Home Featured Micheál Martin elected Irish prime minister after chaotic opposition showdown
Micheál Martin elected Irish prime minister after chaotic opposition showdown

Micheál Martin elected Irish prime minister after chaotic opposition showdown

by host

“I welcome the fact that the government has now finally acknowledged that there has to be a differentiation between government and opposition, and that no TD (lawmaker) can be in government and opposition at the same time,” McDonald told the parliament, describing the government U-turn as “in accordance with logic.”

The seemingly obvious outcome had been resisted by Martin and his main coalition partner, Simon Harris’ fellow center-ground party Fine Gael, on the grounds that their existing coalition retains a parliamentary majority only if they can keep the Regional Independents happy — and that means, in part, giving them guaranteed speaking rights in debates.

But following Wednesday’s opposition rebellion that blocked Martin’s election and prevented formation of a new government, a chastened speaker, Verona Murphy, announced that she wouldn’t recognize the Regional Independents’ right to a speaking slot in the leadership debate.

Instead, a new all-party committee will reform the operating rules of the Dáil Éireann parliament.

It will be tasked with defining a new system for how more than 20 non-party independents — mostly rural and conservative, many with past ties to Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael — will be given their time in the parliamentary spotlight.

The existing rules leave the Regional Independents — an umbrella brand name, not a real party — in something of a no-man’s land. Grasping the Dáil arithmetic in Dublin is key to understanding why this matters for forging and sustaining a government to 2029, as Martin and Harris hope to do.

Source link