Election 2007
Why Sinn Fein’s Long March was halted in the south…
Fascinating final analysis from WorldbyStorm of the general failure of the left in the Republic’s elections, and Sinn Fein’s failure to capitalise on it’s achievement of power in Northern Ireland. He targets the party’s ruthlessly pragmatic abandonment of leftist policy, in the immediate run up to the election (here’s the latest clarification of how the [...] more »
Mansion House cancelled: deal over…
We’ve just heard that the Greens have cancelled the meeting for Sunday… deal over Update: Harry doesn’t think it’s done and dusted.… and Pete points to an interesting last line in Sargent’s communique… “We remain committed to forming a government and will continue to explore all avenues with this in mind. However the current deal [...] more »
Greens walk out on FF…
Politics.ie carried a report that the two sides had agreed a draft programme of government, then shortly afterwards RTE report the Greens have walked out on the talks… Something screwy going on here… Oh, it looks like shot a fame is gone… shame, because we had some great quotes lined up… our day will come [...] more »
Heads up for Drivetime…
Okay. There’s no knowing how this deal is going to pan out in Dublin. Or when it might be resolved one way or the other. If we are still in suspended animation by about 5.20 this afternoon, Mary Wilson will be featuring some blogger comment (including some from our regular Sluggerites) on Drivetime, on RTE [...] more »
Working through lunch…
Greens and FF working through lunch and into the afternoon… It must be serious… Of all the comment the most apt advice was given on Morning Ireland this morning from former PD advisor Stephen Byrnes: stay close to your core competence. In other words keep it environment, environment, environment… “They [the Greens] may be missing [...] more »
Betfair odds balanced between Greens and no Greens…
The main negotiations should have been finished today, and it looks like the former hot favourite for a new coalition is not so hot, nor exactly the favourite with Betfair punters. Fianna Fail and PDs is the new favourite at 7/5. With the Greens 6/4. That’s tight. The current total value of the covered bets [...] more »
Betfair says it will be a FF/Green/PD government…
For those of you still following the horse trading in the Republic, the market on the next government combo over at Betfair seems to be coming down fairly decisively for the multi-party heaven of Fianna Fail, the Greens and the Progressive Democrats, where it is about 1/2 on (8/15 to be accurate). The next favoured [...] more »
DUP and the end of the pan nationalist front?
One of the fascinating aspects of this election has been the relish with which has been consumed in detail by Northern Ireland’s Unionists. Calton Media’s analysis was congratulatory of Bertie Ahern. And even today in the Sunday Tribune, Ian Paisley has defended Ahern against the allegations of financial impropriety. Which begs the question: is this [...] more »
Adams: expectations were too high…
Gerry Adams in interview with An Phoblacht, acknowledges that expectations, even at leadership level within the party were ignoring the party’s performance in 2002, and suggests that in reality there was probably only ever one gain (in all likelihood he’s referring to Padraig MacLochlainn, who, the tallies suggest, only missed out because Cecilia Keavney was [...] more »
Greens present government conditions…
In case you are concerned at the length of time that the horse trading has gone on so far in the Republic, just note that Wales still doesn’t have a settled Executive yet… smart money is on a Plaid/Tory administration. The Dail maths still suggest it could go either way. Intriguingly, the Greens have set [...] more »
It was lack of southern Protestants ‘wot lost it’…
Tongue firmly in cheek, Newton Emerson reckons that Sinn Fein ‘bombed’ simply because there weren’t enough Protestants in the Republic to wind up their supporters… (subs needed) Newton’s Optic: Sinn Féin has blamed “a serious shortage of Protestants in the 26 counties” for its poor showing in last week’s election. “Sinn Féin draws its core [...] more »
Labour’s difficulty, SF’s lost opportunity?
In yesterday’s Irish News Brian Feeney reckoned that the party which came out worst in the Republic’s election (after the PDs) was Labour. Though they stayed steady on 20 seats, they failed to move forward, and renew their team inside the Dail chamber. Today Pat Rabbitte confesses that he probably should have done more and [...] more »
Harney being wooed by both sides…
Just two out of eight seats left in the Dail, but the PDs are being courted by both major parties. Even so, aryHarney is not giving anything away. And Paddy Power, Betfair, et al don’t get to pay out on the sharpest punters for another while, whilst the internal horsetrading continues. Update: Interesting aside from [...] more »
Sinn Fein’s delay tactics in north cost it bounce in south…
So much of what occured after the Belfast Agreement is so hidden from open scrutiny that it is often a case of paying your money and take your choice of who was responsible for who ultimately collapsed the outworking of that deal. Republicans blame unionists, and vice versa. However, much as it looked as though [...] more »
Fine Gael ‘definately’ not talking to Sinn Fein…
Here’s a thing. Enda Kenny is still trying to make a fight of getting the keys to the Taoiseach’s office. Getting the numbers might be a lot easier if they had Sinn Fein on board. Finian McGrath has alleged they have made an approach to that quarter and now the party is in full official [...] more »
How Bertiegate boosted FF and nearly killed the PDs…
In yesterday’s Irish Times Deaglán de Bréadún comes up with as good a reason for Michael McDowell’s demise, as TD, leader of his party, and Tanaiste as any offered elsewhere. He argues, in particular, that his responses to a media onslaught on Ahern over ‘Bertiegate’ allegations leaked from the Mahon Tribunal were highly erratic: Having [...] more »
Sinn Fein: the Alliance party of the Republic?
Gerry Adams concedes that his party faces a lot of work in the next two years before the council elections in 2009. The sheer size of the gap between current political reality and the party’s own ambition is see when you consider that its performance compares unfavourably with the Alliance party in Northern Ireland. In [...] more »
Options for Bertie
With the exception of Dublin South-Central, where according to the current report, Labour’s Eric Byrne could still beat Sinn Féin’s sitting TD Aengus O’Snodaigh, RTÉ are firmly predicting the final seat totals as FF 78, FG 51, Labour 21/20, Greens 6, SF 3/4, PDs 2 and Independents 5. Update According to the folks at IrishElection [...] more »
Sinn Fein to take last seat through multiple transfers?
In Dublin South-Central Aengus O Snodaigh is currently 769 ahead of Eric Byrne of Labour who is fighting for a second seat for Labour… Brid Smyth, of People before Profit vote transfers should break towards SF’s sitting TD… but there are still some counts to go before we’ll have a clear result… some nails to [...] more »
The unkindest cut of all…
Rather snazzy with the first conspiracy theory of the election… more »
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Books
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Hearing the Other Voice from the Grave: Why Should we Listen to David Ervine’s Stories?
Ed Moloney’s Voices from the Grave: Two Men’s War in Ireland has received considerable attention in the press and in the public realm since its publication earlier this year. Although the book relates the experiences of the Provisional IRA’s Brendan Hughes and the PUP/UVF’s David Ervine, much of the discussion has focused on Hughes’ stories [...] read our review » -
A New Vision for the Catholic Church – Book Review
The oft-quoted verse from the book of Proverbs, ‘where there is no vision, the people perish,’ (chapter 29, verse 18) opens a new book by Gerry O’Hanlon, A New Vision for the Catholic Church: A View from Ireland (Columba Press, 2011). That verse could be considered an apt summary of the current state of the [...] read our review »
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Of the Old North and other Vanished Kingdoms..
I’m currently trawling through Norman Davies’s fabulous new tome – “Vanished Kingdoms” – Five stars in the (London) Telegraph’s review from Ben Wilson: All the nations that have ever lived have left their footsteps in the sand,” writes Norman Davies. “The traces fade with every tide, the echoes grow faint, the images are fractured, the human [...] read our review »
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