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

Quentin Peel in the Financial Times has been doing a nice job with occasional look-ins at the referendum campaign and prospects.  Today he goes through the options that none of the EU governments or the EU institutions want to talk about: what happens if the treaty is rejected?  He sets out 4: an added Ireland-only [...]

Its all over the place this morning but Jim Corr was on with Matt Cooper on The Last Word yesterday giving his take on the Lisbon Treaty. “A global conspiracy and tip-toe totalitarianism.” Have a looksie for yourself.

It seems to me over the past week that the polls have this wrong so far, allegorically I have met people who are steadfastly committed to voting no (people I would not have put down for that) in larger proportion than the polls suggest. I wonder if this time there is a chance that the [...]

Pat Phelan has a horror post about Mrs. Phelans mammogram appointment. After going to the doctor for an appointment she recieved the letter from the HSE (here) for an appointment in 2010.The conclusion though; Anyways money changed hands, job done, Mrs Phelan is healthy as a horse. Dont depend on the Irish health care system [...]

Is that news which slips out now has got to be bloody good to dislodge other politics stories from the news and really really good to last more than one turn of the news cycle (and how long is that now?). Which is why its a good time to draw some more lines and circles [...]

Just want to thank the indo on behalf of Simon and Jazz Biscuit for the mention. Ooops, no mention. CC: Simon McGarr – see how easy it is?

The report today from Central Mental Hospital Carers’ Group, the Irish Mental Health Coalition and Schizophrenia Ireland about the desirability of moving the Central Mental Hospital from Dundrum to Thornton Hall emphasised two major things for me – the first political and relevant, the second trivial, unoriginal and selfinvolved.

Two figures from the European stage kick off this round-up. Firstly, My Opinion is back from Germany and is out on the canvass looking for a Yes vote, while BBC European Editor and blogger Mark Mardell enters the fray with commentary on a German think-tank’s report on what may happen if Lisbon is rejected. Simon [...]

Does any of this sound familiar? – Not all of the money was a gift, New York businessman Morris Talansky told the court.  Some of the cash “donations” handed over to Olmert were loans, which he expected to be repaid. “Famous last words,” Talansky jokingly told the court when he explained that the money was [...]

Image by infomatique via Flickr Anyone interested in making an informed decision on the Lisbon Treaty would do well to read the Special Report by the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs on the role of National Parliaments if the Treaty is ratified. Published on Friday, it is a straight-forward and relatively brief document which makes [...]

Dempsey urges talks in rail dispute

I’ve been snapping all the anti-treaty material that I come across for a while and have released them on a Creative Commons attribution and non-commercial licence. I’ve now made a Flickr Group for such pictures as I see a few other people have been doing the same- including EWI. The Link for the Group’s page [...]

[display_podcast] Charlie McCreevy won’t miss the tent, it is amazing how few TDs actually went [McCreevy] said he had found the tent to be a pain in the arse, adding that he was allowed to use such language as it had been sanctioned by the Taoiseach. Love the alternative ideas from Le Craic, better than increasing [...]

So Brian Cowen continues to slowly dismantle the Bertie Ahern machine (on which note, anyone see a Fianna Fail ‘Yes’ poster with Cowen’s face on it?). The announcement that the construction industry wont be dining in Ballybrit will be greeted with delight in the offices of the Green Party and Finian McGrath as a potential [...]

The Wall Street Journal has an article today about the referendum.  To the reporter’s credit, he avoids the usual style of foreign reporting — asking taxi-drivers on the way in from the airport to the 5-star hotel — and goes to Carlow and Laois to get the viewpoint of farmers.  Declan Ganley and Ulick McEvaddy [...]

You know that in casual exchanges between working colleagues Brian calls her Merry Cockring?