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01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 1
Administration, vol. 69, no. 1 (2021), pp. 1–22
doi: 10.2478/admin-2021-0001
Political developments, 2020
David Hugh Moore
Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Covid-19 pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome
2 (SARS-CoV-2), had a profound effect on Irish society, politics and
the economy in 2020. The first reported case in the Republic of
Ireland was on 29 February 2020. Within three weeks there were
confirmed cases in all counties (see Cullen, 2020). On 11 March an
elderly patient in Naas General Hospital in Co. Kildare became
Ireland’s first fatality of the virus (see Thomas, 2020a). On 12 March,
following a meeting with the National Public Health Emergency Team
(NPHET)1, the government announced a series of measures designed
to tackle the spread of the virus. The headline measure taken was to
close all schools, colleges and childcare facilities (see Leahy et al.,
2020a). On 15 March, after public outcry over videos posted on social
media showing revellers at pubs not engaging in social distancing, and
following discussions with the Licensed Vintners Association and the
Vintners’ Federation of Ireland, the government ordered all bars and
public houses to shut (see Carswell & Bray, 2020). On 24 March, with
the numbers of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland continuing to
1 NPHET, created on 27 January 2020 within the Department of Health, provides
guidance on the development and implementation of a strategy to contain the
Covid-19 pandemic. It also helps to coordinate the healthcare sector’s response to
Covid-19 across Ireland (see Boland, 2020).
101 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 2
2 DAVID HUGH MOORE
rise, more restrictions were imposed, with non-essential retail ordered
to close (see Murray, 2020). Three days later, the government
announced a stay-at-home order, banning all non-essential travel and
contact with people outside of one’s household. Further, the elderly
and those with underlying health conditions were told to cocoon (see
Leahy, 2020a).
The lockdown measures introduced by the government led to a
severe recession as well as an unprecedented rise in the
unemployment rate, rising from 4.8 per cent in January to 28.2 per
cent by April (see Burke-Kennedy, 2020). In response, the
government introduced the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment
Payment and the Temporary Covid-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme.
These aimed to both ease the hardship that people were facing having
lost their jobs as well as stimulate economic growth (see Wall,
2020). Further to this economic hardship, the pandemic had a
profound impact on society. The Junior and Leaving Certificates
were cancelled, as well as cultural and sporting events throughout the
year.
Figure 1: Daily reported Covid-19 cases, 2020
Source: Dong et al. (2020).01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 3
Political developments, 2020 3
Figure 2: Daily reported Covid-19 deaths, 2020
Source: Dong et al. (2020).
Figure 3: Total reported Covid-19 cases, 2020
Source: Dong et al. (2020).01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 4
4 DAVID HUGH MOORE
Figure 4: Total reported Covid-19 deaths, 2020
Source: Dong et al. (2020).
By mid April NPHET had declared that the growth curve of
Covid-19 had been flattened (see Figures 1–4; Thomas, 2020b). As
Figures 1 and 2 show, the rate of newly reported cases and deaths
declined throughout May and June. Society and the economy
gradually opened through the government’s phased reopening
strategy, known as the Roadmap for Reopening Society & Business. This
started incrementally on 18 May with the travel limit being slightly
lifted from two to five kilometres and individuals being permitted to
meet outdoors in groups of four. Over the following weeks, restrictions
gradually eased (see Kelly & Cullen, 2020). By 29 June most of the
retail and catering sector had reopened, albeit at limited capacity and
with certain restrictions (see Gallagher, 2020). As Figure 1
demonstrates, the incidence of Covid-19 in Ireland continued to
decline throughout July.
