The process of nominating a new prime minister led to widespread unrest and clashes.
Lawmakers in the Republic of Ireland have abandoned their efforts to appoint a new prime minister amid bitter disagreements over parliamentary procedures.
Chaotic scenes in Parliament on Wednesday mean that the nomination of Fianna Fail’s Michael Martin will have to wait until at least Thursday.
The Speaker, O Dail, suspended the chamber for a fourth time after Sinn Féin expressed anger at plans to allow independent parliamentarians, some of whom support the next government, to join them on the opposition benches.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald claimed that Fianna Fáil wanted to “put fellow independents, government supporters, on the opposition benches and give them the same speaking rights as the opposition”.
Following elections held in Ireland on November 29, a coalition agreement was reached last week between the country’s two largest centre-right parties and a group of independent lawmakers. Martin’s party won the most seats, but not enough to govern alone.
Fianna Fail won 48 of the 174 legislative seats, and Fine Gael won 38 seats. The two parties share broadly similar centre-right policies despite opposing each other during Ireland’s bloody civil war in the 1920s.
Under the coalition deal, Martin is expected to become Prime Minister – or Taoiseach – for three years, with Fine Gael’s Simon Harris, the outgoing leader, as his deputy. The two politicians then swap jobs for the rest of the five-year period.
The agreement excludes the ruling centre-left Sinn Féin party, which will remain in opposition despite winning 39 seats.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fail had refused to work with them because of their historical ties to the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during decades of violence in Northern Ireland.
The new government faces enormous pressure to alleviate growing homelessness, driven by rising rents and property prices, and to better accommodate a growing number of asylum seekers.
The cost of living – especially Ireland’s severe housing crisis – was the dominant topic of the election campaign, and immigration has become an emotive and challenging issue in a country of 5.4 million people that has long been characterized by immigration.