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

According to TV 3 News Brian Lenihan has been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer.
Update by Cian:
The later post to this has been removed following complaints. The Department have not confirmed the story and we will wait until they do so. This post stays up to note that TV3 are reporting the minister is ill.
Report from TV3 [...]

The NAMA board has been released.
Former chairman of the Revenue Commission Frank Daly
Steven Seelig [ed. former IMF officer.]
Brendan Mc Donagh of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), now interim managing director of Nama, is to be the chief executive of the agency.
The other members of the board are financial consultant Eilish Finan; former senior manager [...]

From the Independent

IRISH Nationwide chief executive Michael Fingleton fasttracked millions of euro of loans to leading politicians, it was claimed last night.
These included a €1.6m loan to former finance minister Charlie McCreevy, who was buying a property that was only worth €1.5m at the time, an RTE investigation found. The loan was granted by [...]

From the Irish Times

THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund (IMF) told the Government that the definition of “long-term economic value” on bank loans in the draft Nama Bill was “masterful” as it was “sufficiently specific” and “sufficiently vague” to allow “appropriate flexibility”.
Steven Seelig, an adviser at the IMF, made the comments in an e-mailed response to a [...]

You might have heard about the Herschel Telescope of late. If not possibly because you only consume Irish media basically it is the largest telescope ever to be put in orbit. Some recent images showing the cosmos in never before seen detail have been released. Scientists are raving about this because basically, it can tells [...]

From Dublin City Council.
Dublin City Council last night voted in favour of a motion by Councillors Tom Brabazon and Críona Ní Dhálaigh that will oblige developers give new estates in the city names in the Irish language only. The names of the new estates in Dublin city will reflect local history and topography.
Now I know [...]

Paul Gogarty is not the most famous Irish TD. Certainly not the most famous in the Green Party. Of their 6 TD’s he probably is the 7th more famous (Senator Dan Boyle) . But now he will be at least 6th most famous. The advent of the internet means that what might of been a 1 [...]

In what is more then likely just a PR stunt Fianna Fails Marie Hoctor told the Nenagh Guardian.
that she will not vote in support of the Government’s budget this Wednesday in the absence of certain commitments in relation to issues in her constituency.
Ms Hoctor indicated that she was growing disillusioned with the direction which Fianna [...]

A curious thing of late is the use of English references to degrade an opponents. Previously it was Alan Kelly MEP with his references to 700 years, Kilmainham Gaol and the Union Jack a press release that even now looking back on is shocking. But that has not been the last of it. In two recent releases [...]

The liveblog is digesting the budget – full documents are here and highlights are here.
What marks out of 10 to you give the budget. Poll below fold.

So the general talk is that this Budget is going to be harsh. Very Harsh. But Fianna Fail are not ones to create a total PR disaster. They are going to cut the cost of alcohol by 10c. Now from Alcohol Action Ireland
In 2007, the Department of Finance’s Tax Strategy Group calculated the anticipated yield of [...]

This poll will remain up until the budget speech starts. I want to gauge how the pre-expectations of the budget will compare to the post budget reaction. Update Poll closed average vote 4.81.

So it Budget Day. Stay tuned to Irish Election for reaction.

Previously
balls, Slang: Vulgar.
a. boldness; courage; brashness.
b. nonsense (often used as an interjection).
A new definition to add.
IBEC group Retail Ireland has issued an assessment of the environmental impact of cross-border shopping claiming trips north are releasing ‘tonnes’ of carbon into the atmosphere.
Retail Ireland Director Torlach Denihan said: “On the first day of the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit it [...]

Friend of the Blog Joanna Tuffy has a press release today.

The government decision to collapse the talks about public service reform and reject union proposals for unpaid leave, is all the more inexplicable given that the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, wrote to all local authorities in June of this year authorising [...]

From the Independent

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen is set to take a 14pc cut to his overall salary in Wednesday’s Budget in an attempt to show that politicians are also willing “to take pain”.
The cut means his salary will have dropped from €285,583 to €228,466.

I am not against high salaries. If you want to best you have [...]