In August there was a slight increase in cases. In counties Kildare,
Laois and Offaly clusters in meat factories led to a significant increase
in the incidence of Covid-19. On 7 August an Taoiseach Micheál
Martin, TD, announced that the three counties were to be placed into
a lockdown for two weeks, effective from midnight. On 21 August
these restrictions were lifted for Laois and Offaly but extended for01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 5
Political developments, 2020 5
another two weeks in Kildare. However, schools in Kildare were to
reopen as planned (see Carswell & Power, 2020). The restrictions in
Kildare were lifted on 31 August with immediate effect (see Cullen &
Horgan-Jones, 2020). On 2 September, with cases still trending
upward, the government launched a new five-level framework, entitled
Living with Covid. The entire country was placed in Level 2 of the
framework. Due to the incidence rate in Dublin, it was placed in Level
2 but bars and public houses that did not serve food were not
permitted to reopen (see McGee et al., 2020). On 18 September
Dublin was placed in Level 3 (see Burns, 2020). On 5 October the
government moved the entire country into Level 3 (see Dwyer, 2020).
On 19 October, following a continued increase in the incidence of
Covid 19, the government moved the entire country into Level 5.
These restrictions would take effect on 21 October and would last six
weeks until 1 December (see Leahy et al., 2020b). Following this
lockdown, Ireland’s incidence rate became the lowest in the EU (see
McGlynn, 2020).
A third wave of Covid-19 arrived after restrictions eased on 1
December. A combination of the reopening of non-essential retail,
restaurants and bars that sell food, and increased mixing between
households led to a spike in cases. On 1 December Ireland reported
254 new cases of Covid-19. By Christmas Day this had risen to 1,025.
On 24 December the country was placed into Level 5 restrictions with
some amendments. On 31 December Ireland recorded a then-record
1,620 newly reported cases of Covid-19. That same day the country
entered a full Level 5 lockdown until at least January 2021 (see Bray
& Cullen, 2020). On 26 December the first shipment of the Pfizer
BioNTech vaccine arrived in Ireland. On 29 December the first person
in Ireland was vaccinated.
Dissolution of the thirty-second Dáil and the 2020 general
election
The results of the 2016 general election and subsequent government
formation for the thirty-second Dáil had led to a historic ‘confidence
and supply’ agreement between Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and seven
Independent TDs. This left the government with a small working
majority. Over the period of the thirty-second Dáil, this working
majority declined with Peter Fitzgerald’s resignation from the Fine
Gael parliamentary party, Frances Fitzgerald’s election to the
European Parliament, and Dara Murphy’s resignation from the Dáil01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 6
6 DAVID HUGH MOORE
to join the European People’s Party (see Johnston, 2020; Moore, D.
H., 2020). This meant that the working majority had become so thin
that the government was no longer viable. On 14 January, with the
prospect of losing a vote of no confidence, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar,
TD, requested that President Michael D. Higgins dissolve the thirty-
second Dáil. That same day Minister for Housing, Local Government
and Heritage Eoghan Murphy, TD, signed a polling order for a
general election to take place on Saturday 8 February, the first general
election to take place on a Saturday since 1918 (see Field, 2020).
Despite the significance of the eventual result, the election
campaign itself was largely uneventful. The main issues of the
campaign were healthcare, the housing crisis and homelessness. To a
lesser extent, the economy, climate change and Brexit also mattered to
the electorate (see Leahy, 2020b). There were seven debates on
national television: three on RTÉ One, three on Virgin Media One,
and one on TG4. The initial debate drew controversy for two reasons.
Firstly, Sinn Féin Leader Mary Lou McDonald, TD, was excluded
from the debate despite Sinn Féin polling in the low twenties. This
drew accusations of anti-Sinn-Féin bias in the media. Indeed, in
subsequent debates, Sinn Féin threatened legal action if Ms
McDonald was not included. Secondly, Fine Gael senator and election
candidate Catherine Noone drew criticism after a series of derogatory
remarks regarding Varadkar’s debate performance and character
were recorded and reported (see Field, 2020).
During the election campaign, Sinn Féin councillor Paddy Holohan
was forced to apologise to Leo Varadkar after he made homophobic
and racist comments regarding Mr Varadkar on his podcast. Mr
Varadkar accepted the apology but stated that Ireland needed to do
more to prevent people from minority backgrounds experiencing
racism. A few days later Mr Holohan was suspended from the party
after he claimed on his podcast that some women were engaging in
consensual sex with men and subsequently blackmailing them. As Mr
Holohan was not a general election candidate and had been swiftly
suspended by Sinn Féin, this did not appear to have implications on
the election (see Hosford, 2020).
