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

Fianna Fail put up the first group of videos of Brian Cowen taking questions submitted via the Fianna Fail website (first thought: get a decent mic). I embedded the economy one below, I am interested to know what people think.

Some intersting tweets coming out of the Ard Fheis, it is definitely boiler plate stuff so far. Perhaps it is understandable that the bulk of the non televised event would be run of the mill stuff. As it moves toward a midday lull, the good news is bloggers are fed and watered. GAvin is posting [...]

Via an intermediary…oh it is all very cloak and dagger…a member of the Anglo Golden 10 speaks to the Irish Independent this morning. This comes as the resignations begin to gather momentum as former board members like Gary McGann and Anne Heraty resign from their other board positions. The member is unidentified except to note; [...]

First time I’ve seen the Irish Trade Union movement do something good on the PR side.  They’re usually left in the wake of the better resourced employers:

Miriam Lord is having the best economic crisis of all – the amount of fodder makes her column a must read every day. Today’s is exceptionally good. Fair play to Joan Burton – Coughlan has been an unmitigated disaster as Tanaiste and it is to everyone’s disadvantage – not just Cowen/FF. Clipped bits below but [...]

Are you running in the forthcoming Local or European Elections?  Do you blog, twitter or have a facebook supporters page, videoblog, bebo or myspace?  Do you know a candidate who does? During the last election on Irish Election a number of us did regular roundups of candidates using social media and what was being said [...]

Interesting stuff from esteemed Fianna Fail TDs today. Following Senator Jim Walsh last night: “RTÉ is facing a shortfall in its revenues for 2009 in the order of €50 million and the director general has already indicated to this committee that members of senior management have taken a cut in their salaries,” he said. Well-paid [...]

Ryanair are ratcheting up the pressure on Ministers to sell Aer Lingus to them. They issued an ISE announcement earlier today outlining the details of their meeting with Noel Dempsey today. It includes a commitment to recognise unions at the airline and give the government control of the slots at Heathrow. I have the full [...]

Barack Obama’s victory might not have been certain until late on, however his online victory was secured long before this. Anyone who attended the conference last month where Damian O Broin and Zack Exley gave an incredible breakdown of the online campaign would know that Obama’s superiority was borne of simplicity, ruthless organising and intelligent [...]

Tubridy is running for local elections. No not Ryan but some guy called Garret( according to P.ie his brother. ) Now there is a few things to note here. 1. He is running for Fianna Fail. Which is well hidden on the site. As if he is ashamed of the label. Seems to be doing [...]

Anyone know why the ESRI shifted their embargo on the Quarterly Summary to 09.30 tomorrow? Conspiracy theorists would have a field day with the possibilities but it seems odd to deny the Irish Times their splash headline tomorrow. News is bad by the way, contraction wll break 1% of GNP this year.

Unfortunately I missed Questions and Answers last night, however today I was greeted by the nice news that I didn’t need to subject myself to the RTE media player when instead Simon and Suzy had liveblogged it using scribblelive. It is a better, and briefer, programme for it. More of this will hopefully be available [...]

A thread on boards.ie has been the source of some impressive citizen activism in the last week and it seems the campaign there is just getting started. As some people already know, Dublin City Council recently signed a deal with advertising group JCDecaux which would see a number of advertising panels erected on the city’s [...]

I haven’t posted though its a topic I have wondered about for a while. Newstalk’s Brenda Power took to calling civil  servants in the HSE a while back in response to calls made to her phone-in show. Callers who had issues could expect them to be followed up by Power with calls made live on [...]

Brigid Laffan gives her analysis of the Lisbon Referendum in today’s Irish Times suggesting that we are in a minority of one, with scepticism rising about our commitment to Europe and the EU. Vincent Browne is not in agreement – it will plod along as usual. I am minded to agree with him, it will [...]

At various points this morning, Dermot Ahern former Foreign Affairs Minister, Micheal Martin current foreign affairs minister and Enda Kenny leader of Fine Gael have said that the vote is now almost certainly a ‘no’. Martin on RTE Radio: “when you are explaining your losing” “its not looking good for the Yes side” Dermot Ahern: [...]