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

First, it was Enda Kenny who said it; then Michael Noonan repeated it on the News at One on RTE; followed by Leo Varadkar on Tonight with Vincent Brown on 26th October last: The payment of 700m euro of Irish taxpayers money to unsecured, unguaranteed senior bondholders of the former Anglo Irish Bank will not, [...]

The referendum on increased powers for Oireachtas Committees deserved to fail. Had the public debate that some members of the government this past weekend wistfully suggested might have made a difference to the final result taken place, the net result might have been failure by an even larger margin than a 53% ‘No’. There was [...]

The Evening Herald has claimed that SF Presidential candidate Martin McGuinness is the main suspect in the murder of two policemen gunned down in an IRA ambush in Derry: SINN Fein Presidential candidate Martin McGuinness is the main suspect in the brutal murder of two policemen, the Herald can reveal. Sergeant Peter Gilgunn (26) and [...]

Update: Gallagher on facebook denying he is man in a 1992 photo cited on David Cochrane (of politics.ie)’s twitter page. Sinn Fein’s allegations linking Gallagher to a cheque for €5,000 for FF have been undermined following the revelations that the accuser has convictions for cross-border fuel-smuggling and tax-evasion and leased his General Election HQ to [...]

It’s ironic that in the run up to the referendum on De Valera’s draft Constitution in 1937, the proposed role of the President was one of the most contentious areas of political debate. Fine Gael feared that De Valera was ultimately planning for a Presidential dictatorship of sorts. Such fears were misplaced. The Presidency, as [...]

Brendan Howlin didn’t turn up to reply to the Second Stage debate on the Constitutional Amendment to grant Oireachtas Committees new powers to investigate issues of public interest on the evening of September 15th. No doubt he had more weighty Ministerial matters to contend with. But his absence signalled a worrying complacency within this Government. [...]

I may have forgotten many days in between, but like many others, I remember precise details of where I was on 9/11. Late that morning, I had travelled to Manchester for a meeting. I was whisked off to the canteen for coffee with someone who wanted to talk to me, to share some news about [...]

“A right royal Irish farce,” was my friend’s verdict that morning as RTE announced that our – or at least their – beloved Gaybo was considering a bid for the Presidency, at the invitation, no less, of FF leader, Michael Martin. Old Gaybo played Martin like a violin for the best part of a week. [...]

Edit: For some reason the liveblog is refusing to embed into the site so if you want to follow it, it’s here: http://www.scribblelive.com/Event/Dublin_City_Council_meeting_July_4th

Recent months have seen the issue of prostitution come to prominence as the Presidential election approaches. A disturbing parallel with the Lisbon debate is evident in the near unanimity of the political and intellectual ‘Establishment’ for a blind support of traditional policy approaches. How can someone simultaneously claims the mantle of liberalism while also attempting [...]

For going on 5 years now I have been living in the UK. For the first few years you still feel attached to home. Still keep as up to date with the news as you would if at home. But then as you begin to realise that the news back home has very little impact [...]

Did this Government ever really  intend to play hardball with its lenders and the EU on the terms and conditions of the bailout? If so, then the opportune moment came immediately upon their election to office. That moment is gone, as signalled by the climb-downs by the Finance Ministers and by the Taoiseach  on their [...]

“We must face down the jackals who control the international banking system to save our nation and protect our children’s future THERE IS considerable truth in the view that Ireland is no longer a sovereign state but an impoverished suburb of Brussels. Four million people are mired deep in a collective debt that is not [...]

BBC Radio 4 gets Brian Lenihan’s version of recent events at 1.30 today, Sunday. More than he could thought he could get past the voters or his party colleagues, apparently.

On one level it looks great – the one euro knocked off the minimum wage in the last Budget is to be restored. Granted, it will probably have to wait for new legislation that may not be ready for publication or enacted before the next Budget given the snail’s pace at which these things proceed. [...]