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

…that the people, in whose hands all power rests, will realise the appalling vista of a broken Ireland” Gavin’s latest post is a must-read… “What is wrong with Ireland?” Whenever and wherever corruption is discovered, nothing happens. Whenever and wherever whistles are blown, nothing happens. We live in a country where the very idea of accountability, [...]

As Cian points out, the Government’s majority is potentially down to the vote of one TD after Sligo-North Leitrim TDs Eamon Scanlon and Jimmy Devins resigned the Fianna Fáil whip today. The Government now has 83 votes, including Jim McDaid but not today’s two. It consists of 72 Fianna Fáil TDs, 6 Greens, two former [...]

There was an interesting article in this week’s Sunday Business Post penned by Cathal O’Loghlin, former assistant secretary at the department of finance and director of the IMF. Headlined “We are all also culpable for excess”, it lists three delusions the author believes the Irish public is guilty of… The first delusion is that ordinary [...]

Reading the Nama legislation is like staring at the sky on a clear winter’s night: before us a universe of bullet points – scattershot, random and infinite – each of them at first appearing whole and discreet but, when put to the lens, revealing a multitude of hidden meanings – just as the specs in [...]

Economics is not my forte, nor is it that of many of Irishelection’s stable of regular posters, yet it relates to much of our other content. I’m therefore going to curate the important commentary on the subject from elsewhere in the blogosphere and media and hopefully this post might provide a platform for an intelligent [...]

The Irish Examiner has an article today that illustrates the condition the property market is in at present. A new fully-fitted three bedroom house in Cavan can now be got for just €100,000 – howa’bout’cha knock a euro off that one, boys, make’er five-figure… The price has fallen by more than 50% since they originally went on the [...]

So, ‘turns out that Denis O’Brien has done interviews with all the Sunday broadsheets, The Sunday Times was just the first to update its website, hence was the centre of all the talk online, including my earlier post. Yes, the O’Brien spin cycle has gone into overdrive. Apart from the (Murdoch-owned) Sunday Times’ interview mentioned [...]

The PD’s long goodbye is almost, nearly, complete, The Irish Times reports. They had what will likely be their last meeting yesterday. While the story itself is of little interest – we all knew it was on the way – the following section made me raise an eyebrow… Mr Grealish also expressed confidence that he, [...]

Sinn Féin lost their third councillor since the June local elections on Saturday. Lousie Minihan, a Dublin City Councillor from the Ballyfermot/Drimnagh ward left the party, taking her seat with her. She told The Irish Times that she believed Sinn Fein was no longer focused on “ending British rule in Ireland and the establishment of [...]

Dan Boyle is on the war path again. A statement released through the Green Party communications office following his speech at the MacGill Summer School today said… Addressing the MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, the Green Party Finance spokesperson said progress required a prompt end to the culture of ‘No Blame – No [...]

A report in the motoring supplement of the Irish Times on Wednesday told of how The Dublin Port Tunnel will not be taking part in a major European tunnel safety assessment scheme because there was a “missing email between the National Roads Authority” and the group carrying out the report. It was headlined “No Record [...]

Dan Boyle was on point duty for the Greens once again yesterday. Himself and his party colleague in the Seanad, Deirdre De Burca voted against the Government move to guillotine the final stage of the Criminal Justice Act last night. How very noble of them. Then Boyle, a senator – i.e. someone the general public [...]

The An Bord Snip Report will be the most important document delivered to Government in the last, and next, 20 years. We don’t know all that much about its contents as of yet. It was received by Lenihan’s office last Wednesday but leaks don’t seem to have been all that forthcoming. Over the last few [...]

Third level fees have weaseled their way back onto the news agenda. On Tuesday Minister of Education, Batt O’Keefe submitted documents to cabinet detailing the range of options available to Government for abolishing the ‘free fees’ regime. See the Indo report, or The Irish Times for more newsy information. As the Indo says, it is [...]

I didn’t think Mary Coughlan was all that bad (dont shoot me) until I watched Oireachtas Report last night last night – fast forward to 17mins 50seconds, transcript below. Our Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan, partook in the following exchange in the Dáil with Leo Varadkar, the Fine Gael spokesperson [...]

By pushing through this Blasphemy provision, Dermot Ahern is advertising himself as the Leadership Candidate most likely to deliver on Abortion. When the time comes, that impression is likely to translate into a healthy dollop of organised and well-funded support being brought to bear on backbenchers.