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

Even before the Irish people’s democratic decision to reject the fatally-flawed Lisbon Treaty, (which would have deepened the democratic-deficit in Europe still further), the source of Libertas funding was a bane of “yes” campaigners. To the elite, the possibility of the ‘mainstream’ parties being so decisively outspent by this upstart pro-business [...]

After the Lisbon Treaty debackle Leo Varadker came out and critisesed Enda Kenny in what could be said as the early stages of a coup. So what does Enda do. Blame Leo Varadker for the recent poor form.
In an apparent reference to the claims by one Fine Gael councillor that young TDs such as Leo [...]

Missed this earlier today but didn’t spot it picked up here. Jamie Smyth got his hands on the confidential part of the Eurobarometer survey into the Lisbon result. The findings are interesting - also interesting they weren’t released. I would have guessed at who leaked were it not coming from Brussels correspondent.
LISBON: party supporters’ votes
[...]

The first poll after the Lisbon result comes with little by way of surprise. The Sunday Business Post/Red C poll finds the Irish electorate looks unlikely to have engaged in a mass volte face with regard to the major parties after Lisbon.
Fianna Fail 40% (unchanged)
Fine Gael 25% (-3)

I posted after Friday’s results were finalised that Enda Kenny could well find himself in the most precarious position of the three major party leaders. Kenny has increasingly bolshie elements within the party, a few more years in opposition and the pressure of maintaining progress next year to deal with and no foreign negotiations to [...]

Intersting analysis over at Open Democracy about the reasons Lisbon was rejected and an attempt to conceptualise the ‘democratic deficit’ that was apparently at the heart of the rejection. It is interesting from perusing the papers today that this analysis is taking a lot of hold, that it was the local context that informed voters [...]

In a great day for Irish and European democracy, the Irish people, on a higher turnout than Nice II, rejected the illegitimate and anti-democratic Lisbon Treaty by 53.4% to 46.6%. In doing so, they have struck a blow for freedom and against remote, unaccountable and undemocratic rule by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. They have shown [...]

Brian Cowen, Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore will be more uncomfortable tonight than simply for losing an election. In their own ways they will each feel the pressure of having to face the fallout of a no vote. While it is easy to explain the no as a rejection of the entire establishment, that explanation [...]

So Brian Cowen continues to slowly dismantle the Bertie Ahern machine (on which note, anyone see a Fianna Fail ‘Yes’ poster with Cowen’s face on it?). The announcement that the construction industry wont be dining in Ballybrit will be greeted with delight in the offices of the Green Party and Finian McGrath as a potential [...]

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 [...]

*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 [...]

Young Fine Gael’s cringe-inducing pro-Lisbon campaign.

Enda gets his place in the sun as the warm, loving, caring place that is the all-powerful blogosphere/interweb gives him some attention at Take Enda With You.

Economic growth to slump to the lowest levels since the recessionary 1980s. Unemployment to rise. Inflation heading back up. Tax revenue slumping. Exchequer deficit out of control. Export growth sluggish. No direction, no respite, no hope and . . . no ideas. Yep, it looks like Fianna Fail is odds on to win the next [...]

It strikes one as serendipity - for the opposition at least - that the Dail debates a motion on the three reports from last week into Port Laoise, the one that gave rise to the Naughton letter and entered ’systems-failure’ in the political lexicon by failing patients in a grotesque multiplicity of manners while the [...]

This post actually started a while back, the last time Bertie mentioned we would be tightening our belts this year, I decided to finish it because he mentioned it again yesterday.
We know that the US is as good as in a recession, their central bank doesnt seem to have much capacity to stall the bad [...]