The results of the general election, shown in Figures 5 and 6,
reflected the final Ipsos MRBI/Irish Times poll of the campaign, with
Sinn Féin taking the largest number of first-preference votes, with 24.5
per cent. Fianna Fáil came in second with 22.2 per cent of first-
preference votes. Following poor results in the local and European
elections, Sinn Féin’s success in the 2020 election had been01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 7
Political developments, 2020 7
Figure 5: Party first-preference vote share
Source: Field (2020).
Figure 6: Seats in the thirty-third Dáil Éireann by party
Source: Field (2020).01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 8
8 DAVID HUGH MOORE
unforeseen. Therefore, Sinn Féin ran only a single candidate in many
constituencies in which their sole candidate exceeded the quota. The
lack of candidates meant that Sinn Féin won fewer seats than its vote
share would indicate. Fianna Fáil won thirty-eight seats compared to
Sinn Féin’s thirty-seven. Fine Gael won the third-largest vote share,
with 20.9 per cent of first-preference votes. This translated into thirty-
five seats. Following from its success in the European and local
elections in 2019, the Green Party more than doubled its vote share
and gained ten seats. Labour had another bad election, losing
approximately half its vote share and losing one seat. This result led to
Brendan Howlin, TD, resigning his leadership of the party, to be
replaced by Alan Kelly, TD, following an election among party
members. The Social Democrats gained four seats while Solidarity–
People Before Profit lost one seat. Peadar Tóibín, the former Sinn
Féin TD, retained his seat for Aontú (see Field, 2020).
Government formation
The election results did not immediately point to an obvious governing
coalition. This led to much uncertainty as to how a government would
be formed. The number of Dáil seats had been increased from 158 to
160. As the Ceann Comhairle does not vote unless in the case of a tie,
80 seats were required for a majority.
In the days following the election, both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael
confirmed that they would not enter into government with Sinn Féin.
This effectively eliminated Sinn Féin from being a partner in any
coalition government as a coalition with all the left-wing parties in the
Dáil would only amount to a maximum of sixty-six seats (see Hillard,
2020). A confidence and supply deal, as seen in the wake of the 2016
election, was also not possible. If Fine Gael were to abstain, the
working majority in the Dáil would be sixty-two. The gap of twenty-six
between Fianna Fáil’s thirty-seven seats (thirty-eight seats less the
Ceann Comhairle, who is a Fianna Fáil TD) and the required sixty-
three was too large to be a viable option. Despite the reluctance of all
three parties, it emerged that the only viable option for government
was a coalition of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party. That
would amount to eighty-four seats (see Murphy, 2020).
The idea of going into power with each other was not universally
liked in Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil (see Logue et al., 2020). However,
both the parliamentary arithmetic and Covid-19 pressured the parties
into forming a government. In April an initial agreement outlining
pledges on areas such as health, housing and childcare was agreed (see01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 9
Political developments, 2020 9
Bray, 2020). Attention turned to the Green Party, whose seats were
required to form a government. After prolonged negotiations between
the parties, a program for government was published in June, 128 days
after the general election (see Carroll, 2020a). It was a historic
moment in Irish politics, with Ireland’s two traditionally largest
parties, whose differences stretched back to the Civil War, joining
each other in government. The programme for government was
passed comfortably by both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, with 80 and 74
per cent voting in favour, respectively.
