LEINSTER HOUSE:FRENETIC ACTIVITY is under way in Leinster House to accommodate what is expected to be a government with the biggest ever majority when the 31st Dáil sits for the first time next Wednesday.
The period of three weeks normally taken to organise seating arrangements in the Dáil chamber, office accommodation and other matters has been truncated to about 10 days.
The government side of the House is expected to extend to where the Labour Party sat in the last Dáil and Labour deputies may find themselves back in the same seats. If, as expected, a number of Labour TDs are appointed to the cabinet, they will be entitled to sit on the front bench alongside their Fine Gael colleagues, however.
Fianna Fáil, as the largest Opposition party, is expected to occupy some of the benches reserved for Fine Gael TDs in the last Dáil, where they will be joined by Sinn Féin deputies. Positioning the large number of Independents with a diverse range of ideological views may prove something of a challenge for the authorities.
Some former TDs who lost their seats at the weekend were beginning the process of clearing out their Dáil offices yesterday. The party whips will meet today to determine which offices and party rooms should be allocated to which parties, with due regard to the size of the political groupings.
A number of newly elected deputies yesterday collected folders detailing their salaries and allowances. “All reduced of course,” said a Leinster House source.
Meanwhile, speculation about the identity of the new ceann comhairle was rife yesterday, with Fine Gael TD Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire) and his party colleague Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West) mentioned as possibilities.
The new ceann comhairle is likely to be a long-serving, widely respected member who intends to run again, probably from a four- or five-seat constituency, with good Irish-language skills. His or her identity will very much depend on the outcome of coalition negotiations.
The departure of Fianna Fáil and the Greens from office will mean that the contracts of employment for special ministerial advisers have come to an immediate end in almost all cases.
