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

Irish Times citing Martin Mansergh reacting to a comment of Gerry Adams (full Adams interview and exegesis at Slugger) – Dr Martin Mansergh said Gerry Adams’s assertion on the RTÉ Radio programme This Week that the governments of that time refused to push or promote the repeal of the [Government of Ireland] Act, partitioning Ireland, [...]

There is understandable amusement at the constitutional contortions involved in Gerry Adams resignation from the UK House of Commons so that he can concentrate on his candidacy for Louth in the 2011 general election.  But before presuming that there is something uniquely republican about the problems created by the resignation procedure, consider the list of [...]

Here’s the text of Brian Cowen’s speech entitled “A Decade of Commemorations — Commemorating Our Shared History” to the Institute for British Irish Studies at UCD today.  There are various points to make.  One is that these speeches — and this is not Cowen’s fault — have adopted a psychobabble language since they are written [...]

Gerry McHugh, until this morning an Independent MLA, has joined Fianna Fáil. He becomes the first person to represent the party in a parliament other than the Oireachtas, I believe (Dev didn’t sit). It seems to signal their entry into Northern politics. McHugh was a Sinn Féin representative for Fermanagh/South Tyrone until 2007. His reason [...]

Brian Cowen chose to use his Dail Anniversary speech to forge a link between the first Dail in 1919 and Ireland’s role in Europe. Under the wider topic of republicanism Cowen addressed partition, Europe and the wider economic downturn. It is a starting gun on raising the profile of the EU’s role in stabilising the [...]

I thought it couldn’t get worse. I was wrong. And now, due to Eoghan Harris, we see the Coolacrease situation become elevated to a semi-political issue, hence my posting this to Irish Election as well as the Cedar Lounge Revolution. Eoghan Harris in today’s Sunday independent writes about Coolacrease (Tom McGurk also writes about it [...]

Bertie gave the Bodenstown oration today and used it as an opportunity to return to the legacy issue theme of turning Fianna Fail into a 32-county party. He sought to reassure unionists that Fianna Fail will not be a sectarian influence of proponent of narrow nationalism as it seeks to move North.

So, what to make of the news yesterday about Fianna Fáil exploring the ‘idea of advancing itself as a political party in the North’? Certainly it has considerable support amongst many FF members. But the more one examines the idea the less feasible it becomes.

Over on Orga Sinn Fein’s blog they have released details of The Shoot to Kill 25th Anniversary Committee has launched a new website. This site has been launched as part of a series of events and activity to commemorate the events of 1982; when 6 unarmed men were murdered by the RUC. Now I know [...]

A Big Day in the North…or so Black Grape had it… back in 1995. So, what’s up next week? Why, the British-Irish Council meet, and as Gerry Moriarty writes in yesterdays Irish Times: First Minister the Rev Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness are scheduled to greet Gordon Brown at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, [...]

From IOL. The Irish Government today faced further calls to rejoin the Commonwealth.Following appeals in the North’s Assembly yesterday for Ireland to rejoin the international organisation headed by the Queen after 58 years, the secretary general of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Dr William Shija, said the time had come for Ireland to embrace the [...]

From Reuters last night, Bertie speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations suggested a mechanism not unlike South Africa‘s Truth and Reconciliation Commission may be necessary to secure progress in community relations up North.  ”I think we have to find some mechanism. … Otherwise it will never come to an end,” Ahern said. One commission [...]

… for the election. Michael O’Neill is set for release on May 17th.

As always, I struggle with a feeling that I’m somehow not entitled to stick my toe into the murky waters that comprises the political landscape in the six counties because I have no idea what the “sit-EE-ation” is really like up there. Of course, that will never stop me chucking in my two cents’ worth [...]

I am not sure whether to be amused or nervous about this. One of the Republican Sinn Fein Limerick posse are considering standing as an “abstentionist” member of Dail Eireann. That is right, he would collect a TD’s salary, but not turn up for work. He would just be changing the place where he collects [...]