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DUBLIN — Ireland is on course to form a new government following a coalition deal agreed Tuesday night among the country’s two dominant centrist parties and a small group of conservative rural independents.
The agreement will require separate ratification this weekend by members of Micheál Martin’s Fianna Fáil and Simon Harris’ Fine Gael.
With approval by both parties nearly certain, this would set the scene for Martin to be elected Taoiseach — “chief” of the government — when parliament reconvenes on Wednesday, Jan. 22. Martin last held the role from 2020 to 2022.
Under the terms of the power-sharing agreement, reached after five weeks of closed-door negotiations, Harris — the current caretaker Taoiseach — would become deputy prime minister and would likely succeed Martin as foreign minister.
Harris would regain the premiership again in late 2027, replicating a novel arrangement from 2020 that saw the Taoiseach position “rotate” between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
Crucial to the new deal is the commitment of seven independent conservative politicians, who have agreed to support a five-year program of government in exchange for seats at the Cabinet table.
Their inclusion means the new government will have a stable majority in the 174-seat Dáil Éireann, the key lower house of parliament. Martin’s Fianna Fáil won 48 seats on top of 38 for Harris’ Fine Gael in the Nov. 29 election, only two short of a majority. With the seven independents the government will have 93 votes.
The independents will gain two “super junior” ministerial posts, which will allow them to attend Cabinet meetings but not lead a government department.
The independents have already received one of the other top positions, speaker of the Dáil, following last month’s election of Verona Murphy as the first woman in the neutral role.
Their inclusion in the next coalition, in place of the Greens, means the government will likely shift from center left to center right in some policy areas, particularly on climate action. The Greens, the third part of the outgoing coalition, were routed in the election, losing 11 of their 12 seats.
