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

Update: Finian has been found! On Morning Ireland of all places - god forbid he would put himself at the mercy of Liveline listeners! The promise for the unit for CF patients is contained in Section 5 of the deal document. A new unit is 2/3 years away until completion. Finian is seeking a short [...]

In late November Mary Harney was under immense pressure over the care of cancer-patients and the direction of the health services. There was a small possibility for blood and the opposition forced a vote of no confidence in the Minister. Despite speculation to the converse, the Minister survived and the only overt damage to government [...]

Catherine Murphy and Finian McGrath TD have lost their challenge to the constituency boundaries.  McGrath says that the case was decided on a “technicality” although it’s not yet clear what that is.  One possibility is that neither was from a constituency that was underrepresented according to the 1 TD per 30,000 criterion (one issue being at [...]

We are always giving out about RTE, the State of Us was dire, Fair City risible, and Killinascully is a vacuous black hole of comedy which has all the laughter sucked out.
But what about RTE’s election coverage? It was supposed to be the most extensive coverage ever and sure enough the RTE TV studio [...]

in Dublin North Central

Eamon O’Cuiv Elected on first count current top 6
O’Cuiv (FF)
Fahey (FF)
Michael D (lab)
Grealish (PD)
P McCorrmick (FG)
Crowe (FF)
Mayo top 6
E Kenny (FG)
M Ring (FG)
Calleary (FF)
Mahoney (FG)
B Flynn (Ind)
J Carty (FF)
Dublin North Central
Richard Burton Elected on first count
Haughey will take seat 2.

Welcome to the first edition of Green Party Global Warming. The nonsensical, not very regular beauty contest involving Green Party candidates.
How this works is that we have a Hot or Not style beauty contest between Green Party people. With politics getting as bad as everything else, it is the sound bite and the flick-hair-over-shoulder-while maintaining-pouty-look [...]

On Tuesday I wrote about Bertie’s claim that part of the money he received in 1994 was used to settle a stamp duty bill. Well below the fold you can see a photo I found of Bertie in 1994 which shows just what he was reading around that time.

I happened to be walking by Bertie’s constituency office in Drumcondra this morning, when I came across a protest by the parents and teachers of Gaelscoil Cholmcille. I asked them what it was about, and this is what they told me - below the fold.

According to the Irish Times today, Bertie claims that he spent £50,000 sterling on refurbishments, £30,000 sterling of which was the cash that Celia Larkin brought back from England - minus of course stamp duty.
But stamp duty only applies when there is a house purchase. Bertie didn’t buy the house, so he would not have [...]

Ivor Callely has got to take down his banner or the litter wardens will be taking it down for him. I wonder did his decorator get up a ladder for him to put it up.
RTE Reports..
An election banner posted in support of Dublin Fianna Fail TD Ivor Callely will be removed by litter wardens.
Other [...]

Stardust survivor Antoinette Keegan is set to run in Dublin North Central in protest at the lack of inquiry into what took place that evening.
“The Government has set up an independent examination to assess whether or not a new inquiry is warranted.However, the Stardust Victims Committee, for which Ms Keegan is a spokesperson, has rejected [...]

As if to prove having a hissy fit and threatening to leave politics works, Sean Haughey has been appointed Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science.
Update: Funnily enough, Adam posted the same thing at the same time.

Hardly a surprise, but Sean Haughey has been confirmed as the next Minister of State in the Department of Education, replacing Sile de Valera, who announced her resignation in October and ended her tenure in the role on Friday.
As RTÉ News mentions, Sean Haughey threw a very public tantrum in February when he was overlooked [...]

Síle de Valera has confirmed what she first said last February, that she will step down as junior minister for education in December. Thus Bertie’s clumsy attempt to ease her out sooner eventually bears fruit, though perhaps not soon enough to give someone else a shot at a higher constituency profile with the job. [...]

Edit: It is starting now. Go to Oireachtas.ie to watch it.
The Dail returns today—an issue which itself was sidelined was the thirteen-week holiday that has just passed for our legislators—at 2:30. The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, fresh from last night’s interview and in the face of increasing digging around the “12 Apostles” and a very [...]