Micheál Martin's return as Ireland's leader delayed by parliamentary wrangling

DUBLIN (AP) — Irish lawmakers met Wednesday to appoint a new prime minister, but quickly abandoned the attempt amid bitter wrangling over parliamentary procedure.

The chaotic scenes mean the expected appointment of veteran politician Micheál Martin must wait until at least Thursday.

“I think that what happened today was shocking," Martin said after a day of arguments and delays in the Dáil, parliament’s lower house. "This is the first time, I think, in over 100 years that the Dáil has failed to elect a government to fulfil its constitutional obligation.”

Attempts to form a new government come 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 Martin was set to be confirmed by members of the Dáil on Wednesday.

But speaker Verona Murphy repeatedly suspended the session as lawmakers argued about whether independents who back the government should be given opposition speaking time. She finally adjourned the session until Thursday morning.

Once Martin is approved, he will be formally appointed to the job by President Michael D. Higgins before naming 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 junior 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.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin talks to the media outside the government building in Dublin, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Irish independent politician who has served as a Teachta Dala, Michael Lowry, speaks to journalists ahead of the election of Fianna Fail's Micheal Martin in Dublin, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

President of Sinn Fein Mary Louise McDonald arrives at Leinster House ahead of the election of Fianna Fail's Micheal Martin for Prime Minister in Dublin, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, right and Fine Gael's Simon Harris talk to the media outside the government building in Dublin, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, right, and Fine Gael's Simon Harris talk to the media outside the government building in Dublin, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin and deputy leader Jack Chambers during the Fianna Fail ard fheis conference at the Radisson Hotel, in Dublin, Sunday Jan. 19, 2025. (Gareth Chaney/PA via AP)

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin speaks to the media, in Dublin, Sunday Jan. 19, 2025. (Gareth Chaney/PA via AP)

PARIS (AP) — Actor Gérard Depardieu acknowledged Tuesday that he used crude and heated language around a woman who accuses him of sexual assault and grabbed her hips but denied assaulting her, as he testified for the first time at his landmark trial in Paris.

“I understand perfectly if she’s a bit upset,” he said of the set dresser he worked with on a movie in 2021. He acknowledged that he sometimes has a potty mouth, telling the court: “I am capable of trash talk.” And he admitted that he was wrong to use heated language with the woman when they had an on-set argument about a painting.

“I don’t have to talk like that, get angry like that, voilà," he said in his gruff, deep voice so familiar to global cinemagoers.

The 76-year-old former Oscar nominee has denied sexual assault allegations filed by the 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant. The women allege that he groped them during filming in 2021 of “Les Volets Verts” (“The Green Shutters”). The actor faces up to five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros ($81,000) if convicted.

Depardieu acknowledged that he did "grab the hips” of the set dresser during their argument on set about whether a painting was good or bad art.

But he said his gesture hadn't been ill-intentioned and argued that she hadn't appeared offended, saying: “She didn’t answer as if I was assaulting her.”

He acknowledged that sometimes his behavior is regarded as boorish.

“I’ve always been told I have a Russian nature, I don’t know if it’s because of the drinking or the vulgarity,” he said.

But he said he's not a predator. “I’m not touching the butts of women,” he said.

Because of Depardieu’s fame and impact on the French movie industry, his trial is seen as an important test of French willingness to confront sexual violence and hold influential men accountable.

Actor Gerard Depardieu, center, returns to the courtroom after a break for his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

A plaintiff returns to the courtroom as actor Gerard Depardieu faces his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

A plaintiff arrives as actor Gerard Depardieu face his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, with his lawyer Jeremie Assous ,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Actor Gerard Depardieu returns to the courtroom after a break for his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Actor Gerard Depardieu, left, arrives at his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, with his lawyer Jeremie Assous ,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Actor Gerard Depardieu, second right,, arrives at his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, with his lawyer Jeremie Assous, right,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

A plaintiff arrives as actor Gerard Depardieu face his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, with his lawyer Jeremie Assous ,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Actor Gerard Depardieu, left, arrives at his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, with his lawyer Jeremie Assous ,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Actor Gerard Depardieu, left, arrives at his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, with his lawyer Jeremie Assous ,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Actor Gerard Depardieu, left, arrives at his trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, with his lawyer Jeremie Assous ,Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)