speaking rights of four Independent TDs.
It is likely the arrangement (whereby Michael Lowry and three other Independent TDs who support the Government can be part of a technical group that gets opposition speaking time) is part of the agreement hammered out by the Regional Independents Group and the two outgoing Government parties. It might not be written anywhere but it’s baked in. Otherwise, the arrangement would not have been defended so stoutly not only by the Independents, but by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
The Opposition went in today promising fractious exchanges and they achieved that and more. It descended into one of the most chaotic and shambolic sittings of the Dáil in recent times.
Murphy was very much back-footed. Why did she force through the Order of Business without calling a vote? Would that have made any difference? By that stage of the afternoon, the Opposition’s indignation had risen to boiling point.
There will be anger on the Government benches too that Martin was deprived his moment. They will see what the Opposition did today as an act of revenge, a carefully crafted and coordinated act of sabotage, directed towards Verona Murphy and also towards the Government parties.
It is not a full-blown crisis. But it has become toxic. And if the first day is anything to go on, the 34th Dáil may be a divisive and divided House.
Aontú did not cover themselves in glory either. For days they defended being part of the technical group, before flip-flopping and transferring to another this afternoon.
There will be a lot of pressure now on Mattie McGrath and Carol Nolan - the only two genuine Opposition TDs in that group - to leave it.
Dáil suspended until 10am tomorrow among chaotic scenes.
The resumed sitting lasted for all of four minutes. Chief Whip Hildegarde Naughton said an agreement had been reached between whips but it was now in dispute. Then, she tried to press through the Order of business amid loud objections from the Opposition.
When the Ceann Comhairle proceed with the appointment of the Taoiseach, the speech of the TD nominating Micheál Martin, Albert Dolan, was drowned out by the Opposition.
Amid much shouting and protests, Verona Murphy suspended the Dáil until 10am tomorrow.
It has become a serious crisis.
The Opposition leaders and whips are meeting at 5pm.
Watch: Michael Lowry has accused Sinn Féin of “shameful” behaviour after an argument over Opposition speaking time delayed the election of a new taoiseach. Video: Enda O’Dowd
Agus anois an Aimsir
Leinster House is not the only place experiencing stormy conditions. This is some prediction from Carlow Weather.
More delays.
The bells for “tionól” (assembling the Dáil) began ringing just before 4pm and the Chamber was quickly full to the brim.
However, there is no sign of Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy, nor of Clerk of the Dáil, Peter Finnegan. Government Chief Whip Hildegarde Naughton is also not there.
My colleagues who are on the press gallery in the Chamber says there seems to be some problem. Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald spoke to the Clerk, and he then left the chamber. Hildegarde Naughton then had a conversation with Simon Harris and Micheál Martin and also left the chamber.
The two have yet to return. There is no sign of the Ceann Comhairle as yet.
It’s not over yet. There is speculation that there may be a call for a meeting of the party leaders.
Dáil now set to resume at 4pm
Jennifer Bray writes: Michael Lowry says there is agreement that today’s business can be conducted, with business due to resume at 4pm. A motion will be brought before the Dáil tonight to reconstitute the Dáil reform committee. That committee will meet tomorrow at 12pm to come up with a solution that is politically acceptable to both government and opposition.
The order of business will be read by the Chief Whip. There will likely be opposition to the Dáil returning on February 5th. A Dáil reform committee will be established later. Again this will meet at midday tomorrow. Standing orders around this issues of the status and speaking rights of groups will be examined.
Aontú has left the Regional Technical Group
Peadar Tóibín has just confirmed that he and Paul Lawless have left the Regional Technical Group and will join the technical group made up of the four Independent Alliance TDs and Paul Gogarty.
It means that the Regional Technical Group’s numbers have been reduced to six. That is the four TDs, plus Carol Nolan from Offaly and Mattie McGrath from Tipperary South.
What does this mean? Well ,the group is still there but the stand-off over its status continues. The departure of Aontú will be received as a blow, not only to it but to the two bigger parties.
