A wedding, stressing over commas, and pizza for dinner: How a programme for government was reached
Members of the Regional Independents Group, from left, Kevin 'Boxer' Moran, Noel Grealish, Gillian Toole, Michael Lowry, Marian Harkin, Barry Heneghan, and Seán Canney TD during a media briefing on Government formation at Leinster House Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
Standing in count centres across the country seven weeks ago, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael members had the same realisation.
"You knew straight away that it would be us two and someone else," says one TD.
After weeks of talks, a 48,000 word, 162-page programme for government was agreed on Tuesday afternoon, which paves the way for a new government to be formed that will see Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael govern alongside a group of regional independents and Kerry's Healy-Rae brothers.
While Simon Harris and Micheál Martin worked to assure the public and the media a renewal of vows was not a given — at one stage Mr Harris warned not to take his party "for granted", a posture that fooled precisely no one — talks between the two parties began in earnest on December 10, but there were two thoughts in the minds of those involved.
"Firstly, you're thinking of the numbers. We're at 86, so we're one short of a majority, so need someone and the only ones ruled out are Sinn Féin and PBP.
"And, secondly, Christmas. Everyone is wrecked after the election and you need a serious amount of admin and research done to put together a programme and you know there's this natural break in talks coming."
With a Dáil sitting set for December 18, it became clear a taoiseach could not be elected that day, but another key job could be filled.
"I believe it was [Tipperary TD Michael] Lowry who first mentioned the Ceann Comhairle job," one person close to the talks says.
"Maybe he thought he wouldn't get it, but it kind of sorted the numbers and made a deal more likely."
At the time, Labour and the Social Democrats were still "on the pitch", to use a phrase commonly bandied about during the talks, having held talks with the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil leaders.
However, a newspaper report of a summary of comments by Labour leader Ivana Bacik's pessimism about her party's prospects of entering government along with the Ceann Comhairle deal that saw Verona Murphy elected meant nobody believed that Labour was really eyeing up ministerial offices.
"I don't think they were really serious," says one negotiator.
"I think the Soc Dems played it a lot better. They were never likely to go in, but they stayed in longer and held to their red lines."
With the chair of the Dáil carved up, Mr Lowry's group of regional independents were seen as the "only show in town" as talks broke for Christmas.
When the parties went their separate ways for the festive period, much had been agreed, as papers continued to be exchanged.
One source says the fact most of those around the table were either senior or junior ministers — Fianna Fáil's team was led by Finance Minister Jack Chambers, along with Darragh O’Brien, Norma Foley, Mary Butler, James Lawless, and James Browne, and Fine Gael's was headed by Justice Minister Helen McEntee along with Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Minister of State Martin Heydon, John Cummins and John Paul O’Shea — made negotiations "much easier, because you know what getting a piece of legislation or a policy actually done entails".
With Christmas out of the way, one source close to the negotiations said: "It definitely kicked up a notch when everyone returned [after Christmas]."
Another person on the negotiating team said: "We had one intensive week to get the job done, we essentially got it done in a week."
That intensive week meant regardless of personal lives, a deal had to be reached. One of Fianna Fáil’s negotiators, Mary Butler, had been staying in Dublin all week after talks resumed in early January.
But with a family wedding on Saturday in her native Waterford, she took a short break from the long discussions to attend the ceremony and celebrations. Despite this, she was straight back to Dublin and into Government Buildings on Sunday, as the negotiations entered into their final, key hours.
Overall, there was very little disagreement, with many of the policies held by both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael aligning strongly, making the drafting of the document easier than expected for government officials. Indeed, one negotiator said they were also surprised at how "policy-focused" the regional independents, who formally joined talks late into the week, were.
"Some officials were surprised by how aligned they were," a source close to the talks said.
"Some chapters that they anticipated they would be working on for hours and hours and hours didn't take as long as anticipated."
Another source involved in drafting some of the text which went to the key negotiators for discussions joked the biggest debates were often over the placing of commas or sentence structure. Paragraphs would be discussed, changed slightly, but then changed back to almost the same wording as the original.
While decriminalisation of drugs had been an area which both parties differed on during the election, again one source said the wording, which now places an emphasis on a health-led approach, was arrived at fairly quickly.
"It didn't heavily feature at all."
When it came to the rotating Taoiseach role, one source close to the talks said there "was a general consensus that it would be better to change after a budget and not before and so that's how November was arrived at"
While those talks progressed, a surprise fourth leg of the coalition emerged after Micheál Martin initiated discussions with the Healy-Raes when he met Michael before Christmas. Sources stressed the two brothers appeared adamant they would be going into a coalition, fueling speculation both of the Kerry TDs will retire after this term, but discussions with the Healy-Raes went "down to the wire", with Danny's daughter Maura and Michael's son Jackie Jnr involved in recent days.
As the talks ramped up, there were a number of late nights, pizza was the dinner of choice, which was ordered and brought into the negotiators, Dublin's own version of the Washington DC Pizza Index taking hold. Negotiators were fuelled by pizza from the nearby pizza joint Bambino — having recently opened a location on Merrion Square.
One said they had been “eating rubbish each night”, while another said the long hours were “pretty heavy for everyone”.
One source close to the talks noted they were waiting for it to "blow up" at some stage but "it was very smooth, there wasn't any drama".
A draft of the coalition deal was ready on Sunday, but it took two further days of wrangling with Independent TDs and final approvals from party leaders before it was fully good to go.
One source said it did not change much between Sunday and Tuesday, with anyone needing to take it apart with a fine tooth comb to come up with any differences.
With negotiators going through the two manifestos line-by-line each day, the early draft for government became a mishmash of the two documents — before amalgamating key asks from the regional independent’s policy platform and agreeing a deal late on Tuesday with the two Kerry men.
One negotiator says, overall, everyone involved is happy with the document.
"There's a few things that I'm sure everyone would have liked to have, but sure it's all about delivering it now."
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
