Irish Election - Coverage of Irish Politics, News and Current Affairs

When Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair last summer, he was hit by the floods and then the foot and mouth outbreak — and went up in the polls. Brian Cowen might need a similar trend over the next couple of months. With Lisbon and the economy already looking like the hot potatoes of what should be a honeymoon period, today brings news that will have major symbolic impact — that the long-rumoured shift in Guinness operations out of St James’s Gate could be announced tomorrow. According to RTE, corporate parent Diageo’s CEO is flying in to make an announcement, which suggests it is not a run of the mill press release. So what does it mean [UPDATED]?

Continue reading ‘Cowen’s first crisis’ »

Bock has been following this for a while and gives his take on the Morris Tribunal report over on the blog, he is not impressed with the Gardai, neither is Justice Morris and neither is Jim Higgins.

Considering he was being moved on, it is clear that Lenihan was covering for any successor in dumping this report today. It will die as a new Minister takes time to “settle in” and, like the Lismullen authorisation, covers the successor and the incumbent at the same time.

From Bock:

But Mr Justice Fred Morris is a crafty old bird and he saw through the lies.  I’ll just give you a flavour of what he said in his report and you can read the whole lot on the tribunal web site if you want to.  Have a look at these extracts in Morris’s own words:

• Once again, the Tribunal was faced with Gardaí who were determined to hide the truth of what happened. They made statements to their superiors which were in many instances minimalist in their detail and failed to give a fully truthful account; in a number of instances the statements were a complete fabrication.

Continue reading ‘Reaction to the Morris Tribunal Report’ »

RTE’s summary of the Cabinet changes below.  Quick reaction: Brian Lenihan now the rapid riser (to Finance) after years of being arguably under-placed in Bertie’s cabinets.  But Cowen avoids the designation of an heir-apparent by splitting Tanaiste (Mary Coughlan) from the “great portfolios” (i.e. Finance and Foreign Affairs — Micheál Martin).  Dermot Ahern arguably demoted and Noel Dempsey arguably allowed to fantasize (if he was reading the papers) but then kept in place.

Continue reading ‘Cowen strategery’ »

In a packed Dail chamber, Brian Cowen was elected Taoiseach of Ireland after a vote to choose between him, Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore. The vote was won by 88 to 76.

He was nominated by Bertie Ahern himself however it only became quite raucous as Mary Harney seconded Cowen’s nomination and defended the government’s record - more particularly her own record - on Health.

Moment of the day has to be Jackie Healy-Rae inviting Brian Cowen to visit South Kerry with him “to fix potholes”. “The weather is getting very hot and I am under pressure”.

Hurrah, another dose of Noel Whelan on RTE. Wonderful.

Next up is the Cabinet around 6 pm, idle speculation and spin all welcome - would also love some photos of the Offaly invasion to the usual address.

Ivan Yates on RTE says all the money has been on Dempsey for Finance while Coughlan and Lenihan split the money for Tanaiste.

Fine Gael are criticising Brian Lenihan for a bit of news dumping today. The annual report of the Morris Tribunal into Garda misconduct in Donegal was released today amidst all the furore surrounding the ascension of Brian Cowen to the post of Taoiseach and perhaps Lenihan’s own promotion to Tanaiste. They have a point, this is the sort of report worthy of a newsdump, it will mean bad press and more of the same “bad apples” shtick from all involved.

The report makes serious findings against a number of members of An Garda Síochána involved. It finds that a number of persons were unlawfully arrested and detained, and that some were mistreated in custody, mainly through verbal and in some cases physical abuse. The Tribunal also does not accept the evidence to it of several members of An Garda Síochána, and strongly condemns the instances of mistreatment it has uncovered.

Continue reading ‘Lenihan Under Fire for Morris Tribunal Report Release, Gardai Criticised’ »

The Offaly Independent reports that a massive caravan of Offaly folk will descend on the Dail today to celebrate the election of Brian Cowen to the post of Taoiseach (at around 3.30pm - live on Oireachtas.ie)

“There`ll be a festive atmosphere,” Tom O`Donovan of O`Donovan Cowen Solicitors, a firm in which Minister Cowen is involved, said. The solicitors firm is planning to close it`s doors on Wednesday with most of the staff travelling to Dublin to join in the celebrations.
…
The Offaly contingent have even arranged a designated meeting point in the city which they are keeping tight lipped on for now.

Continue reading ‘Offaly on the Move to Dublin’ »

Just a short post linking to this BBC story apparently drawn from Paris and Brussels gossip about the candidates for the position of EU Council Presidency — a job of course whose existence later this year is dependent on Ireland passing the Lisbon treaty (and if the No votes spikes up with each round of Bertie hagiography, as it seems to, the treaty could be in more trouble after today).   Anyway, the gist of the story is that Tony Blair is out, despite support from Sarko, because Angie Merkel vetoed him over the Iraq war and the extensive UK opt-outs.  Other mentioned candidates include Jose Manuel Barroso, Anders Fogh Rasmussen (Danish PM), and EU Council veteran Jean-Claude Juncker (Luxembourg PM).  Noticeably absent from the list is Bertie himself, which could be due to any or all of (1) he was never really in the running, (2) some of the Irish opt-outs (e.g. Schengen) may be held against us, (3) the ability to broker oneself into the job weakens without a seat at the table or a powerful patron, or (4) some of the other Council members have been reading the Mahon coverage and wonder if banana skins still lie ahead.   Bottom line: the speculation about Bertie’s next slot probably shouldn’t include this job.