The question is why did Aontú not join that group in the first instance without getting dragged into a major omnishambles that has marred what should be, essentially, a solemn occasion.
I was talking to a few Fianna Fáil TDs around the House who said that notwithstanding all the suspensions and delays, a Taoiseach and a Government will be selected today (or perhaps tonight).
Peadar Tóibín has left Technical Group at the centre of procedure wrangle
The Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has left the technical group, which includes four Independent TDs who support the government. The group did have seven members but is now reduced to six. It is not clear if the second Aontú TD, Paul Lawless, is also leaving the group. If he does, the group will be reduced to five members - the four TDs and two Independents: Carol Nolan from Offaly; and Mattie McGrath from Tipperary South.
Tóibín is due to speak to the media on the plinth now.
A little while ago Michael Lowry also spoke to reporters on the plinth. He said that offers had been made to the Opposition to hold meetings of the Dáil reform committee tonight and tomorrow to resolve the issue but that Sinn Féin was not willing to countenance that arrangement.
Does the Opposition smell some political blood?
Opposition parties have gone into private meetings amid “absolute stalemate” situation
Jennifer Bray and Jack Horgan-Jones have been on manoeuvres along the back corridors and report there is no prospect of the Dáil reconvening within the next short while this afternoon.
When the whips from Government and Opposition parties met, it was proposed that the issue be sent to the Dáil Reform Committee tomorrow. But that was rejected by the Opposition on the basis the Government has a majority on the committee and could essentially “ram it through”.
At that meeting, the Opposition wanted Michael Lowry to categorically state he was part of the Government. That assurance was not forthcoming and the meeting broke up.
The whips have now reverted to their parties and groups.
Now we hear that another meeting of the whips has been called. Sources describe the situation as an “absolute stalemate”.
There is now the beginning of the possibility that the whole process of electing the Taoiseach and the new Government might be derailed - put off to this evening, in a worst case scenario, even until tomorrow.
Ursula von der Leyen’s premature congratulations Tweet
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy managed to get a screenshot of it and added his own message.
Whatever about the importance of the issue, it has become a huge row
Marie O’Halloran writes: Bemused visitors are currently mixing with TDs at the end of the main stairs in the Dáil chamber, or heading for the Leinster House canteen.
Minister of State Niall Collins who earlier claimed on X, formerly Twitter that the Opposition was engaging in “fake anger”, said “you’d think it was the Belfast Agreement” they were talking about as he insisted that TDs in opposition who supported government had speaking rights going back to the agreement between the late Independent TD Tony Gregory in the 1980s and the government led by Charlie Haughey.
A former Fianna Fáil politician described the situation as “terrible” but believed the business committee would resolve it. He said the Government side “will have to eat a little humble pie”.
He believed the Opposition had shown great disrespect to the taoiseach in waiting and his family, but acknowledged that the Government had misread the depth of opposition feeling on the issue.
How the Dáil suspension happened today.
As captured by our video team.
Dáil now suspended for almost an hour
There has been a real sense of anti-climax since 2pm as TDs and their families wait for the Dáil to resume.
The meeting of the whips, meant to last for 30 minutes, has gone way over its scheduled time.
Micheál Martin’s family were among those who ascended the chairs to the Dáil chamber shortly before 2pm. But they, like us, are still waiting.
I understand the meeting came to an end a short while ago but the key issue about the four Independent TDs is still unresolved.
There seems to be an impasse with the Opposition demanding that Michael Lowry and the other three TDs sit on the Government benches, and those Independent TDs refusing to do so.
Lunchtime Update
If things had gone according to plan, Micheál Martin would have been out on the plinth of Leinster House by now being congratulated by colleagues and preparing to go to Áras an Uachtaráin to receive his seal of office as Taoiseach.
Instead, the entire running order had been kiboshed by a concerted - and until now successful - protest by the Opposition over the decision to grant Opposition speaking time to four Independent TDs who are supporting the Government.
