It is a coalition government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and a group of independent TDs, and was formed after negotiations following a general election in December 2024.

Since the formation of the 12th government of Ireland in 1966, all Irish cabinets have been formed with the constitutional maximum of fifteen ministers.

The total sometimes falls below this number for brief periods following the resignation of individual ministers or the withdrawal of a party from a coalition.

[11] The functions of government ministers are frequently transferred between departments during cabinet reshuffles or after elections.

Such defunct ministerial positions include the Ministers for Labour, Posts and Telegraphs, Public Service and Supplies.

[12] Ministers of state attending cabinet in the 35th government are Mary Butler, Hildegarde Naughton, Noel Grealish, and Seán Canney.

Trinity College Dublin law professor Oran Doyle has argued that this practice breaches cabinet confidentiality as required by the Constitution.

[15] In January 2025, opposition TDs Pa Daly and Paul Murphy challenged the attendance of ministers of state at cabinet.

[16][17] A new government is formed by the taoiseach appointed after each general election after receiving the nomination of the Dáil.

This applies only in cases of a motion of no confidence or loss of supply (rejection of a budget), rather than the defeat of the government in other legislation or Dáil votes.

The president retains absolute discretion to refuse to grant a dissolution to a taoiseach who has lost the confidence of the Dáil.

However, in such a scenario, according to the Constitution, "the Taoiseach and the other members of the government shall continue to carry on their duties until their successors shall have been appointed".

This is in contrast to some other parliamentary regimes, where the head of state is the nominal chief executive, though bound by convention to act on the advice of the cabinet.

Prior to independence, the executive of the unilaterally declared Irish Republic was the Ministry of Dáil Éireann.

Commercial state-owned bodies such as RTÉ, ESB Group and An Post are not part of the public service in Ireland.

The civil service is expected to maintain political impartiality in its work, and some parts of it are entirely independent of government decision-making.

Micheál Martin was nominated as Taoiseach by Dáil Éireann on 23 January 2025 and appointed by the president.