Politics is supposed to be a simple enough activity. The basic idea is that various parties put forward ideas for how the country should be governed, the voters choose between the various offerings, and the people who get the largest number of seats in the parliament then have the power to form a Government that […]
In Ireland we like to name our coalition Governments – from 1994 to 1997, we famously had the “rainbow Government”, led by John Bruton. This week, Sinn Fein were talking about “a left coalition” comprising themselves and every other assorted left winger in Leinster House – sort of a Marxist pick-n’mix box of chocolates, where, […]
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 […]
It was perhaps inevitable that Leo would do a Hillary and lash out at the rump of ‘deplorables’ who are muddying the electoral waters for him.
The response of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to Sinn Fein surging ahead in the polls show that the parties are too out of touch to actually stop Sinn Fein’s rise. According to polling Sinn Fein are now, at worst, tied with Fianna Fail as the most popular party in this country, and at current […]
A number of men angrily confronted Tánaiste Simon Coveney as he left the meeting, expressing their frustration with the party’s support for abortion and its immigration policies.
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. […]
A recent Irish Times/MRBI pre-election poll (20/1/20) has indicated that an overwhelming majority of Irish voters – no less than 75% – now want a change of government. Significantly, over one in three voters believe “it is time for a radical change of direction for the country.” Given the abysmal failures of judgment and leadership […]
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 […]
There are plenty of voters and citizens who might feel that they have few reasons to shed any tears over the downfall of Fine Gael Senator Catherine Noone. The Senator, who imploded her own political career two days ago by making extraordinarily offensive and false remarks about her own party leader, has racked up a […]
We hear much about threats to democracy from ‘fake news’ and tech manipulation, but the veneer of free and fair elections seems very thin when one scratches under the surface of how our elected elite have already stacked this particular deck in their favour.
Senator Catherine Noone, a candidate for Fine Gael has issued an apology for calling Taoiseach Leo Varadkar “autistic” during an election canvass. The Times last night reported that Ms Noone, a candidate Dublin Bay North, said of Mr Varadkar “He’s autistic like, he’s on the spectrum, there’s no doubt about it. He’s uncomfortable socially and he […]