Oct 06
I spent Saturday in Dublin Castle, watching as the non-event that was the Lisbon treaty referendum count unfolded with a complete lack of drama. Bored journalists loitered without intent, and occasionally politicians showed up grinning from ear to ear and basking in victory, photographers snapped away, and Nigel Farage spoke in front of foreign cameras …
Oct 03
Dear Declan, I know you’re not going away. Or if you do, you will return after another ‘provocation’ to run for the Dáil or, – heaven help us – the Áras. Either way, we can be sure of one thing. Votes like this aren’t going away either. There will be new treaties, as Europe evolves. …
Sep 30
Fine Gael TD Pat Breen’s constituency office in Ennis was defaced by ‘No’ to Lisbon campaigners last night, an act he described as ‘an act of sheer desperation’. ‘Vandalising a TD’s office in what appears to be an orchestrated fashion can only be described as an act of sheer desperation,’ said the deputy foreign affairs …
Sep 25
I haven’t had a chance to post here this week, having been kept busy by work commitments, the annual Culchiefest ( also known as the National Ploughing Championships), and an invasion of relatives. Normal service should resume next week, but in the meantime, for those of you wondering what else I’ve been up to: How …
Sep 15
Some arguments made on both sides of the Lisbon treaty debate are false. Some are true. Some are unprovable either way. And a large number of arguments are irrelevant. Take what was credited as a winning argument last time: ‘Save Our Commissioner: Vote No’. As it turns out, once Ireland voted No, the EU suddenly …
Sep 11
Declan Ganley has re-entered the fray. The news – announced sideways in a Wall Street Journal interview – contradicts his vow to quit if he didn’t win a seat in the Euro elections. As recently as mid-August, Ganley repeated his promise in a series of twitter posts. Asked if he planned to get involved in …
Jul 21
Compare and contrast the following news reports: 13 June 2007 Green Party members have voted by over 86% to go into Government with Fianna Fáil. Of the 510 members who voted, 441 voted to accept the deal after studying the draft programme for government. 67 voted against and there were two spoiled votes. 19 January …
Jul 06
It’s going to be an interesting week in Dáil Éireann. Desperate not to cut back on their holiday time,the government has opted instead to cut debating time, and plans to guillotine several bills into law by Friday. Among the highlights: The blasphemy clause in the Defamation bill, making it illegal to say naughty things if …
Jun 22
There’s a constitutional amendment scheduled for October, to change our minds about the Lisbon treaty. This is an ideal opportunity for Dermot Ahern. He feels he must make blasphemy a crime, otherwise the people will go through the ‘costly and unwarranted diversion‘ of a referendum. But now he has an ideal chance to tack on …
Jun 20
I arrived at Heathrow last night to find someone reading an Irish Independent front page announcing that a ‘Cowen-Brown rift deals blow to key Lisbon talks’. Happily, the impasse (which didn’t even make the inside pages in any British paper I read) was resolved, and the EU agreed a statement that says, in effect, that …
