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

In a packed Dail chamber, Brian Cowen was elected Taoiseach of Ireland after a vote to choose between him, Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore. The vote was won by 88 to 76.
He was nominated by Bertie Ahern himself however it only became quite raucous as Mary Harney seconded Cowen’s nomination and defended the government’s record [...]

Fine Gael are criticising Brian Lenihan for a bit of news dumping today. The annual report of the Morris Tribunal into Garda misconduct in Donegal was released today amidst all the furore surrounding the ascension of Brian Cowen to the post of Taoiseach and perhaps Lenihan’s own promotion to Tanaiste. They have a point, this [...]

The Offaly Independent reports that a massive caravan of Offaly folk will descend on the Dail today to celebrate the election of Brian Cowen to the post of Taoiseach (at around 3.30pm - live on Oireachtas.ie)
“There`ll be a festive atmosphere,” Tom O`Donovan of O`Donovan Cowen Solicitors, a firm in which Minister Cowen is involved, [...]

Just a short post linking to this BBC story apparently drawn from Paris and Brussels gossip about the candidates for the position of EU Council Presidency — a job of course whose existence later this year is dependent on Ireland passing the Lisbon treaty (and if the No votes spikes up with each round of [...]

There are a large number of reasons I will be voting Yes in the forthcoming referendum. Some are to do with Ireland’s European experience to date, which because the changes are largely technical in nature, is a valid reason to vote yes. To a large extent, Lisbon serves as primarily as a lubricant for the [...]

Following in Young Fine Gael’s footsteps, the Labour party have announced a competition with a €1,000 prize for a 1 minute video extolling the virtues of the Lisbon Treaty. Unfortunately for the likes of me, while it appears to be open to raving right wingers, it is confined to those in second and third level [...]

*Sub-Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Fine Gael Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs Bill Timmins met with the Foreign Minister of the Tibeten Government in-exile today and suggested that the visit of the Dali Lama to the UK (May 20-31) represented a great chance to have him address the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Why not the Oireachtas as [...]

It has been conventional wisdom that the rise in unemployment has primarily been related to the fall in the construction industry. The arguments of political and business leaders stress that the bulk of the economy is in good shape and we are simply going to have slower growth for a while.

Bertie revealed yesterday evening that he has been offered, or at least in discussion about, a role as an international conflict mediator over the course of his trip.
ON THE last day of his US visit, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern revealed that he had received approaches “at the highest levels” about a role for him in international [...]

The RPA released a consulation document today on the feasibility of a new Luas line ‘E’ from Dundrum to Christchurch, covering Terenure and Harold’s Cross. The proposal for line E was not included in Transport 21 but the RPA are hoping that the study will be included in a later revision of the project. It [...]

The CSO figures for April’s Live Register were released this morning, with Exchequer figures due out later today. The numbers only continue with the trend seen in recent months as the number of people on the unemployment list tends towards 200,000.
The number is without a doubt a worry for the government. We will be hearing [...]

There are a few people blogging out there on the Lisbon Treaty and the referendum, but there is - to my knowledge - only one person going through it forensically - Ralf Grahn, a Finnish lawyer. While I wouldn’t be in accord with all of his views, his work on this is first rate and [...]

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.

Brian Cowen released a statement in the last hour announcing his candidacy for the Fianna Fail leadership and succession of Bertie Ahern. It is interesting to see he was nominated by Brian Lenihan, a man widely tipped to have his eye on becoming the Brian Cowen’ to Brian Cowen and succeeding the next Taoiseach when [...]

The Live Register jumps 12,000 in one month, the biggest ever such increase for the third month in a row while the standardised unemployment reaches 5.5%.
International factors I hear you say? Then why has unemployment being falling over the past year in the EU and the industrialised world more generally?