Tensions mount over two vacant seats in Seanad
‘It’s starting to get spicy’
TWO recently vacated Seanad seats have caused tensions between the Greens and their Coalition partners over who will fill them.
Already, ambitious candidates in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are vying for the seats formerly held by Sinn Féin’s Niall Ó Donnghaile and David Norris, despite current rules stipulating a by-election must be held within six months
Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have already secured a twoseat Seanad bonus after two by-elections were held in 2021 for vacancies after the resignations of Michael D’Arcy and Sinn Féin’s Elisha McCallion.
Despite strong support for the addition of Ulster Unionist Ian Marshall to the Seanad after the Coalition in 2020 ended the tradition of a North of Ireland Seanad seat, a deal between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael saw Fine Gael’s Maria Byrne and Fianna Fáil’s Gerry Horkan being elected.
This was further facilitated when, in March 2021, the Green Party executive council, as well as the majority of their TDs and Senators, agreed not to run candidates, but to leave each of the larger two parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, to run one candidate each, in line with an informal agreement between the three Government parties.
The Greens took the deal so seriously that, when Hazel Chu ran as an Independent candidate, Eamon Ryan surprisingly indicated he would not vote for her and said that Ms Chu’s role as party chairwoman might be imperilled.
However, as the Greens fight for survival, they are believed to be expecting ‘a clean run’ for the Ó Donnghaile seat in return for agreeing to stand aside in 2021. One Green source noted: ‘Fair is fair, we stood aside in 2021 and gave FF and FG a free run. It’s our turn now.’
However, their bigger Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael partners have warned ‘the Greens have no chance’.
One Fine Gael source noted: ‘If the Greens think it’s their turn, they are living in Greeny cloud cuckoo land.
‘They need to realise they have no chance.
‘Getting an extra Seanad seat is a real bonus for a candidate in an election year. The big boys will sort that out,’ the source added.
A Fianna Fáil source also warned: ‘If the Greens are thinking it’s their turn, they can forget it.
‘The grown-up parties are not going to turn down the chance to give additional coverage to two Senators, just before the election.’
One Seanad grandee noted: ‘There is quite a bit of backstairs hissing. It is starting to get spicy.
‘The Greens believe it is their turn to be the beneficiaries of the Coalition majority; the ladies are citing gender balance; the North will be looking for Ian Marshall to be returned; while Independent Senators believe the morally right thing to do would be to replace Mr Norris with another Independent.’
In an indication of the increasingly delicate relations across the Coalition, one Government apparatchik warned: ‘The only thing that’s certain amongst that lot is that those Greens are getting nothing. This is a big boy’s carve-up.’