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

What crisis? The construction sector completed over 78,000 residences last year which is a little above analyst expectation but below the 2006 figure of 90,000+. So are we all over-egging this a bit?

This afternoon Fine Gael followed up last night’s debate and passport revelation that Bertie Ahern has helped Norman Turner apply for a passport while he was lobbying for the construction of a casino in Phoenix Park with allegations that Ahern was never really opposed to the Casino in the first place. On Vincent Browne last [...]

The Mahon Tribunal has already conclusively established that there were mysterious dollar donations sloshing around the upper reaches of the Fianna Fail party in 1994 and in close proximity to then Minister of Finance Bertie Ahern at the same time that the American firm Ogden was backing a proposal by businessman Norman Turner to build [...]

Notes On The Front: Where are the Law-and-Order Parties When You Need Them?
Interesting look at the types of crime that political parties are getting hung up about. Taking a look at the NERA report it suggests that employees are as subject to crime but its rarely mentioned.

Russian PM to head Gazprom?
Is Russia really all that different from the west when an outgoing Prime Minister moves sideways into a big corporate job?

Flash Eurozone annual inflation rate rose to 3.2% in January
Rate cuts my arse

By 14.29 yesterday afternoon the benches of the Dáil and Seanad were almost entirely empty. Two minutes later during the opening prayer there was a scattering of TDs in the Dáil chamber. And what’s this? No Taoiseach for priority questions… merely a typically bedraggled Brian Cowen giving an answer of breathtaking tedium on the state [...]

Hillary and Florida
Interesting point on Hilary Clinton’s talk about Florida of late. Is it wise to campaign in such a clearly self-serving way when those opposed to you claim you’ll do anything to win, including going back on a promise?
I suppose the question that must be

Following today’s already embarrasing u-turn on his affairs with Revenue, looking like he was trying to bore a hole in his shoes with his eyes. Phil Hogan has released the results of a PQ which reveal that Bertie Ahern helped Norman Turner (of Tom Morrissey fame) to apply for a passport in 1994. Over this [...]

Willy O Dea accuses Enda Kenny of knowing at election time of a big story that was about to break in a national newspaper. When he met the editor of the newspaper (which Willy O Dea writes for) he suggested the story was going to be huge, leading the editor to think he knew and [...]

Begins at 7:00 over on Oireachtas live. Full motions are available here (PDF) Edit: Willy O Dea suggests that Fine Gael and Enda Kenny are familiar with or responsible for the tribunal leaks.
Motion: “That Dáil Éireann reaffirms its confidence in the Mahon Tribunal, and its belief that the Tribunal is acting independently, without bias and [...]

Alternative title for this post was “Irish Manufacturing- It’s a Bust”.
Call for task force after 360 job losses

Edwards ‘quits’ White House race
It was bound to happen, but some expected him to hang on until the 5th to try and be "King Maker".
Don’t be surprised to see him support Obama now.
So; will Guiliani follow on the Republican side?

Firstly, thanks to any and all readers for a nominations and the bloggers for putting content up here and, finally, to all those nominated. There have been a few lists leaked before the full release tomorrow on Damien’s Irish Blog Awards Site. Looks like we are in for Best Politics and Best Designed. Also, it [...]

Newstalk’s Marc Coleman has a nice perch on the Financial Times comment page today to outline his fairly optimistic long-term view of the Irish economy despite the current property downturn.  His essential argument, to be outlined in more detail in his book, is that Ireland has two key assets for its long-term growth prospects: people [...]

 
Its all a media hype-buzz-mess-thing, you see. When Bertie was popular in the polls it was on page 15 but now that he isn’t it is page 1 material. Well that seems to be editorial 101 right there. Elected leader=popular is not really news, elected leader=not that popular/trusted is actually quite newsworthy considering the last [...]