WITH A NEW Taoiseach, local and European elections and a general election, it’s fair to say that 2024 has been a bumper political year in Ireland – and it’s not over yet.
As the year draws to a close, the formation of a new government has been put on hold until January, though we’re now fairly certain that the 34th Dáil will most likely be led by a Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-Independent administration.
Given everything that happened, we thought we would reflect on the biggest moments of the political year through twelve photos.
With so much having happened since, you would almost forget that two referendums took place at the beginning of the year.
In March, the country was asked to vote in the Family and Care referendums to change two constitutional amendments, one of which related to the definition of family and the other of which related to the provision of care in the home.
As indicated by the photograph, both referendums were comprehensively rejected by the electorate. In fact, the Care Amendment garnered the highest percentage of No votes of any referendum in the history of the state.
Less than two weeks after the referendums were defeated, Leo Varadkar announced that he would resign as Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader. It came as a shock to the country, and to his colleagues.
In an emotional statement outside Government Buildings on 20 March, Varadkar said that the reasons for his decision to step down were “both personal and political, but mainly political”.
“After seven years in office, I am no longer the best person for that job,” he said.
While he said at the time that he would remain a TD for his Dublin West constituency, Varadkar announced in July that he would not contest the next general election. He formally offered his resignation to President Michael D Higgins on 8 April.
Following Varadkar’s resignation, Fine Gael braced itself for a leadership contest – but in the end, only one TD put his name forward for the job.
Simon Harris was formally announced as the party’s new leader on 24 March, with the Wicklow TD becoming the country’s youngest ever leader on 9 April after he was elected Taoiseach.
“Today I accept this new role in a spirit of humility, ready for the challenge, and full of energy and determination about what can be achieved,” he said.
Amidst the ongoing war in Gaza, this year saw Ireland formally recognise the State of Palestine on 29 May in a coordinated announcement with Spain and Norway, which saw the Palestinian flag flying outside Government Buildings alongside the tricolour, the flag of Europe and the Ukrainian flag.
On the day of the announcement, Taoiseach Simon Harris told the Dáil: “Today is a historic day but it takes place in the most sombre of circumstances as we witness the humanitarian catastrophe unfold in Gaza and Rafah.
He said there is an onus on “every country” and on the EU to use “every lever at its disposal to bring about a ceasefire”.
After the referendums in March, there was more counting to be done three months later in the local and European elections – and with 949 local council seats up for grabs, as well as 14 MEP positions, count staff had a bit more work to do this time around.
On the whole, Fianna Fáil narrowly won the battle to become the biggest party, securing 248 seats compared to Fine Gael’s 245.
Labour took 56 seats, the Social Democrats gained an extra 16 councillors to reach 35, and new party Independent Ireland secured 23 seats. The Greens lost 26 seats to finish with 23.
While Sinn Féin came out with 102 councillors, an increase from the 81 council seats won in 2019, it admitted that the gains were not to the extent it had expected. The result was coupled with a fall in the party’s popularity among voters in opinion polls.
Leaving aside their performance in the local elections, it would be fair to say that Sinn Féin had a tough year politically after facing down a series of separate controversies just weeks out from the general election.
Brian Stanley resigned from the party in October after the party began investigating him on foot of a complaint against him a number of weeks previously (details of which Stanley denies).
Separately, the party’s handling of a former party staffer who pleaded guilty to child sex offences came under scrutiny. Michael McMonagle was arrested in August 2021 and jailed in November this year for child sex offences.
Two Sinn Féin press officers resigned after it emerged they had provided work references for McMonagle. Party leaders Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill apologised for the actions of the two former press officers, saying that the references were provided without clearance from the party.
In addition to that, it emerged in October that former Sinn Féin senator Niall Ó Donnghaile had resigned from the party in 2023 after allegedly sending inappropriate messages to a 17-year-old. This culminated in party leader Mary Lou McDonald making a statement in the Dáil following calls for clarity by opposition parties.
