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THE FIRST FEW days of this new government have “been fairly robust”, according to Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
While the new government has spent the best part of a week being hammered for its response to Storm Éowyn and faced accusations of being absent, the pressure eased in terms of the relationship between the three coalition partners.
However, it was put to the Taoiseach in Cork on Friday that this government, only in its infancy, hasn’t faced an event that would threaten the government’s majority in votes.
Making the remark above about the robust nature of this new coalition, Martin smiled, indicating that it hasn’t perhaps been the smoothest of starts for his new government, with the first few days being dominated by the row about whether the Independents who pledged their support “in good times and bad” are in government or not.
The new Dáil term got off to a rough beginning with an attempt by four Independent TDs, headed by Tipperary TD Michael Lowry, to sit in both government and opposition.
White other members of the group were given ministerial positions in government, Lowry, Danny Healy-Rae, Barry Heneghan, and Gillian Toole, who all participated in government formation talks and agreed to support the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael led government for the next five years, wanted to continue to access Dáil speaking time and other privileges as members of the opposition rather than government backbench TDs.
While it was touch patch to navigate, and not an issue that has been fully put to bed, the Taoiseach said he sees the first real test in terms of ensuring the Independents stay on side will be the budget.
That’s a while off yet and there are plenty of banana skins that can pop up between now and then.
That is why seeing around corners and smoothing things over before it reaches crisis-mode is needed.
One way of doing this is with the revival of the party leaders’ weekly meeting, the first of which took place this week.
When the Greens were in government, Eamon Ryan and subsequently Roderic O’Gorman would attend alongside the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael leaders, to ensure that all parties would get notice of any surprises due to surface at Cabinet the next day.
It worked well, most of the time, in terms of avoiding embarrassing clashes in public.
Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris and the ‘chosen one’ from the Regional Independent side, Galway East TD Sean Canney, met in Government Buildings on Tuesday evening this week, following the Bank Holiday weekend.
Martin had just flown in from Brussels where he was discussing defence with his EU counterparts and it was straight down to business – with the trio meeting for well over an hour.
The programme for government states that the three will meet regularly, so while it might not be weekly, the meetings will take place as needed.
The first meeting is believed to have gone perfectly swimmingly, in spite of being preceded by Monday’s intervention from the Ceann Comhairle attempting to put an end to the speaking rights row.
In a surprise statement issued at the tail end of the Bank Holiday Verona Murphy ruled that, based on their public comments, she could not deem members of the Regional Independent group to be outside of the government.
None of the Independents affected by the decision had been warned in advance, and the majority were taken aback by the decision.
But it wasn’t just the Independents that were taken off guard by the move.
Martin and Harris weren’t too pleased to be appraised of what a number of the Independents had been saying about voting as they see fit.
Martin was asked on Friday if it was his understanding that the arrangement reached with the Independents meant they could vote on a case-by-case basis.
The Taoiseach said it was not his understanding that they could vote as they please.
Such claims bring in to question what the majority is for this new government. Is it now effectively relying on the votes of 91 TDs, rather than the 95 as set out when the government was first formed?
The speaking rights row is set to become an issue once more when proposals to reform the Dáil rules are put forward again – but the various rounds of the row to date have shown up some cracks in the foundations of this government.
One Independent TD from the group said that in hindsight, they should have done things a lot differently in recent weeks. First of all, the group should not have marched out as one unit onto the Leinster House plinth after the programme for government was announced, they said.
It was words spoken on the plinth which were referenced by the Ceann Comhairle as to why she could not consider them as Independents not in government, with a number of them pointing to the wins they had secured in the programme for government they helped negotiate.
Aside from the speaking rights row, there is now this question over whether some Independents can be counted on when the going gets tough.
The Ceann Comhairle said this week that she had received emails from Lowry, Toole, Heneghan and Healy-Rae asserting that they would be retaining their independence and voting on a case-by-case basis, which puts a question mark over the government’s majority and, as a result, the stability of this new government.
While Martin sees the budget as the next big test, it might only take a motion of confidence in one of his ministers or a crisis in one of the Independent TDs’ back yard, for the wheels to come off.
Just over two weeks ago, Martin said he didn’t think the public were too excited about the issue of speaking rights in the Dáil, dismissing the controversy that was barrelling his way.
Fast forward seventeen days and we’ve had an explosive day in the Dáil, a delay in electing a Taoiseach, multiple meetings held of the fast-tracked Dáil Reform Committee and uncertainty still remains.
All in all, a right old mess for this new government, which has chugged along like a broken down car from the outset, rather than rallying on and getting down to work.
Martin, Harris and Canney are hoping for smoother days ahead.
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