Passing the programme for government was more difficult for the
Green Party, who required a two-thirds supermajority of ordinary
members. There was a vocal opposition to the programme, with some
young activists threatening to leave the party if it was passed. When
speaking to The Tonight Show on Virgin Media One, Nessa Hourigan,
a Green Party TD, the party’s finance spokesperson and a member of
the team who negotiated the programme for government, stated that
the programme for government did not go far enough on housing and
deprivation and that she could not fully support it. She went on to say
that she would have to reread the document before deciding if she
would support it. Matters were further complicated by the fact that
members of the Northern Ireland branch, who were largely opposed to
the programme for government of the Green Party, were also eligible
to vote. On 26 June, 2,000 of the 2,500 eligible members of the Green
Party cast their votes. The party backed the deal by a margin of 76 per
cent to 24 per cent (see McGee, 2020a). On 27 June, 138 days after the
election, the thirty-third Dáil, sitting in the Convention Centre due to
social distancing requirements, elected Micheál Martin the state’s
fifteenth Taoiseach by 93 votes to 63 (see O’Halloran et al., 2020).
The Seanad election
An Bunreacht na hÉireann provides that a Seanad election must take
place within ninety days of the dissolution of Dáil Éireann. The Dáil
was dissolved on 14 January. Therefore, the latest date that the
election could take place was 13 April. On 21 January Minister for
Housing, Planning, and Local Government Eoghan Murphy signed
the order for the Seanad election. All ballots cast would be postal and
30 March was set for the deadline for ballots for the vocational panels
and 31 March as the deadline for the university constituencies.
The Seanad is comprised of sixty seats. Forty-three seats come from
the vocational panels, namely the Cultural and Educational Panel, the01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 10
10 DAVID HUGH MOORE
Agricultural Panel, the Labour Panel, the Industrial and Commercial
Panel, and the Administrative Panel. Six seats come from the
university constituencies, with the National University of Ireland and
the University of Dublin (Trinity College Dublin) providing three
seats each. The Taoiseach nominates the final eleven seats. As Figure
7 outlines, the results of the election gave the three government
parties a comfortable majority with forty of the sixty seats.
Figure 7: Seats in the twenty-sixth Seanad Éireann
Source: Houses of the Oireachtas Service (2020).
The twenty-sixth Seanad Éireann made history for several reasons.
A total of 40 per cent of senators are women. This is the highest-ever
female membership of the Seanad. Eileen Flynn, one of Taoiseach
Micheál Martin’s nominations, became the first member of the
Traveller Community to serve in the Oireachtas. Pippa Hackett of the
Green Party became the first minister since 1981 to have been
appointed from the Seanad (see Houses of the Oireachtas Service,
2020).
Green Party leadership contest
The constitution of the Green Party mandates there must be a
leadership contest within six months of a general election. Candidates
must receive at least fifty nominations from party members. Both01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 11
Political developments, 2020 11
incumbent Leader Eamon Ryan, TD, and Deputy Leader Catherine
Martin, TD, received a sufficient number of nominations to compete
in the election. During the election, Mr Ryan was seen to represent
the old guard and presented himself as the experienced and
dependable choice. Martin’s candidacy represented the views of
younger Green Party members, who were less satisfied with the
coalition government. Ms Martin focused on social justice issues
during the campaign. On 23 July Eamon Ryan was declared the
winner of the election with 51.24 per cent (n=994) to Martin’s 48.76
per cent (n=946) (see McGee, 2020b).
Oireachtas Golf Society scandal
In late August the Oireachtas Golf Society organised a two-day golfing
event in Clifden, Co. Galway. The event, which celebrated the fiftieth
anniversary of the society, was organised by the society’s captain, Noel
Grealish, TD (Ind.), and former Fianna Fáil senator Donnie Cassidy.
The event consisted of golfing competitions held on 18 and 19 August,
with a gala dinner on the second evening. The dinner was held in a
single room with a dividing partition splitting the group of eighty-one
attendees into groups of forty-five and thirty-six people. This dinner
went against government restrictions that had been introduced on 18
August. Further, it was reported that the event had not adhered to
social distancing and general public health guidelines. Amongst the
attendees were many prominent current and former elected officials.
Notably, European Commissioner for Trade Phil Hogan; Chief Justice
Séamus Woulfe; Minister for Agriculture Dara Calleary, TD; Fianna
Fáil senators Niall Blaney, Paul Daly and Aidan Davitt; and Fine Gael
senators Jerry Buttimer, Paddy Burke and John Cummins (see
Hosford, 2020; McDermot, 2020).
