Now here, on the face of it, is a bizarre move from Jim McDaid. Why now? And why resign the seat? However it does makes things less complicated for Niall Blaney, and Sinn Fein’s Padraig MacLochlainn. That’s now four outstanding by elections to the Dail… It’s as though Oireachtas was making its own case that there are already too many representatives in Leinster House.
Adds: So was he pushed? Or was this Dr Jim’s revenge ahead of what has to be a savage budget? The Bond Market rate for Irish debt is 7.2% as of 10 this morning.
Update: Apparently, McDaid’s own office found out by text just after it was announced on Highland radio. At a public meeting last night he spoke about his dilemma, but had apparently not made up his mind.
Plus side for FF is that it is one less vote against the budget (which may now be considerably foreshortened so Lenihan can line up all his wee ducks for the ECB/IMF).. Minus is how does the party risk those four by elections (lose them all, and the Dail majority is gone)…
Update 2: Harry McGee has a good write up on state of play within Donegal and where this leaves the government… UPdate 3: And here’s his last letter to the Taoiseach arguing that the national interest lay in an early general election on the RTE Frontline site…
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty