The main political parties meet today to decide who will back for the coveted role of Ceann Comhairle in tomorrow’s Dail vote.
Verona Murphy is the preferred candidate for the Regional Independent Group, which may turn out to be the third element of a coalition government with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.
Meanwhile, Government formation talks are set to wrap up on Friday or next Monday for a break before Christmas and possibly won’t return until January 6th.
There’s some concern about splitting Justice with a new Domestic Affairs Department because the Garda Commissioner should only have one direct contact in the event of something like the Dublin riots happening again.
While it’s accepted Migration will be moved out of the Department of Children and Disability, which itself could just be a standalone department.
While there has been no examples coming from the talks, the possible merging of some Departments is also being considered.