The scandal, that came to be known as Golfgate, caused uproar
amongst the public. Dara Calleary resigned his post as Minister for
Agriculture. Jerry Buttimer, Paddy Burke and John Cummins all had
the Fine Gael whip removed by party leader Tánaiste Leo Varadkar.
Further, Buttimer resigned from his post as Leas-Cathaoirleach of
Seanad Éireann. Similarly, the three Fianna Fáil senators Niall
Blaney, Paul Daly and Aidan Davitt had the party whip removed by
Taoiseach Micheál Martin (see McDermot, 2020).
Initially, Phil Hogan stated that he had completed a fourteen-day
quarantine after returning from his base in Brussels before attending
the dinner. Further, he apologised and stated that he would not have01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 12
12 DAVID HUGH MOORE
attended the dinner had he known it was in contravention of
government restrictions. However, over the coming week, it emerged
that, during his time in Ireland, Mr Hogan had visited several counties
while he was supposed to be in quarantine. He later claimed that he
had received a negative Covid-19 test. However, at the time the Irish
government did not accept such tests in lieu of quarantine. In this time
period, Mr Hogan initially stayed in his apartment in Kildare before
travelling to Dublin, Limerick, Kilkenny and Galway. Some of these
movements were in a professional capacity. Also, at least once, Mr
Hogan crossed county borders in Kildare while the county was in a
local lockdown. Mr Hogan’s position came under pressure from the
Taoiseach and Tánaiste. On 26 August, after the intervention of
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Mr Hogan
resigned his position as EU Commissioner for Trade (see McGrath,
2020). The Irish government nominated Mairead McGuinness and
Andrew McDowell to replace him. Ms von der Leyen selected Ms
McGuinness to become Ireland’s new European Commissioner (see
O’Leary, 2020b).
In the wake of the dinner, Séamus Woulfe, who had yet to hear a
case as a Supreme Court Justice, apologised for attending the dinner
but attributed blame to the organisers of the event. As was the case for
most public officials who were in attendance, there were calls for him
to resign. On 24 August the Supreme Court ordered a review into Mr
Woulfe’s attendance of the dinner. Former Chief Justice Susan
Denham was appointed to handle this review. On 1 October Denham
published her report. This concluded that Woulfe should not have
attended the dinner but had not broken any laws or guidelines, and
that a resignation would be ‘unjust and disproportionate’. Following
the publication of the report, Chief Justice Frank Clarke sought a
meeting with Mr Woulfe. This meeting was repeatedly postponed at
the behest of Mr Woulfe. On the fifth time of asking, the two finally
met. During this meeting, the Chief Justice was critical of Mr Woulfe.
Mr Clarke stated that Mr Woulfe’s actions had caused significant and
irreparable damage to the Supreme Court. He informed Woulfe that
he would not list him for any cases until February 2021 and that, in his
opinion, Woulfe should resign. Mr Woulfe refused to resign, which
created a mini constitutional crisis. Taoiseach Micheál Martin met
members of the opposition on 13 November to discuss a common
approach to the matter. No such approach could be agreed and on 17
November Martin stated that the government would not pursue any
further action against Woulfe (see O’Donnell, 2020).01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 13
Political developments, 2020 13
The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby
Homes and certain related matters
In May 2014 the remains of almost 800 babies were found in a mass
grave next to the Tuam Mother and Baby Home, Co. Galway. The
home was run by the Bon Secours nuns. In 2015 the then Minister for
Children and Youth Affairs, Dr James Reilly, TD, announced that the
government had appointed three commissioners to lead the
Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and
certain related matters to investigate all mother and baby homes in the
state, including Tuam. The independent commission was given a €21
million budget and a three-year deadline.
