UNPOPULARITY POLLS: While the last couple of opinion polls have brought comfort to Enda Kenny and Fine Gael, showing the party at its strongest levels in over three years, those polling numbers – if repeated at the 2016 election – would still result in a significantly weaker situation for them.
DEFENSIVE POLITICS: Politicians find themselves forced to take a course of action and then can regret it later. It happens on policy, resignations, constituency matters. It’s now a long way until Spring and there is a danger that if people are giving credit for the budget now, it will be but a memory in the new year.
TALL TALES: Enda’s #armygate saga has had pundits of all hues falling over themselves to explain, or even excuse, how and why An Taoiseach went to a recent EPP gathering in Madrid and told a story about the Irish Defences Forces being on standby to protect ATMs back in 2012.
As part of a new weekly series I will be looking at the lessons we should learn in politics from now until the election. Lesson one is – Never get carried away. Politics is a game of hype. You tell everyone you are absolutely brilliant and that the other fella is the devil incarnate. Due to the adversarial nature of politics there is often little room for being fair. This is all well and good but you must be careful …
Suzanne Collins is the Director of Operations and Campaigns for Women for Election the non-partisan, not-for-profit organisation that works to inspire and equip more women to succeed in politics. Responding to John McGuirk, she writes about why his central thesis on women in politics is wrong… What is the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So true of our political system. Over and over women failed to be selected or encouraged …
