There was a curious moment on the day the new programme for government was finally unveiled, just after the Regional Independent Group (RIG) cut short a press conference on foot of Michael Lowry accusing the media of “ranting” about his history with the Moriarty tribunal.
The press opportunity had ended abruptly after Lowry told reporters he had a mandate from his constituents. “Unfortunately, if it doesn’t please some of you, that’s your problem, not mine.”
On that fiery note, all groups dispersed, Lowry clearly irked. Yet about 10 minutes later, Lowry was seen near the entrance to Leinster House doing what can only be described as a dad dance while beaming at colleagues. It was reminiscent of the moment when former Independent Alliance TD Finian McGrath entered the Dáil chamber in 2016 and smilingly played air guitar, an unofficial signal his group had finally got a deal over the line which would allow Enda Kenny to become taoiseach after 70 agonising days of negotiation.
Hours after the press conference on Wednesday, a member of the RIG was heard pronouncing: “Say what you want about Michael Lowry, but he got this deal over the line.”
Although the bulk of the negotiation work over the last six weeks happened between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, the participation of the RIG was vital in forming a new government.
Rural Independents were clearly within the sights of Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin from an early stage. He metRIG member and Dublin Bay North TD Barry Heneghan on December 3rd, a full week before government formation talks officially began. “It was a warm, friendly meeting,” Finian McGrath, Heneghan’s mentor, said after. In reality, those close to Martin say he was scoping out the personalities and getting an early feel for whether he could work with them.
Talks continued between Independents, Martin and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris in the lead-up to December 10th. That evening, Fine Gael lead negotiator Helen McEntee and Fianna Fáil lead negotiator Jack Chambers put a shape and structure on how the process would play out in the lead-up to Christmas, and it was decided that the least contentious issues would be ironed out first.
At this point, both Labour and the Social Democrats were still in the mix but multiple sources with knowledge of negotiations, who spoke to The Irish Times on condition of anonymity, say that no one really believed that either party had any intention of going into government.
This view was bolstered, one source said, after a report appeared in the Irish Independent which referenced minutes of a Labour central council meeting where leader Ivana Bacik was quoted as saying: “We will meet the big three as a courtesy, but with no intention of going into government.” Bacik later said the detail recorded in that document was inaccurate, but it had an impact regardless.
“Labour’s credibility was completely gone when those internal notes were leaked. They were there in the room for talks, but they seemed almost embarrassed to be there. Then with the Social Democrats, of all the issues that we went through, the redline issues, there were none that couldn’t have been sorted. But they were watching Labour. We felt they had no intention of coming in,” said a senior Government source.
The main talks around devising a programme for government happened between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in the Sycamore Room in Government Buildings. “We were working late hours all week, then Saturdays and Sundays, eating pizza, biscuits, sweets, whatever was going,” said a figure involved. The pizza was sourced from Bambino, the sweets and biscuits brought in after the Christmas break. (On the last night of talks, the negotiators broke out and had a meal together in nearby Japanese restaurant Zakura).
[ Bambino review: Seriously good New York-style pizza by the sliceOpens in new window ]
A source centrally involved in the process describes it like this: “We broke the sectors down chapter by chapter. We tackled the most straightforward issues before Christmas, rural issues, tourism, other non-contentious areas. Ultimately, whichever side had the senior ministry would draft the first paper. So, Fianna Fáil would draft the first paper in agriculture, Fine Gael would draft the first paper on social protection. The ministries that belonged to the Green Party were divided up.”
Subgroups were established, made up of two Fianna Fáil and two Fine Gael negotiators, and these would go through each paper. “Those two-and-two meetings got through a lot of the not-too-contentious points, and probably agreed more compromises than other places. Then there would be places we could not agree, and these would go to a wider plenary meeting. There were a few plenary meetings, roughly once a week. Some parts became very contentious.”
One of the topics that caused major upset was a Fianna Fáil proposal for a dedicated transport police, which Fine Gael opposed on the basis that it didn’t want “a second police force”.
“Fianna Fáil wanted a whole structure around it of its own, and to have it in the Department of Justice. It was completely anathema to Fine Gael. The compromise was a security force along the lines of the airport police,” a source said.
In the end, there would be four meetings on this issue alone. A negotiator said: “It was the issue that drew the most debate. There was a sensitivity there, initially, within Fine Gael about any perceived criticism of justice matters, but that fell away.”
Then, a Fine Gael demand for a new department of infrastructure was also seen as a no-go. The concern in Fianna Fáil was that it would end up as “just another layer of bureaucracy”. It was instead agreed that a new infrastructure unit would be set up within an expanded Department of Public Expenditure.
Another big issue for Fine Gael was the reduction of the VAT rate for food-based hospitality, entertainment and hairdressers.
[ Analysis: How green is the programme for government?Opens in new window ]
“Eventually, it went up to the leaders. Look, it is a lot of money. You make a decision like that and it will have an impact on your bottom line in terms of the other things you can do in the budget. There were compromises. Fine Gael gave a commitment that it would drop the mini-budget idea, with Donald Trump coming in and the uncertainty of where the economy was at,” a figure involved in talks said.
In terms of the VAT issue, Fianna Fáil backed the idea that there had to be movement of some kind. “When it would be done was the bone of contention,” a party source said. There were also “huge reservations” around establishing a stand-alone domestic and home affairs department – a Fianna Fáil idea. “It was going to be very problematic. It would have caused large upheaval,” a key figure said.
Instead, responsibility for immigration matters will now return to the Department of Justice. Beyond those sticking points, the main issue was getting through the sheer volume of normal policy work in time for Martin to be elected taoiseach next week, and Ministers leant heavily on their advisers to have all the relevant documents up to date.
The real meat of the talks to the RIG happened just last weekend. Chambers, McEntee, Darragh O’Brien and Paschal Donohoe spent three days with them going through the programme for government line by line.
“This is what they wanted: input at the end. They wanted to make sure there was nothing hugely problematic in it for them.” The RIG also presented its own document.
“The first draft had figures in it, money for different things and a list of projects. They were told they needed to revise their document, because that was not what a programme for government was supposed to do. In fairness to them, they took out a lot. Otherwise it would have been a list of projects, everywhere and anywhere,” said a Government source. A source in the RIG confirmed that they removed constituency demands from their documents.
However, there appears to be an understanding among the Independent TDs that they will be able to secure new roads and other investments through a review of the National Development Plan, with many extra billions of euro understood to be on the table. There also seems to be a feeling among Independents that local health projects could get a look-in through the next HSE service and capital plans. “Good luck to them. They’re in for some learning curve,” said a Government source, signalling a possible point of contention that may lie ahead.
Sources in the RIG camp present the talks as having been forthright (“We banged the tables”). They say they fought hard for the second super junior role after they learned they would not be given a senior ministry.
Finally, there were the Healy-Raes who held lengthy meetings on Tuesday after properly coming on to the pitch the previous week. A well-placed source said that the brothers and their wider team did have a list of demands but that Harris and Martin were adamant: “no lists”.
“They will have access, though. And they were quite confident going through the document on Tuesday that they could support it.” Another person involved in talks said: “Jack and Helen went through the document with them this week. I think for Michael Healy-Rae, he might have been wondering when this chance would come around again.”
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