Enda Kenny in the context of Mayo (Dáil constituency)

The Taoiseach is the head of the Government of Ireland. Under Article 13 of the Constitution of Ireland, the Taoiseach is appointed by the President of Ireland on the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas. The Taoiseach must be a member of Dáil Éireann.

After a general election or the resignation or death of a Taoiseach, members of the Dáil are proposed and seconded for the nomination of the Dáil to the position of Taoiseach. They are voted on in the order in which they are proposed. The candidate reaching a majority of votes cast wins the nomination, and is formally appointed as Taoiseach by the President in Áras an Uachtaráin. Before 2016, all successful candidates obtained the votes of 50% or more of the house, but following the 2016 election, Enda Kenny was elected with the votes of just over one-third of TDs after Fianna Fáil abstained as part of a confidence and supply arrangement. Since 2016, it has been possible to formally register an abstention in Dáil votes. The Ceann Comhairle casts a vote only in the case of a tie.

The Stormont House Agreement is a political accommodation between the British and Irish governments, and a majority of parties that make up the Northern Ireland Executive. The agreement was published on 23 December 2014. The Stormont House Agreement is intended to bind the parties and communities closer together on resolving identity issues, coming to a settlement on welfare reform, and on making government finance in Northern Ireland more sustainable. After ten weeks of further talks, it led to the Fresh Start Agreement in November 2015, which aimed to secure the full implementation of the Stormont House Agreement and to deal with the impact of continued paramilitary activity.

The agreement was named after the building where the negotiations took place; Stormont House, the provincial headquarters of the Northern Ireland Office. The talks were primarily chaired by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Theresa Villiers, though Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Charles Flanagan, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny also participated at various points.

Michael Noonan (born 21 May 1943) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Minister for Finance from 2011 to 2017, Leader of the Opposition and Leader of Fine Gael from 2001 to 2002, Minister for Health from 1994 to 1997, Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1986 to 1987, Minister for Energy from January 1987 to March 1987 and Minister for Justice from 1982 to 1986. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1981 to 2020.

Noonan had been a member of every Fine Gael cabinet since 1982, serving in the cabinets of Garret FitzGerald, John Bruton and Enda Kenny. During these terms of office, he held the positions of Justice, Energy, Industry and Commerce, Health and Finance. When Fine Gael lost power after the 1997 general election, Noonan remained an important figure in the party when he became Opposition Spokesperson for Finance.

The 2016 Irish general election to the 32nd Dáil was held on Friday 26 February, following the dissolution of the 31st Dáil by President Michael D. Higgins on 3 February, at the request of Taoiseach Enda Kenny. The general election took place in 40 Dáil constituencies throughout Ireland to elect to elect 158 Teachtaí Dála to Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas. There was a reduction of eight seats under the Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2013. Fine Gael were returned to government as a minority administration.

Fine Gael, led by Kenny, lost 26 seats, but remained the largest party in the Dáil with 50 seats. The main opposition party Fianna Fáil, which in 2011 had suffered its worst-ever election result of 20 seats, increased to 44 seats. Sinn Féin became the third-largest party with 23 seats. The Labour Party, which had been the junior party in coalition government with Fine Gael and which had returned its best-ever showing of 37 seats in 2011, fell to just 7 seats, its lowest-ever share of Dáil seats at the time. Smaller parties and independent politicians made up the remaining 34 seats.