Irish General Election, 2011 - Government Formation

Government Formation

With the largest number of seats, but not a majority, Fine Gael was the most likely party to lead the new Government. There had been speculation that the party might be able to form a one-party minority government supported by a number of independents or by Fianna Fáil. However, it became clear almost as soon as the result was beyond doubt that Fine Gael's senior leadership preferred to go into coalition with the Labour Party. Following a meeting of the leaders of the two parties, negotiating teams were appointed on 1 March to discuss the possibility of agreeing a joint programme for government. The teams were Michael Noonan, Phil Hogan and Alan Shatter for Fine Gael and Joan Burton, Brendan Howlin and Pat Rabbitte for Labour. After meeting for a second day they described the talks as "friendly". Officials from the Department of Finance and the National Treasury Management Agency also briefed them on economic issues as opposition parties had not been briefed before the election. Burton then said there was a "very challenging situation in the banking sector".

Late on the night of 5 March, Fine Gael and Labour reached a formal coalition agreement. The programme for government was formally ratified the following day by a special delegate conference of the Labour Party and by a meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party. This cleared the way for Enda Kenny to be formally nominated as Taoiseach on 9 March. The coalition deal was opposed within the Labour Party by Tommy Broughan and Joanna Tuffy.

When the Dáil convened on 9 March, Kenny was the only candidate nominated as Taoiseach, and was elected by 117 votes for to 27 against. He was supported by a number of independents as well as the Fine Gael and Labour parties, while Fianna Fáil abstained on the vote. Under the terms of the deal, Gilmore became Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Labour have four other ministries.