The Dáil has been recalled an hour earlier on Tuesday at the request of the Taoiseach, sparking belief among TDs that Simon Harris will set out his plans for a general election before flying to meet US President Joe Biden.
A letter sent to TDs on Friday from Ceann Comhairle Sean Ó Fearghail told deputies that leaders’ questions will take place at 1pm on Tuesday as opposed to 2pm. Mr Harris returns from Washington on Friday morning and is due to canvass in his native Wicklow.
It is understood that Mr Harris will fly to Washington DC in the afternoon of Tuesday after Cabinet and the earlier time allows him to take leaders’ questions before departing.
The Finance Bill, which gives legal effect to the Budget, will be brought to Cabinet on Tuesday but as yet it is not on next week’s Dáil agenda. Sources said that that bill is “proceeding as normal” for now.
While the Taoiseach’s visit to Washington has been known for a number of weeks, the issue of an early commencement on Tuesday was not discussed at Thursday’s meeting of the Dáil’s Business Committee, which sets the week’s agenda.
Speaking in Wicklow on Friday, however, Mr Harris said that the election would come “in due course” and said that he was “not obliged” to give a running commentary on the timing of the election.
Mr Harris also sought to downplay the importance of a move that has put ministers on alert for an election, saying that requests for departments to give their supplementary estimates to the Department of Public Expenditure just a day after the Budget was down to officials seeking to speed up the process.
A spokesperson for the Taoiseach said: “On Tuesday evening the Taoiseach will be travelling, in light of this he wrote to the Oireachtas to offer to still take leaders questions if it could be moved an hour earlier.”
Tánaiste Micheál Martin on Thursday told the that he had not been informed of the move, but Mr Harris said that there was nothing unusual about it.
“I spoke to Pascal Donohoe this morning in relation to this. There’s been no instruction from him to in any way accelerate or alter that time process. I would imagine what has happened, in fairness to officials, is once the budget is finished, they move on to the supplementary process. But there genuinely has been no change here.
“None (of the supplementary estimates) are proposed to come to Cabinet,” he added but said that the Social Welfare Bill will “need to happen quickly” due to the double child benefit payment due to be paid early next month.
Mr Harris said that he will seek a dissolution of Dáil Éireann “at the right moment in time”.
“It is constitutionally my prerogative as to when to seek a dissolution of the Dáil, that is true. That’s something I take very seriously. It’s a judgment call that every Taoiseach has to exercise. But I also want to do things in a respectful manner always, and I’ve been very clear about that.”
The Taoiseach did, however, accept that his party is campaigning with a view to the next election. However, he said all parties are doing this.
“There isn’t a political party in Dáil Éireann who isn’t campaigning in their constituencies, because that’s what you do when you get towards the end of a Government.
“So, let nobody in any way, shape or form, suggest that one party is campaigning and another isn’t.”
On Thursday evening, Mr Martin made a speech that was seen by some as cautioning Mr Harris against an early election. He said all three party leaders had “reaffirmed” their commitment to completing their mandate when Fine Gael and the Green Party changed leaders.
“I can tell you equally clearly that nothing has changed. There have been no discussions about finishing our mandate early,” Mr Martin said. He described the ongoing speculation around election dates as being “idle, corridor gossip” that has been elevated to “headline news”.
One Fianna Fáil source said that the move by Mr Harris was unusual, given that typically when leaders are scheduled for travel they send a surrogate minister in their place to take Leaders’ Questions.
This happened most recently for Mr Harris during his trip to the United Nations, where Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe took questions from the opposition.
The source questioned if this meant that Mr Harris intended to discuss election plans with other party leaders on Monday, before making an announcement on Tuesday.
They said that calling an election ahead of the passage of both the Finance and Social Welfare bills could have a negative impact, given the breakthrough of controversial spending allocations like the €9m for phone pouches for secondary schools.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD for Mayo Michael Ring said that he did not believe the early return of the Dáil meant an early election, saying that it cannot be done before both the Finance and Social Welfare bills are passed.
He cited the need for Mr Harris to take questions from the opposition ahead of his trip to the US, saying that he was “100% certain” the Taoiseach would not dissolve the Dail on Tuesday.
