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

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 [...]

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 children [...]

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 can [...]

In the grand scheme of reminding the electorate of your greatness, Bertie Ahern’s brainwave for a referendum on children’s rights is even more inspired than his attempts to have a similar vote on the North. In both cases it’s questionable that change is needed as there is no obvious fault in the text as it [...]

Simon was right: Bertie wants a children’s rights referendum in the spring, which therefore might join a potential St. Andrews ratification on the ballot, although the latter process looks stalled at the first hurdle right now.

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. [...]

I just thought I’d reference my article from today’s SBP over here and see what people thoughts are on the issue: Eighteen-year-olds would be free to run for seats in the Dail should a policy adopted by Fine Gael this week lead to constitutional change. Article 16.1.1 of the Constitution (PDF file) states that only [...]

Reading this weekend’s Sunday Business Post, there was one article which focused on a major problem for political parties in Ireland – the lack of new members.

Politics in this country is at most times selfish. We are increasingly driven by greed and that is not necessarily a good thing. Now I know many of ye are going finally after all this time Simon has renounced his evil low tax ways and joined the shiny happy world of Socialism That I am [...]

The Labour party has picked an interesting time to put forward its plans for Irish sport but like most things in the world politics it is by no means a coincidence. Yesterday was a day for sporting finale’s; the Wimbledon tournament came to an end with the mens final, the world-class arena of Croke Park [...]

Alcohol consumption in this country is of major concern. Yet when the accompanying picture was taken were people up in arms at one of our politicians engaging in the very activity that is the surge of young people in this country. We expect young people to curtail their activities and we then show politicians drinking [...]

Regarding the latest hiccup in Irish jurisprudence, I’m with Simon: the political consequences for election are hard to discern. If the coalition continues to take a battering on other things, this episode may weigh heavily on them. . But, as Fionna has argued, the issue should not go away. The law as it stands is a mess (if not an ass). This crisis, more than than anything else, reflects a general unwillingness to meet difficult policy issues head-on.

On the scale of anger in this country about anything the present government has done this issue has been by far the biggest issue. Decentralisation, E-Voting PPARS has never lead to the same amount of anger among the electorate. No issue has been commented on by as many people on this website. So the question [...]

The Bill is online here. You can watch the debate here The important bit It shall be a defence to proceedings for an offence under this section for the defendant to prove that he or she honestly believed that, at the time of the alleged commission of the offence, the child against whom the offence [...]