Twice this morning, the Dáil was suspended amid sense of disruption and chaos. It proved to be a very difficult session for the new Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy whose strategy of keeping calm and collected (rather than employing a combative demeanour) was not enough to appease Opposition anger.
Now, the Dáil has been suspended for 45 minutes to allow the Whips see if the issue can be resolved. It will be received as the Ceann Comhairle being back-footed in the first meaningful day of business for her.
Significantly too, it has delayed the election of An Taoiseach and the Government. It now looks like it could be midnight when the Cabinet convenes for its first formal meeting at Áras an Uachtaráin, over three hours behind schedule.
That’s if there is a resolution. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was one of those caught on the hop. At midday, she tweeted congratulations to Micheál Martin upon his election as Taoiseach. The tweet was quickly deleted.
Another big delay about to happen?
And so, most of the Deputies are back in the Chamber. But there is no Ceann Comhairle. And the whips from all the parties and groups are missing, as our eagle-eyed political editor Pat Leahy has spotted.
The business committee is about to meet, we understand, for 45 minutes in an effort to resolve the issue over regional Independents and for the Ceann Comhairle, Verona Murphy, to give clarity on when she will decide on the question of the four Government-supporting Independents being allowed Opposition speaking time.
It’s not clear, just now, if Murphy will come back into the Chamber to confirm that.
Scenes in the Dáil that led to one of the suspensions.
Government TD portrays Opposition gambit as ‘faux outrage’
Minister of State Thomas Byrne has said there has been “faux outrage” from the Opposition benches in the Dáil this morning.
Opposition parties persist in demand for urgent meeting
Duncan Smith, Labour Party whip, has just told me that the whips of all the Opposition parties have put in a request to the clerk of the Dáil, Peter Finnegan, for an urgent meeting of the business committee to discuss the status of the Regional Independents Group, and also the decision to suspend the Dáil for two weeks.
The Dáil is currently suspended. As yet the whips have not received a response to their request.
It seems that the Opposition is adamant that the issue of four TDs supporting the Government being allowed to have Opposition speaking times needs to be resolved – or at least addressed – before any vote for Taoiseach is allowed.
Smith says that a Sinn Féin amendment to the Order of Business calling for the Dáil to be convened next week, rather than February 5th, will be taken once the chamber resumes its business shortly.
There is an element now of digging the heels in. The Opposition will continue to disrupt the Dáíl unless the Ceann Comhairle agrees to a meeting of the business committee – which decides the running of the Dáil. There is an impasse right now that looks like it could derail the election of the Taoiseach until much later in the day.
The whips are now holding discussions with the clerk on the matter.
Second Suspension of the Dáil until 12.20
Marie O’Halloran write: Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy has suspended the Dáil for a second time, for 30 minutes, after repeated interruptions when she tried to move the business on to the election of the Taoiseach.
When the Dáil resumed after a 20-minute suspension Ms Murphy insisted she would deal with the matter of the Regional Independents’ speaking rights “expeditiously” and said that meant before the resumption on February 5th.
But TDs repeatedly interrupted and called for her to state “when will we have the legal advice” she said she had received giving Opposition speaking time to the regional TDs who do not hold Government positions.
Bedlam
And so within a minute of the Dáil resuming after the first suspension, it descended into chaos again.
Verona Murphy tried to take the vote on the Order of Business but it was never going to happen.
A massive shouting match ensued. Out of the cacophony of voices we could hear Richard Boyd-Barrett of People Before Profit demanding to see the legal advice on the Regional Independents Group, and the booming voice of Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central Thomas Gould trying to make a point of order.
Verona Murphy has suspended the House for 30 minutes.
It’s unlikely that Micheál Martin will be elected Taoiseach before 1pm. The Ceann Comhairle is following the strategy of keeping her cool and not raising her voice. It has been a big test for her on her first day with huge disruption from the off.
The Opposition has successfully sabotaged the pattern of what has traditionally been a day of ceremony.
