Ireland’s three coalition party leaders have agreed to hold a pre-Christmas election following a lengthy meeting on Monday evening.
Taoiseach Simon Harris, Tanaiste Micheal Martin and Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman held their weekly leaders meeting, during which the election date was discussed.
A Government spokesperson said: “The three party leaders have agreed the general election will take place in 2024.
“The three leaders have agreed the passage of the Finance Bill is the priority for the Government.
“The committee stage of the Bill will commence on the 5th of November.”
Although a poll can be held anytime before March 22 next year, it has long been suspected that Mr Harris could call an election after Budget 2025 was announced on October 1.
Positive opinion poll results for Fine Gael and controversies facing Sinn Fein have added fuel to those rumours.
Though a date has not yet been announced, many politicians have begun canvassing and ordering election posters.
Mr Harris and Mr Martin had said in recent days that if the Finance Bill, underpinning 10.5 billion euros worth of budget measures, could be passed into law in time, it would pave the way for a 2024 general election.
Mr O’Gorman said a November 29 election would allow time for not only the Finance Bill to be finalised but also the hate crime legislation and other important draft laws.
“There’s no great mystery in relation to this,” Mr Harris said on Monday.
“Let me try to be helpful… I mean, there’s going to be a general election this year, and the Government is going to conclude its work. It’s going to do that in an orderly manner.”
Even as things change through the leaders, Mr O'Gorman in his role and myself in my role, we've still managed to keep the show on the road in terms of that policy agenda
Although the power lies with Mr Harris on when to call the election, he was expected to agree a date with his coalition colleagues – leaving the door open to Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Greens returning to power.
Earlier on Monday, Fine Gael leader Mr Harris rejected assertions that Green Party leader Mr O’Gorman “went behind his back” by suggesting an election date of November 29.
Mr O’Gorman said he was expressing a view on behalf of his party and reflecting on “questions about certainty” that he has heard while canvassing in recent weeks.
Mr Harris said: “It was certainly very upfront and I have no difficulty with that.
“People are absolutely entitled to give their opinion, and most importantly coalition leaders are absolutely entitled to their opinion and their view.
“The Government has worked cohesively, and what I define as evidence of that is the fact that a Government of three parties has managed to deliver five Budgets, has managed to find a Programme for Government that we could all pull together.
“Of course, we have different areas of emphasis and different policies, and that’s very healthy, but we have a joint Programme for Government, which I’m really proud of, actually, that we’ve managed to work our way through together over the last number of years.
“Even as things change through the leaders, Mr O’Gorman in his role and myself in my role, we’ve still managed to keep the show on the road in terms of that policy agenda.”
As the leader of my party, I reserve the right to uphold the view on behalf of my party, and I was expressing that in terms of questions about certainty that I've been hearing ... in recent weeks
Asked if he feels under pressure to hold the election on November 29, Mr Harris said he “didn’t feel that at all” – but would not narrow down when voters would go to the polls.
“I think I’ve been quite clear in my public commentary for many weeks now, as have others, in relation to finishing the work that is under way, that’s important,” he said.
“I’m not going to get into the speculation of the day of the election, because obviously you will all start narrowing it down even further and I have to keep some small element of surprise for you in the days ahead.”
Mr Harris said his party will contest the election as a standalone political party, and will not go into the election with a transfer pact among the coalition parties.
But he said it was “entirely possible, if not probable” that the coalition could return as it had “worked well together”.
Minister for Finance Jack Chambers said he is prepared to bring the Finance Bill forward.
“That will require me to change the sequencing of the Finance Bill from November 5 so it is synchronised with the election date and I am open and prepared to do that to make sure all the measures we have set out in the Budget 2025 are enacted,” he said on Monday.
