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

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 children [...]

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 can [...]

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?

An interesting observation from Mick Fealty at Slugger O’Toole regarding the St Andrews Agreement (sic): that it might lead to a 32-county referendum to “ratify” it: