Irish General Election (February 8th 2020)

[Astatine]

The position of Taoiseach will rotate though (Israeli model), in 2022 Varadkar is set to become Prime Minister again.

[brucejoel99]

The position of Taoiseach will rotate though (Israeli model), in 2022 Varadkar is set to become Prime Minister again.

If they're gonna have a rotation agreement, then wouldn't it make the most sense (especially considering the ongoing crisis) to keep Varadkar for the first part of it & then switch to Martin in '22? For continuity's sake, if nothing else?

[zoz]

Micheál Martin is set to be Taoiseach in a coalition of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party.

Gross

[Lord Halifax]

The position of Taoiseach will rotate though (Israeli model), in 2022 Varadkar is set to become Prime Minister again.

If they're gonna have a rotation agreement, then wouldn't it make the most sense (especially considering the ongoing crisis) to keep Varadkar for the first part of it & then switch to Martin in '22? For continuity's sake, if nothing else?

Martin leads the biggest party, he desperately wants to be Taoiseach, and even if he didn't he would not be able to sell the deal to his membership if Varadkar could just continue.

[CumbrianLefty]

Having committed electoral suicide once being a junior coalition partner, the Irish Greens are happy to do it *again*? Impressive commitment to the greater good, if nothing else

[Cassius]

Having committed electoral suicide once being a junior coalition partner, the Irish Greens are happy to do it *again*? Impressive commitment to the greater good, if nothing else

I think they’ve managed to wring some pretty decent concessions from the big two (higher carbon tax, banning fracking and offshore gas exploration, more funding for public transport et al)  so I imagine that they’ll be hoping to get the credit for that whilst leaving FF and FG to be crucified by the electorate for everything else. Of course you could argue that their last stint in government stands as a rebuttal to that strategy, but arguably those were fairly unique circumstances.

[Rover]

The position of Taoiseach will rotate though (Israeli model), in 2022 Varadkar is set to become Prime Minister again.

Many people doubt Bibi would keep his word, I read on the Haaretz newspaper there will probably be another election in 2 years time before bibi agrees to rotate with Gantz.

what does the cabinet look like?

[Green Line]

The position of Taoiseach will rotate though (Israeli model), in 2022 Varadkar is set to become Prime Minister again.

what does the cabinet look like?

Unknown.  Hopefully fb Helen McEntee gets a prime slot though.

[Kingpoleon]

The position of Taoiseach will rotate though (Israeli model), in 2022 Varadkar is set to become Prime Minister again.

Many people doubt Bibi would keep his word, I read on the Haaretz newspaper there will probably be another election in 2 years time before bibi agrees to rotate with Gantz.

what does the cabinet look like?

Harris and Varadkar are the only two I can see definitely staying on. They won’t want to replace a fairly competent Health Minister, and Varadkar will want to stay on in an important position. He might actually prefer Foreign Affairs if it’s his international profile he wants to keep up.

[ObserverIE]

The position of Taoiseach will rotate though (Israeli model), in 2022 Varadkar is set to become Prime Minister again.

Many people doubt Bibi would keep his word, I read on the Haaretz newspaper there will probably be another election in 2 years time before bibi agrees to rotate with Gantz.

what does the cabinet look like?

Harris and Varadkar are the only two I can see definitely staying on. They won’t want to replace a fairly competent Health Minister, and Varadkar will want to stay on in an important position. He might actually prefer Foreign Affairs if it’s his international profile he wants to keep up.

Social media-obsessed chancer would be a more accurate description, but nevertheless he, along with Donohoe (finance) and Coveney (foreign affairs) will stay on - getting rid of him would be to admit that the performance portrayed to a domestic audience as world-beating was actually slightly better than mediocre (1,700 dead looks much better in comparison with the clownshow next door than it does when compared with other countries in the same situation).

The other likely FG ministers will be Humphreys (currently business, a woman and a Border Protestant) and McEntee.

[ObserverIE]

Having committed electoral suicide once being a junior coalition partner, the Irish Greens are happy to do it *again*? Impressive commitment to the greater good, if nothing else

Essentially, it's a suicide pact for two out of three "partners".

[DC Al Fine]

The position of Taoiseach will rotate though (Israeli model), in 2022 Varadkar is set to become Prime Minister again.

Many people doubt Bibi would keep his word, I read on the Haaretz newspaper there will probably be another election in 2 years time before bibi agrees to rotate with Gantz.

what does the cabinet look like?

