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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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good on him, quotas are bad for women as they will all be under the cloud of being tokens, also unjust for men, I have to assume helicoptered in women aren’t the best candidate for the job, I don’t want to be voting for tokens.
@Dave Dublin: If all things were equal, I’d agree with you. And that’s the problem. Some people dont think we are all equal. Ever. Old mens clubs etc.
@Brendan Cooney: Laws should not be written based on what “some people” think or don’t think. If they were, you could be arrested for walking under a ladder.
@Joe Phillips: ????
Laws are ONLY written by what “some people” think.
Those people are the Legislature.
This is a key part of the Irish Constitution.
Best of luck. I hope you succeed in ensuring these opportunities in Ireland are not given based on someone’s group identity.
@sVRCsaSg: Agreed, a ridiculous law designed to appeal to approximately half the populace. While I sincerely hope this case is successful, I somehow can’t see it being so.
Delighted
Good luck Mohan. I am not someone who usually roots for an FF man, but this law does need to be tested.
@Richard Barrett: this is not a party political issue .. it’s a discrimination issue based on your gender
Good
Well done that man….best of luck to him…
Deloghted
Brian if this fails please just identify as a woman and encourage your colleagues to do the same.
If he was up for assault his FF connection would have been buried at the bottom of the article.
Best person for the job regardless of gender…. any attempt to introduce gender quotas automatically discriminate and make for an unequal society.
I do accept that there may be more of one gender than another gender in certain employments but this is due in part to choice and in part to stereotyping – gender quotes do not tackle these issues. Once one has equality of opportunity gender quotas are not the solution, one must tackle the root cause.
Why is this person so threatened by equality? History is littered with those who tried to hold back the tide of progress.
Women have the vote
Women have rights over own bodies
Soon they will have the right to represent us free of the hangover and constraints of expectation due to centuries of discrimination.
@thephantomshit: he’s not threatened by equality of opportunity, just equality of outcome. All the other examples you gave are equality of opportunity, the one being dealt with here is equality of outcome. They are two very different things and it’s wrong to conflate the two.
@thephantomshit: there is a difference between equality and meeting a quota. People should run because they are capable, not to meet a target. Equality can never be reached if women remain to be treated differently.
@thephantomshit: they already have the right to represent us. I’m not sure where yuo get the idea that they don’t.
@thephantomshit: he wasn’t being treated equally, that’s the point.
@Richard: He could run as an Independent and align with FF in the Dail. No Quota issue if he does that. The quota is set for a Party Affiliation to ensure a more gender equity within its representation. He can run as an Independent and have no issue.
@Hardly Normal: But he is. Men and women to fulfill 50% of the positions. 50/50. Equal.
@Ailbhe: How is being told you can’t run for election because we have to let a woman run instead equal?.
@Ailbhe: no he as an individual was not being treated equally to the woman they went with. Even if you agree in placing someone’s group identity above their individual identity in this case it is not equality of opportunity but an attempt to force equality of outcome.
@Ailbhe: how is it equal? Being told you can’t do that because you’re not a woman. On paper it might be equal 50/50 but realistically it’s not because he’s being denied the opportunity.
@Ailbhe: Why does a man looking for equality threaten you? And why do you insist on special treatment?
@Ailbhe: Do you call for that same equality in all positions that are mostly filled by men or just cherry picking the nice ones that you want to do? Equality should mean exactly that. Equality in all aspects of life not just in boardrooms and the Dail.
@Roy Dowling: Because women will be told the same if they reach 50% representation.
It’s basic maths folks. Given the amount of eejits on the journal that claim feminism is about taking over the world etc etc, holding us to a MAXIMUM 50% representation should be a welcomed move. You all seem so scared of women.
@Battaz: I welcome it. In fact I’ve campaigned for equality for men. Be it in the workplace, parental rights, or representation. Bring it on I say!
@Darren McCormack: Hi Darren, thanks for assuming I don’t call for equality in all positions. I do. I think it would be great to see equal numbers in all sectors. Areas particularly lacking are teaching, carers, the majority of HCP professions and even law is shifting to be majority women qualifying. I think these should be equal or as close as practicable.
Diversity of ideas, experience and representation benefit us all.
@Ailbhe: I asked you a question. I assumed nothing.
@Ailbhe: are you looking for equality of outcome (50:50 representation everywhere) or equality of opportunity? Because you can’t have both and if you give people equality of opportunity and become more egalitarian as a society the differences between the choices of men and women increase not decrease.
And how should we mandate for diversity of ideas? Would you be in favour of quotas for conservative viewpoints in the workplace and on boards?
@Ailbhe: You seem to think that people are afraid of women being equal. I don’t think they are. I think people are afraid of forced quotas which deny men from entering a career because they’ve met their quota based on your gender. I couldn’t give a rats ass if we have a male or female Taoiseach, doctor or nurse. I want the best person for the job.
