Mick Clifford: It's a year since the election but this Government has barely started

This day last year, most of the outgoing coalition was voted back into power. But a litany of mostly self-inflicted wobbles has seen it falter in its delivery on key issues — including housing

Clockwise from top left: Outgoing finance minister Paschal Donohoe, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy, Independent TD Michael Lowry, and Tánaiste Simon Harris. Pictures: Sasko Lavrov

Twelve months after the general election, it might well be asked of the Government — where did it all go wrong? On November 29 last year, the people returned the main components of the outgoing administration. It was widely commented on at the time that the electorate looked at the opposition for something different but didn’t find what they were looking for.

Micheál Martin was considered the big winner, a comeback kid who had travelled a sometimes hard road since he had assumed the leadership months ahead of his party’s historic electoral disaster in 2011. “There is a very clear route back to government,” he said at the count centre at Nemo Rangers GAA Club.

Now, facing into the bend for home in his long political career, he was perceived as having been given a vote of confidence. 

The future was his to script. He could fashion a late legacy that might point the way towards a brighter future for society as a whole.

Housing was, and remains, the main issue

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Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald chatting with 'Irish Examiner' acting political editor Paul Hosford at Leinster House in August. The possibility of a united left featured in the wide-ranging interview. See links at foot of this article. File picture: Gareth Chaney

Sinn Féin’s housing policy in the election had received a lukewarm reception. It was innovative, but asked potential homeowners to consider a new model of ownership. No thanks, came the reply.

Besides, it looked as if the Government had got a grip on things. Pre-election projections for house completions suggested a figure of 40,000 for the year. The back, we were assured, had been broken on the housing crisis. Martin, for his part, had the look of a man in a hurry to put shape on that legacy of his.

And then, after a lazy Christmas, January’s bitter cold turned freezing for the old kids on the block.

Michael Lowry farrago 

In what was either a serious lapse of judgement or an example of hubris on safari, Micheál Martin and Simon Harris allowed Michael Lowry to run amok. Bad enough that they negotiated with him as the leader of the independents who would form the third leg of the government stool. But they also said “no problem” to the notion that he and others who didn’t have a job in the new administration could pose as opposition TDs for speaking rights when it suited.

Amid the long delays to government formation and the shouting about Lowry and low standards and tribunals past, Micheál Martin's mojo went missing. Picture: PA

The farrago injected the energy of outrage into a demoralised opposition. Martin’s coronation as Taoiseach was delayed and poor Verona Murphy had a baptism of fire in the Ceann Comhairle’s chair.

But, but, but, what matters any of that if these boys are girls have cracked the housing conundrum? Yes, well, those pre-election figures turned out to be less than factual. Completions stood closer to 30,000 than 40,000. The outrage-ometer on the opposition benches shot towards the roof.

What had looked like a dozy five years for Sinn Féin et al, waiting for the next election, suddenly kicked into hyperactive life.

Housing is now central to governing. You can suppress inflation, create jobs, bring down the cost of living, wag a finger at rogue states, but everything starts and probably ends with housing.

In the wake of the general election we were promised a “step change” in housing completions. Instead, we got chassis.

Housing starts in the third quarter of this year were at their lowest level since covid. 

Fianna Fáill leader Micheál Martin and Ireland South MEP Billy Kelleher at the European election count at Nemo Rangers in Cork in June 2024. Five months later, Mr Martin was being hailed as the comeback kid in that same count centre. Much has happened since. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA 

Ten months into this current Dáil, a sense of mild panic is pervading the government benches. If something radical does not begin to show results in the next year, it may turn out to be too late for their electoral fortunes. It has been an annus horribilis for housing.

Martin is a former teacher so he will be aware how a principal dictates the mood and morale in a school. A noticeable outcome of the shaky and chaotic start to this Dáil did something to the Taoiseach.

Amid the shouting about Lowry and low standards and tribunals past, his mojo went missing. He spent the first half of the year looking to retrieve it but he was apparently looking in all the wrong places.

His choice of James Browne as housing minister raised eyebrows.

Housing minister James Browne at the RTB annual conference last week. Picture: Marc O'Sullivan

The consensus was that the relatively new Wexford TD was put there to do as he was told by the boss. Whether that was so or not, Browne took a while to get going. 

Lately, he appears to be growing into the role, but that of itself will butter no parsnips when it comes to building houses.

Others in government have started off well. Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and Peter Burke, both from the Blueshirt benches, have shown focused competence. Paschal Donohoe was the usual steady Eddie. But probably the star of the tenure so far has been Jim O’Callaghan, the minister for justice.

The exit poll at last year’s election found that only 6% of voters considered immigration a major issue. Since then, CSO data shows that immigration into Ireland has gone down by 16%. Applications for protection, or asylum seekers, have collapsed by close to 40%. 

Yet, for some reason, the issue as a topic has increased hugely in visibility and noise.

Justice minister Jim O'Callaghan speaking to the media at Government Buildings on Wednesday as he brought proposals on stricter migration rules to Cabinet. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA 

O’Callaghan has reacted accordingly. He has steadily tightened up the rules for asylum seekers, attracting criticism for clamping down on perceived rights by the left, and being accused of pandering to the populist right.

Justice Jim has taken to social media to get his message across. Here he is tweeting for the masses last July: “Another deportation flight left Dublin last night and landed safely this morning in Lagos, Nigeria. There were 35 people on board who had received but had not complied with Deportation Orders.”

Suffice to say that Fine Gael and Sinn Féin don’t appear to have any problems with the general direction of traffic because they see it reflecting a general mood. O’Callaghan’s success has been his messaging and demeanour.

Presidential election first sign of left unity

Meanwhile, the presidential election gave the opposition the opportunity to find their mojo. The combined forces of the alleged left got the chance to see how they could work together. 

It went well. 

Visions of an assault on the citadels of Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael hegemony began to take shape. At the last election, the electorate couldn’t see a coherent alternative. Now is the time to put the bones on one.

“When the left unites, we can win,” said People Before Profit’s Paul Murphy in the wake of the presidential election. Sure, but what is the left in Irish politics and what can they win?

There is as much to divide this collection of entities as there is to bring them together. The one area they have spoken on with a single voice is neutrality and foreign affairs. Neutrality was a theme of Catherine Connolly’s election campaign.

Top table: Catherine Connolly during her inauguration as Ireland's 10th president in Dublin Castle. on November 11. Picture: Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA

United left: Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns, then TD Catherine Connolly, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, and Labour TD Marie Sherlock launching Ms Connolly's presidential election campaign in September. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

For the opposition, the efforts to do away with the triple lock signal the first moves towards doing away with neutrality.

That issue has dominated the 34th Dáil and will continue to do so. 

The world outside may be growing dark, getting tooled up, fretting about the rise of authoritarians — but here on this lovely island there appears to be splendid isolation when it comes to these matters.

Paschal Donohoe's final budget 

The final act of major consequence during the 12 months since the general election was the budget. It was to be Paschal Donohoe’s last budget and it had his stamp. 

He spent liberally, although weighted towards business, particularly in the cut in Vat for the hospitality sector.

He brought the curtain down on one-off payments and most people were not best pleased — but he knew what he was doing. If you’re going to be a party pooper at budget time, best that it is early in the electoral cycle.

Government never really got going

Ultimately, the 12 months since the election has been sluggish. 

The government never really got going, most of the fault for which lies in their own actions. There has been no genuine emergency declared on the housing crisis with commensurate measures which might disturb some people. Instead, there has been a sense of drift.

By this time next year, the Government had better be embarked on a specific course or the drift could end badly.