Final pieces of the pre-election jigsaw falling into place

It may feel like the world’s slowest slow-bicycle race – and maybe it is – but we are inching closer towards the general election. When it comes, the whirlwind of the campaign will make the (by now fairly tedious) guessing game about when it’s going to come seem like nothing more than a preamble.
The flurry of election pronouncements in the last week – starting with Micheál Martin, then Roderic O’Gorrman, and finally Taoiseach Simon Harris – prompted a bit of backbiting within the Coalition.
However, insiders argue privately that the potential for a true flashpoint has now passed with the common agreement, struck officially last night, that the election will be held this year. Now that the prospect of a divide over going this year or next has passed, the final decision will be about balancing parliamentary logistics and political timing.
There was another step taken on this path last night, with Coalition leaders meeting to drill down into what this Government will do in the remaining fortnight or so before the Dáil is dissolved. Pat Leahy’s report on proceedings is here. Some Bills will fall by the wayside – the Occupied Territories Bill, the Defamation Bill and the Mental Health Bill amongst them – while the emphasis shifts to less meaningful but more pressing legislation that is needed to keep the machinery of the State and Oireachtas ticking over.
The final pieces of the pre-election jigsaw are now falling into place, with both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael confirming their directors of elections.
Currently it looks like the Finance Bill will be passed in the week after midterm, clearing the way for an election to be called in the same week as the US goes to the polls, if Harris is so minded. It will make for quite the political spectacle and both the Opposition and Government will draw breath over the break – because once that passes, it’s time to buckle up.
Elsewhere, Sinn Féin’s travails continue with news that Mary Lou McDonald is to correct the Dáil record over the age of the young person who received inappropriate texts that precipitated the resignation of its Seanad leader Niall Ó Donnghaile last year.
News that a party member has resigned after involvement in an incident that led to a DUP portrait being damaged in Belfast City Hall, days after a portrait of Ó Donnghaile was removed, further adds to the sense of malaise emanating from the party.
Finally, on Monday evening Fianna Fáil TD Jackie Cahill became the third deputy from his party to confirm he will not seek re-election.
On the front page today, we report how the Government has been advised to dramatically overhaul the funding model and structure of the Road Safety Authority.
Fintan O’Toole says that in the wake of scandal, Sinn Féin must “investigate the impulses and assumptions” that led it to where it is.
Heat pumps: yea or nay? That’s the debate in our op-ed pages.
In the wake of the publication of the new online safety code, Laura Slattery argues that regulating social media is nigh-impossible, but with an election nearing, it has to be tried.
Ronan McGreevy is on the highways and byways with the Moynalty Horse Chase as part of our election countdown series.
Our editorial argues that Dublin’s inner city needs political leadership, not glossy ideas.
Cabinet meets in Government Buildings at 9.30am, and Minister for Finance Jack Chambers is to hold a press conference afterwards on the first allocation of money to the Future Ireland Fund.
Harry McGee has the details of what Ministers will discuss here.
Action in the Dáil begins at 2pm with Leaders’ Questions, with the Order of Business shortly after 2.30pm and Taoiseach’s questions at 3.05pm. Government business includes a motion on horse and greyhound racing fund allocations, and Private Members’ business will be given over to a Sinn Féin motion on affordable housing.
Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien takes oral questions in the evening, before topical issues at 10.16pm.
Watch out for the appointment of Mairead Farrell as PAC chair – this looked like a point of conflict last week with the Government shaping to block it, but at this juncture it looks like it will go ahead. A much bigger deal will be Mary Lou McDonald correcting the record of the Dáil, discussed above.
The Seanad gets under way at 1pm with commencement matters; in the afternoon, the Social Welfare Bill will go through all stages, and Private Members’ time in the evening is given over to a Bill addressing the “continuous occupation of the Curragh”, and a Bill from Fianna Fáil Senators making catfishing an offence.
The full schedule is here.
In the committee rooms, extra allocations known as “supplementary estimates” for the Department of Education are being discussed by that sectoral committee with Minister for Education Norma Foley. The Public Accounts Committee is meeting with the OPW – no prizes for guessing what will be on the agenda there. It is also looking at flood-risk management and rapid build housing.
The higher education committee is holding hearings on financial supports for students, and Eamon Ryan is before the environment committee ahead of Cop29. The housing committee is hearing on a constitutional right to housing (something this Government never got around to). The crisis in Sudan is being discussed by the foreign affairs committee.
The full committee schedule is here.
Transport policing has been a constant ask in some political quarters in recent years, and Siptu is unveiling a new proposal for such a model in Liberty Hall at 11.30am.
Campaign group Uplift is launching a ‘People’s Inquiry into Big Tech Harms’ at 4.30pm.
In the evening, Irish Times journalist Lara Marlowe is launching her new book on the Ukraine war – How Good It Is I Have No Fear of Dying. Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik is due to do the honours.
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