@sVRCsaSg: I agree. I seen this report recently. In nordic countries that are seen to be more egalitarian, women and men are diverging more and more into “traditional” gender career paths.
@Ailbhe: Wrong. Doesn’t matter if women are told the same if they reach 50%. You claim your want equality, but your happy to use inequality to achieve it. That ain’t fair. Out of curiosity shall we put gender quotas on building sites, no men can be hired until women are 50% of the work force?. or how about child care, no women can be hired until 50% of the work force are men?
@sVRCsaSg: It’s not equality of opportunity though now is it? Society is more likely to vote for men, and not because they are more qualified. So it’s far from an equal opportunity. If candidates were voted for on merit, not based on assumptions and societal biases, it would all be fair. but it’s not. So either change the system, or ensure the system is equal.
@Darren McCormack: You’re not currently getting the best person for the job.
@Roy Dowling: Sounds like a plan!
@Ailbhe: half our society are women. By your own logic women voters are holding back women in politics by voting for men on merit instead voting for the best candidate.
@Roy Dowling: Yes….you’re getting it now.
@Ailbhe: Don’t see you or any other woman protesting outside a building site or creche looking for quotas though so we?.
Instead we see mothers getting together and forcing creche owners to sack male employees.
@Ailbhe: so then gender quotas arnt needed, whats needed is to educate voters on picking the right person.
@Ailbhe: Lot’s of men on here taking issue with gender quotas.
Is it because a) you don’t think there should be equal representation for women in the one role that shapes society’s legislature and how the country is run. If so, why?
or
b) you think there is a better way to achieve this (decades of faux equal opportunity have not yet achieved this). If so, how?
@Roy Dowling: It would take a HUGE societal shift in biases, predermination and prejudices to achieve that. Several decades of people trying to achieve this and we still live in a world where women are paid less and denied opportunities for promotion. So, if that’s not working, we need a catalyst. What else would you suggest?
@Ailbhe: I’m against gender quotas because it benefits woman in certain areas. if you want to introduce gender quotas it should be country wide and across all occupations eg. Politics, finance, health, construction, child care.
either every occupation be forced be 50/50 workforce or none of them.
@Ailbhe: because it’s a load of shit basically. I don’t care if there’s more female lawyer’s than men, or if there’s more male plumbers than women. These lads are voted in democratically and you just can’t go around saying there’s not enough female politicians, we’ll stop a man campaigning in this constituency to balance it country wide or vice versa.
@Hardly Normal: This is the only role that allows employees to change our laws and run our country. Plumbers etc just don’t equate.
@Roy Dowling: So is that a), you don’t think women should be equally able to legislate and govern?
@Ailbhe: no that’s not it at all. I think women can do those things aswell was any man. I also think women can wire an office aswell as any man( I should know as I was an apprentice to female sparks for a few months) yet you don’t see women demanding quotas in hiring electricians. Again if women want quotas for politics they have to accept half the workforce on a building site should be women , half the workers in creches should be men. If they really want quality then accept equality everywhere.
@Ailbhe: Where’s the proof that women are paid less for the same job? It’s well proven that men put in more hours and take less holidays than their female colleagues. Show me documented proof that takes account for this. There is nothing stopping a woman from being whatever she wants to be. Nothing stops any woman from running as a TD. So why aren’t they doing it?
@Roy Dowling: Electricians are not public representatives. False equivelancy.
@Darren McCormack: Google is your friend mate.
@Ailbhe: Is that your response to me looking for proof of a gender pay gap? Jaysus you’re hilarious. I guess I win that argument so. I’m done talking to you now. You’re boring me.
@Ailbhe: there’s a lot of different reasons people vote for certain candidates. From accents to hairstyle to height etc. You can’t justify forcefully pushing equality of outcome because sexism is out there in the ether.
Have you ever considered women aren’t putting themselves forward or engaging in politics as much as men because they’re not as interested in it? They’re not as interesting in becoming engineers or computer programmers so maybe it’s the case here too?
Women in general have been shown to care less about politics than men.
@Ailbhe: and before you say we need to break down the barriers or something what if the reserve is true (as is the case with traditionally gendered jobs) – that women are less likely to engage in politics the more egalitarian a society becomes? Can we then drop these sexist quotas?
@Ailbhe: bull sh|t it’s nothing to do with being public representatives. it’s because not many women want to do those kinds of jobs. I’d imagine you include. And as such you don’t care about equality there and are happy it’s a male dominant occupated. Simple fact it’s voters of this county are 50% male 50% female if you want more females in government get women to vote for the best candidate
@thephantomshit: this is not equality .. its gender preference.. best person should get any job on offer regardless of gender
@Ailbhe: you brought up different professions initially. You’re comments are foimtyou a disservice.
@Ailbhe: How come 99% of all construction site workers men? Also, how come the overwhelming majority of binmen men?
