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

Report from the Irish Independent
IRELAND is one of the wealthiest nations in the world but 15pc of our children are experiencing “food poverty” due to parents being too busy to provide proper meals.A new report has found that children from middle-class families are suffering food poverty, while 16pc of all Irish children under the [...]

Well auction politics or poker politics, it is all academic. He saw the opposition, by equalling commitments on the standard rate (down to 18% - originally Labour), the pension (€300 over the five years of government - originally PDs), lower the higher rate of tax (down to 40% - not as much as the PDs).
And [...]

We are not forgetting the other petition we have going here. About the drug testing of Dail members. It got a mention in this bi-montly version of Druglink the magazine of DrugScope the UK’s leading independent centre of expertise on drugs. It’s not on-line though I am afraid.

The Labour Party today levelled the assertion at McDowell in the Dail that, following on from last years CC case and the rapid passing of legislation to close the gap on statutory rape left by the Supreme Court Decision, his legislation repealed vital protections for children.

You know the way they say the Irish are late for everything, even their own funerals? Well so it seems is any major campaign aimed at mobilising the youth vote in Ireland.
Maman Poulet would usually have no problem in supporting anything that mobilises young people to stick their number 1 (and other votes) on the [...]

While not as damning as the actual failure to follow up the tip from Austrian police about two Irish participants in an alleged Internet child abuse ring, it’s telling that the first response of the Garda to the news that they had been tipped off was not to check their records, but to deny that [...]

With all eyes resting on random drug testing of school kids, the rest of Kenny’s Young Fine Gael speech seems to have gotten overlooked.
The policy Fine Gael probably hoped everyone would focus on - i.e. the one they put at the top of their press release summary - was that of lowering the blood alcohol [...]

Update: Kenny in the Irish Times “The system had worked in Britain and the US, he said”.  Really where is the proof?
One of the stories in the papers around this time last year was that cocaine was found in the toilets in Leinster House. Yet as of yet Enda Kenny has not called for [...]

At least the wording according to a briefing paper seen by the Irish Times (subs. req’d) — below the fold.  The legal analysis by Carl O’Brien (subs.) is worth a look too.

According to a report on Newstalk, Bertie Ahern is still looking to press ahead with a Children’s Rights referendum prior to the next election. Beyond the purely electoral, there isn’t any really good reason why this referendum should be held separate from the general election, but that really isn’t here or there. What is though, [...]

It was difficult to expect much news over the traditional Christmas Break and Bertie is probably hoping for an extra week’s grace with his trip to the Gulf, but an election year both sides of the border is starting to concentrate minds, so below the fold a roundup of recent developments —

Fianna Fail’s Measures for Childern
We will work to end Child Poverty, with, at a minimum, a reduction of the rate to below 2% within five years.
The relative poverty child rate in Ireland is 15.7% according to UNICEF. But I don’t particular like relative measurements.(until some one can say to me why 60% of median [...]

The Indo has details of a survey about Muslim attitudes in Ireland. Some details:

73% believe they are fully integrated into Irish society, with 77% saying they feel accepted here.
More than a third—36%—would prefer Ireland to be ruled under Sharia law, while 37% would like Ireland to be governed as an Islamic state.

Here is a novelty: if the decision on the age of consent should be lowered, why not let the citizens most affected by the decision be allowed to vote on the subject? Why not lower the voting age to 16 and put the decision up to the people. That would let the TDs and Dail [...]

There has been an escalation in the row about the decision to locate the new national children’s hospital at the Mater. Crumlin Hospital has released a detailed report taking issue with the Mater’s suitability for the facility, amongst other things in terms of space, a pressing issue given the importance of parental presence for [...]

Two quick notes. First, a row about a senior English policeman’s remarks over what gets classified as paedophilia in cases involving statutory rape points to obstacles that may face any Irish legal reforms in this area. And on a slightly related note, Brian Lenihan has made clear that the government’s position is they they [...]