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

The case which has lead to the voiding of a section of law intended to protect children from sexual predators is another example of a failure to plan or anticipate outcomes. Surely, the judicial system including the AG’s office and the dept of justice was aware that this case was coming before the Supreme Court. [...]

[originally posted to BrianGreene.com]

click to enrage enlarge. [both photos in or near Dublin North East mid-late May 2006(six)] is the election on? are the posters ready, are the plastic ties counted, the corry board booked? the ghost bloggers employed? the franking machine adverts booked? spat with junior partner organised? check. Go Go Go.

Last week the Supreme Court held that the current crime of unlawful carnal knowledge (also known as statutory rape) was unconstitutional leading to a tidal wave of recriminations, worries and hyperbole (judgment). Doubts had been expressed about the constitutionality of this law for some time, and this decision shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone in government. As a result it is true that, as Joan Burton argued on Monday’s Q&A, the law should either have been amended at some stage between the 1990 report of the Law Reform Commission identifying this difficulty and the present, or there should have been draft legislation on hand to be introduced immediately should the court reach this (almost inevitable) decision. That emergency legislation would have allowed protection to be introduced for young people as quickly as possible while also creating an enabling environment for debate around the deep moral and social issues this Supreme Court judgment has forced us to consider. As it stands, the lack of any such emergency legislation means that we will now have a Bill before the Dail in two weeks time that will equalise the age of consent at 16 years (RTE News) and allow Ireland to continue to play the ostrich in relation to the sexualisation of young people. Some people never learn…

[Originally posted at Potatriotique]
Friday, 26th May 2006, saw the culmination of a number of public events this month broadly dealing with various aspects of family diversity, that is to say, families outside the traditional mammy-daddy-2point4-children marital unit.
After the recent launch and speech in April by our Bertie at the GLEN offices, the month of Mary [...]

A spokesperson for the Civil Service, in answer to outraged criticism, stated that the 40% earnings differential between the Public Sector & the Private Sector represented the fact that Public Sector workers weremostly highly educated University Graduates.
No mention of the added value of the work carried out.
No mention of the Top-Hat Pensions - a substantial [...]

A while back, Fiona broke blogger hearts by deciding to keep her opinions to herself. Well no longer, she has kindly agreed to come back and do a weekly column (on a Wednesday, I think) for Irish Election. She should be starting this Wednesday all going well. Dont forget to stop by and give her [...]

And yes I was hoping for a little more engagement
John Gormley thanks for agreeing to talk to us;
IE.com: The Green Party are enjoying 7% support in the polls and the national agenda currently seems to suit them (sustainable energy, public transport etc.) What are Greens looking for at the next election? Is there a potential [...]

So its that time again when everyone rushes to figure out what the latest poll is saying about the state of voter intentions. RedC research, has the latest poll out in tomorrow’s edition of the Sunday Business Post. As RedC use a different methodology, its only fair to stick in the TNS / MRBI figures [...]

Round up of the news from the Local Papers. Feel free to comment on any stories.
Western PeopleO’Mahony still in election race
WITH a date set for the Fine Gael convention, the countdown for potential candidates to declare themselves is on with high profile football manager John O’Mahony still in the running.
Speculation has been rife in recent [...]

Just had the bould Minister of Defence Wilbert O’Dea and his crazy gang call at the door. The ‘conversation’ went as follows:
Lackey: Hurr…hurr…em…you’re a student are you? Hurrr…hurr… [holds out Willie's card]

Myself: Yes, but…
Lackey: (interrupting) Hurr…hurrr…you won’t be voting so…. [starts to withdraw card]
Myself: I certainly will. I’m a registered voter.
Lackey: (unconvinced) Hmmm…A student…hurr…hurrr
[Willie approaches [...]

It is the ultimate struggle for many people. The decision they thought they would never have to make. The decision that divides many to the very core. Usually many people would be happy seeing people throwing stuff at McDowell thinking the “Herr McDowell authoritarian Minister for injustice” deserves everything he gets. But who do they [...]

Some years ago, during Michael Martin’s brief on Health, a well-known orthopaedic surgeon told a group of chaps a story about St. Vincent’s Hospital, which encapsulates the farce that has made the A+E such a mess.
He instructed the duty nurse to put a patient in a splint and send him home.
What he didn’t realise, until [...]

THE HEADLINE in today’s Irish Times reports the findings of The National Statistics Office (CSO) on Employment and Earnings. It is described as a New Survey - albeit three years late.
No matter. Bertie claims that the Minimum Wage was his Magnus Opus and, judging from his love affair with Socialism; CORI and the trade unions, [...]

Watching ‘Leaders Questions’ every Wednsday can be a chore to even the biggest news-junkie but more often than not those who do manage to sit through the entire thing are rewarded with a few choice quotes and clashes.This week was no different, with Green Party leader Trevor Sergent poking fun at Ahern for his sickeningly [...]

Ireland once had what was termed a 2 and 1/2 party system. It might be now said to have a 2 and 7/8s party system.The Irish electoral system has by in large been kinder to the larger parties in terms of seat bonuses when comparing to the smaller parties.. Both FF and FG have benefited [...]

It looks like Labour are catching up with the Greens for the best use of internet technology award. Not only has Liz McManus got a blog. All be it not an often updated blog compared to Ciaran Cuffe’s blog. But they have a flickr page now so check it out. All they need now is [...]