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

When Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair last summer, he was hit by the floods and then the foot and mouth outbreak — and went up in the polls. Brian Cowen might need a similar trend over the next couple of months. With Lisbon and the economy already looking like the hot potatoes of [...]

RTE’s summary of the Cabinet changes below.  Quick reaction: Brian Lenihan now the rapid riser (to Finance) after years of being arguably under-placed in Bertie’s cabinets.  But Cowen avoids the designation of an heir-apparent by splitting Tanaiste (Mary Coughlan) from the “great portfolios” (i.e. Finance and Foreign Affairs — Micheál Martin).  Dermot Ahern arguably demoted and [...]

Just a short post linking to this BBC story apparently drawn from Paris and Brussels gossip about the candidates for the position of EU Council Presidency — a job of course whose existence later this year is dependent on Ireland passing the Lisbon treaty (and if the No votes spikes up with each round of [...]

Here is the five page executive summary of the report of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development looking at the management of the public service in Ireland.  Once you wade past the quasi-diplomacy on the first page and a half, it’s a damning indictment of how the public service has been run, albeit one [...]

One of Bertie Ahern’s home stretch events today was to launch the Dublin Airport Authority’s plan for Dublin Airport City.   Not to put too fine a point on it, this seems like one of the crazier proposals to have emerged over the last year, and symptomatic of much of what is wrong with governance and [...]

A nice event for Brian Cowen — he gets to meet his fellow leader-in-waiting north of the border, Peter Robinson (no mention of what Ian Paisley said about his lips), and they agree on a scheme which will see the International Financial Services Centre extended to Northern Ireland via a modification of IFSC’s tax exemption [...]

No doubt many people are sick of Bertie coverage at this point, especially following the Sunday papers. But it’s worth taking a look at Bruce Arnold’s assessment in Monday’s Wall Street Journal Europe, because it’s something that the vaguely curious international business-leaning audience that hasn’t paid attention to the affair will read about it. [...]

With all the weighty constitutional matters of the week, something on a lighter note: UK foreign secretary David Miliband says that an unnamed foreign minister told him during the EU ministerial in Slovenia last week that he had lost his bags in transit at Heathrow T5.  The media seem to think that it was a [...]

Bertie Ahern’s brother Noel Ahern –
Fifteen thousand is no big deal. There might be a very simple explanation. I understand he may have given the wrong details for a wrong lodgement … There’s nothing special about the amount…
He’s referring to the £15,500 Sterling.   In early 1994, a punt bought about 96p Sterling so that’s [...]

As Bertie works his way back Washington, yet another interesting development at Mahon.   It seems that the relevant manager of Bertie’s accounts at the Irish Permanent is a bit less reticent than his counterparts at the AIB, who were nearly as effective at the strategic memory loss as Bertie himself.   The man from the Irish [...]

At the Saint Patrick’s Day reception –
President, as we say good-bye on this occasion, but hopefully we’ll keep in touch over the years, I will remember — and I hope that everyone in Ireland will — how kind, how favorable you’ve been, how really open you’ve been to helping us, and the amount of time [...]

Simon had given the most recent account of the phenomenon: the government toying with days of the week and seasons when scheduling elections and referenda for political advantage.  Now Bertie has a new twist: a Lisbon vote in June, on a day yet to be scheduled, but in the middle of when many first-time voters [...]

Interesting reading in the Financial Times today. First, a short comment piece by Quentin Peel on Bertie and the Lisbon referendum; nothing that we don’t know in Ireland but since it reflects chatter in Brussels, perhaps indicative of growing nervousness amongst the Eurocrats about Bertie’s handling of the vote. Second, an [...]

Judging by the current version RTE website story on Ian Paisley’s departure as FM and DUP leader, Enda Kenny was first out of the starting gate with a statement  Hopefully the government is not so distracted that this could catch them off guard.  One wonders if Paisley might now attend the 10th anniversary observance of [...]

The New York Times on birthright citizenship in Ireland, when the parents are illegal immigrants. It’s a big issue in the USA too.

Judge Mahon.  What sounds like an incredible day at the Tribunal is unfolding.  Bertie’s strategy of alternating between seeming cooperation with the Tribunal while letting Conor Maguire level the accusations has finally drawn the Judge out of his cautious mode.  With the phrase “political donation for personal use” destined to enter the political lexicon (and [...]