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

There is a constant ratcheting up of pressure on this issue for Hanafin. This afternoon John Gormley and some Green paty representatives met parents of autistic children and promised to raise the issue of provision for ABA with Minister Hanafin (link once I get one-heard on radio). Niall’s ABA post is still very active over [...]

We know the standard of Dail debate is much decried and poor Terence Flanagan has not done much to help that image. In a debate on the Finance Bill he cogged three passages from Deputy Joan Burton’s speech the night before. Flanagan’s contribution is here while Burton’s is here. Example below the fold, two others [...]

Paisley Jnr to Step Down
The Paisley dynasty takes a big hit putting the legacy and future of the DUP on the line too, it seems. The Dromore result has had an effect on the thinking, follow slugger for more. Does this mean a return to hardline DUP-ism?

Bertie to Visit Slovenia, Austria and Poland
Not to curry support for a top EU job rather to discuss the revolving preseidency and make another set-piece speech, this time to the OSCE. He will then meet Angela Merkel and if he is to head off to theEU, then she will be essential in getting him there.

On a Private Members Bill in the Dail tomorrow, Sinn Fein and Labour will jointly propose enshrining rights for agency workers into law. The bill itself is most worthwhile, agency workers are often the last to benefit from employment rights as their netherland status allows for ‘flexibility’.
The Sinn Féin/Labour motion says that without legislation [...]

Of late I have gotten bored of politics hence my lack of posting on Irish Election and my increased posting on such idiotic subjects of ninja’s. The reasons are primarily personal I am busier at work and in normal time to engage the time need to come up with a coherent point about anything political. [...]

Obama - “Just words?”
Time and time again Barack Obama has made the hairs stand on the back of my neck through his speeches alone. This is no different and it also acts as a simple and powerful rebuff to Hillary Clinton and John McCain’s attempts to undermine Obama as just a g

If there is any element of good news out there for a party down to its vamps, it is that there will at least be a contest for the leadership. After it appeared that senior party figures were united in their desire not to lead the party, both Senators announced after the meeting today that [...]

Needless to say, I now understand. The chart makes it so much easier than listening to him.

Via That’s Ireland, Green Ink, Maman Poulet

The bankers reassure us that “new lending continues to moderate in a mortgage market that is still growing in overall terms.”
Translated, this means that people, mostly young people seeking their first home, are flocking to buy houses at prices they regard as realistic. (Irish Independent editorial, 14 February, 2008)
So. The spinning continues.
The above quote comes [...]

To the parents of autistic children present in the Dail last night, the defeat of a Fine Gael motion on the funding of applied behaviour analysis (ABA) education for autistic children was as predictable as it was devastating. Few government TDs bothered to listen to debate and but the necessary numbers appeared when it was [...]

One wonders if the Cabinet have decided to collect their deferred pay raises as travel benefits. Just in the last few days: Mary Hanafin postpones a trip to the USA by a day to appear at a Dail debate on autism; Dermot Ahern still says he’s travelling across the world to East Timor even with [...]

Ahern to challenge aspects of Mahon
Connell withdraws bid to stop files examined

Surprising and yet not surprising, although there was a hint in the government’s refusal to take FG’s Mahon motion a couple of weeks ago.  Apparently at issue: his seemingly troublesome statement to the Dail that his tax affairs were in order, advice he received from a financial expert, and documentation for Mahon questions to him [...]

Poor Bertie.  He finally gets a trip to Manchester under the cover of official business — a meeting with Gordon Brown and the 50th anniversary of the Munich disaster at Old Trafford.  No questions about who’s driving the bus, or stopping by the Four Seasons to pick up envelopes, or who else is with him.  [...]

Since we don’t yet have a firm date for an Irish vote of any kind, we might as well look at elections somewhere else for some material. In today’s Irish Times, Breda O’Brien (subs. req’d) takes a look at the US election and in particular the apparent phenomenon of Evangelical voters looking for a [...]