The Spanish Presidency of the European Union on Wednesday will begin an Intergovernmental Conference to amend the Governing Treaties of the European Union to allow 18 MEPs to take their seats in the European Parliament under the Lisbon Treaty as elections took place under Nice Treaty rules. This new treaty will not greatly effect Ireland unless they decide to go changing other things. The following countries will gain MEP’s under the new Treaty: * Bulgaria 1 * Netherlands 1...
As I write this the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party are meeting to discuss the motion of Confidence in Party Leader, Enda Kenny. I have already set out why I think Enda should go, but is Richard Bruton the person that should lead instead? I don’t think so. After speaking with a few people, the same reservations about Enda crop up, age (he is only two years younger then Enda). length of time in Dáil (entered the Seanad in 1981...
Back in February I wrote this Enda Kenny has been the leader of Fine Gael since 2002. In that time he has revitalised the party but he has failed to capitalise on the failures of Fianna Fail. Today’s resignation of George Lee is the final nail in the coffin for my support for Enda Kenny. …. Its time for Enda to put up or move on. He can bring us so close, but he can not take us over...
As with many of the Prides that are happening in Ireland this year, there is a common theme. The theme is “We Are Family Too”. As part of this, Dublin Pride have built a special site WRF2.com to find out what family means to people. I think this is a great idea! This way even if you are not in Dublin you can still contribute! You can send your message in two ways. Online through this form or by...
As part of Cork’s MidSummer Festival, Superflex and the National Sculpture Factory have come together to ask the people of not to use the word recession on next Thursday June 17th. You may have seen posters about this around the city of Cork with the Lord Mayor holding a contract about this. The Danish Embassy has also agreed not to use the word and has asked all Danish Citizens not to use the word. The Project is looking for...
M van den Broeke on Twitter asked this question, Should serious EU bloggers get some sort of accreditation to EU institutions? But on what criteria? Firstly I say fair play to her for bringing up the question. Its one that should be asked more, and not just by the EU. I must say Irish political parties have been good at facilitating bloggers, so maybe other institutions should start soon? But back to the question at hand. As pointed out...
Remember during the expense scandal in the UK that the big issue was over the “flipping” of the designations of first and second homes. Well it would seem that two Fianna Fail Senators were doing just that over here. Ivor Callely, who could be expelled from the Fianna Fail Parliamentry Party over his flipping of his homes. Despite his home being in Dublin, Mr Callely was claiming his expenses based on his second home in West Cork. It now...
There was some debate yesterday in the Seanad on the Civil Partnership Bill during the order of business. Fianna Fail Senators Labhrás Ó Murchú, Jim Walsh and John Gerard Hanafin raised objections to parts of the Bill and one called for a referendum. Also Fine Gael’s John Paul Phelan also spoke against part of the Bill. Senator Ó Murchú claimed that the Civil Partnership Bill 2009 would breach some people’s human rights, he even compared it to the Penal...
Yesterday I blogged about the attempt by 12 member states the use the Enhanced Co-Operation Procedure in the area of divorce. This morning the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee voted to accept a report by MEP Tadeusz Zwiefka (EPP/PL) to allow the procedure to be used by the 12 countries. The draft recommendation can be read here (PDF) The Parliament has requested that the ordinary legislative procedure be used when it comes to the final regulation. We...
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