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

The way Cowen, Gormley, Lenihan and Harney have set to restructure civil service pensions in today’s Budget is strange. They’ve danced around the details using a fudgey term – “career average”, I’m trying to figure out exactly what they mean… It appears the Government will restructure the way civil servant pensions are paid from its [...]

Today’s Wicklow Times is reporting that Senator Deirdre de Burca is packing her bags and heading for Brussels to work in the cabinet of Ireland’s new European Commissioner Maire Geoghegan-Quinn . Now you may remember the last time Senator de Burca hitched the parachute to her back and flew. This time she is going further [...]

Green Party National Executive Committee member Andrew Murphy, not content with calling emigrants quitters, now calls journalists lazy. @greenparty_ie I love how you bolded the key points so journos have to do the very least amount of work possible.I’m sure they’re v grateful And I’m sure they’re very grateful to you too, Andrew.

Photo owned by norwichnuts (cc) Email doing the rounds today: Greetings.

Fianna Fail will nominate Cllr James Carroll – Louth County Councillor and parliamentary assisatnt to Margaret Conlon for one of the two Seanad seats to be filled at the forthcoming Seanad election. You might remember him from his scintillating blog posts during the local elections (he is also one of Suzy’s stepford candiates).

Warning 1: I am about to attempt mathematics. I am a journalist. Warning 2: I am about attempt electoral mathematics. I am a journalist. Warning 3: I know you can’t reduce voting preferences to maths, so don’t bring that up. Yes this is speculation for the sake of discussion. I am a journalist. – I [...]

Update: Official Press Release here. – 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 [...]

Dan Boyle is on the war path again. A statement released through the Green Party communications office following his speech at the MacGill Summer School today said… Addressing the MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, the Green Party Finance spokesperson said progress required a prompt end to the culture of ‘No Blame – No [...]

The Green Party will officially campaign for a Yes vote in the second Lisbon treaty referendum following a vote on the issue at their special party convention today. They didn’t vote on their position in Government, but they discussed it. The membership was asked to vote on whether they should support a No campaign, this [...]

Dan Boyle was on point duty for the Greens once again yesterday. Himself and his party colleague in the Seanad, Deirdre De Burca voted against the Government move to guillotine the final stage of the Criminal Justice Act last night. How very noble of them. Then Boyle, a senator – i.e. someone the general public [...]

Via: EXTRA TIME should be given for Dáil debate of tough new powers to be given to the Garda Síochána and Director of Public Prosecutions, the Green Party has said. But it will not insist that Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern complies.

With a week to digest the election results, the Green Party might be credited with an emerging strategy to take into their negotiations for a renewed programme for government and, in theory at least, the second part of the process of government for however long it lasts. It was assessed here and elsewhere that the [...]

Enda and George will be looking to nail the Greens into the coffin on Tuesday. Both men know that the motion of no confidence will not succeed. Both know that if they were to move into government that in the eyes of the international community they’d be committed to supplying €4bn of taxpayers money to [...]

The Green Party will be making a final pitch for votes with a question and answer session tonight at 8:30. ‘The Green Room’ will be live on their website with questions taken live for John Gormley, Eamon Ryan and Deirdre de Burca / Dan Boyle too.

This the first in a series of posts written members of political parties. Irish Election contacted members of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Labour and The Green Party who are active online and asked them to provide a post of between 600 and 1000 words on the brief “Why you should vote for X Party’s candidates in the European elections”.

I will post them in the opposite order to how we posted the party political broadcasts, two today, two tomorrow. That means the Greens are up first then Labour, Fine Gael after them and lastly Fianna Fáil. Other parties are welcome to submit posts to my personal email as seen on my website (easier keep them all together). Deadline is noon tomorrow and not a minute later. Posts must be written by party members who are not standing for election.

Written by Andrew Murphy. Andrew is based in Galway, a former chair of the Young Greens and national co-ordinator for the party.

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This week almost 400 million voters will go to the polls to take part in the biggest exercise in representative democracy after India. However, this event should not just be celebrated as an example of Europe’s peaceful transition – it should be treated as an opportunity to shape Europe, and its role on the world, in the coming years. You will not just be voting for “Ireland’s team” in Europe, you will be voting for men and women who will have a profound impact on this continent. This is not a decision to be taken lightly.

Eddie Hobbs, Darina Allen, Duncan Stewart and Sean ‘dublin bay’ Loftus greeted me on page 5 of my Irish Times today – a full page spread bought by the Green Party to encourage people to vote green. Will those ringing endorsements be enough to get them over the line on election day? Eddie Hobbs might [...]