By 2020, after several extensions to the deadline, the commission
had amassed tens of thousands of records. These included personal
testimony from survivors as well as documents from religious orders
and local authorities that shed light on how the homes were run. At
the end of October, prior to the commission submitting its final report,
the government announced it needed to pass legislation that would
allow for the transfer of a database of records from the commission to
Tusla, the child and family agency. When questioned of the need for
legislation, Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman, TD, said that
earlier this year the commission told his department that it did not
think it had the legal basis to transfer the database. This meant the
records could potentially be destroyed. The government also
maintained that it was legally bound to seal the records for thirty years
after publication, citing the 2004 Commission of Investigations Act
(see Ryan, N., 2020).
The government’s position caused outcry across Irish society.
Several legal experts disagreed with the government’s interpretation
of the 2004 Act, saying it was superseded by the EU’s General Data
Protection Regulations (GDPR). A petition not to seal the records
was signed by 200,000 people (see Ryan, Ó, 2020). The legislation
brought forward by the government in October did not specifically
deal with the records. This led to heated debate in the Dáil, with over
60 amendments tabled by opposition TDs, all of which the government
rejected. The bill passed with every opposition TD, bar two members
of the Rural Independent Group, voting against it (see Ní Aodha,
2020). Many survivors and campaigners said that this legislation was a
missed opportunity to clarify that the records would not be sealed and
was part of a wider policy of secrecy that has been adopted by
successive governments (see Ryan, Ó, 2020).01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 14
14 DAVID HUGH MOORE
After the bill had passed the Dáil, both the Data Protection
Commissioner and the Attorney General separately stated that sealing
the records would contravene GDPR. The government later clarified
that people would, in fact, be entitled to request access to their
personal records under GDPR. However, people may still be refused
access to certain information. The final report is due to be published
in early 2021 (see Brennan et al., 2020).
Bobby Storey funeral
Sinn Féin leadership, both north and south of the border, came under
criticism after several prominent members of the party attended the
funeral of former chairman of Sinn Féin Bobby Storey. In attendance
were the President of Sinn Féin and Leader of the Opposition, Mary
Lou McDonald, TD; Sinn Féin Finance Spokesperson Pearse
Doherty, TD; Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Michelle
O’Neill, MLA; Northern Ireland Minister of Finance Conor Murphy,
MLA; and former President of Sinn Féin and ex-TD Gerry Adams.
The funeral appeared to violate government coronavirus restrictions
and public health guidelines. Thousands of mourners lined the streets
as the funeral procession passed while several hundred gathered at the
republican plot in Milltown Cemetery to hear tributes to Mr Storey.
There appeared to be little social distancing amongst mourners.
Further, many in the public were enraged by the attendance of
prominent members of Sinn Féin given the numbers permitted to
attend funerals had been severely restricted on both sides of the
border. Sinn Féin denied any wrongdoing, stating that they were at all
times compliant with public health guidelines. There were also
questions as to whether those from south of the border were allowed
to travel such a distance. Ms McDonald did acknowledge that the
images from the funeral would have caused hurt to those who had lost
loved ones since the introduction of coronavirus restrictions (see
McDowell, 2020). On 17 December the Police Service of Northern
Ireland submitted a file on the police investigation into whether
regulations were breached during the funeral to the North’s Public
Prosecution Service (see Moriarty, 2020a).
Leo Varadkar
On 31 October Village magazine reported that Taoiseach Leo
Varadkar had leaked confidential documents. These documents
included a draft contract between the Health Service Executive and01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 15
Political developments, 2020 15
GPs. This contract had been agreed but was still subject to acceptance
by GPs. At the time, this document was not available to members of
the Oireachtas. The Village article included screenshots of WhatsApp
messages between Mr Varadkar and Maitiú O’Tuathail, President of
the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP), an
organisation outside of the contract negotiations. These included a
cover of the leaked document with ‘confidential not for circulation’
marked on the front cover. The article claimed that Mr Varadkar’s
leaks might be unlawful. Mr Varadkar denied these accusations,
stating that the article was ‘inaccurate and grossly defamatory’.
