Ireland is finally set to get a new government, led by a familiar face

DUBLIN (AP) — Veteran politician Micheál Martin is set to become Ireland’s prime minister for a second time on Wednesday when lawmakers formally approve him as head of a coalition government.

The confirmation comes almost two months after an election in which Martin’s Fianna Fáil party won the most seats, but not enough to govern alone.

After weeks of talks, the long-dominant center-right parties Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael agreed to form a coalition with the support of several independent lawmakers.

Under the deal, Martin. 64, will be taoiseach, or prime minister, for three years, with Fine Gael’s Simon Harris – the outgoing taoiseach – as his deputy. The two politicians will then swap jobs for the rest of the five-year term.

Members of both parties have ratified the government agreement, and Matin is set to be confirmed by members of the Dáil, parliament’s lower house, on Wednesday. He will then be formally appointed to the job by President Michael D. Higgins before appointing his Cabinet.

In Ireland’s Nov. 29 election, voters bucked a global trend that saw incumbent governments ousted around the world in 2024. Fianna Fail won 48 of the 174 legislative seats and Fine Gael 38. They’ve secured backing to govern from the mostly conservative Regional Independent Group, which will be given two ministerial positions.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil share broadly similar center-right policies but a century-old rivalry stemming from their origins on opposing sides of Ireland’s civil war in the 1920s. They formed an alliance after the 2020 election ended in a virtual dead heat.

Their new agreement shuts out left-of-center party Sinn Fein, which will stay in opposition despite winning 39 seats. Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have refused to work with them because of their historic ties with the Irish Republican Army during three decades of violence in Northern Ireland.

The new government faces huge pressure to ease rising homelessness, driven by soaring rents and property prices, and to better absorb a growing number of asylum-seekers.

The cost of living — especially Ireland’s acute housing crisis — was a dominant topic in the election campaign, and immigration has become an emotive and challenging issue in a country of 5.4 million people long defined by emigration.