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

The referendum on increased powers for Oireachtas Committees deserved to fail. Had the public debate that some members of the government this past weekend wistfully suggested might have made a difference to the final result taken place, the net result might have been failure by an even larger margin than a 53% ‘No’. There was [...]

It’s ironic that in the run up to the referendum on De Valera’s draft Constitution in 1937, the proposed role of the President was one of the most contentious areas of political debate. Fine Gael feared that De Valera was ultimately planning for a Presidential dictatorship of sorts. Such fears were misplaced. The Presidency, as [...]

Brendan Howlin didn’t turn up to reply to the Second Stage debate on the Constitutional Amendment to grant Oireachtas Committees new powers to investigate issues of public interest on the evening of September 15th. No doubt he had more weighty Ministerial matters to contend with. But his absence signalled a worrying complacency within this Government. [...]

I may have forgotten many days in between, but like many others, I remember precise details of where I was on 9/11. Late that morning, I had travelled to Manchester for a meeting. I was whisked off to the canteen for coffee with someone who wanted to talk to me, to share some news about [...]

“A right royal Irish farce,” was my friend’s verdict that morning as RTE announced that our – or at least their – beloved Gaybo was considering a bid for the Presidency, at the invitation, no less, of FF leader, Michael Martin. Old Gaybo played Martin like a violin for the best part of a week. [...]

Did this Government ever really  intend to play hardball with its lenders and the EU on the terms and conditions of the bailout? If so, then the opportune moment came immediately upon their election to office. That moment is gone, as signalled by the climb-downs by the Finance Ministers and by the Taoiseach  on their [...]

“We must face down the jackals who control the international banking system to save our nation and protect our children’s future THERE IS considerable truth in the view that Ireland is no longer a sovereign state but an impoverished suburb of Brussels. Four million people are mired deep in a collective debt that is not [...]

On one level it looks great – the one euro knocked off the minimum wage in the last Budget is to be restored. Granted, it will probably have to wait for new legislation that may not be ready for publication or enacted before the next Budget given the snail’s pace at which these things proceed. [...]

If Brendan Howlin, speaking on today’s News at One, is to be taken at his word, his Cabinet colleagues will have to justify their spending plans for next year, item by item, quango by quango, or else they can expect short shrift in funding for their Departments. Pity the Minister for Social Protection, for example. [...]

It’s not just the biggest bank bailout in world history , it’s also probably the biggest political u-turn in the history since the time of the Greeks. At least that’s how most of the pundits see it; and angry texters to radio stations suggest the public see it that way too. The results of the [...]

If Fianna Fail got chewed up in the general election, the Green Party was chewed up and spat out. The irony of their situation after the Greens’ first foray into government cannot be lost on the party delegates who will attend a special conference this weekend: going into government has cost them all the representation [...]

In this guest post, former Fianna Fail activist from Kildare, Des Groome, assesses FF’s prospects for renewal and revival in the rapidly evolving environment of Irish twenty first century politics: “I got some skeletons in my closet and I don’t know if no one knows it”. Eminem, Cleanin’ out my closet, The Eminem Show, 2002. [...]

In his recently published book on the life and death of Democratic Left, Kevin Rafter* writes about a social gathering to celebrate DL’s merger with Labour, of which Pat Rabbitte had been the main architect. Dara O’Briain presided as official entertainer at the celebrations. As reported in an Irish Times colour piece the next day: [...]

The final seat projections for the new Dail are for FF: 20 seats, FG: 76, Labour: 37, SF: 14, Others: 19. Those ‘others’ are a mixed bunch. Some notable independents are Mick Wallace from Wexford; Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan of Roscommon/South Leitrim; and Thomas Pringle of Donegal South West, pragmatists all, and obviously very capable operators. [...]

We had four ‘Leaders Debates’ in this election and the best thing that can be said about them is that there were three too many. One would have been more than enough, preferably late last week before the weekend where the ‘don’t knows’ traditionally make up their minds or the decided-undecideds switch their votes in [...]

What’s best for the country? A two party government that commands the allegiance of 120 deputies, or a single-party led government supported by a small number of independents with a tight majority just north of 83 deputies? On the polls going into this election that may well turn out to be the scale of difference between [...]