By-Election And Resignation Puts Budget Vote In Peril

A by-election will be held to fill the vacant Dail seat in Donegal South West on Thursday November 25th -after a High Court ruling forced the Irish government into action.

The writ to hold one of four by-elections which need to be held was moved after a dramatic few days in Irish politics, in which the government's majority looked increasingly shaky.

On Tuesday last, Fianna Fail TD Jim McDaid quit the Dail, resigning his seat with immediate effect, and criticising the government.

The following day, Sinn Fein won a High Court case that the delay in holding the Donegal South West by-election was unconstitutional.

It forced the government into calling an immediate by-election in Donegal.

It promised the three other by-elections will take place early in the New Year - were the government to lose all four, it's Dail majority would be overturned and a General Election would have to take place.

As it is, the Government is now depending on the support of a number of independent TDs including Kerry's Jackie Healy-Rae, who famously holds governments to ransom with demands for funding of local projects.

All this as the toughest and most important budget in the State's history approaches.

The Donegal South West seat has been vacant since June 2009 when the Fianna Fail TD for the area Pat "The Cope" Gallagher was elected to the European Parliament.

Sinn Fein Senator Pearse Doherty, who would be one of the favourites to win the seat, challenged the government's delay in calling the vote in the High Court.

President of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns found that the 16 month delay - the longest in the history of the state - was excessive.

He said the failure to hold the by-election "offends the terms and spirit of the constitution and its framework for democratic representation".

He pointed out that delay represented a significant portion of a TD's five-year term, and this infringed the rights of citizens in the constituency.

The ruling left the government with no option but to call the by-election, but it may be appealed to the Supreme Court, despite widespread outcry against spending money doing that.

Two other by-elections - in Dublin South and Waterford - are also outstanding.

And another one will now be needed in Donegal North East, following the resignation of Dr Jim McDaid.

Mr McDaid in his letter of resignation to the Dail, cited "purely personal reasons" for giving up his seat.

But in a letter to Taoiseach Brian Cowen the previous week, he outlined his dissatisfaction with the progress being made to tackle the budget deficit.

He said he had been advocating a general election for some time, and said the Dail should be dissolved before December's budget.

"The continuing, and deepening, absence of certainty in relation to Government support in the Dail has resulted in necessary decisions being postponed in the hope that future events will make those decisions unnecessary," he wrote.

Dr McDaid has been outside the Fianna Fail party whip for some time -he abstained from a Dail vote in November 2008 on the cervical cancer vaccination.

But while his support has not been taken for granted, he has voted with the government on most occasions.

By quitting his seat altogether, Dr McDaid puts the coalition's majority under increased pressure at a crucial time.

The government's Dail majority is now 82 to 79 for the combined Opposition.

That 82 includes two independent TDs Michael Lowry and Jackie Healy-Rae.

Mr Healy-Rae has indicated his support depends on budget commitments for a Tralee bypass and funding for a Kenmare hospital among other things.

It may go down well with Mr Healy-Rae's constituents in Kerry, but it will do nothing for the government's popularity in the rest of country, for it to be seen to award money for earmark projects just to guarantee its survival.

Mr Lowry has indicated he will decide how to vote on or near Budget day.

But he said while he believed an election as inevitable, he believed the economic crisis should not be used to force the issue.

"In my mind all of the time is that the country is on the brink of losing its economic independence," said the former Fine Gael Minister.