The Healy-Raes going into Government? The late Jackie would have said ‘we did the right thing’
Michael Healy-Rae has been on social media this morning explaining why they will be voting for Micheál Martin to become Taoiseach, and why he will be becoming a member of the Government.
Will Jim O’Callaghan become the next Minister for Justice?
The chatter around the identity of the new Ministers has become more solid over the past 24 hours. On the Fine Gael side at least! Jennifer Carroll MacNeill looks nailed on as Minister for Health, with Kildare South TD Martin Heyden getting the nod at Agriculture.
There is a little more uncertainty in Fianna Fáil. The only TD who most commentators and TDs agree will be promoted to the Cabinet for certain is Mary Butler from Waterford.
The other two name most mentioned are Jim O’Callaghan from Dublin Bay South and James Browne from Wexford. Either could become Minister for Justice – O’Callaghan has been his party’s spokesman for a long time, and Browne was a junior minister in the department. Browne is being linked either to Housing or to Environment and Climate Change.
Over the past 24 hours, attention has increasingly focused on O’Callaghan, who was never seen as a Micheál Martin loyalist.
However, he played a very prominent role during the election campaign and one source has said the “mood has improved” between him and the party leader.
The first big row and a proposal to suspend the Dáil. Cue chaos.
So Verona Murphy is facing the first mutiny from the Opposition benches. Two of the biggest bruisers on the far side, Matt Carthy and Alan Kelly, have been on their feet with high-decibel responses to some of her recent decisions.
Carthy argued that it was unfair that Sinn Féin was getting less speaking time than Fine Gael even though it was a bigger party. Kelly intimidated that allowing the four Independent Deputies from the group which supports the Government to sit on the Opposition benches put the Dáil into jeopardy of becoming a farcical institution.
The Ceann Comhairle, not known for being shy with her opinions, has not risen to the bait and has tried to retain her composure, successfully so far.
Now Pádraig MacLochlainn, the Sinn Féin whip, is on his feet, calling for a suspension of the Dáíl to allow for the business committee to discuss the two-week adjournment which he labels a mistake.
It is all turning into a frenzied shouting match from the Opposition benches. Murphy does not raise her voice.
Matt Carthy shouts: “This is a test of you Ceann Comhairle and you are failing.”
When he refuses to take his seat, the Ceann Comhairle suspends the Dáil for 15 minutes.
Jack Horgan-Jones quoted a Sinn Féin figure yesterday saying that today would be “fractious”. He was not wrong.
Dáil Éireann convenes amid accusations that Government ‘cronies’ being favoured
Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy has concluded the prayer. Government Chief Whip Hildegarde Naughton has gone through arrangements for speaking today.
Nominations of Taoiseach to be made shortly. Fianna Fáil’s youngest TD, Albert Dolan of Galway East, will nominate Micheál Martin.
When Enda Kenny was nominated as taoiseach in 2011, Fine Gael’s youngest TD was the person who was chosen to give the speech. That TD was Simon Harris, who is now the outgoing taoiseach.
Mary Lou McDonald is now on her feet criticising the Government.
“The message needs to go to Government, go to work. There is no rationale ... for this two-week holiday”, she has argued.
She accuses Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael of putting “Independent cronies on the Opposition benches”.
She says it has left an unsatisfactory situation where the Government has “afforded to them the same speaking rights as genuine Opposition parties”.
The Labour Party and Social Democrats have also criticised those arrangements.
Will we have a vote on procedure ahead of the vote for Taoiseach?
Precedence for Government-supporting TDs sitting on Opposition benches?
Long-time political observer Dan Sullivan has this interesting take on this question, evoking the experience of Tony Gregory from over 40 years ago.
Dáil chamber is now filling up as 174 TDs take their allotted seats
Marie O’Halloran reports: TDs are starting to arrive into the Dáil chamber and independent Danny Healy-Rae is on his phone, sitting on the Government benches across from his old seat where his former Rural Independent colleagues and now Independent Ireland Party members Michael Collins and Richard O’Donoghue are seated alongside new member and TD Ken O’Flynn.
