Europe – Page 24 – Slugger O'Toole

Lisbon Essay (20): After eight years of intense political negotiation it is time to move on…

Mick Fealty on September 28, 2009, 2:00 pm

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Margot Wallström the current Vice-President of the European Commission lays out her case for Lisbon. In particular she notes the high level of distrust lingering in some circles with regard to the changes agreed (ie Ireland’s right to a commissioner, and the legal guarantees), but argues that these are political decisions the unbinding of which would have severe political consequences for whomsoever tried to do it. She also argues that whilst the dangers of a race to the bottom are …

What comes after next week’s referendum for Lisbon?

Mick Fealty on September 25, 2009, 7:49 pm

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Interesting line from the director of the European Strategy Forum, Peter Ludlow on what happens in next but one thing in the big treaty debate on the Euractiv site… For the moment, the position is that if [the second appeal] is referred to the Czech Constitutional Court on 29 September, Klaus has grounds for not signing until that appeal is resolved,” said Ludlow. On that day, the Constitutional Court would have to decide whether to launch a second appeal procedure, …

Lisbon Essay (19): A No vote will stop the drift to ‘undemocracy’…

Mick Fealty on September 25, 2009, 3:30 pm

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Jason Walsh argues that when you strip away the contralto hyperbole of some of the more extreme claims of No campaigners like Coir, there is more than a grain of truth to their case that Irish sovereignty is under attack, primarily because multilateral institutions do not take national sovereignty seriously any more. The default assumption is that primary field of play is now on the multilateral plane… Worse than that, he argues, that all manner of powers (fiscal control has …

Big European debate: O’Leary versus Ganley…

Mick Fealty on September 24, 2009, 8:53 pm

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Great line up from Matt Cooper on Today FM at the IrishTimes building… Mick FealtyMick 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

Slugger’s Lisbon Essays spotted in the Seanad…

Mick Fealty on September 24, 2009, 8:26 pm

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Printed copies of the Slugger Essays, covered in highlighter pen and sitting in front of Senator Terry Leyden in a Seanad Committee meeting this week… Good, it seems they’re being read by the very people they were intended for… Not quite Hansard, but one day maybe… Mick FealtyMick 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 …

No posters out gunning the Yeses with young voters (and non voters)…

Mick Fealty on September 24, 2009, 5:35 pm

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As one exhausted Yes campaigner might have said, “why does the devil have all the best tunes?” Certainly, the Yes campaign posters are all pretty bland and distant. There is no clear messaging, other than Yes, Yes, Yes… Of the Nos I’ve seen, this is my personal favourite… who could beat a strapline that goes “Would you buy a second hand Treaty from these chancers…” It’s an ad man’s dream.. Harry McGee followed JOhn Gormley to St Louis High School …

Lisbon Essay (18): Giving the Celtic Tiger back its growl

Mick Fealty on September 24, 2009, 4:00 pm

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Today Martin Schultz, leader of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament argues that a yes to Lisbon is essential to reviving Ireland’s fortunes (a view previously supported by LE11 but opposed in LE5 (and in this follow up from Stephen Kinsella). The question, he argues, is not apocalyptical. It about making Europe more transparent and democratically accountable by strengthening parliamentary rights at the national level. The benefits of the Union to smaller countries like Ireland, …

Lisbon (17): Without the treaty Ireland cedes its interests to bigger fish…

Mick Fealty on September 23, 2009, 4:56 pm

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Senator Deirdre de Burca argues that for all the legitimate misgivings surrounding the beefing of a European foreign policy, not least round those concerns in LE4 and LE16, the mere act of the EU coming together in a single multilateral body to tackle issues like climate change, international terrorism or with wild hiccuping in global markets. Collective action is not a choice, it is a necessity. Without that capacity Ireland can have little hope that its own interests that will …

Lisbon campaign: “Our age group is more independent-minded and willing to question authority…”

Mick Fealty on September 23, 2009, 3:07 am

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This one’s been sitting in the jug since yesterday, when Mary Fitzgerald wrote about one of the most disaffected groups by age in last year’s Lisbon referendum, when: 55 per cent of those aged 18-24 voted No, and 45 per cent Yes. In the 25-34 year age group, the No vote was even more pronounced: 59 per cent against, 41 per cent who voted Yes. According to the latest Irish Times opinion poll it is only the 18-24 age group …

“Choose Lisbon”

Pete Baker on September 23, 2009, 2:06 am

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We’ve seen a possibly adulterated “Yes” campaign poster. At Irish Election Cian has an unadulterated “Yes” campaign poster. It’s Generation Yes’ clever clean riff on Trainspotting. Reproduced below the fold.GenYes Train Spotting Banner Pete Baker

