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

The Evening Herald has claimed that SF Presidential candidate Martin McGuinness is the main suspect in the murder of two policemen gunned down in an IRA ambush in Derry: SINN Fein Presidential candidate Martin McGuinness is the main suspect in the brutal murder of two policemen, the Herald can reveal. Sergeant Peter Gilgunn (26) and [...]

Update: Gallagher on facebook denying he is man in a 1992 photo cited on David Cochrane (of politics.ie)’s twitter page. Sinn Fein’s allegations linking Gallagher to a cheque for €5,000 for FF have been undermined following the revelations that the accuser has convictions for cross-border fuel-smuggling and tax-evasion and leased his General Election HQ to [...]

Opposition is emerging from some Labour and FG TDs, Labour councillors to the prospect of a FG-Labour Coalition. Dublin MEP Proinsias de Rossa has said the party ‘should be prepared to go into Opposition’ if FG refuses to implement elements of Labour’s “Social Democratic Programme”. Former Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Energy and Natural Resources [...]

As Debategate hogs the limelight for yet another day and FG scrambles to defend Enda’s bizarre intransigence on taking part, the other parties have been happy to sit back and let the attention focus on this non-issue issue. FF released 5 (!) press releases about it in the past 24 hours, with Michéal Martin saying [...]

The kindest thing that can be said about today, the second full day of election campaigning, is that everything passed off smoothly. No-one rocked the boat. There were no major changes in party results in the latest poll. The parties focused on heavily stage-managed events – policy launches, charity events, walkabouts – while candidates wrestled [...]

I hope this irregular piece can become more regular over the campaign. If readers have local polling data, please email it to us irishelection@gmail.com or tweet us @irishelection.

As the dissolution of the Dail nears, many leaders took the opportunity today to outline their focus for the campaign ahead. While the debate issue has put Enda Kenny on the backfoot at a national level, within the party today he spoke to all of Fine Gael’s #GE11 candidates and delivered a speech outlining the [...]

  “They’ve changed the arrangements that apply to coalition governments” … Brian Cowen on the Greens just now on Six One.  Apparently there’s an unwritten constitution for such governments.  His tone of lecturing the Greens on how government works is not going to go down well.   He is also mingling his roles of Taoiseach and [...]

As I type this, I’m on a bus from Dublin to Ballybofey. In all likelihood, I’ll be based there for the next 10 days, working on Frank McBrearty‘s by election campaign. After a crazy week in which I visited Tralee, Tuam, Rathowen and Galway, I finally headed for Donegal South-West last Saturday morning. I’ve never [...]

Thanks to politics.ie. FG 31 (-2) FF24,(nc) LAB 23 (-4) SF 10 (+2) GR 3 (+1) Oths 9 (+3) Underlines volatility of Labour vote. Also public satisfaction with Brian Cowen is 19% to 64% dissatisfied and 17% undecided. 29% are more likekly to vote vote FF with Cowen replaced, including 21% of FG and Labour [...]

It is argued that we must cut public spending in order to reduce borrowing and the deficit. However, there is rarely any evidence produced to show if this would happen and, if it does, to what extent. Assumptions and conjectures have replaced verification and demonstration. This is unfortunate for much of the evidence shows that [...]

Reports tonight on the pending reshuffle suggest that Green leader John Gormley might be set to step aside as Minister for the Environment to make way for Ciaran Cuffe as part of an ‘internal’ agreement among the greens made in 2007. According to the Irish Times and others, Green memebers were given to understand that [...]

The carefully phrased European Commission approval of NAMA under state aid guidelines is only the beginning of the process.  Bank of Ireland and AIB will still need clearance for the specific balance sheet clearance (NAMA sales plus capital injection) that are still to come.   In that regard, it’s important to look at the seemingly separate [...]

In what is more then likely just a PR stunt Fianna Fails Marie Hoctor told the Nenagh Guardian. that she will not vote in support of the Government’s budget this Wednesday in the absence of certain commitments in relation to issues in her constituency. Ms Hoctor indicated that she was growing disillusioned with the direction [...]

It is interesting to counterpost the wisps of information on an emerging deal with the unions and what we appear to have learned about the budget earlier this evening. Union sources said the Government had acknowledged that enough progress had been made in talks on an alternative solution to the Government’s pay cuts proposition to [...]

We’re used to politicians behaving badly. That’s a constant. Then there’s the bankers, the bishops, the lawyers, the doctors, all of whom at some point or other in the recent history of the civilised world have been found wanting. Now it’s the turn of the scientists.