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

And the overall economy?  Today’s Wall Street Journal reports on what sounds like advanced deliberations inside Dell about shifting its manufacturing capacity from Limerick to Lodz in Poland.  Office jobs in Ireland would be retained.  But as the article explains, Dell is unusual among computer makers in its retention of substantial manufacturing capacity — most [...]

Update: Head office must have been worried for the press released the result this evening. It is a blow for any who may have wished to see a return of the Spring dynasty to this particular fold as Senator Alan Kelly took the nomination for Labour candidate for MEP in the South. It was widely [...]

BBC Radio 4’s Today in Parliament last night did a segment on Nicolas Sarkozy’s speech to the European Parliament in which he outlined the agenda of the French EU Council Presidency.  It begins 19 minutes into the program (Listen again/download).   Included in the post-speech interviews is Kathy Sinnott MEP, who says that she has offered [...]

If it weren’t for the fact that we are in the middle of an international crisis of global proportions in the uncharted waters of unpredictability (ed - that is enough hyperbole), the government would be getting covered in other forms of excrement. Not least due to the admission that:
 ”high proportion of existing schools are in [...]

Dempsey urges talks in rail dispute

A nice event for Brian Cowen — he gets to meet his fellow leader-in-waiting north of the border, Peter Robinson (no mention of what Ian Paisley said about his lips), and they agree on a scheme which will see the International Financial Services Centre extended to Northern Ireland via a modification of IFSC’s tax exemption [...]

A sizeable portion of the Moyross housing estate in Limerick is located in Limerick County Council territory. This area could now be a part of the city as early as next week when, as recommended by the Fitzgerald Report on regeneration and tackling social exclusion in Limerick.
However, twenty years after the estate was built, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Diarmaid Ferriter’s 10 part series on De Valera for RTE radio 1 concluded yesterday. It was very interesting and well worth a listen on the still-available podcasts. Of course the series is linked to his re-revisionist book about Dev which itself was the source of a pseudo-controversy regarding its distribution to schools. [...]

The Cabinet pay raises are postponed for a year.  One wonders if they intend to backdate whenever they do implement it.  Interesting that of all people it was Willie O’Dea several months ago who was willing to air the unease about the pay raises.  Also interesting is the role of Garret Fitzgerald as wise old [...]

It seems the horses are getting jumpy in the Fianna Fail stable. On Morning Ireland, Noel O’Flynn suggested that it might be an opportune moment for Bertie to consider making a statement on the events of last week.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today, Mr O’Flynn said: “In order to clarify a number of issues it [...]

Maybe it’s just for public consumption but it’s another day of chastened-sounding statements from FF. Willie O’Dea managed to go a bit beyond Bertie’s “work harder” and dropped a hint that the Cabinet is taking another look at the pay review recommendations for ministerial and public service posts.

The report of the 2007 Consituency Commission is out, some would say a little bit too late but how and ever. Kerry is to remain split, with Kerry South a 3 seater while Kerry North joins to West Limerick in also remaining a 3 seater. Dublin Euro is a 3 seater, Dun Laoghaire is a [...]

Video from yesterday’s Save Our Slots Rally
I am unable to embed them here, but they can be found at the below link
Link.
Update Simon. Video added below

There was a lively atmosphere on O’Connell Street in Limerick today with a red army again packing the street. Today rather than rugby, it was the issue of Shannon and its slots that were the main event. The press are pulling their punches at the moment but the only FF TD, John Creegan, on the [...]