As we noted last week on Gript, the result of the Dublin Bay South bye-election, where the media set the posh against the privileged, was never going to be much of a surprise. The constituency is one of the wealthiest areas in the country. As far as gated houses and disposable incomes are concerned, DBS is not so […]
The Irish media is presently gorging itself on the revelation that for a number of years, at least four Irish political parties (and probably more) asked volunteers to pose as fake polling companies in order to go door to door and conduct market research. First, we learned that Sinn Fein did it. And then, because […]
The great paradox of modern Ireland is that the more power Irish liberals acquire, the more illiberal they become. We had, yesterday, a collection of taxpayer funded NGO’s in to visit the Oireachtas committee on Housing and Local Government, which is responsible for how Ireland runs its elections, amongst other things. Kitty Holland picks up […]
The Irish Traveller Movement has highlighted a number of challenges facing Travellers when it comes to participation in the electoral process. The ITM made the remarks in its submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage debate on the draft Electoral Reform Bill. One of the key aims of the […]
As bad as the new Red C/Sunday Business Post opinion poll is for Fianna Fáil the headline figures are not actually that obviously terrible. 14% nationally is still the stuff of nightmares for the party that has dominated Irish politics since the 1930’s, but it actually represents a slight increase on the previous version of […]
No, seriously now, what were they thinking? The Bourne Election has just been released @DeirdreConroyIE @JohnLahart @lichamber @NiallCollinsTD @NiamhSmythTD @Fiona_Kildare @MarcMacsharryTD @PaulMcauliffe @cardagh @fiannafailparty #TeamDeirdre #ByElection2021 pic.twitter.com/LetEurASXz — Jim O'Callaghan TD (@OCallaghanJim) May 23, 2021 As a piece of political communication, the only redeeming feature of this video is that it is so bad that […]
“Diversity is important”, the Lord Mayor said yesterday, as she launched her campaign for the Seanad, in contravention of the wishes of her own party. The Greens weren’t happy, and the parliamentary party met last night to consider a motion of no-confidence in the Mayor as it relates to her other job – Chairwoman of […]
This is….. not a decision that makes a whole lot of sense, actually: GREEN PARTY COUNCILLOR Hazel Chu has announced that she will run as an independent candidate in the upcoming Seanad by-election. Chu, the Lord Mayor of Dublin and the Green Party’s chairperson, did not receive backing from her party to run but submitted […]
It’s a basic principle of Irish democracy that taxpayer funding may not be used to promote candidates for election, or sides in referendums. Actually, let me rephrase that: It used to be a basic principle of Irish democracy that taxpayer funding may not be used to promote candidates for election, or sides in referendums. But […]
On November 7, 2020, the Sunday Express published an article by Patrick Basham, an American conservative, entitled: “Stalin said it’s not important who votes, but how they are counted.” The piece alleged “widespread ballot fraud” in the US Presidential election. The Express’s link to the piece now returns a 404 message — page missing — but a copy is still available on […]
It’s everyone’s nightmare scenario: an electoral stalemate; two men all but claiming the presidency; and a likely legal battle that may extend into December. So much is yet uncertain as the final ballots are counted, and as some jurisdictions prepare to pause counting while the courts have their say. Through the frustrating murkiness, however, there […]
Fifty years ago, on September 26 1970 to be exact, a huge fire destroyed over 100,000 acres of woodland in northern California, destroying a property known as the Spahn Movie Ranch: “As the ranch hands tried to save the horses, the Manson girls, their faces illuminated by the light of the conflagration, danced and clapped […]