On 3 November Mr Varadkar addressed the Dáil. In this address,
Varadkar acknowledged that he sent the draft agreement of a new GP
contract to the NAGP. He stated that this was an error of judgement
but also stated that any suggestion that he had anything to gain
personally from leaking the document was false, without foundation
and deeply offensive. Mr Varadkar went on to say that he had wished
to use the influence of the office of the Taoiseach to secure a new
contract for GPs. Mr Varadkar stated that this was the only occasion
where he had leaked official government documents. Leader of the
Opposition Mary Lou McDonald stated that it was clear Mr Varadkar
had abused his position as Taoiseach. Several other members of the
opposition parties expressed similar sentiments. However, no motion
of confidence in the Tánaiste was tabled (see Leahy, 2020c).
Ireland and international relations
On 18 June Ireland was elected to the UN Security Council, having
beaten both Canada and Norway in a three-horse race. Ireland takes
a seat on the fifteen-member body in 2021 and 2022 (see Department
of Foreign Affairs, 2020).
On 9 July Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe, TD, was elected
President of the Eurogroup of Finance Ministers, succeeding
Portugal’s Mario Centeno. His term commenced on 13 July and runs
for two and a half years. The Eurogroup is the body through which the
finance ministers of the nineteen euro area member states make
decisions on policies relating to the management of the euro (see
Department of Finance, 2020).
The UK officially left the EU at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020.
However, there was a transition period until 31 December 2020 to
allow a trade deal to be negotiated, as well as various regulatory issues
to be sorted. As the transition period neared its end there was still no01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 16
16 DAVID HUGH MOORE
deal between the UK and the EU. The main issues preventing a deal
were ensuring a level playing field between the two countries in order
to avoid unfair competition, fisheries and a mechanism to settle trade
disputes between the UK and the EU. On Christmas Eve the two
parties concluded the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
This provided an orderly Brexit, with both sides making concessions
on the salient issues. Importantly, there was no hard border between
the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The agreement was
ratified by both sides in late December and came into effect on 1
January 2020. For a more in-depth account of the Brexit negotiations,
please see the article by Malone in this issue.
The US presidential election took place on Tuesday 3 November.
The results took longer to come in than usual given the increase in
absentee, early and mail-in voting due to the Covid-19 pandemic. By
the end of the week, it had become clear that Joe Biden had won the
election. In Ireland this was viewed positively for two reasons. Firstly,
incumbent President Donald Trump had been an enigmatic presence
on the world stage, with people viewing Mr Biden as likely to be more
traditional and therefore easier to work with. Secondly, President-
Elect Biden has close Irish roots with great-grandfathers from Co.
Mayo and Co. Louth. Biden has been vocal on his pride for his Irish
roots in the past. Further, Mr Biden is also a strong supporter of the
Good Friday Agreement. Therefore, the election of Mr Biden as the
forty-sixth president of the US was seen as positive for both Irish–
American relations and the future of Northern Ireland as Brexit
evolves (see McClements & O’Halloran, 2020).
Political developments in Northern Ireland
Since the Northern Ireland Assembly election in 2016, the major
parties in Northern Ireland had not been able to come to an
agreement on a legislative programme that would restore the country’s
power-sharing agreement. Both then-Tánaiste Simon Coveney, TD,
and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Julian Smith, MP,
facilitated negotiations for the restoration of power-sharing. In late
2019 Mr Smith set a deadline of 13 January for an agreement to be
reached. If no agreement had been reached by this date a new
assembly election would be called (see Moore, D. H., 2020). On 13
January, after three years with no government, the two parties backed
a deal to restore the power-sharing assembly in Stormont (see Carroll,
2020b).01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 17
Political developments, 2020 17
On 8 October Northern Ireland recorded more than 1,000 new
cases of Covid-19 in the preceding 24 hours. Given its small
population, this meant that Northern Ireland had one of the worst
infection rates of Covid-19 in the world. Throughout the pandemic,
First Minister and Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)
Arlene Foster had been reluctant to impose lockdowns, with
accusations that she wanted to keep Northern Ireland in sync with the
rest of the UK. On 14 October Northern Ireland went into a partial 4-
week lockdown, with commentators stating that this was both too little
and too late. A series of easing and tightening of restrictions followed,
with the DUP far more reluctant to introduce restrictions than Sinn
Féin, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Alliance and the Ulster
Unionist Party. Throughout this time there was a lack of cross-border
cooperation. This greatly worried the government in Dublin as border
counties such as Donegal and Monaghan were experiencing high
levels of Covid-19 infections (see ‘The Irish Times view’, 2020). At
year end, Northern Ireland had 72,834 reported cases of Covid-19 with
1,322 deaths resulting from the disease (see Halpin, 2020).