@Ailbhe: “Society is more likely to vote for men, and not because they are more qualified.” – Where is the evidence to suggest this? I couldn’t care less if a candidate is man or woman, black or white, young or old etc etc as long as they are competent and can perform the role they are running for.
@Ailbhe:
A) I have no issue with equal representation. The most important thing is that there is equal opportunity for both men and women. Nowadays, there is. I do have an issue with a slide towards soft totalitarianism that comes with the introduction of these quotas.
B) Yes, of course there are better ways. One of which is to encourage more woman to get into politics via campaigns. Look at what they are doing re woman in sport via the 20=20 campaign.
@Ailbhe:
Agree completely.
I was shocked and disgusted and repulsed all in equal hugely triggered measure this morning when my bins were being collected.. I was appalled to see a group, a boy’s club, of four pig men emptying out my bins full of dirty nappies and rotten food into the back of their truck, their chauvinist-mobile, then pull off down towards the city dump spewing their toxic masculinity all over the street on their way.
Then on my way to work I came across these horrible male brutes working for dynorod cleaning out the sewers, up to their elbows in human waste, laughing and joking uttering micro aggressions to each other.
Women need forced representation across the board I 100% agree with you.
Maybe someone like you would challenge these despicable bin men and I can look forward to seeing someone like you emptying my refuse or maybe even cleaning out my uncle’s septic tank in the short term future in the name of true beautiful equality.
You are a noble fighter for justice and I tip my hat to you.
@thephantomshit: meeting expectations is one of the great responsibilities of being a politician. What are talking about? Stop reading CNN and go watch some Jordan Peterson.
I’m delighted, I hope he wins his case. Gender quotas is just lunacy
Grossly incompetent gombeen FF and FG politicians getting into gov with no more experience than local county councillor experience and small local business experience have destroyed this country. Introducing gender quotas into groups thats already grossly incompetent and unfit for gov isn’t gonna improve anything.
Good luck to him. Gender quotas mean individuals are discriminated against. If that’s ok with folks then let me be the first to say that we need equal numbers of women to men in prison. By quota if necessary. Sort of like jury duty but in reverse.
The lad got 510 votes in the 2014 Locals, the only discrimination he suffered was the discriminating opinion of the Dublin Central electorate
@Shane ᚛ᚄᚕᚅ᚜: No, he was explicitly discriminated against based on his gender. I thought that was a no no?
Are there any other groups you feel should be discriminated against?
@Battaz: If he wanted to run he could have, more than once there’s been an Independent Fianna Fáiler out there in the wild.
My point is that Mohan was only ever an also ran, at best
But aside from that, you’re making a categorical error. FF is a private institution that is free to do as it chooses, its members decide what their internal rules are. The Corú gives the Constituencies committee immence powers to determine election and nomination strategies. If FF wanted they could choose not to accept state funding, and then nominate all male panels, if they chose. There’s conditionality all over the state funding that parties and independents receive. What they can spend it on, what services are legitimate expenses, whom they can employ, and what the terms of employment must be. Auditing conditions. Public declaration conditions. This is all in the primary legislation, and since 2012 gender conditionality is in it. But Mohan if he wanted to could have run, no one was stopping him running, only FF was stopping him running under the FF banner.
This has much more to do with the old Bertie/Fitzpatrick divide than anything else
Excellent decision .. best person regardless of gender should be put forward for all positions
Possibly a bigger concern should be that the high court made an error of judgement not once but twice. Waste of a lot of state funds there and by state i mean our funds
I expect nothing less from FF, they don’t like to see women in politics. Its a men’s club for them
@Barry Somers: You don’t think picking the best person for the job is a good idea? Not that we do it in the first place but that’s another matter.
@Barry Somers: With Theresa May and Angela Merkle doing their damnest to sink an entire continent, I’m afraid the beta male clarion call of more women in politics is a tune best kept to oneself.
@Barry Somers: that’s a load of crap … best person for all jobs regardless of gender
Nearly all the comments on this are from men. No more should be allowed until women are equally represented in comments.
@George Byron: this Is an equal gender issue .. everyone is welcome to comment ..
How ironic when i see on here some people calling the DUP dinosaurs and misogynists, and neither FF or FG, parties essentially under the control of conservative, rural, middle aged and older gombeen politicians and their supporters, and neither not having had a female party leader yet.
@Adrian: Which “female leaders” would you suggest? Theresa May and Angela Merkle will soon be jobseeking. Apparently a uterus is not a magic wand.
@Battaz: how many progressive modern female leaders would like to lead either FF or FG in their current state? Not many i would say, because gender quotas and FF in particular appear to be an issue that crops up regularly in the news, despite martins desperate efforts to appear at FF events surrounded by the half dozen females in the party.
@Adrian: look most people don’t support this nonsense. Hope he wins and that will put an end to this fascism.
This gender quota is absolute nonsense and condescending toward women. No one is stopping anyone from putting themselves forward regardless of gender. People should get voted in on their ability not on whether they’re male or female.
Good on him.
#metooo
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