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

Any neutral observer at the Green Party national convention in Galway this weekend could easily be mistaken into thinking the general election had long passed and the Greens had been swept into government as the minority party with resounding approval.

Some good advice from Fianna Fáil.
(Lifted unaltered from the Election Special in The Limerick Post )

Let me begin by apologising if the headline of this piece has conjured up any disturbing images in your mind’s eye. This little article makes no allegations about Pat Rabbitte and Michael McDowell engaging in homosexual relations. (Not that there’d be anything wrong with that, my heterosexual guilt prompts me to add.) So why the [...]

Tuesday and Wednesday of this week saw members of Dáil Éireann discussing the Labour party’s proposed Civil Unions Bill 2006. (Information also available here.) Those evenings also saw the response from the government and other opposition parties.
- Read the transcript of the debate on Tuesday, 20th February 2007 here.
- Read the transcript of the [...]

The Green conferance is starting today.
From the Green Party website about their convention.
Getting There: Trains will leave from Heston to Galway on Friday 23rd Feb at 11.10 (arrive 13.51); 14.30 (17.11) 16.50 (19.16); 17.50 (20.30) & 19.05 (21.48).
Where is Heston you ask? Well according to Wikipedia is it a a place in the London Borough [...]

Inflation is one of those things that it is hard to quantify in everyday terms. But it is clear that it is becoming the biggest treat to the Celtic Tiger. And what are the parties doing about it. Where are all the policies about curbing inflation. The main economic policies we hear from the parties [...]

Following on from Wagger’s example

Just realised that we missed Irish Elections first birthday. It was on the 12th of Feburary. Just want to say cheers for everyone who contributes, reades, commented through out the year.Been a good year. We have been in the newspapers (first time here), Cian has his radio slot and good times were had. Here by [...]

In news that they might have been sitting on until government offices were closed, the government is rushing through emergency legislation tonight to close off the “loophole” that would have allowed Sean Quinn’s health insurance group to be treated as a new entrant when it took over BUPA Ireland, therefore avoiding risk equalisation payments for [...]

Wagger’s inbox has started to bulge with edited copies of the main party’s advertising. This could be a new role for the internet in elections, and one that the parties may or may not be happy with.
These are the two best so far:

And this:

I thought I’d celebrate this blog’s success in the nominations for the Irish Blog Awards by republishing a post that got me on the shortlist for best blog post last year. I guess the lyrics also have a revelance to the upcoming election as well, so hopefully I get away with not having anything [...]

I understand the reason why the governments decision to remove funding from Cork Airport is a bad idea. How we need viable airports to help decentralise the state from the already overcrowded Dublin Airport. I get and support all that. It is just this that gets me. Fine Gael released a statement on [...]

Our petition is still running on the side if anyonne cares to add their name. Tom Watson Labour MP for West Bromwich East gave us a plug. Quiet an interesting blogger by the way.

When Michael McDowell became president of the Progressive Democrats, he infamously stated that they needed to be radical or they would become redundant - he believed this so much he even suggested they change their name to emphasise their radical credentials.
Of course, being radical doesn’t mean being off the wall, it just means being different [...]

For my sins I decided to watch a piece of webcameron. And suddenly I see what the fuss was all about. Cameron just came across as a decent chap. Other then saying today that the Conservatives in Northern Ireland wanted to break away from the tired divided politics of the province and then declared the [...]

From the Department of Health, below the fold. Responses from Labour, Fine Gael, Sinn Fein, Green Party, Barnardos, ISPCC.