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

Look, I realise that The Irish Times only provides Breda O’Brien with a column to get its liberal readership riled up. Nobody wants to read opinions that conform rigidly to the mainstream the whole time (on which point, here’s an insidiously good article on how climate change is grand). Well, I am liberal and I [...]

Concerns have been raised at plans by the Government of Saudi Arabia to establish a school with an Islamic ethos in Dublin, according to the Irish Times. The plans have been announced in Arabic on the website of the Saudi embassy in Dublin which opened in September. From the Irish Times on Wednesday:
According to the [...]

Update: Official Press Release here.
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In a decision sure to spark furious condemnation from “no” campaigners, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland has announced new regulations on airtime set to grant the political-parties the vast majority of airtime during the campaign.
Broadcasters are not required to allocate exactly the same amount of time to both the Yes and [...]

Alarmingly for those of us who value Western freedoms including freedom of speech, the Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, has revealed his intention to make “blasphemous libel” a crime, punishable by a fine of €100,000. From the Irish Times:

Many thanks to Stretch (he reads Hot Press so we don’t have to!) for pointing us to the recent interview with Declan Ganley, the chairperson of Libertas.
You might have seen Mr. Ganley on the Late Late Show on Friday night last, he has also been in Brussels recently. He’s getting ready for Lisbon the [...]

It won’t be a surprise to Suzy but in echoes of Dermot Ahern’s own stated position in 1993, reports in today’s papers have a number of unnamed Senators and backbench FF TDs suggesting that this whole civil partnership thing is a bridge too far. Despite being greeted as one not far enough by all bar [...]

The Dept of Justice today released the heads of its proposed Civil Partnership Bill (PDF) (not as late as many assumed to be frank). Money quote:
Head 123: Cohabitant and qualified cohabitant
Provide that:
“(1) For the purposes of this Part, unless the context otherwise requires, ‘cohabitants’ means two adults (whether they are of the same sex or [...]

The Dublin LGBTQ Pride Festival is well underway, and continued yesterday evening with the annual debate in the Walton Theatre in TCD at 7.30pm. The motion for discussion was : “Same-Sex Couples Want Access to Civil Marriage, not Civil Partnerships”Chair: Sen. Ivana BacikProp: Sen. David Norris & Ailbhe Smyth (MarriagEquality)Opp: Neil Ward (Dublin Pride) & [...]

Last week I received an invitation from John Gormley’s office to attend a consultation that the Green Party was holding to discuss forthcoming developments in the legislation for Civil Partnerships for same sex couples.
Readers of MP will know I have been vocal on the issue of the Green Party policy in government regarding same sex [...]

Today in the news we are told
Corrib gas vigil mounted Members of the Shell to Sea campaign began an all-night candelit vigil at the Corrib gas refinery gates in north Mayo last night to mark a year since deployment of extra gardaí to the area.
So I looked back a year and saw this headline.Landmark [...]

Lots of coverage for this new initiative launched yesterday outside Leinster House. I note that the site has a blog and a heavy concentration on civil union issues and ‘how your politician voted’ in the recent private members debate on the Labour Party’s Civil Union Bill.
I’ll give lots of link love to any reader of [...]

I missed this one earlier, thegayvote.ie launched last night. They got a blog and some very handy stuff up there at the moment on which candidates voted (and how they voted) on the Civil Union Bill. Check it out.
Twenty had this to say…….

Let me begin by apologising if the headline of this piece has conjured up any disturbing images in your mind’s eye. This little article makes no allegations about Pat Rabbitte and Michael McDowell engaging in homosexual relations. (Not that there’d be anything wrong with that, my heterosexual guilt prompts me to add.) So why the [...]

Tuesday and Wednesday of this week saw members of Dáil Éireann discussing the Labour party’s proposed Civil Unions Bill 2006. (Information also available here.) Those evenings also saw the response from the government and other opposition parties.
- Read the transcript of the debate on Tuesday, 20th February 2007 here.
- Read the transcript of the [...]

Labour Publishes Civil Unions Bill, Green Ink.

Ten years after the party passed a motion on the matter—proposed by yours truly—at a party conference in Limerick, today the Labour Party have published a Civil Union Bill to be debated in the Dáil during private members time.