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

That is the view of one pharmacist as the HSE faces a potential futher disturbance in December. The HSE is altering pricing and payment structures for the medical card scheme from early next month. It will see pharmacists get paid (cost price -8%)+ €3.26 dispensing fee. It might be a little below the radar at [...]

Well that is good to know, not sure if it qualifies as justification for a payrise that is nearly equal to the average industrial wage though. One would have thought it underlined just how much of an eilte group Bertie Ahern, Taoiseach and leader of the people is joining. Around 12,000 people represents something like [...]

So the idiotic debate on College entry from Private “grind School” roles on again.
MONEY still talks when it comes to going to university, the 2007 college entry figures confirm.Grind and fee-paying schools continue to dominate the tables of feeder schools for a number of leading third-level institutions.
 

yourfriendinthenorth: De Rossa vs Harney: who do you think has their facts straight?
De Rossa -v- Harney on the rules governing VAT on condoms.

Bobby Aylward TD: Blog
Hopefully we will see some original life here at some point, not just press releases. Still every little helps.

Irish Eagle: Irish Times - Kindle
Cheaper Irish Times subscriptions?

Its not a cartoon but its better than satire considering more allegations of loans etc.
Hat-tips all round to: Harry, Anthony, the dig-out lads,

Gormley Attacked over the Incinerator at Poolbeg
Tough times for Gormley, I dont think he expected such a large capacity and it is hard to think some of the parties are simply playing politics. I guess that the (perceived?) flip-flop is too much to pass up.

Ministers told to use Irish in EU business
Shouldn’t they get into the habit of using Irish in their own Parliament before they’re expected to do the same elsewhere?

Bertie Ahern received an unsecured loan for £19,000 from AIB, which also had no repayment schedule, in December of 1993 which was to be used for expenses accrued during his marital separation.
According to former assistant manager Philip Murphy the original loan application cannot be found, there was no letter of sanction, no agreed repayment schedule [...]

IT: Cowen to unveil new spending of €2.5bn in budget
There won’t be any tax cuts as its no longer prudent to speak of them, maybe in 2010. Instead you have a spending increase of 8% and a willingness to borrow for capital investment. Hurrah for the return of Keynes.

This is a story that was supposed to be published in The Irish Times way back when but for some reason or another it didn’t.
It relates to wikipedia edits made by someone in a Government department and was researched and written back when the joys of the WikiScanner was discovered by everyone.
To the best of [...]

Who said this.
waste incineration is used extensively within the OECD countries and is regulated by a number of EU Directives. Irish environmental legislation, in particular the Environmental Protection Agency Act. 1992, provides for the licensing of waste incineration activities on the basis of best practicable standards, including relevant EU requirements. Licences for both industrial and [...]

RTE denies tape of ‘cocaine minister’ - National News, Frontpage - Independent.ie
Possibly the oddest story and another really tough story for RTE. Their credibility is in doubt if this got aired unseen.

The point of Taxing the rich

Mike Huckabee campaign video featuring Chuck Norris
This seems like a complete miscalculation by Huckabee but it’s bound to get plenty of attention, for better or for worse. Just imagine Ahern or Kenny trying this…