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

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 [...]

The High Court has ruled that embryos are not protected under the constitution until they are implanted in the womb. What does this mean for stem cell research?

Look to be fair, Fine Gael have a point: Gardai in Templemore aren’t fighting crime or doing deskwork, they are in training. It’s not sound to add that number to the effective Garda numbers. In which case the 14,000 number is a bit of messing for headlines and O’Keefe is more correct to claim the [...]

What has changed since 2003 that requires a reevaluation of the right to silence and the presumption of innocence?
In 2003 the Minister “rejected a proposal from an expert review group to bring in legislation allowing a court to draw inference from an accused’s refusal to provide information while being questioned by the Gardai. The proposal [...]

Notwithstanding the apparent temptation to roll a St. Andrews ratification into a general election, it looks now that the government is backing away from a combined vote in March next year. This means that Attorney-General Rory Brady has more things to think about.

Edit: It seems he has changed tack slightly since 2003 when he dropped similar plans to curb the right to silence where he said: “I am more concerned that a trial should be about the facts of the case rather than what a person said or did not say in a police station,” (from the [...]

It is incomprehensible that when Gardai are cracking down on drug barons, pills five times stronger than ecstasy can be bought over the counter in Ireland by anyone over the age of 18
So begins the Irish Examiner editorial on the legal availability of “mind altering drugs” in Ireland. It is, of course, old news. The [...]

While Bertie Ahern holes himself up in the tidal wave of controversy surrounding the revelation that he took “loans” from friends to finance the costs of his legal seperation, the news has not been good for the Government either in this part of the country.
Newcastle West was dealt another blow after 260 jobs were put [...]

One of the twelve men, dubbed the Twelve Apostles, involved in “helping Bertie Ahern out” with the court costs surrounding his separation from his wife in 1993 is a Limerickman.
Owner of numerous Dublin pubs and a shareholder in Sunderland Football Club, Charlie Chawke, from Adare, County Limerick, was named as one of 12 people who [...]

So it seems that all of our politicians are in favour of Prison Reform(TM), and they’ve all got ideas on what needs to be done. McDowell has his plans for super-prisons. The Greens are criticising him. Fine Gael are, as usual, calling for tougher sentences and 24 hour policing. Fianna Fail are just happy that [...]

Here is an interesting idea from America: thereoughtabealaw.org. Basically, as they say on the site:
Special interest lobbyists draft bills for your legislators to pass into law for them every day. We are inviting you to do the same.
The site’s aim is that:
You can post new ideas for laws, share bills with your friends, sponsor other [...]

Fine Gael. Well done to everyone in the Fine Gael party and especially Jim O’Keeffe for this policy of making judges taking classes on what is normal in society. Seriously, is it just me or does this look like something Jane Austen would have done if she was in power?

Looks like I may have spoken to soon. Unlike Fine Gael who have some members that don’t like the idea of a fair trial. Michael seems to have realised the importance of justice and the need for everyone to have a fair trial and get legal aid if they can’t afford it.

Fine Gaels attacks on peoples rights continue. Not content with putting drunks in hospitals into drunk tanks. They are continuing their hatred for the whole innocent until proven guilt thing. Firstly they wanted to tag people out on bail. Now they want limit free legal aid.

As we prepare for the next general election it’s time to put alcohol advertisement and sponsorship back on the agenda. It seems clear that there is no deeply-rooted societal reason for deciding not to ban alcohol advertising: if it could be done so successfully with tobacco companies then why not also with alcohol? The answer is clear: vintners. Smoking is an infinitely easier societal evil to target through regulation because less people smoke than drink and most people realise that smoking has a detrimental effect on individual health, the health of those around them and the health service itself; but we’re all a bit more blasé when it comes to alcohol.

North Korea has finally lived up to its Team America reputation and tested its nuclear warheads (correction: for the sake of accuracy it was the missiles to deliver weaponry they tested), which might well have the capacity to reach the United States and the United Nations once more is called into focus. Will the Security [...]