The 30th Dáil - Bertie’s day but Greens have arrived
That’s a deserved reward both for his performance in government and for batting stoutly in the Taoiseach’s defence throughout the controversy over Mr Ahern’s personal finances.
Otherwise, the latest cabinet was an exercise in musical chairs, in which eight of the 14 outgoing ministers stay as they were.
The biggest winner is Finance Minister Brian Cowen who becomes Tánaiste. And the election of outgoing arts minister John O’Donoghue as Ceann Comhairle means his seat will be rock solid in the new five-seater Kerry constituency.
The biggest loser was environment minister Dick Roche, dropped from the senior team and re-appointed as junior minister for European Affairs.
Before leaving his department, however, Mr Roche performed a classic Fianna Fáil outflanking manoeuvre, shattering Green Party hopes of a smooth ride in the new administration.
The last order signed by Mr Roche was to give the green light for resumption of work on the controversial Tara Valley M3 motorway. This strikes at the heart of the party’s election manifesto.
Strategically, the deal secured by the Greens on climate change, local government reform, and energy has to be weighed against their failure to deliver on such burning issues as the Shannon troop stopover, the Tara Valley M3 motorway, corporate financing of political parties, and hospital co-location.
The arrival of the Greens in government was copper-fastened by the appointment of Mr Gormley as Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government, while Mr Ryan becomes Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.
These are key areas where they hope to have maximum impact, stitching their policies into the Programme for Government.
In a real sense, it was Bertie Ahern’s day, re-elected as taoiseach for the third time in a row, an achievement unparalleled since the days of Eamon de Valera. By any standard, Mr Ahern’s re-election was a stunning performance.
Barring unforeseen events — which can never be ruled out in the murky realm of Irish politics — the comfortable majority of the three-way coalition, comprising Fianna Fáil, the Greens, the PDs and a handful of Independents, means it should run the course.
However, with the Taoiseach intent on resigning when he turns 60, the possibility of infighting within Fianna Fáil cannot be ruled out.
However, the party is unlikely to tear itself apart as in the past when bitter strife erupted between politicians like Jack Lynch, Charlie Haughey, and Albert Reynolds.
Under Mr Ahern’s reign the country’s biggest party has enjoyed a period of relative calm. Nevertheless, tensions are already emerging between the Greens and the PDs. It will be intriguing to see how they relate in the new administration where the parties have been depicted by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny as the two mudguards of the Taoiseach’s bicycle.
In a cutting aside, Mr Kenny reminded the Greens that they will hang “separately or together” with their new partners, the PDs, in a Government that he described as “the ultimate cynical marriage of convenience”.
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