The official nomination of Michael Martin as Ireland’s new prime minister was marred by scenes of chaos in the Dáil that led to several suspensions of parliamentary sessions.
The row, which the speaker failed to control, centered on the speaking rights of independent TDs (MPs) who have formally agreed to support a coalition government of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parties led by Martin.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou Macdonald said she “took the biscuit” that independent candidates would sit on the opposition benches, and claimed it was a cynical ploy by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael “to protect their independent friends, the government. to give space to the supporters of the opposition benches and to give them the same speaking rights as the opposition”.
The new speaker, Verona Murphy, initially suspended the deal for 15 minutes but on her return was forced to suspend it again for more than an hour amid uproar on the opposition benches.
Shortly after 1pm, when Martin was due to travel across Dublin to Áras an Uachtaráin, the Irish president’s official residence, where he was to be formally installed by Michael D Higgins, the Dail adjourned for 45 minutes. Adjourned to allow the Chief Whips to find a resolution. to row
An opposition TD, Labour’s Alan Kelly, said he was “embarrassed” by the situation, which he compared to the UK parliament in recent years. “We looked at the Houses of Parliament during Brexit a few years ago and said, what a laugh, what nonsense. Well, are we now going to be the only parliament in the world where government members are actually in opposition?
The row has affected Ireland’s attempt to de-risk its economic model, which relies heavily on the presence of US multinationals including Apple, Microsoft and Pfizer, which have been threatened by Donald Trump’s US jobs and taxes. Determined to send back.
Under the deal between the two main parties, Martin will remain Taoiseach for three years, with the outgoing Prime Minister, Fine Gael leader Simon Harris, taking over in November 2027.
Harris will become deputy prime minister, with a ministerial role for foreign affairs to include international trade, a role already described as “minister to Trump.”
Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae said all TDs must work with the Government’s provision. “We see what’s happening in America. We need decisiveness,” he said.
Martin will name his 15-strong cabinet this evening. Women are expected to receive just four ministerial posts after the elections, resulting in the lowest proportion of female parliamentarians in Western Europe, at 75:25 to men.
Both centre-right parties were just one seat short of the 87 majority needed to form a government on their own.
But its third partner, the Greens, has been virtually wiped out, and Labor and the Social Democrats are deciding against a coalition, with both parties relying on a confidence-and-supply deal with a group of 10 independent candidates.
The most senior woman in government, Helen McEntee, a former justice minister and key minister of state during Brexit negotiations, is expected to get the education portfolio, with Jennifer Carol McNeill, Europe’s outgoing health minister, to get the job. It is expected.