There are a large number of reasons I will be voting Yes in the forthcoming referendum. Some are to do with Ireland’s European experience to date, which because the changes are largely technical in nature, is a valid reason to vote yes. To a large extent, Lisbon serves as primarily as a lubricant for the European Union, allowing our Union to function more efficiently into the future.

There are also some important innovations in the Treaty which are worthy of our support as well, such as the linking of the Presidency of the Commission with the European parliaments election, the strengthening of the role of the national parliaments and the Citizens’ Initiative. That is not to say that the Lisbon Treaty is perfect, unfortunately, human nature is such that an document approved by representatives of 27 different national governments will contain compromises of various shapes and makes. Like any human document, it should not be compared against some form of idealised system, but rather what else was possible. To date, I am unaware of any organisation in this campaign highlighting a realistic alternative to Lisbon, bar a reversion to the status quo.

Over the coming weeks, I hope to set forward the various reasons I am voting yes. First off, the one that I am most enthused about is the Citizen’s Initiative. This is covered by Article 11.4 of the amended Treaty of the European Union, the text of which is:

“Not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of Member States may take the initiative of inviting the European Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Treaties.”
Continue reading ‘The Citizens’ Initiative - One of the reasons I’m voting Yes!’ »

Seamús Brennan has informed Brian Cowen that he won’t be putting himself forward for the incoming Taoiseach’s cabinet following speculation that he was for the chop in tomorrow’s reshuffle.

Legend has it that Brennan was not supposed to even be in Bertie Ahern’s cabinet of 2007 but he saved himself by taking the lead in the negotiations with The Green Party. At that time, it is believed, Ahern made clear that he would only make it to the mid-term reshuffle of 2009 and then his time would well and truly be up.

Brennan’s reason for stepping aside is apparently as a result of his recent health problems, however he has put himself forward for any future potential jobs - domestic or European.

At the very least he is jumping now to save himself the embarrassed of being pushed - but is he hoping that by making Cowen’s calculations a little easier he’ll be rewarded with a cushy number in Brussels?

Following in Young Fine Gael’s footsteps, the Labour party have announced a competition with a €1,000 prize for a 1 minute video extolling the virtues of the Lisbon Treaty. Unfortunately for the likes of me, while it appears to be open to raving right wingers, it is confined to those in second and third level education.

Its is all eyes on Cowen now as Bertie signals the end of his time at the top with today’s events in the Boyne Valley. Most interesting will be the signals sent to those who were thought to be his competitors in the leadership race - Michael Martin, Dermot Ahern and, to a lesser extent, Noel Dempsey and Mary Hanafin.

Continue reading ‘Who Gets What?’ »

*Sub-Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Fine Gael Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs Bill Timmins met with the Foreign Minister of the Tibeten Government in-exile today and suggested that the visit of the Dali Lama to the UK (May 20-31) represented a great chance to have him address the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Why not the Oireachtas as a whole?

It has been conventional wisdom that the rise in unemployment has primarily been related to the fall in the construction industry. The arguments of political and business leaders stress that the bulk of the economy is in good shape and we are simply going to have slower growth for a while.

Continue reading ‘Where we are Losing Jobs’ »

Bertie revealed yesterday evening that he has been offered, or at least in discussion about, a role as an international conflict mediator over the course of his trip.

ON THE last day of his US visit, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern revealed that he had received approaches “at the highest levels” about a role for him in international conflict resolution after he steps down from office…

“It has been raised at the highest levels all week,” he told reporters after his last official engagement of the visit at the library.

Continue reading ‘International Man of Mystery, Bertie Ahern’ »

The RPA released a consulation document today on the feasibility of a new Luas line ‘E’ from Dundrum to Christchurch, covering Terenure and Harold’s Cross. The proposal for line E was not included in Transport 21 but the RPA are hoping that the study will be included in a later revision of the project. It is certainly an area that could do with a Luas - as long as it is capable of running longer trams.

The only drawback to the Luas is that it has proved so successful. People living on either line have to be up very early in order to be sure to get a spot on the trams, as they are so small. Simon over at Tuppenceworth posted on this a while back in the context of the election.

In the current climate of constrained spending however the deal-clincher might well be that it is projected the E line would fall short of covering costs by E2 million a year. To me that sum appears to fall within the remit of government to cover in order to lower congestion and provide better public transport - the room for bus lanes on many of those roads is limited at best.

It is not all sweetness and light though, looking at the map attached, its clear that you are building quite close to the existing Luas, considering the amount of houses on the northside of the city, considerably more built up thanks to the construction boom, there is a fair argument that the southside is getting a lot of the goodies. Anyway this is all a moot point if the project doesn’t go ahead so have a look at the document and have your say.