The 33rd Dáil convenes today: What can we expect?

The 33rd Dáil will convene at noon on Thursday, with all newly elected TDs taking their seats for the first time since the general election on February 8th.

It will bring what is highly likely to be an unsuccessful vote by the Dáil for a new taoiseach.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar, and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan are all expected to put their names forward.

None will come close to the required 80 Dáil votes to succeed, with tentative negotiations on forming a new government ongoing. At that point, Mr Varadkar will travel to Áras an Uachtaráin and tender his resignation to the President, having lost the confidence of the House. Mr Varadkar would then continue as caretaker Taoiseach, and his Ministers – including those who have lost their Dáil seats – would continue as caretaker Ministers until a new government takes office.

33rd Dáil to meet for first time since election

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Ms McDonald may attract the support of some left-wing TDs and left-leaning Independents as she continues with her efforts to form a Sinn Féin-led minority government.

Mr Varadkar this week said he wanted Fine Gael to go into opposition but did not rule out an alliance with Fianna Fáil.

Green Party figures, however, cautioned against being taken for granted and said the party rank and file could reject a coalition that sees it as the only political party with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

The Dáil will earlier elect a ceann comhairle by secret ballot. There are two candidates for the post: Kildare South Fianna Fáil TD Seán Ó Fearghaíl, who held the position in the last Dáil, and Independent Roscommon-Galway TD Denis Naughten.

The pay and conditions for the position are on a par with a Cabinet minister. The total salary is €175,699 and the holder of the office also has the service of a full-time driver funded by the State. The ceann comhairle is also automatically returned to the next Dáil.

If Mr Ó Fearghaíl is elected, it will reduce Fianna Fáil’s number of TDs from 38 to 37. This would put Mr Martin’s party level with Sinn Féin in Dáil numbers. Fine Gael has 35 seats.

Gender and age

The number of TDs in the remaining smaller parties are as follows: Greens (12), Labour (6) Social Democrats(6), Solidarity People Before Profit (5), Aontu (1) Independents 4 Change (1), Independents (19).

The ceann comhairle will make some remarks after being elected, followed by the taoiseach and party leaders. After that, the Dáil will hear nominations for the position of taoiseach and this is expected to begin at about 5pm.Votes on the four expected nominees – Micheál Martin, Fianna Fáil; Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Féin; Leo Varadkar, Fine Gael; and Eamon Ryan, Green Party – will then take place.

The Dáil’s gender balance is still well below an even split. Little has changed in gender representation since the 2016 election after which 35 or 22.3 per cent of TDs were women. There had been a 40 per cent increase in women being elected between the 2011 and 2016 elections.

While every constituency nominated a female candidate – a first in Irish electoral history – 10 of the 39 constituencies sent only men to the Dáil.

The Social Democrats have the most women as a share of their TDs. Four of the party’s six TDs – or 66.6 per cent – are women including co-leaders Catherine Murphy and Róisín Shortall.

Labour have the worst representation in terms of gender balance: all six of the party’s TDs are men. The party lost high-profile female politicians Joan Burton and Jan O’Sullivan in the election.

After the Social Democrats, Sinn Féin are second best in terms of gender balance. Some 35 per cent, or 13, of the party’s new deputies are women out of its 37-strong TD count.

Just 2 per cent of TDs in the 33rd Dail are in their 20s (3TDs) , they are Claire Kerrane (SF) Roscommon-Galway, FF’s Jack Chambers, (Dublin WesT) who is 29, and Cork East’s James O’Connor, who, at 22, is the baby of the Dáil.

Some 38 per cent of the Dáil’s new deputies – 61 in total – are in the 40s, the age decade with the largest representation in the Dáil. Fifty-something deputies are second with 29 per cent, or 47 TDs, followed by the 25 thirty-somethings who make up 16 per cent of the new parliament.

There are 22 TDs, or 14 per cent, in their 60s.

The average ages across almost all of the parties are in their 40s – Fianna Fáil (48), Sinn Féin (47), Fine Gael (48), Green Party (45), Labour (46) and the Social Democrats (46.5) Only Solidarity-People Before Profit and the Independents have average ages for their TDs in their 50s.

The oldest TDs are both Fine Gael deputies: Kildare North’s Bernard Durkan (74) and Louth’s Fergus O’Dowd (71), the only septuagenarians in the 33rd Dáil.