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

The people of the country have spoken, for good or ill. That must be respected. Accordingly, I do not want to see another referendum – the outcome of this one must be heeded. The people are sovereign. The Constitution, deeply flawed as it is, governs this country over anything else; it is the source of [...]

He was speaking after the no vote and it was very brief. Barroso though did point up the major EU talking point over the next couple of days. 18 States have approved the Treaty and the remaining ratifications should continue their course. European institutions will continue to work delivering for citizens of Europe.

Image by infomatique via Flickr Anyone interested in making an informed decision on the Lisbon Treaty would do well to read the Special Report by the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs on the role of National Parliaments if the Treaty is ratified. Published on Friday, it is a straight-forward and relatively brief document which makes [...]

I’m one of those people who hasn’t quite decided which way they’re going to vote on in the referendum. This is because I haven’t got around to reading all of the text I’m voting on yet. However, there’s one incredibly stupid argument the no camp is bandying about right now. It’s an argument that does [...]

Libertas have an outraged press release accusing the Irish government of a systematic campaign to hide information on the Lisbon Treaty based on what they call “an email from a very senior Irish official to his British counterpart” which the Daily Mail published today. Headlined the Treaty Con, this story is picked up by a [...]

The press releases today were absolutely hopping up and down to make sure everyone was aware that the French Finance Minister and the EU Tax Commissioner should be given no weight whatsoever when considering their comments on a common-consolidated-tax-base.

Simon had given the most recent account of the phenomenon: the government toying with days of the week and seasons when scheduling elections and referenda for political advantage.  Now Bertie has a new twist: a Lisbon vote in June, on a day yet to be scheduled, but in the middle of when many first-time voters [...]

While no date has yet been set, we now have the wording of the Lisbon Treaty Referendum. It isn’t readable, short or simple but it seems to cover much more of the bases than a simple adoption of the Lisbon treaty – designed as it is to deflect worries about creeping EU statism. Even though [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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). [...]

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, [...]