With the programme for the next government confirmed, it is now apparent that Ireland is set to have yet another five years of a Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael coalition. What’s different this time around is that rather than forming a coalition with a third, smaller party, the establishment parties instead chose to recruit the help of the “Regional Independent” group of independent TDs – one of whom, Verona Murphy, has since been elected as the Ceann Comhairle. What should have been a relatively straightforward approach to forming a new government has since spiralled into a legal dilemma for the incoming Dáil, which shows the cracks forming within the Irish democratic system. However, this is far from the only threat which faces Ireland’s democracy, as foreign powers continue to influence the policies and bills which are enacted by the Irish government.
Murphy’s Controversial Journey to Ceann Comhairle:
Murphy has been seen as a rather controversial figure within Irish politics for a number of years. In the 2020 general election, she was removed from the Fine Gael ticket following her unsuccessful bid for the 2019 Wexford by-election, and her outlandish comments regarding the migrant population of Ireland, which she stated that the Islamic State (also known as Isis) made up a “big part” of, and that some asylum seekers needed to be “reprogrammed”. Nonetheless, Murphy went on to run in the election as an independent candidate, and was elected to the Dáil. More controversies arose when the former health minister Stephen Donnelly accused Murphy of being anti-vax during a debate on extending Covid 19 restrictions in the Dáil in 2021. Murphy has strenuously denied this accusation, stating that she herself had been vaccinated for Covid, but supported the right to choose vaccination or not.
Despite these previous controversies, Murphy was elected as the Ceann Comhairle for the incoming Dáil, making her the first woman in the history of the state to hold such a position. Notably however, Murphy also does not speak Irish, which has added to the controversy of her election to the role.
Speaking Rights:
Murphy’s controversies didn’t end with her election. After agreeing to the programme for government, members of the “Regional Independent” group requested the right to speak from the opposition benches. Their reasoning behind this move was that certain TDs in the group would not have a ministerial role within the incoming government. In practice, what this would mean is that TDs who negotiated the programme for government (and had they been given the chance, would have willingly taken part in the incoming government) would take up a portion of the allocated opposition speaking time. In response to this, Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy – who is also a former member of the Regional Independent group – approved their request on a “temporary” basis. Murphy, however, failed to define exactly what “temporary” means.
This move has led to a frenzy within the opposition, as different parties seek legal advice regarding whether or not such an unprecedented move can be deemed legal. However, while Murphy’s election to the role of Ceann Comhairle, and the subsequent actions she has already undertaken in this role have been deemed rather controversial, it is not the only issue plaguing the incoming Dáil.
Foreign Influences on Irish politics:
One of the main talking points of the recent general election was that the Occupied Territories Bill (OTB), which was originally proposed in 2018, would finally be enacted by the incoming government. The OTB would ensure that goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements would be banned from being sold in Ireland, and the bill saw a revival of interest in the days following the beginning of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza after the October 7th attacks. The idea to revive the bill swiftly gathered steam, particularly in the aftermath of the announcement of the permanent closure of the Israeli embassy in Ireland at the end of last year, with the enactment of the bill being one of the major election promises promoted by both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. However, the recent announcement by incoming Taoiseach Micheál Martin that the OTB would be scrapped and replaced quashed any hopes that the bill would be passed by the incoming government.
This is an especially concerning situation, given that The Ditch reported that the former US ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin wrote to several government departments, including Micheál Martin’s office and the office of the Taoiseach, to warn of “consequences” should the bill be passed. Ninety minutes after this email was received by Martin’s office, a statement was issued stating that the OTB would instead undergo a “review”, as opposed to being enacted. The email reportedly stated that the ambassador was “closely following developments related to the Occupied Territories Bill” , as were her “colleagues in Washington”, and that Cronin was worried that if the bill was enacted in its current state, that “the bill would cause economic uncertainty for almost 1,000 US companies operating in Ireland because the US Export Administration Act prohibits companies from complying with an ‘unsanctioned foreign boycott.'”. The ambassador continued, by stating “I encourage your teams to conduct thorough due diligence on the bill’s potential impact to avoid any unforeseen consequences that could detract what you hope to achieve with this legislation”. This example paints a chilling picture of how much influence the US has over Irish politics, given the large number of American firms based in the Republic of Ireland. Martin’s consistent refusal to support the enactment of the OTB, alongside his statement endorsing the controversial definition of “anti-semititsm”, closely associated with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), represents a concerning trend of how much foreign influence is present in influencing Irish politics. The IHRA has been heavily criticised for its inclusion of examples of criticism of Israel as being an anti-semetic act, and in 2023, more than 100 organisations (including Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch) wrote to the United Nations to urge against the adoption of this definition of anti semitism.
Ireland is seen to have one of the fairest forms of voting in the world, and in the past, Ireland’s electoral system has largely survived the rise of fascism and erosion of democracy across Europe. However, at a time when extreme right wing views are beginning to win elections for extremist parties across the continent, any threat to the speaking rights of opposition politicians in a national parliament should be treated with the highest level of alarm. While Murphy’s controversial election to the role of Ceann Comhairle has led to the crisis on the opposition benches of Dáil Éireann, the influences of superpower countries on Irish politics and politicians must be closely examined. This is particularly true regarding American influences on Irish politics, given the second presidency of Donald Trump, and the extremist views and policies that he supports.
What we are seeing across the globe is a slow erosion of democracy, and the rise of extremist right views. While for now we are only discussing the amount of speaking time allocated to the opposition parties in the Dáil, it is always a possibility that this could be the beginning of a more concerning trend. Furthermore, the establishment parties’ desperate grasp for power has enabled such unprecedented (and arguably undemocratic) policies to be enacted, and the silence of both Martin and Harris, as the heads of the two major government parties, on this issue is extremely concerning. In the previous century, Ireland had largely avoided the wave of fascism that spread across Europe, and its democracy remained intact, however there’s no guarantee that this time around will be the same. After all, if it can happen anywhere, it can most certainly happen here too.
