Meath East

Meath East: First tallies make FG early favourites…

Mick Fealty on March 28, 2013, 12:54 pm | Readers 55

For those of you who have never been to an Irish count, here’s the first boxes being opened… The atmosphere is not unlike a country Mart… It will get more crowded as the day goes on… So far, here’s the tallies for the first preference vote… Final joint tally: FF 33.43%; Ben Gilroy 6.55; Lab 3.90; FG 38.41; SF 12.92 #mhe13 @irishtimespol @irishtimes — mary minihan (@minihanmary) March 28, 2013 The greybeards are saying that the FF candidate needs to …

Could Fianna Fail’s debt arbitration bill be the difference in Meath East?

Mick Fealty on March 26, 2013, 1:59 pm | Readers 8

Ah, John beat me to a good analysis of the Meath East by election. I’d go with most of it, except for the inference that party policy is no different between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. It’s a popular line in the media and particularly beloved by political rivals! It does carries a certain truth since no one in mainstream Irish politics has ever been particularly wedded to ideology. The very first government after independence introduced eye wateringly tight fiscal …

#MHE: the devil will be in the detail

John Ó Néill on March 26, 2013, 9:35 am | Readers 12

This Wednesday voters go to the ballot box in the Meath East by-election. With a large government majority (albeit as a coalition), the outcome of the by-election will have no functional impact on the Dáil arithmetic. Given the circumstances of the by-election, which has arisen due to Fine Gael TD and junior Minister Sean McEntee taking his own life, it seems quite likely that his 26 year old daughter, Helen, will take the seat. His death prompted Fine Gael TDs to blame social media criticism either due to the …