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

Even Habermas is Sceptical
Jurge Habermas once argued that the EU could provide a model for a new constellation of democratic politics allowing for transcendence of national partisanship. Now he is not so sure - the EU response to Lisbon is tending towards authoritarianism

The EU has started a new Lobbyist database to register all lobbiests in the EU.
“Lobbying is a necessary and growing business, and regulation is inescapable,” Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas said.
“I am happy that the profession agrees, and has signalled its readiness to protect its own reputation and help us preserve the legitimacy of our interaction,” [...]

The EU Observer reports
Poland is emerging as another potential problem for Lisbon Treaty ratification, with the office of the president - who has yet to sign off on the document - beginning to publicly argue that the EU pact is dead following the Irish No.
I think Sarkozy is going to be visiting Poland soon. [...]

Yup, recession. We are going to be hearing a lot about it thanks to the ESRI quarterly report and forecast.
Forecast contraction this year 0.4%
Unemployment next year forecast at 7%
It anticipates that the economy will contract in size by 0.4 per cent this year after growing by 4.5 per cent in 2007.
This recession reflects a steep [...]

[Edit: To say hello and welcome stumblers. Take a look around and tell us what you think.]
The prevailing mantra of Irish and European politicians, still reeling at the Lisbon ‘No’ vote in Ireland, is that we as a small nation cannot hold up the EU. Apparently, if 26 nations have said ‘Yes’ the breaks should [...]

Another excellent contribution to Open Democracy on the fallout from Lisbon yields a clear sighted analysis of just why so many people think the Lisbon campaign and fallout stinks;
But the Irish voters are not the only surrealists in the latest European psychodrama. A day before the vote, European political leaders had passionately argued that success [...]

Pardon the spelling if dickying is incorrect but I highlighted a post earlier today on Open Europe - as much for myself to return to later than anything else and yes those links in the sidebar do change!. They have a copy of the original Commission poll(PDF) that informed the awful reporting in the Independent [...]

Ireland has long been one of the most pro-EU countries in the EU but this will change. It is not the Lisbon Treaty that will cause this to change it is the rest of the EU will cause this to change. A second treaty on Lisbon could have passed. With a massive information campaign and [...]

Did the Commission Lie About its Own Poll?
Openeurope asks whether the commission engaged in a little bit of number fudging in the run up to its poll being released. If it didn’t I am thinking that political leaking took place from elsewhere in the system.

Seaweed may fuel cars
but it will smell awful

If it weren’t for the fact that we are in the middle of an international crisis of global proportions in the uncharted waters of unpredictability (ed - that is enough hyperbole), the government would be getting covered in other forms of excrement. Not least due to the admission that:
 ”high proportion of existing schools are in [...]

Sunday Tribune Political Editor Shane Coleman reports that a second referendum on Lisbon is being considered. If its a runner, it will be seen and presented as a “de facto” referendum on our membership of the European Union.
The implications of a ‘no’ vote make it inevitable, political sources say, that ‘Lisbon II’ will boil down [...]

ABC News: Tech + Politics: Crush or Lasting Love?
Is the love affair between the internet and politics a long term phenomenon or just a fad?

The first poll after the Lisbon result comes with little by way of surprise. The Sunday Business Post/Red C poll finds the Irish electorate looks unlikely to have engaged in a mass volte face with regard to the major parties after Lisbon.
Fianna Fail 40% (unchanged)
Fine Gael 25% (-3)

The Bloggingheads consortium does a chat on the Lisbon vote — prolific academic bloggers Henry Farrell and Dan Drezner. I’ve picked out an 8 minute clip where they get into some of the deeper international relations issues associated with EU integration. If nothing else, an example of one direction where blogging technology is [...]

So for Europe to fight Climate Change we need the Lisbon Treaty. Are so the story went.
Duncan Stewart, Spokesperson for the Environmental Campaign for the Alliance said: “Climate change is the most pressing challenge facing humanity. Ireland cannot solve this problem on our own, it is only as part of a strong and effective [...]