 On 24 January, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan Jnr reached an agreement with the opposition in Dáil Éireann to complete all stages of passing the finance bill in both houses of the Oireachtas by 29 January—following which the Dáil was to be dissolved immediately.Constitutionally, following a Dáil dissolution, an election must be held within 30 days.Following the collapse of the coalition, the then minority governing party, Fianna Fáil, sought to minimise its losses following historically low poll ratings in the wake of the Irish financial crisis.