In January the former Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland,
and a founder of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Séamus
Mallon, passed away at the age of 83. Mr Mallon had been
instrumental in ending the Troubles and bringing peace to Northern
Ireland (see Dillion, 2020).
In August Nobel Peace Prize winner, founding member of the
Social Democratic and Labour Party, and former member of the
European, Westminster and Northern Ireland parliaments, John
Hume, passed away aged 83. Mr Hume, who was committed to
peaceful nationalism, is considered one of the architects of the Good
Friday Agreement, which led to the end of the Troubles and to peace
in Northern Ireland (see Moriarty, 2020b).
Economic growth and Budget 2021
The Irish economy had entered 2020 in a strong position. However,
the Covid-19 pandemic caused Ireland to experience a severe
recession. The economy rebounded somewhat in the third quarter,
growing by nearly 11.1 per cent. The Economic and Social Research
Institute forecast GDP growth at 3.4 per cent despite record
unemployment. In order to tackle the pandemic, the budget
announced by Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe included a
record government expenditure of €17.75 billion. The budget01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 18
18 DAVID HUGH MOORE
included measures to assist the sectors worst affected by the pandemic,
with measures such as VAT rate cuts for hospitality and tourism (see
Power, 2020).
Other significant political events
In February the Citizen’s Assembly on gender equality began its
formal hearings. Over the past half a decade, Ireland has been
undergoing a process of liberalising its Constitution and the Citizen’s
Assembly met to continue this process (see Moore, 2019). Amongst
many topics discussed was Article 41.2 of an Bunreacht na hÉireann,
which references women’s ‘life in the home’. The assembly called for
this to be removed from the Constitution (see McGreevy, 2020).
In April, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court held its
first-ever hearing through video technology (see O’Loughlin, 2020).
In June Supreme Court Judge Ms Mary Irvive became the first
female President of the High Court (see Duffy, 2020).
In July the European General Court annulled the decision taken by
the European Commission regarding Ireland’s €13.1 billion tax ruling.
The court found that the Commission had failed to show that Apple
had received a selective economic advantage through their tax
treatment by the Irish Revenue Commission (see O’Connell, 2020).
In December the free-trade agreement between the EU and
Canada, known as the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement
(CETA), was due to be ratified by the Dáil. The Green Party had been
against the deal when it was negotiated as there were concerns that the
deal would have implications for Ireland and the EU’s ability to tackle
climate change. The vote to ratify CETA was postponed until 2021 to
allow Green Party leader Eamon Ryan time to whip his party’s votes
(see Moore, A., 2020).
In December the UN ranked Ireland as the second-best country in
the world for quality of life, coming in second only to Norway in the
ranking of 189 counties (see O’Leary, 2020a).
At year end the Irish Polling Indicator had support for the political
parties at 31 per cent for Fine Gael, 29.5 per cent for Sinn Féin, and
18 per cent for Fianna Fáil. Independent candidates enjoyed a 9.5 per
cent share, while Labour and the Greens had 4.5 and 3.5 per cent
support, respectively. The Social Democrats were estimated at 2.5 per
cent, while Solidarity–People Before Profit was estimated at 2 per cent
(Louwerse & Müller, 2020).01 Moore article.qxp_Admin 69-1 22/02/2021 14:59 Page 19
Political developments, 2020 19
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