Row over Regional Independents being classed as ‘Opposition’ rages on
Vivienne Clark reports: People Before Proft TD Richard Boyd Barrett said the job of the opposition was to hold the government to account and there was no reason why Leaders and Taoiseach’s questions should not take place next week.
Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show Mr Boyd Barrett said the two week break was “unacceptable and inexplicable”, given that it had been “dissolved” since the General Election, aside from one day.
“I have constituents breathing down my neck about really serious issues that need to be raised in the Dáil” and this break is unjustifiable”.
This issue is linked to the question of “so-called Independents” wanting to be in opposition, he added. “It’s two sides of the same coin.” Members of the technical group had no right to be on Opposition benches. “It’s a farcical situation”, he said.
Defending the decision for the two-week break, Fianna Fáil TD for Clare Cathal Crowe said there was precedent and with the changes within departments it made good sense to allow Ministers take control of their briefs and for departments to be properly established. It certainly isn’t a break, he added. On the issue of Dáil speaking rights, Mr Crowe said Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy would adjudicate fairly on the issue, adding he did not see this as a big issue and thought it would be resolved today.
Mr Crowe also said that extra expenses for junior ministers are justified. There was an anomaly in this situation that meant junior ministers didn’t receive a travel and accommodation allowance, he explained, and this closed out that anomaly.
“Again, this is not a massive issue”, he said.
Mary Lou McDonald will get speaking time in Dáil this morning
One row at least has been resolved ahead of the Dáil convening. Sinn Féin was said to be furious yesterday when it was told that party leader Mary Lou McDonald would get no speaking time following her nomination as Taoiseach.
It led to what was called a very “direct conversation” last night between her and Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy.
Now it seems all has been settled. In a post on Twitter just now, Ms McDonald has said the Government has backed down “in the face of huge public anger”.
“Sinn Féin will never allow the government to silence us or to silence you,” she writes.
“I will be speaking in the Dáil this morning. Your voice will be heard. The first thing I will do is challenge their attempt to take another two weeks holiday. Government needs to get to work.”
Is adjourning the Dáil for a fortnight the usual practice?
Pat Leahy reports: The Government is seeking to adjourn the Dáil for a fortnight after Micheál Martin is elected later today. Despite Opposition protests, the incoming Coalition says this is normal when a new government comes into office. Is it right? Not quite.
In 2020, Micheál Martin was elected Taoiseach on June 27th, a Saturday. (The Dáil was sitting in the National Convention Centre due to pandemic restrictions) The Dáil met again the following Tuesday, June 30th, and then adjourned for one week, until July 7th.
In 2016, Enda Kenny was elected taoiseach by the Dáil on May 6th. The Dáil adjourned until May 17th, a week and a half.
In 2011, Kenny was elected by the Dáil on March 9th. The Dáil adjourned for a week until March 15th, and then adjourned for another week until March 22nd.
Perhaps the more direct precedent is 2007, when Bertie Ahern was elected for the third time. He was elected by the Dáil on June 14th, after which the Dáil adjourned for nearly a fortnight – until June 26th.
Less than 30 minutes until Showtime
Hi, it’s Harry McGee who will be guiding you through our live coverage today. The scene is already set. The barriers have been put up outside Leinster House. Already a large crowd has gathered on Moleswsorth Street with a banner proclaiming: “Occupied Territories Bill Now”.
Micheál Martin’s family were spotted in Leinster House earlier this morning. It’s buzzing with new TDs, family members and more experienced TDs from the two big parties, some of them looking amazingly spruced up.
With the support of Independents the election of Micheál Martin as Taoiseach by the Dáil will be a formality. Once he returns from Áras an Uachtaráin after receiving his seal of office, attention will then turn to the selection of Ministers. Names have been bandied around, with increasing degrees of certainty, but there could be a mild surprise or two.
