As the dust settles on the general election, attention is now firmly focused on the talks surrounding the formation of the next government.
All 174 seats in the new Dáil are filled after Cavan-Monaghan provided the final results late last night (Monday, December 2).
Following counts across the country, Fianna Fáil will have the most seats (48), followed by Sinn Féin (39) and Fine Gael (38).
Labour and the Social Democrats both won 11 seats; Independent Ireland have 4; People Before Profit-Solidarity secured 3; Aontú will hold 2 and Independents and others account for 17 seats. The Green Party retained just one of its 12 seats.
Government
While speculation mounts over the makeup of the new government, Brendan Gleeson, general secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), has outlined the role the department will play.
He told the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Limerick yesterday (Monday, December 2) that the department must remain “apolitical” and just provide the facts.
“Over the next few weeks the department has to be very careful to avoid saying, doing or publishing anything that might be prejudicial to the outcome of government formation talks,” he said.
During the period when political parties are talking to each other, Gleeson explained that the department must remain “completely impartial”.
“We’ll probably be brought in at some point to government talks for advice and again we’ll have to be careful to give the same advice, the same information to every party in that process.
“We’ll avoid commentary on the merits of proposals but we will provide information on issues like costs, whether proposals are legal or constitutionally correct, whether they will impose a significant administrative burden, realistic timeframes for delivering on proposals, that sort of thing,” he explained.
Dáil
The Dáil is due to resume on December 18 and at “some point after that” parties will nominate candidates for Taoiseach.
The successful candidate will then collect their seal of office from President Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin before returning to Leinster House to nominate their Cabinet, including the next minister for agriculture.
Once the positions have been confirmed, Gleeson said that he will call the new minister and invite them into the department.
He noted that his speech for new ministers has been “well-rehearsed”. “I have a world record, I went through five [agriculture] ministers in one year,” he said.
Gleeson said that the initial “chat” between the department and the new minister is “a very human interaction”.
“If it is a minister who hasn’t been in that office before, there’s a lot to learn. A lot to learn about the office, what I do, what the department does and what the relationship between the various people are.
“After that chat we get into really heavy briefing, probably the next day, subject to the minister’s wishes,” he said.
This process which will include meetings with department officials, industry stakeholders and farming organisations can take weeks to complete.
Gleeson said that the agriculture sector is the largest indigenous contributor to the Irish economy, supplying €18 billion in exports and supporting over 170,000 jobs.