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

A few months ago, t’was all the rage to make up your own Young Fine Gael poster. Now you can do it for real. In previous European Referenda, Young Fine Gael ran provocative, pro-European campaigns, notably the Better 2B Inside poster below, stressing the theme of European integeration. And this time, the intention is to [...]

Senator Mary White has announced her intention to seek a nomination for the Presidency. Though some may question the timing (the election won’t be until 2011) and her ability to persuade her own party to nominate her, it is certainly not too early to assess candidates’ suitability for the highest constitutional office. And given her [...]

Last week I received an invitation from John Gormley’s office to attend a consultation that the Green Party was holding to discuss forthcoming developments in the legislation for Civil Partnerships for same sex couples.
Readers of MP will know I have been vocal on the issue of the Green Party policy in government regarding same sex [...]

The Resign, Mr Ahern Facebook group, started back at the start of December, has just passed 1,500 members. It is certainly a milestone, and certainly the biggest Irish-oriented political group I have come across.
Following requests from members for some form of physical protest against Mr Ahern, I have put a date of Saturday April 12 [...]

It’s very rare for Ireland to have a potential military dilemma given that any overseas military activities are always under the colour of the United Nations.  While there have been occasional concerns expressed about whether European Union military operations might breach neutrality, those concerns have never been able to overcome the general momentum of EU [...]

Now I don’t know an awful lot about donations but something tells me that there is a limit of around 5,000 euro per person.  Which means I guess no one could donate these cars as they would exceed this cost. So the cost of a BMW Series 1 is about €45,000 Euro. A Renault Megane  [...]

Tracking a lost camera to its owner - CNN.com
Saw this in one of the Sunday newspapers and had a look into the story behind it.
Pretty amazing work by the people that found it - fair play to them and here’s hoping they find my camera should I ever lose it!

Noel Dempsey is buying his re-election for €1.8 billion. Is he worth it? And what does that say about Irish politics. From the Sunday Business Post. 
Transport minister Noel Dempsey has intervened in a controversial pylon dispute by calling on EirGrid to re-route the high voltage lines underground along the new M3 motorway in Meath. Dempsey, [...]

Motivated by a Tax, Irish Spurn Plastic Bags - New York Times
Always interesting to read the foriegn perspective to an Irish law or practice, although the article almost paints Ireland as some kind of environmental Utopia.

Roche spent 10% of Affordable Homes budget on his own constituency
According to The Sunday Business Post, Dick Roche spent €4.6m of a €50m Affordable Housing budget in his Wicklow constituency just before the last election.
The money had been allocated to be spent on Affordable Housing in the Greater Dubln Area.

UnionistLite has raised the issue of ‘God save the queen’ and the IRFU in light of the latter’s recent refusal to meet two British Lords about the dispute.
It’s not the newest of topics but it’s one that’s yet to be resolved and surely worth discussing.
How can the IRFU claim to be the Rugby federation for [...]

During the course of his employment [...], his financial remuneration was not sufficient to meet his immediate financial requirements, and he experienced financial difficulties. He said he received assistance from his friends [...], in the form of loans. There was no formal structure to these loans. There was no interest charge, nor was there any [...]