Extraordinary: A poll released today has seen support for Fianna Fáil slump to just 10%. Fine Gael remains the most popular party in the country on 35%, this is up from 21% they received in this year’s General Election. Support for Sinn Féin has remained more or less static at 27%. However, the Red C […]
The public’s reaction to Golfgate has been swift and brutal. Indeed, it has now occasioned more public mea culpa’s than you could shake a stick at. Yet still the public and political appetite for scalps, of both the EU and judicial variety has not been sated. No doubt this lamentable saga, with all its […]
‘Are they really serious, or do they think there’s no pandemic’ asks Mattie McGrath re #GolfGate but says that Phil Hogan, the EU Trade Commissioner who also attended should resign. #gript
Having spent several days ignoring the violence in Balbriggan last weekend that included the burning of a house, Sinn Féin has been forced to respond to other people breaking the conspiracy of silence (that includes the national broadcaster) on the issue. Louise O’Reilly the Sinn Féin TD for Fingal has come under strong pressure from […]
A Fianna Fáil TD has acknowledged that “gang violence” is causing mayhem in the north Dublin suburb of Ballbriggan, saying that organised gangs are engaging in “stabbings, arson attacks” and that “a shopping centre was effectively taken over at the weekend”. Darragh O’Brien, a TD for the Fingal area, told the Adrian Kennedy Show that […]
The politicians have headed off on their holidays for the next six weeks, which would, in normal circumstances, be a cause for populist annoyance: it’s well for them heading off on six weeks of holidays with the country in the state it is, etc etc. But this year, the public should breathe a sigh of […]
Summer 2020 is another kind of new normal. There’s a strange feel to it like all the other resets since March 12th when the country went into indefinite lockdown. This is arguably one of the better parts of new normal The little fishing village of Ballycotton with its signature island and lighthouse has been on […]
For most Irish people, child benefit is sacrosanct and should not be interfered with. Many families rely on the monthly payment to pay for basic costs, and, since the state has long-since scrapped child tax credits, child benefit has long been viewed as an essential contribution to the significant cost to families of rearing the […]
Ireland has been slower than most other EU countries to re-open its borders to inward travel. A certain narrative is taking root, endorsed by prominent voices in the scientific community as well as in Dáil Éireann, to the effect that we should spare no effort in keeping Ireland “Covid-free.” This narrative has radicalized our thinking around […]
In the last few days we learned that the Department of Social Protection has been busy tracking down people who have had the temerity to take a holiday while in receipt of Covid-19 welfare support – and punishing them by cutting off that payment. 104 people have had their Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) stopped “as […]
What’s the world coming to when you can’t trust a politician to cut their own salary without actually increasing it by accident? Clarified this evening: voluntary pay cuts taken by the previous Govts lapsed when new Govt was formed, so today's 10% is effectively a renewal of those cuts. e.g. Taoiseach's salary €207,590; Varadkar had […]
As most people have, by now, heard, one of the first legislative priorities for the new Government was to pass legislation enabling all three “super junior” ministers to be paid a bit more: The Dáil has passed laws to increase remuneration for a third ‘super junior’ minister who will now be entitled to an allowance […]