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

While no date has yet been set, we now have the wording of the Lisbon Treaty Referendum. It isn’t readable, short or simple but it seems to cover much more of the bases than a simple adoption of the Lisbon treaty - designed as it is to deflect worries about creeping EU statism. Even though [...]

There is a constant ratcheting up of pressure on this issue for Hanafin. This afternoon John Gormley and some Green paty representatives met parents of autistic children and promised to raise the issue of provision for ABA with Minister Hanafin (link once I get one-heard on radio). Niall’s ABA post is still very active over [...]

If there is any element of good news out there for a party down to its vamps, it is that there will at least be a contest for the leadership. After it appeared that senior party figures were united in their desire not to lead the party, both Senators announced after the meeting today that [...]

The trend since the election has been the return of the 2+ party system and this poll does little to dispel that impression. Following closely on the Irish Times poll midweek, there is good news for both of the big parties in today’s Sunday Business Post poll. Fianna Fail are up four to 36% while [...]

There are two small but interesting pieces in the Irish Times today concerning Labour and the PDs. The PDs are meeting in Galway today in a meeting organised by Noel Grealish to discuss future direction. Though the meeting is due to be “councillor-driven” and Mary Harney won’t be present it is interesting and symptomatic of [...]

Update: Below is a press release from Solus, the light bulb crowd about their meeting with Minister Gormley yesterday. They are not complimentary;
It was revealed today during a meeting with the Minister that his department had not put any proposals together on what lamps would be included in the ban and how he proposes to implement [...]

Eamon Ryan was on RTE this morning and said that it is time for a full debate on the merits of nuclear power in Ireland. In light of the decision which seems to be coming today in the UK to begin upgrading their nuclear power generators. A debate which has been called for a while [...]

The Dail vote results are in and the Government have defeated the motion of no confidence in Mary Harney as Minister for Healty by 83-73 with Ned O’Keeffe abstaining. O’Keeffe had circulated a speech which he was prevented from delivering. It decried the state of the health service and the treatment of patients according to [...]

Labour are going to introduce a motion of no confidence in the Minister for Health Mary Harney in the Dail next week. Details of the motion are below the fold.
We ask everyone to contact their local FF/Green/Indp TDs either by phone,fax or email and ask them to support the vote of no confidence in Harney [...]

James Reilly is calling for the Minister for Health Mary Harney to resign after it was revealed that the misdiagnosis scandal in Portlaoise continued to claim more unfortunate victims. I think the problem is getting beyond the Minister in this case though, Professor Brendan Drumm is also getting roped into the politics of this scandal [...]

Bord Pleanala has laid a bed of nails for Minister Gormley. They have granted permission for the Poolbeg incinerator to go ahead with a capacity of 600,000. The inspector report recommended that the incinerator should only have a capacity of 500,00 tonnes at the most but DCC want the 600,000 to make up the shortfall [...]

I think that Harry is right in that this conference is primarily for internal consumption. Most conferences are about posturing these days but this one has more of an air of regrouping about it. Eamon Gilmore used his speech to outline that Labour’s new position politics is not all that radically different from its old [...]

The Tribunals of Inquiry Bill (2005) has been put back on the order paper. The bill was introduced in late 2005 and resurrected again last year following the original leaks to the Irish Times about Bertie Ahern’s payments. The bill gives government power to rationalise the tribunals, including closing them down and comes back on [...]

Well not quite, but it is hard not to think it after Bertie was talking this afternoon about ‘wage restraint‘ and ‘reaslistic approaches‘ to financial policy.
It is however that time again, the two-year post-election-win belt tightening budget.

Today’s Irish Times has the report (it was always going to happen really, sadly) on the letter sent to Mary Harney’s office in 2005 by a Consultant Peter Naughton who said that radiology in the Midlands Regional Hospital was being provided by those who “had no expertise in the area”.
The ’smoking gun’ as it were [...]

The question is prompted by the new Irish Times/MRBI poll (print version) the first since their key pre-election poll which registered a 5 percent surge in support for FF following the leaders’ debate. The new one will make grim reading for FF — or rather it would, if there was an election coming up. [...]