http://www.irishelection.com/2008/01/fianna-fail-crowing-over-poll-results-and-condemn-opposition-of-ugly-attack-politics/ Coverage of Irish Politics, News and Current Affairs Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:43:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 http://www.irishelection.com/2008/01/fianna-fail-crowing-over-poll-results-and-condemn-opposition-of-ugly-attack-politics/comment-page-1/#comment-62326 P O'Neill Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:33:11 +0000 http://www.irishelection.com/01/fianna-fail-crowing-over-poll-results-and-condemn-opposition-of-ugly-attack-politics/#comment-62326 I think the EU referendum is hanging there as a double-edged sword for both sides. On the one hand FG could argue that Bertie is endangering the referendum by generating a protest vote as the country basically divides into whether people believe him or not and some portion of the latter deciding to use the referendum to get him. But of course Bertie can turn that around and that it's FG's continued attacks that is causing the problem. Nevertheless there was an intriguing but unsourced claim in the Financial Times (of all places) a week or two ago saying that the government was thinking about delaying the EU referendum till next year when some of the more complicated parliamentary ratifications are further along, tempers might have cooled here, and the referendum can be presented a final formality. Apparently the ratification process in Belgium (and to a lesser extent Czech Republic) is a nightmare so there is still time to stall. I think the EU referendum is hanging there as a double-edged sword for both sides. On the one hand FG could argue that Bertie is endangering the referendum by generating a protest vote as the country basically divides into whether people believe him or not and some portion of the latter deciding to use the referendum to get him. But of course Bertie can turn that around and that it’s FG’s continued attacks that is causing the problem. Nevertheless there was an intriguing but unsourced claim in the Financial Times (of all places) a week or two ago saying that the government was thinking about delaying the EU referendum till next year when some of the more complicated parliamentary ratifications are further along, tempers might have cooled here, and the referendum can be presented a final formality. Apparently the ratification process in Belgium (and to a lesser extent Czech Republic) is a nightmare so there is still time to stall.

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