Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Department of the Taoiseach's strategy statement for 2016 to 2019 contains one line which refers to support for Independent Ministers in Government. The Government exists by the gift of Fianna Fáil and the involvement of some Independent Deputies in the Cabinet. The deal with the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, has already been referred to. In recent weeks, we have also seen how the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, has been able to step outside of his ministerial brief and pressurise the Government into adopting new procedures for the appointment of judges. On other occasions, the support of individual Deputies has been dependent on the Government meeting their demands for specific investments in their own constituencies. Last autumn, the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skill, Deputy John Halligan, threatened to resign if services were not increased in his local hospital. All of this is reminiscent of times past when Fianna Fáil was in a Government supported by Independents and Fine Gael was criticising such arrangements.

The Taoiseach's Department has responsibility for managing the Ministers of the Independent Alliance. Given that the Dáil will vote on a new Taoiseach shortly and that a transition will take place in the make-up of the Cabinet, has the Taoiseach been involved in any conversations with his soon-to-be former Cabinet and ministerial colleagues about their support for the next Taoiseach?

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