Harris and Varadkar are the only two I can see definitely staying on. They won’t want to replace a fairly competent Health Minister, and Varadkar will want to stay on in an important position. He might actually prefer Foreign Affairs if it’s his international profile he wants to keep up.

Social media-obsessed chancer would be a more accurate description, but nevertheless he, along with Donohoe (finance) and Coveney (foreign affairs) will stay on - getting rid of him would be to admit that the performance portrayed to a domestic audience as world-beating was actually slightly better than mediocre (1,700 dead looks much better in comparison with the clownshow next door than it does when compared with other countries in the same situation).

The other likely FG ministers will be Humphreys (currently business, a woman and a Border Protestant) and McEntee.

Ugh that sounds waayyy too much like my country

[ObserverIE]

The position of Taoiseach will rotate though (Israeli model), in 2022 Varadkar is set to become Prime Minister again.

Many people doubt Bibi would keep his word, I read on the Haaretz newspaper there will probably be another election in 2 years time before bibi agrees to rotate with Gantz.

what does the cabinet look like?

Harris and Varadkar are the only two I can see definitely staying on. They won’t want to replace a fairly competent Health Minister, and Varadkar will want to stay on in an important position. He might actually prefer Foreign Affairs if it’s his international profile he wants to keep up.

Social media-obsessed chancer would be a more accurate description, but nevertheless he, along with Donohoe (finance) and Coveney (foreign affairs) will stay on - getting rid of him would be to admit that the performance portrayed to a domestic audience as world-beating was actually slightly better than mediocre (1,700 dead looks much better in comparison with the clownshow next door than it does when compared with other countries in the same situation).

The other likely FG ministers will be Humphreys (currently business, a woman and a Border Protestant) and McEntee.

Ugh that sounds waayyy too much like my country

*points at the photograph in my signature*

[Gary J]

Fianna Gail, Fine Gael and the Green Party memberships have all approved a coalition government. The Dail will meet tomorrow to approve the agreement.

https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2020/0625/1149711-programme-for-government/

[America Needs R'hllor]

Ehh... If I was Fine Gael I'd just go to another election after the pandemic. They can win and send Fianna Fail packing, idk why they're doing this.

[brucejoel99]

I presume Varadkar will be given Foreign Affairs in addition to being Tánaiste, & imagine Martin will also do what Kenny & Varadkar did by keeping Defence for himself?

[ObserverIE]

Ehh... If I was Fine Gael I'd just go to another election after the pandemic. They can win and send Fianna Fail packing, idk why they're doing this.

They would have needed a plausible excuse, i.e. the negotiations collapsing or one of the prospective victimspartners voting No. Otherwise, there are degrees of opportunism that not even Irish newspaper pundits can ignore.

As things stand, Varadkar gets to keep his halo as The Hero Who Saved Us From The Rona (narrator: he didn't) and take over in the latter half of the term when things may be improving economically while FF take the hit in the interim.

[ObserverIE]

I presume Varadkar will be given Foreign Affairs in addition to being Tánaiste, & imagine Martin will also do what Kenny & Varadkar did by keeping Defence for himself?

The expectation is that Coveney will be left in charge of Foreign Affairs while Varadkar takes over a beefed-up Department of Jobs. Foreign travel means that you're not able to keep tabs on what's happening domestically.

[Continential]

How could Sein Fein have a government?

[Oryxslayer]

How could Sein Fein have a government?

They can't, at least not with the numbers returned months ago. There was talk of an everyone-but-FF+FG right at the start but that predictably fell apart. The closest they could have gotten was FF+SF but that was opposed by FF. So, the only way SF could get a govt is through new elections which might be why FG are not eager for an election, to answer Parrotguy's question.

[Gary J]

New Irish cabinet announced.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0627/1149987-politics-tracker/

[brucejoel99]

New Irish cabinet announced.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0627/1149987-politics-tracker/

At least Barry Cowen ended up as Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine rather than Public Expenditure & Reform (which is what he was serving as FF's spokesman for). Yes, that family may have more experience reforming the public finances than anybody else in Ireland, but only in much the same way that wrecking balls have experience with architecture.

[Green Line]

I think FG got the better posts, and is well positioned to take the "lead" so to speak in two years and use that to their advantage going into the next election.  Micheal must have been truly desperate to get into office.  FF will regret this 2 years from now, there's surely a lot of anger at how this shook out.

On the bright side, happy to see Helen stay in Govt.