Inside Politics: John Halligan introduced to price of power

You know things have changed when the fact that a Minister will vote with the Government is a news story.

Last night, Fiach Kelly was reporting that Waterford TD and newly appointed Minister of State John Halligan had reconsidered his earlier position and was now committed to voting with the Government on a Sinn Féin motion on the abolition of water charges in the Dáil this week.

Halligan had earlier indicated he would probably vote for the Sinn Féin motion, which is supported by many of the (non-governing) Independents and smaller left-wing parties. Some hasty consultations followed the reports, and Halligan later clarified that he would vote in favour of a Government amendment to the motion that encompassed the wording of the programme for government – to which John Halligan is a party.

Oh well, if it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well it were done quickly, I suppose.

So what’s going to happen today? Well, for a start there’ll be no vote; that doesn’t happen until the debate concludes tomorrow evening. And it is not, of course, the end of the world if the Government loses a Private Members’ motion.

But it’s hard to see how the Government could continue to exist if Ministers felt free to vote against it. Collective decision-making and a commitment to stick by those decisions is a cornerstone of our system of government. The Independent TDs explicitly signed up to this when they agreed the Programme for Government:

"Ministers and Junior Ministers will have formal participation in Cabinet and Cabinet Committees which carry obligations of confidentiality and collegiate decision-making, and being collectively bound by the Cabinet decision.

“This means that Cabinet decisions, for example, in the response to Private Members’ Motions and on Government Memoranda, will be collectively decided and bind all office 18 holders.”

This is the price of power. John Halligan and the others knew it when they signed up, and they know it now.

Halligan’s volte-face probably prevented a more embarrassing climbdown later on – or an exit from Government by accident. The way things have gone so far, the latter seems as likely to bring down the Government as anything else.

The Price of Power (II)

Not for the first time, the Government had reason to be grateful for Simon Coveney’s relationship with the Independents, and for his patience.

I don't think Coveney has got the credit he deserves for pulling this unlikely Government together. Mind you, he and the Government Chief Whip Regina Doherty will have their work cut out keeping it together.

One thing that will help maintain loyalty on the Fine Gael benches (for now, anyway) is a forthcoming round of appointments to committee chairs. The House will discuss the proposed reforms from the all-party committee on Dáil reform today and will probably adopt new standing orders this week.

They will not make the new Government’s task any easier of course, as the whole idea is to empower parliament at the expense of the executive.

But as we report today, once the new standing orders are in place, it will clear the way for the establishment of the Oireachtas committees – all 23 of them, all requiring a chairman.

(Actually for the committees to be allocated members, the Seanad will have to meet, which will need the Taoiseach to make his 11 nominations; that’s also expected this week)

The committee chairs will be allocated in the coming days, or at least promises will be made on foot of the allocation. Fine Gael expects about eight of them, under the new (d’Hondt) system.

Along with a few other appointments, it means that around 40 of the 50 Fine Gael TDs will get jobs that pay them in addition to their TD salaries.

Very few people – if any – go into the politics for the money, but I suppose it doesn’t hurt, either.