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

  Somebody needs to tell the Labour Party that their problem with the voters in Meath East, or anywhere else in the country, has nothing to do with ‘communications’. By the time a quarter of the boxes were opened in the count centre in Ashbourne, and the extent of the collapse in Labour’s vote was [...]

This post is written by Eoin O’Malley, political scientist at DCU, and appeared on 21 February on www.politicalreform.ie.  It provides an excellent guide to polling questions in general as well as a valuable critique of why the findings of the recently published poll on behalf of the Pro-Life campaign, which asked what action people want [...]

Government faces formidable challenges in 2013, and the Meath East by-election brings them all to a head Sometimes it feels like we all woke up one morning and there we were – right back to the 1980s. Lost in a decade of rampant unemployment and emigration; where the only news on the economic front is [...]

It’s all over the media this morning – how the government has targeted the most vulnerable in society in possibly the most mean-spirited of all the mean-spirited cuts in Budget 2013. From now on, social monitored personal alarms will only be made available to 65 year olds living alone, who qualify for the scheme, to [...]

The political message of protestors on Kildare Street on Wednesday night last was clear: Irish abortion policy is a shambles, and the blame for that shambles rests at the gates of Leinster House. Whatever the outcome of investigations into the circumstances that led to the death of Savita Halappanavar in University College Hospital Galway, the [...]

 “This government is sick”, writes Miriam Lord in today’s Irish Times. Does it need a doctor? Not James Reilly, surely, who’s continuing his stint as lightning rod for the daily litany of woes besetting the government, of which Roisin Shortall’s shock resignation as Junior Minister in his Department is just the latest twist? Roisin Shortall’s [...]

Finally back to the Dail this week, the government is under pressure on a number of fronts, and not just in terms of the inevitable power wrangling between the big spending departments over the contents of next December’s budget. This post takes a brief look at a couple of those areas and question the approach [...]

“15 months ago, when my Government came into office, we made it one of our top priorities to restore Ireland’s international reputation,” The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, told an international medical conference at the National Conference Centre in June. Kenny and his Government tend to take every opportunity to bang the drum on the reputation issue [...]

As the Dail rises for its summer break for the second time since Fine Gael and Labour took office, the seismic election of February 2011 now seems like a long time ago. It isn’t of course. It’s only 14 months since this government took power with the biggest parliamentary majority in the history of the [...]

Below: the main findings of a survey of 2,000 citizens conducted on behalf of the European Parliament on why Irish voters cast their ballots the way they did in the referendum on the Fiscal Treaty. The survey report is available on the EP website. http://www.europarl.ie/ressource/static/files/Post%20referendum%20survey%20on%20Fiscal%20Compact/eb_flash_2012_irish_referendum_synthesis_en_v2.pdf

With just four days to go, the last opinion polls of the referendum campaign show a consistent trend in favour of a ‘Yes’ to the Fiscal Treaty. As RTE news reported last night, a Behaviour and Attitudes poll for the Sunday Times shows 45% ‘Yes’, up three points since their last poll; 30% ‘No’, also [...]

Just three weeks to go to the referendum and the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaigns are still looking for the ignition switch that will engage the public. Thus far, the debate has been confined to politicos of right and left with precious little direct engagement by civic groups, so much a part of the colour and [...]

  According to the latest national opinion poll in the Sunday Times, up to half the electorate doesn’t understand what the Stability Treaty, on which we are being asked to vote in a few weeks time , is about.  The opinion polls suggest that about 30 % of the electorate are committed to a ‘Yes’ [...]

This afternoon, Taoiseach Enda Kenny announced to the Dail that a referendum to ratify the European Stability Treaty will take place. This follows advice from the Attorney General to Government that a referendum is necessary. “At this morning’s Cabinet meeting, the AG conveyed her advice that, as this treaty is a unique instrument, outside the [...]

This  Government would probably gleefully order the ritual sacrifice of half a dozen of its junior Ministers at the foot of the Papal Cross in the Phoenix Park if it thought such slaughter might avoid having to hold a referendum on the new intergovernmental Treaty.   Right now there is a different ritual underway. The [...]

It’s hard to gauge how strong and stable this government is. A Red C poll for Paddy Power last week suggests the public haven’t been too perturbed by the political and media shenanigans surrounding December’s hair shirt budget. As Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein each lost a point in their ratings,  Fine Gael went up [...]