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

Merkel in Ireland today to explain Lisbon Turdy.

The new union, UNITE (the merged ATGWU and AMICUS unions) has just published a report on Irish wages which is sure to prove controversial. It flatly contradicts the prevailing consensus that Irish wages are somehow ‘high’, that Irish wage growth is high relative to our EU trading partners and that these ‘high’ wages are one [...]

Former President Patrick Hillery has died, aged 84. Tributes from Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Mary McAleese have been paid and there will be a state funeral, details to be announced later.

Despite operating under the slogan, “Facts, not Politics”, eurosceptic organisation Libertas have been accused by EU Commissioner Margot Wallstorm in her blog today for carrying out “a case study in distortion through selective quotation”. Essentially, Libertas quoted a speech she gave where she said “Whatever we win in efficiency we might lose in democratic legitimacy [...]

A name like Balls will always give rise to some obvious slagging, so with the British Secretary for Education Ed Balls and Jack Straw reputedly having exhcanged ‘verbals’, A Kick in the Balls game was born. Well worth a look - thanks to Guido for the pointer.

Fine Gael launch a detailed policy document with plans to streamline government by reducing the number of state agencies, increase their accountablity and make savings of €200m for the tax-payer.

In the wake of Bertie resignation there has been much along the lines that Bertie wasted the Boom a mantra that the opposition have been touting out for years. Now there is indeed some validity to that. For one thing the way we invested in housing and not in innovation was disappointing. One of the [...]

From RTE
The Government jet, with the Taoiseach and 11 others on board, was struck by lightning this afternoon.
The Gulf Stream jet, with eight passengers and four crew, left Dublin this afternoon and was on its final approach to Belfast City Airport when it was struck
Flying Dublin to Belfast dear god

Young Fine Gael’s cringe-inducing pro-Lisbon campaign.

I noted this from Labour Press Releases of late.
The Labour Party President and Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, Michael D Higgins TD, is in Norway, returning on Friday 11 April as part of a broad-based community delegation including members of Kilcommon parish in Erris
All very nice and everything but this bit caught my eye.
“The Corrib gas conflict [...]

Paul Tansey wrote an impressive list of economic achievements during Bertie Ahern’s tenure as Taoiseach:
On Ahern’s watch, the Irish economy almost doubled in size, while the numbers at work increased by one-half . . The unemployment rate declined from 10.4 per cent in 1997 to 4.6. In the 10 years from 1987 to 1997, [...]

Unless one is a fan of some of the organisations which generally only come to our attention courtesy of the Cedar Lounge’s Irish Left Archive, chances are you don’t generally follow the Korean Central New Agency. Unfortunately, you would be a lesser person for that, as the voice of the world’s most secretive regime is [...]

How MEPs Work is ideal for all you worried about the minute of our MEPs actions. If you fret about how those attendance records stack up in a European comparison or spend your nights wondering about how strong the whip system is in the European Parliament then How MEPs Work from the Romanian Public Political [...]

Comments on political PR and the web from a European perspective.

The press releases today were absolutely hopping up and down to make sure everyone was aware that the French Finance Minister and the EU Tax Commissioner should be given no weight whatsoever when considering their comments on a common-consolidated-tax-base.

Early last week, when things were quieter and the world was still spinning, allegations and remarks were abound as they have been for some time. The evidence of Gráinne Carruth was being lamented as a bad day for Bertie in the newspapers as they executed their never-ending campaign of vicious and snide comment on the [...]