In Ireland, the pundit class moves like a herd. Nobody wants to get too far away from the conventional wisdom, even when the conventional wisdom settles around a nonsense idea, as it is today. Fianna Fáil sources are now telling people that the party does not want to do business with Sinn Fein, and is […]
The RTE presenter couldn’t resist it, on Sunday afternoon. It might have been nearly six months after the incident, and it might have been in the shadow of several much bigger stories, but this was the opportunity she had been waiting for. “I hear you did well in the Oughterard boxes” was the opening line […]
This morning, many people in the political class are in shock. You could see it happening in real time yesterday, on the television, as Fine Gael politicians came on, one after another, to talk about how the party would now try to negotiate a new Government. It was as if the world was changing around […]
Leo Varadkar has suffered a humiliating defeat. That is being largely forgotten, this morning, with all the talk about the Sinn Fein surge. The Taoiseach was elected by Fine Gael because they believed him best placed to win a general election. He is young. He is based in Dublin. He is metropolitan, and liberal, and […]
There are very few people in life who have not, at some point or other, made a terrible mistake. When you take a vow of marriage, you pledge solemnly, either before God, or before the whole community, represented by the State, that you will bind your life to that of your spouse for eternity. For […]
And so, at last, the silliest day in Irish politics has dawned again. Across the country this afternoon, candidates and canvassers will be making a final push for votes. Partisans on the internet will be wearing out their keyboards, furiously tweeting out last minute arguments designed ostensibly to persuade others, but in reality, to keep […]
Sinn Fein in Government would allow children under the age of 16 to take their parents to court in order to change their legal gender without the parents consent, Sinn Fein’s LGBTI spokesman has said at a pre-election hustings. Senator Fintan Warfield was speaking at a hustings organised by “BelongTo”, which is a taxpayer funded […]
Last night’s leaders debate between the three people vying to be the next Taoiseach has earned high praise from some of the UK journalists visiting our shores to find out how Ireland conducts its politics. For all that Irish people might think that our politicians are sub-standard, at least some of those observing from abroad […]
You might not have noticed, but this was supposed to be the Climate election. It was all decided relatively far in advance of the thing, with most of the narratives pre-scripted. Young voters, emboldened and inspired by Greta Thunberg, Extinction Rebellion, and Saoirse McHugh, were supposed to rise up and push Ireland to the international […]
There’s understandably been grave concern in Fine Gael over the last week at the direction of the General Election campaign. Their party is third in the polls. Their star feminist candidate called the Taoiseach autistic. Their best photoshoot involved Simon Coveney eating a sausage roll. Nobody cares about Brexit. Sinn Fein are on the march. […]
The good news in this election campaign, if you’re an undecided voter, is that every problem the country has can be easily solved if you just vote the right way. If you want a tax cut, you’re going to get one. If you’re concerned about your pension, don’t worry – that will be fixed. If […]
Brexit day is a hugely important day for Fine Gael in the context of this general election campaign, because in many ways it’s a day of genuine triumph for the Government. Whether the fears of societal collapse and economic catastrophe on foot of Brexit were ever based in fact, or whether they were exaggerated, the […]