Accelerated timeline to pass Finance Bill, says Chambers

Minister for Finance Jack Chambers has confirmed there will be an "accelerated timeline" for the passing of the Finance Bill to facilitate a general election.

He said the legislation will go back into the Dáil on 5 November, but the original schedule of concluding the bill in late November or early December did not synchronise with an election.

"We are working on an updated sequencing and scheduling of that but clearly it will be in a much quicker timeframe in its conclusion that it was in recent years to facilitate a general election."

He added that the Government would agree whether the new schedule for the Finance Bill would take a "week or a second week" in November.

He also said the Government would be in receipt of portions of Apple's tax money in the coming weeks.

Minister Chambers, who is director of elections for Fianna Fáil, said the party had to conclude the convention for Cavan Monaghan and, following the announcement of the retirement of sitting TD Jackie Cahill last night, the party had to finish selection for Tipperary North.

He said there was ongoing work on reviewing tickets and electoral strategy and added that the party would meet the 40% gender quota.

Earlier, Taoiseach Simon Harris said the general election will happen "within the next number of short weeks", but did not indicate what date that will be.

Speaking on his way into this morning's Cabinet meeting, he said people will be told at least three weeks in advance of it being held.

He said it will not take place until the Finance Bill is "sorted first" along with other work that needs to be done.

The committee stage of the bill will commence on 5 November.

The Taoiseach said he has a good idea of the date of the election and it will take place on a Friday.

The leaders of the three Government parties agreed last night that the general election will take place in 2024.

Mr Harris said the meeting was "very good" and that he has always said he will consult on the best date to hold the general election and he would not be taking anyone by surprise.

He also said he is not concerned that 18 Fine Gael TDs are not contesting the next election, adding that every constituency has strong candidates and in every election lots of new people are elected.

He said these candidates are not new to their communities, but acknowledged that politics is "much more intense now".

Meanwhile, Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said that the passage of the Finance Bill will determine a lot about the general election date as he outlined his prediction.

"I think it could either be the 29th of November or the 6th of December," he said.

He acknowledged that there is "a significant number of deputies opting out" of the general election and he described the "loss" of Fianna Fáil TD Jackie Cahill stating he would not be running.

However, he said that also creates opportunities for others and said there is always change before every election.

He believes there is a stronger team of candidates now than they had in 2020 with high quality people coming on board.

Mr Martin said politics is "perhaps more challenging now" as he referenced the stress and strain that social media can have on people.

However, he said it is important "to keep balance in perspective" when commenting on political life generally.

He outlined the importance of attracting younger people and those with particular skillsets into politics.

Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman has said while the Taoiseach has yet to confirm the date for the election, there is clarity that it will happen this year and that "allows everyone to plan as such".

He said his party will be setting out clearly the management of the immigration system as it is one element of their election campaign.

"From my own experience out canvassing it is coming up a lot less as an issue now than maybe it was the first half of this year," he said.

However, Mr O'Gorman said it is an issue that the next government will have to address and added that his party has "set out very clearly" its approach to processing applications and accommodation.

He accused many of the opposition parties of "being vague" on this and said he thinks the vagueness of their policies will be "found out during an election campaign".

Additional reporting Karen Creed