2016 Irish government formation

The events surrounding the formation of Ireland's government in 2016 took place during March, April and May of that year, following the general election held on 26 February, which failed to produce an overall majority for any of the country's outgoing political alliances and resulted in a hung parliament.

Consequently, senior figures from both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil embarked on talks with each other and also with independent politicians and representatives of several smaller parties, aiming at forming a viable administration.

This eventually resulted in Ireland's first minority government since 1989: a coalition led by Fine Gael with the support of nine independent politicians, and with a formal agreement that Fianna Fáil would abstain on matters of confidence and supply.

The result left Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil with similar seat numbers and brought an end to the previous government's overall majority.

Enda Kenny, the Taoiseach, immediately conceded on television that the outgoing coalition government of Fine Gael and Labour would be unable to continue.

[3] Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin was reported to have had an 'informal chat' with Catherine Murphy and Róisín Shortall of the Social Democrats in the Dáil canteen.

At Fianna Fáil's parliamentary party meeting, leader Micheál Martin was reported to have said that it would take as long as two months to form a government.

"[6] This contradicted an earlier contribution made by Simon Coveney on Prime Time when he suggested Fine Gael would "certainly be willing to talk about water" in any negotiations with other parties to form a government.

[9] A meeting of Independents—minus Michael Healy-Rae and his brother Danny, who nonetheless maintained phone contact—also took place on 3 March in Kildare Street, with Denis Naughten chairing.

[3] On Friday 4 March, four of the six incoming Independent Alliance TDs met with Taoiseach Kenny to talk and present him with a copy of their Charter for Change.

[11] A statement by Marc MacSharry in which he said Fianna Fáil could enter a coalition with Fine Gael, provided that the role of Taoiseach rotated between the parties, was reported by the Irish Examiner as having been released "in order to test the waters as to such a deal".

[13] Its adjournment coincided with the Saint Patrick's Day festivities and an EU summit in Brussels, while Kenny also cut short his annual visit to Washington owing to the talks.

[19][20] On 30 March the Green Party pulled out of any further talks, claiming it wanted to leave Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil together to form a stable government.

On the night of 6 April, Fine Gael released a statement in which it announced that it had made a formal offer during talks with Martin to form a partnership government with Fianna Fáil and Independent TDs.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams had suggested postponing the vote due to ongoing negotiations, but his motion was rejected.

[31] In order for Independents to enter the government, McGrath said, Fine Gael would need to provide: Barry Cowen of Fianna Fáil responded to the Ag House Agreement's demand for three budgets, saying that the party would look into the policy moving forward.

[32] On the same day, former Tánaiste Mary Harney intervened, claiming the deadlock in government formation would damage "Ireland's reputation" in remarks made during her closing address at the three-day Women in Media conference in Ballybunion.

[38] Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland, issued a warning to the major party leaders on 19 April; he said that if they were unable to reach an agreement, he was "very, very well aware" of Article 13 of the constitution which gives him the "absolute power" to decide whether the Dáil should be dissolved if the Taoiseach tells him a government cannot be formed.

[42][43] The new cabinet arrived at the Áras shortly after 11 pm the same evening, to receive their seals of office from President Higgins in the State Reception room.

[46][47] Announcing his team of junior ministers, Kenny said that his government would place a stronger emphasis on important policy areas, particularly health; but Michael Brennan, political editor of The Sunday Business Post suggested the Taoiseach would face criticism from opposition parties for expanding government and creating "jobs for the boys" in an attempt to stave off discontent from his own backbenchers.

[48] John Downing of the Irish Independent suggested that increasing the number of junior ministers was "[Kenny's] effort to buy himself what political peace he can get in this strange new situation".