Chris Donnelly: Amid the chaos and farce, did the Dáil witness the birth of a left-wing alternative government last week?

The raucous goings-on in the Dáil last week may have been the result of a desire to expose as farce the endeavourings of a group of Independent TDs to present themselves as both party to the government and members of the opposition at the same time, but the episode could be interesting for what it indicates may happen in the future.

The Sinn Féin leader, Mary Lou McDonald, put it very well when stating that “it was a stroke too far” given the Independent TDs had negotiated the programme for government and facilitated the elevation of colleagues to key ministries.

What was particularly galling to many about the process of compiling this governing coalition of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Regional Independents was the integral part played by the controversial Tipperary politician Michael Lowry.

The Moriarty Tribunal’s withering assessment of Michael Lowry included the conclusion that he was involved in attempting to influence an arrangement that was “profoundly corrupt to a degree that was nothing short of breathtaking”.

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The tribunal had spent years investigating the issue of improper payments to certain political figures.

The finding of the tribunal that it was “beyond doubt” that Lowry as Communications Minister had given information to leading businessman Denis O’Brien, that was “of significant value and assistance to him” in securing the lucrative mobile phone licence in the state, was an extraordinary indictment.

The report concluded that Lowry’s role was “disgraceful and insidious”.

Those words featured in the final report published just 14 years ago.

Yet Lowry’s infamy has not harmed his electoral fortunes in his native Tipperary, where he has successfully been re-elected at each Dáil election on the independent ticket since 1997.

As part of putting the pieces of the jigsaw together to finalise the terms of this coalition, the Tipperary TD was credited with proposing the elevation to Ceann Comhairle of fellow Independent TD Verona Murphy.

Murphy is an inexperienced elected representative, at the beginning of only her second term after being re-elected in November.

Her political career has been cloaked in controversy since first contesting a Dáil by-election in Wexford for Fine Gael in 2019.

During that campaign, she faced a backlash after suggesting that some immigrants coming to Ireland had been “infiltrated by ISIS” and would need to be “de-programmed”.

She ran in the 2020 election as an independent after failing to be selected by Fine Gael.

The issue that triggered the remarkable scenes last week was the attempt by some of the Independent TDs who are now supporting the governing coalition to form a technical group in the Dáil, to earn Opposition speaking rights.

This provoked a righteous backlash from Sinn Féin, Labour and the Social Democrats, who were incensed that a group forming an integral part of the governing coalition would be claiming speaking rights nominally restricted to those forming the Opposition, something that would restrict the time available for the actual Opposition parties to confront the government.

The episode has been a perfect example of cute hoor politics in action, and the public’s discomfort at being exposed to the wheeling and dealing involved in making the coalition sausage has not provided the new government with the best of starts.

There has been some strident criticism of how Micheál Martin and Simon Harris have handled this process, with allegations of hubris abound – almost understandable given the sheer length of time the two leading parties of government have now been in power.

Fine Gael is now serving its fourth consecutive term in government, with Fianna Fáil returning as coalition partners after having been in a supply and demand arrangement with Fine Gael since 2016.

The new cabinet also faced immediate criticism for the dearth of female representation. Only three of the 15 cabinet ministers are women. Ireland stands amongst a small minority of western European countries yet to have a woman serve as leader.

We are only at the beginning of this governing term. There are formidable challenges facing the coalition, not least regarding housing which, with the revelation last week that just 30,000 new homes were completed in 2024, is set to remain firmly at the top of the political agenda.

One of the most interesting aspects of the dramatic events that unfolded in the Dáil and in the media discussions that followed was the effective manner with which the opposition of Sinn Féin, Labour and the Social Democrats worked together.

We are almost certainly many years from the next Dáil election, but the unity of purpose on display from the left-leaning Opposition parties provided an early, and still tentative, indication that what has never been achieved in the history of the state – the coming together of a viable alternative left-wing coalition government – may yet prove to be one of the defining features of the 34th Dáil.

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