Independent Ministers want presence in Merrion St

The Independent Ministers in Cabinet will move this week to gain a permanent "presence" in Government Buildings.

The Independent Alliance will begin the process of recruiting the equivalent of a programme manager. The three Independent Ministers, and three Independent Ministers of State, are also expected to appoint a deputy government press secretary, who will represent their viewpoint at the weekly briefing to political correspondents.

A number of senior sources close to Independent Ministers have said they have felt isolated from the decision-making process in Government. The three Senior Ministers and the junior Minsters all have offices in their Departments at various addresses in Dublin city centre.

They also have offices on the Ministerial corridor of Government Buildings, but they use these only on Dáil sitting days.

Unlike Fine Gael, there are no officials associated with the Independents located in Government Buildings in Merrion Street at present.

A number of senior Fine Gael officials, including Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s chief of staff, Mark Kennelly, and Government Press Secretary Fearghal Purcell, are based there.

Strategic decisions

The Independents feel they need officials based in Merrion Street on a permanent basis to have an input into key strategic decisions.

Their sense is that they have little influence in shaping the weekly Cabinet agenda at present.

“What we need essentially are ‘boots on the ground’,” said one adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“While each Minister has his or her own agenda, we are out of the loop when it comes to the overall business of government.

“We don’t have a single official in Government Buildings representing our interests. We have the sense that it’s all geared over there to facilitate a Fine Gael government.

Priorities

“The Independent Ministers meet before the Cabinet meeting each week to discuss their priorities and what is on the agenda. It’s clear that at least some are not fully aware until that moment of the key Government strategies decided that week.”

One of the six Independent Ministers said they have studied how other minority parties have dealt with the issue before. The Minister said they were impressed by the programme managers introduced by Labour when it went into coalition with Fianna Fail in 1992.

“We do need the equivalent of a programme manager to ensure that all of our priority issues are being taken on board and being progressed.

“We need a person inside Government Buildings fighting our corner and making sure our big issues are being dealt with.”

There have been some communications issues between Fine Gael and the Independent members of Cabinet since the Government was formed in early May.

It came to a head when several Independent Ministers, notably Shane Ross and John Halligan, voted against the Government on a private members’ motion on the eighth amendment.