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

Last Tuesday night I had the misfortune of having to go to an A&E room in a Dublin children’s hospital. Happily my 10 month old wasn’t terribly ill – but an out-of-hours GP had recommended that he be seen by a pediatrician. “Go to Tallaght” the GP advised “you should be seen fairly quickly. Crumlin [...]

If Ireland took the most democratic route to ratification, arguably Poland did the opposite. The parliament elected by the people voted to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. But ratification could not procede because a single person was against it – their President. The President says he won’t sign because the Irish voted No. That cannot be [...]

For reasons that I’m still trying to understand, but which are real and cannot be written off, there has been a significant growth in eurosceptic sentiment in Ireland. But wait, I don’t mean that euroscepticism is suddenly widespread and deep. Nor that it was the key factor in the recent outcome. No, but it has [...]

So the Irish people have said a resounding No to Lisbon. Already the reasons, indeed some of the consequences, are being debated. I have already seen lists appearing on web sites. They hit many valid points : effective No campaign, inept Yes campaign, fears of militarisation, loss of commissioner, bullying tactics from the Euroelite, lack [...]