Despite the controversies and questions over McDonald’s leadership, Sinn Féin took 39 seats in the election, becoming the second biggest party in the Dáil, and the party president has said she plans to stick around for the next five years.
There have been some memorable controversies in Ireland surrounding public spending projects, such as the infamous Dáil printer that wouldn’t fit in the room it was meant for in 2019, and the ongoing saga of the cost of the National Children’s Hospital.
This year, there was widespread disbelief and outcry over the €336,000 price tag attached to the Leinster House bike shelter.
Needless to say, the matter was discussed at the Oireachtas Finance Committee, where the Office of Public Works chair John Conlon said the cost would’ve been “far, far lower” if it were constructed at the location it initially proposed.
During the appearance, it emerged that a new security hut at Government Buildings had cost €1.4 million. Micheál Martin, who was the Tánaiste at the time, deemed the cost “ridiculous”.
After months of speculation about when the country would go to the polls, Simon Harris finally answered the question on 8 November and declared that the general election would be held on 29 November.
Fine Gael had been riding high in the polls for weeks, and the party had hoped that the so-called ‘Harris hop’ would translate into votes. However, during a fairly lacklustre three weeks, it was an awkward encounter by the Taoiseach that became the standout image of the election campaign.
Harris was widely criticised after walking away from Charlotte Fallon when she asked him about a lack of support for carers and care workers.
He subsequently apologised to the carer and said he had “let myself down”, but the damage was done. Fine Gael finished third in the election – and ten seats behind Fianna Fáil.
Another feature of the general election campaign was one particular candidate who entered the race at the last minute. Gerry Hutch’s declaration that he would be contesting the Dublin Central constituency came as a surprise to many.
A notorious gangland figure believed by gardaí to be the leader of the Hutch organised crime group, the 61-year-old known as ‘The Monk’ was arrested and charged in Lanzarote by Spanish police investigating alleged organised crime activity in October.
He was subsequently released on €100,000 bail and registered his candidacy, giving his profession as “consultant”.
In the end, Hutch narrowly missed out on a seat in the Dáil. He won 3,096 first preference votes, and transfers put him on 5,321 votes by the eleventh and final count in the constituency. He finished behind Labour’s Marie Sherlock on 6,102 votes, who took the seat.
At the beginning of the year, the Green Party had 12 seats in the Dáil and were part of the coalition government. But as 2024 draws to a close and a new year approaches – and with it a new government – the party has only one seat remaining after being almost wiped out in the general election.
Across the weekend of counting, ministers, junior ministers and TDs who had become familiar names and faces since the 2020 election lost their seats one-by-one.
Roderic O’Gorman is now the last Green standing, after the party leader narrowly held onto his seat on the 13th count in Dublin West. Speaking during the count, he said there was a long history of smaller parties having a hard time while in Government.
“We hoped going into the election that we could buck that trend, but we haven’t been able to do that today.”
Politically speaking, it seems that 2024 may have been Micheál Martin’s year.
Fianna Fáil gained 10 seats in the general election after a campaign that saw no real blunders for the outgoing Tánaiste, who was fairly solid if unshowy in his leadership. The gains came despite an exit poll predicting that they would be the third largest party.
It also followed success at the local elections in June which saw the party win the highest number of council seats.
Looking ahead, Martin looks set to be the next Taoiseach – but whether he’ll be sharing with Simon Harris has yet to be officially decided.
Even though we still don’t have a government, the 34th Dáil did find time on 18 December to elect a new Ceann Comhairle – and the choice gave the clearest indication yet as to who would make up the numbers for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
Independent TD Verona Murphy became the first woman to be elected to the role of Ceann Comhairle in the Dáil’s 105 year history after a secret ballot. She had been endorsed by Micheál Martin and Simon Harris’s respective parties.
The Wexford TD said she will strive to be “fair and impartial” in her new role, as well as “even-handed and even-tempered”.
Her election is seen as a significant step forward in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s talks with the regional independents, who seem all but guaranteed to form the next government – but we’ll have to wait until next year to find out.
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