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

From Breaking News.ie EAPN Ireland chairman Joe Gallagher said ‘relative’ poverty in Ireland is measured by not being able to afford certain necessities, like a warm coat or heating at home, while in most other developed countries, it is found by the number falling below 60% of ‘mean’ earnings. “By this measure, Ireland has the [...]

From The Meath Chronicle “The party’s TD Shane McEntee is expected to be selected to contest the general election with two others bidding for the second nomination, Co Meath VEC parent representative Ellen Cogavin, Dunboyne, and business woman Regina Doherty, Ratoath, Meath East FG constituency treasurer. \Candidates will be contesting for three Dail seats in [...]

[originally posted to BrianGreene.com] remember O’Toole’s law, it states “Murphy was an optimist” Well outgoing Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O’Toole will have to be optimistic as she enters gangland Ireland with Donegal and the Garda reserve issues as a back drop. As the murder rate in Ireland rises, it would be nice to hear that [...]

Reading a comment by S O Scollain elsewhere and I was struck by the notion that perhaps going into power with anybody after the election was less democratic. So question for the floor, we all have our ideas of democratic choice but is it more democratic to know before hand (i.e. pre-election pact) who you [...]

[originally posted to BrianGreene.com] Will he go wont he go. Or just politely say goodnight. When is the right time to hold the next election, the following piece in the turbine says lots about our crass political system. FRIDAY 11 May 2007 has emerged as the favoured date for the general election, meaning that by [...]

The Prime Time documentary. Harrowing Stuff. Requires Real Player. A&E – A National Emergency Prime Time Investigates looks behind the scenes at patient conditions in Accident & Emergency departments and gets the views of stakeholders on how A&E overcrowding can be tackled Questions and Answers debate afterwards

It looked for a while that immigration might come an issue in the next election. Especially with Pat Rabbitee’s 40 million poles comment. But since then it has dropped off the radar screens. However it has reared it’s head again. This time A group of Afghan asylum seekers vowed today to starve themselves to death [...]

Potato has an interesting response to the strikes at Cork, Limerick and Dublin which has crippled the rail network South/South-West.

Update: Originally posted as mine but actually Gerry’s post Is that a trick question? Of course they matter. But the question is do the personalities of party leaders matter sufficiently to swing the outcome of an election? There is a belief that such personalities are hugely important and this is reflected in the way the [...]

Tomorrow in the Kilmeedy area of County Limerick, an excersise is to take place to see how well we are prepared for an outbreak of bird flu. (see front page of today’s Irish Times) A total of 6,000 chickens, which the Department of Agriculture claim are past their productive lives, will be slaughtered when CO2 [...]

There seems to be a conflict of interest in Government, as Ministers retain constituency responsibilities while their Portfolio Brief covers the 26 counties. Surely they should relinquish all local responsibilities if they are to function in a transparent manner, for the benefit of the country as a whole? Following on that, we never seem to [...]

I know we go on about this a bit. But anyway Fine Gael and Labour disagree again. On Tuesday in the Dail. Billy Timmins of Fine Gael said of the Triple Lock (UN approval for military action).

I remember watching a performance by the British magician Darren Browne with the British Actor Simon Pegg. Indeed you can watch it here. Basically the trick was that Darren said tat when ever he was giving presents to people for their birthdays he would make them think what he gave them was exactly what they [...]

Speaking on Ryan Tubridy’s show on RTE1, Bertie Ahern stated the General Election is likely to take place between “mid-May and the end of June 2007“. Looks like predictions of early election may be misplaced of course nothing is set in stone. Outside of that there are few surprises, Bertie will go into power with [...]

Today I had pause to look at my dictionary.Independent: Affiliated with or loyal to no one political party or organization. Looks likely however that Finian McGrath does not agree with this definition. Himself and a few other Independents want to create an alliance of independents to fight the next election. They are also working on [...]

Local news round-up If there is any stories you have read please drop us a comment. The Kingdom Kenny moves to put stop to nasty FG spats FINE Gael leader Enda Kenny is closely monitoring party activity in South Kerry where a new wave of internal feuding is threatening to destroy already slim chances of [...]