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

One of the more interesting aspects of the Lisbon Treaty is the manner in which the President of the Commission will be chosen. Under Article 9, the President of the Commission is to be chosen with due respect to the result of the European parliamentary elections;

The Sunday Business Post had another of its regular polls in this Sunday’s edition, which highlighted some interesting changes in public opinion.
One intriguing outcome of the poll that the amount of people who trust Bertie Ahern has fallen, while the amount of people who support Fianna Fáil has risen.
Critically, however, the number of people who [...]

Maybe we should have called the blog IrishElections.com.  Bertie has indicated today that he envisages 2 referenda next summer: the necessary ratification of the EU amending treaty, and the children’s rights referendum.  As he says the logic is to roll them together, but it does make one wonder what exactly the rush was for the latter back [...]

According to the Irish Times today, the Government (along with the Poles) have negotiated a right to opt-out of the charter of fundamental rights in the new EU treaty. The Taoiseach forgot to mention this at a press conference, in fact mentioning that the charter would be a selling point in next years referendum.

An opt-out [...]

Well auction politics or poker politics, it is all academic. He saw the opposition, by equalling commitments on the standard rate (down to 18% - originally Labour), the pension (€300 over the five years of government - originally PDs), lower the higher rate of tax (down to 40% - not as much as the PDs).
And [...]

From the Department of Health, below the fold. Responses from Labour, Fine Gael, Sinn Fein, Green Party, Barnardos, ISPCC.

At least the wording according to a briefing paper seen by the Irish Times (subs. req’d) — below the fold.  The legal analysis by Carl O’Brien (subs.) is worth a look too.

According to a report on Newstalk, Bertie Ahern is still looking to press ahead with a Children’s Rights referendum prior to the next election. Beyond the purely electoral, there isn’t any really good reason why this referendum should be held separate from the general election, but that really isn’t here or there. What is though, [...]

It was difficult to expect much news over the traditional Christmas Break and Bertie is probably hoping for an extra week’s grace with his trip to the Gulf, but an election year both sides of the border is starting to concentrate minds, so below the fold a roundup of recent developments –

There has been an escalation in the row about the decision to locate the new national children’s hospital at the Mater. Crumlin Hospital has released a detailed report taking issue with the Mater’s suitability for the facility, amongst other things in terms of space, a pressing issue given the importance of parental presence for [...]

Two quick notes. First, a row about a senior English policeman’s remarks over what gets classified as paedophilia in cases involving statutory rape points to obstacles that may face any Irish legal reforms in this area. And on a slightly related note, Brian Lenihan has made clear that the government’s position is they they [...]

Prof. Des O’Neill’s Leas Cross report has finally been published, over a year after Prime Time Investigates uncovered the scandalous conditions at the “care” home.

In the grand scheme of reminding the electorate of your greatness, Bertie Ahern’s brainwave for a referendum on children’s rights is even more inspired than his attempts to have a similar vote on the North. In both cases it’s questionable that change is needed as there is no obvious fault in the text as it [...]

Simon was right: Bertie wants a children’s rights referendum in the spring, which therefore might join a potential St. Andrews ratification on the ballot, although the latter process looks stalled at the first hurdle right now.

Notwithstanding the apparent temptation to roll a St. Andrews ratification into a general election, it looks now that the government is backing away from a combined vote in March next year. This means that Attorney-General Rory Brady has more things to think about.

The Sunday Times reports that we might be having a referendum in March about the new agreement in the North. Does that mean we are likely to get a few more referenda in March?