'Politics is politics': Michael Lowry's summation of the carve-up of the Ceann Comhairle role
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"Politics is politics".
That was the assessment of Michael Lowry, the Tipperary North TD who suddenly found himself a kingmaker, when asked if a carve-up of the Ceann Comhairle's job had devalued the role's independence.
Anyone, he said, was welcome to put forward a candidate and wrangle for the job. His regional independent grouping had simply asked for the support of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and was met with it as Verona Murphy became the first woman to ever hold the job of the chair of the Dáil.
Likewise, Mr Lowry said that the job was never an ask of his group in government formation.
"In fact, in our negotiations, we never made a demand that Verona would have to be elected Ceann Comhairle. It was never a condition of all the engagement with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael," Mr Lowry said.
The first point — that the job has never truly been completely out of the realpolitik — is fair. Even since the 2016 reform of the role's voting to a secret ballot, there has always been some element of horsetrading involved in getting a candidate over the line.
And while Mr Lowry may never have outright told Micheál Martin and Simon Harris that the historic win was the price of doing business, politics is largely about reading between the lines.
Mr Lowry's nine TDs, along with a couple of others, are now seen as all but certain to become the third leg of a coalition stool, and while he will argue that Ms Murphy's ascension to the Ceann Comhairle's seat has no bearing on that, it certainly will not hurt.
On Wednesday, as the 34th Dáil met for the first time, there was an odd spectre of Fianna Fáil TDs voting in favour of a former Fine Gael candidate who has spent four years critiquing its party's performance in government. And, not just that, doing so in opposition to two of its own — Sean Ó Fearghaíl and John McGuinness.
While Mr Lowry may not have put the job on the table as an avenue to his grouping's support, Mr Martin is not a novice at realpolitik. The chances of the Tánaiste asking his party to vote against its own without having at least a gut feeling that it would smooth the road ahead with the remaining independents are small.
He will not have burned through that kind of political capital without having something coming back in return.
The decision by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to back Ms Murphy does not in and of itself write the programme for government. It does not nail down who will be Taoiseach first or who gets what portfolio.
But it makes the overall conversation a lot easier. Any other arrangement now is not unthinkable, but as close as possible.
Asked about the next steps in government formation talks, Mr Lowry said "obviously, we move on". "I think most people want to go to Christmas break. We've had local elections, general elections, and we've had this. So I think we're all fatigued."
He said that talks would continue until Friday and would resume after Christmas. At which point, the way is cleared for two weeks of talks and votes and a government on January 22.