LIsbon Essay (16): Building of a militaristic trojan horse…

Mick Fealty on September 22, 2009, 3:59 pm

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Today Andy Storey of UCD takes a contrary view of Ireland’s neutrality status post Lisbon to that expressed in LE13, and argues that whatever other countries mean by ‘neutrality’ in Ireland for generations now it has meant, as outlined in Lisbon’s ‘legal guarantees’ “non-membership of a military defence alliance”. He also questions whether it really is in Ireland’s interest to contribute to “a more assertive union [EU military] role … will contribute to the vitality of a renewed [NATO].” And, …

Slugger ‘got’ by partisan Euro ‘pollster’…

Mick Fealty on September 22, 2009, 1:30 pm

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So what happened to Slugger’s great ‘scoop’ of last night? Well, first thing I tune into “What is says in the Papers” on Morning Ireland and… well, nothing… Then I go and look at the thread, and Dewi reports Mike Smithson at Political Betting (who’s parted with £100 on the strength of the same ‘tip off’ I got) is now suspicious its an elaborate hoax… So I give the guy I spoke to at Gael Poll last night, Tom Prenderville, …

How Ireland shifted from rapid immigration to full-on recession…

Mick Fealty on September 22, 2009, 1:26 am

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Just picked this report up on the massive fluctuation in the migration flows over the last fifteen years or so; and the changing nature of Irish citizenship to keep up with those changes… It includes data which show the recession’s impact: immigration flows decreased 23 percent from 2007 to 2008 while emigration increased to levels not seen since the early 1990s. In particular, flows from Eastern Europe have dropped to about 40 percent of all inflows, compared to 48 percent …

Aiste Liospóin (15): Ag líonadh na bearnaí daonlathais…

Mick Fealty on September 21, 2009, 11:00 pm

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Creideann Aonghus Ó hAlmhain go mbeidh torthaí fónta ar Chonradh Liospóin, torthaí a chuireann le gné daonláthach an Aontais agus, anuas ar sin, cuireann siad lena éifeacht. Maíonn sé nach mbeidh ról nua an Uachtaráin ar an gComhairle Eorpach nios mó ná ról chathaoirligh nó ról mholtóra. Dar leis go dtugann staitistic amháin léargas ar an ghné sin – agus is mór idir é agus na postaeiri atá crochta ar chuaillí Bhaile Átha Cliath. Is é sin go mbeidh suíochán …

Sun poll calls a strong No sentiment against Lisbon…

Mick Fealty on September 21, 2009, 10:43 pm

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Slugger has just had sight of some polling figures, done by Gael Poll for tomorrow’s Irish Sun that suggests that big soft ‘don’t know’ may not be as soft as the Irish Times polling has been suggesting. On a nation wide sample of 1500 and in answer to some pretty straightforward questions, the figures they get are 59% NO ‘V’ 41% YES. Now those are flat figures, no weighting and the methodology so far as we can tell is pretty …

“disclosure could have a detrimental impact”

Pete Baker on September 21, 2009, 9:37 pm

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The BBC have managed to uncover the correspondence between the UK Foreign Office and the NI Department of Culture about that incomplete report on minority languages. But not even a “lazy” Freedom of Information request could reveal the correspondence between Department and the NI deputy First Minister.. From the BBC report Under the Freedom of Information Act the BBC requested correspondence between Mr McGuinness and the Department of Culture but the request was denied on the grounds that the disclosure …

“Little People!”

Pete Baker on September 21, 2009, 3:20 pm

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At Irish Election, Mark Coughlan has footage of a possibly adulterated “Yes” campaign poster.. Pete Baker

Lisbon Essays (14): Women of Ireland, what will it be?

Mick Fealty on September 21, 2009, 3:00 pm

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Gerard O’Neill speculates on whether or not women will decide the Lisbon vote. They were the largest single group (numerically) to swing the last vote to a No. He observes that neither side have particularly targeted the female voter. This is largely correct, if the evidence my camera-phone in Dublin last week is anything to go by, (although Coir’s new Heart poster campaign seems almost entirely directed at women). Left to their own devices, Gerard reckons women may just swing …

LIsbon Essay (13): Ireland cannot commit to anything beyond “the Chinese veto”…

Mick Fealty on September 18, 2009, 2:30 pm

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Ben Tonra argues that the concerns around sovereignty and military interventionism (LE4) betray a timidity in Ireland’s sense of its own sovereign power, rather than an assertion of it. He argues that Ireland rather than retiring into the corner, should use the opportunity being opened by Lisbon and press forward and into spaces where its troops can proactively do some good, rather than “howling, free and unfettered, from the shores of the Atlantic”. Here’s a question – why would anyone …

Lisbon Essay (12): Three decades of building Irish independence inside the EU…

Mick Fealty on September 17, 2009, 2:30 pm

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Today Conall is the first of our Yes essayists to tackle the question of what has happened to Irish sovereignty through its thirty six year membership of what began as the European Economic Community, then became the European Community, and is now known as the European Union. He notes that in 1973, Ireland went in in lock-step with – and on terms largely negotiated by – the UK, but that in the time that has elapsed since the Republic has …