eolas examines the seating arrangements for the 31st Dáil.
A quick glance shows that the Dáil chamber has changed utterly due to the dramatic adjustment in party strengths. Fine Gael, with a vast swathe of blue, now occupy 76 seats where Fianna Fáil and the Green Party previously sat. Labour will remain in the middle section, where the party has sat for the last 14 years, but because it now boasts 37 TDs, two of them (Derek Nolan, Galway West, and Alex White, Dublin South), will sit in the back row of the main opposition benches beside Sinn Féin. Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin, Brian Lenihan, Éamon Ó uiv, Brendan Smith and Michael Kitt are seated beside Sinn Féin’s Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Mary Lou McDonald and Gerry Adams on the front row of the main Opposition benches. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin takes the seat previously occupied by Enda Kenny. The independent TDs will occupy the area in the top left-hand corner known as the ‘bullpen’ to the left of the Fianna Fáil leader, consisting of four rows with three seats each. The remainder will sit in the back row of the main opposition section.
Not only are the seating arrangements vastly different, the clothes and hairstyles of some have added extra colour to the chamber. The Oireachtas standards document states that: “Members should dress in a manner that reflects the dignity of the House.”
Similar to Westminster’s House of Commons, the Dáil Ceann Comhairle (Speaker) occupies a seat at the top of the chamber, with two clerks in front.
An Oireachtas spokeswoman explained that seating is worked out between the whips of the parties and technical groups.The factors taken into consideration include party strength and preferences for a particular seating area.
Seating arrangements can change during a Dáil term, for example, if there has been a by-election, a change in the relative strength of parties, or if the governing parties wished to rearrange their seating in some way.
The spokeswoman adds: “Subject to all this being agreed, the journal office produce a seating plan and the electronic vote system is updated to reflect this.”