The programme for government that will dictate the government’s direction and policies will be published this Wednesday afternoon.
Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Regional Independents and the Healy-Rae brothers will form the government, with Micheál Martin becoming Taoiseach when the Dáil meets for the first time after Christmas next Wednesday.
Last night, the full government programme was kept under lock and key, with several senior negotiators telling the Irish Mirror that it was important that TDs in their parties saw the document themselves rather than reading it in the newspapers. However, we do know some details of what we can expect.
The biggest news from the government formation talks was that the Regional Independent Group will have two Super Junior Ministers in Cabinet. A Super Junior Minister is a junior minister who attends cabinet meetings but does not have a vote of responsibility for a full department.
Sean Canney and Noel Grealish will be the group’s Super Juniors, while Marian Harkin and Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran will be junior ministers.
Michael and Danny Healy-Rae were in meetings in Government Buildings until late on Tuesday evening, which led to doubts that they would form part of the next government. They had been seeking a Super Junior position but were told on Tuesday afternoon that they would not be getting one.
It is now understood that they will get a Junior Minister position in return for supporting the government. It brings the government majority to 95, nine more than is needed to form a government.
Speaking at Leinster House on Wednesday morning, Michael Healy-Rae confirmed that he will be a junior minister. He did not yet know what department.
He said that he and his brother had raised issues around disability and others with the government.
Mr Healy-Rae would not be drawn on whether or not the brothers had struck a deal for Kerry, but said he was confident that issues they had raised would be addressed.
He said: “We will be helping the people of Kerry within government. Yes it is true to say we brought issues to the table. Why do you think we were so long at it? It wasn’t talking about football or hurling.
“We were diligently raising all of the issues. There are so many to go from here to Kerry to talk about them.
“The answer is of course they are talking on board the problems, the issues and the difficult that we have.”
He added: “”Everybody knows that having a Healy Rae in government, it is not as if we’re going to forget about the problems.
“Between here and November of 2029, the people of Kerry will see what I would call the stamp of the Healy-Raes in the shape of Kerry in the future. We have a lot of work to do.”
While there is speculation about who may become ministers and what roles they will hold, the only ones we know for certain is that Micheál Martin will become Taoiseach and Simon Harris will become Tánaiste. It is expected that Fianna Fáil will have eight ministers, while Fine Gael will have seven. It is expected that the programme for government will commit to delivering five budgets, with an election held in November 2029.
Mr Martin may be Taoiseach longer than Mr Harris, with a Taoiseach rotation expected around September 2027. The Irish Mirror understands that Mr Harris will become Minister of Foreign Affairs. It is also understood that trade will move into the Department.
There will be a focus on infrastructure within the Department of Public Expenditure, but there will not be a standalone department, as Fine Gael has called for. Similarly, Fianna Fáil is not getting a standalone Department for Domestic Affairs, but there will be a section within the Department of Justice.
In what is being heralded as a win for Fine Gael, there will be a change to the VAT rate for hospitality and food services. There were clashes between it and Fianna Fáil when Fine Gael suggested lowering the rate to 9 per cent. While sources say there won’t be an explicit commitment to lowering the VAT rate in the programme for the government, it is understood there is agreement to lower it in the next budget.
On RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Fine Gael negotiator Jennifer Carroll MacNeill indicated that there will be a commitment to abolish the carer’s means test over the course of a five-year term in government. She caveated this by saying this could depend on the financial situation.
On the same programme, Fianna Fáíl minister James Lawless also appeared to confirm that the 2:1 spending on roads, as insisted upon in the last programme for government by the Greens, will not be maintained. He also appeared to confirm a new transport police.
The Irish Mirror also understands there will be a commitment in the programme for government to “explore” the idea of the savings account that was touted for newborns by Fine Gael during the election campaign.
The programme for government is understood to be largely made up of the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil manifestos and has been written following five weeks of intensive negotiations. The document will be presented to the two parties this afternoon and the process will then get underway to ratify it.
Fianna Fáil will hold a special Ard Fheis in Dublin on Sunday, while Fine Gael will hold five regional meetings from Friday onwards. The Fine Gael TDs, Senators and MEPs will vote on it on Monday.
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