Irish Politics

Don’t Vote? Then You Can’t Complain

April 23, 2009
By Stephen
Don’t Vote? Then You Can’t Complain

I’m bringing back a slogan from the General Election Campaign in 2007 that USI used. The reason I am reviving it is that on the door’s I am getting a lot of “I’m not voting for any politician” responses. This is not the way to go. One woman who said she doubted she would vote for Fine Gael and said she didnt trust politicians, said she would still vote because that was the right thing to do. These Local...

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A Campaigning Lunch

April 18, 2009
By Stephen
A Campaigning Lunch

Today on my lunch break, I went Colm Burkes European Election Campaign launch on Patrick St. What a great idea that was. Really it was. By bringing politics back on the street he got a brilliant reaction. He was interacting with people and bringing politics to them. More politics should be conducting campaigns like this. I missed the speeches and that but a friend informed me that all speakers were on top form. This is what campaigning in, European,...

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LGBT Noise – A Change of Message?

April 14, 2009
By Stephen
LGBT Noise – A Change of Message?

From Suzy’s Blog: Next week sees another protest from LGBT Noise giving the Government the red card and calling for Civil Marriage. The turn out at the last rally was dissappointing and I’ve noticed a slight shift in the plugs to get those who don’t want to marry themselves to support the cause. Wonder would it ever work the other way? Now last Wednesday I met one of the LGBT Noise activists in a pub, and when I mentioned...

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Canvassing a tiring business, but worth it!

April 10, 2009
By Stephen
Canvassing a tiring business, but worth it!

Last night I was out canvassing in Cork South Central ward for Emmett O’Halloran. We were canvassing in the Turners Cross area of the ward. In my years of canvassing, I have rarely come across a reaction as I did last night. Apart from one or two “plague on all your houses” voters, the majority were very positive when they saw “Fine Gael” on the leaflet or knew of Emmett and were willing to support him. Cork South Central...

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Predicting the European Election

April 10, 2009
By Stephen
Predicting the European Election

I came across this site while checking out my new followers on twitter. The website is Predict 09. Predict09.eu is a prediction of the outcome of the June 2009 European Parliament elections and the resulting make-up of the next European Parliament. The prediction is based on a statistical model of the performance of national parties in European Parliament elections, developed by three leading political scientists: Simon Hix (London School of Economics), Michael Marsh (Trinity College Dublin), and Nick Vivyan...

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The Bludget doesnt effect me that much

April 7, 2009
By Stephen
The Bludget doesnt effect me that much

As I apporached today I was fearful that they would do something that would directly effect me (Im selfish I know). But as someone on minimum wage I thought they might do something to the tax limits, but they didn’t. What did you make of the Bludget?

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Bludget: Are we flucked?

April 6, 2009
By Stephen
Bludget: Are we flucked?

So the bludget is tomorrow and as my boss said, the country is flucked! The Government cannot put the blame for this tough budget on outside forces. They have been in Government now for nearly 12 years and must share some of the blame. I was at a fundraising lunch on Friday for Colm Burke and the Guest speakers were Pat Cox and Brian Lucy. Coming out of that lunch I was depressed. Its not looking good for us....

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The party is over, now the work begins

April 5, 2009
By Stephen
The party is over, now the work begins

So I am home from the Fine Gael Ard Fheis and what an Ard Fheis it was. Enda’s speech was as Yellow Roman Candles describes it “as good as it gets” for Enda, but it was the reaction to the speech which is what made it. Mairead McGuiness MEP did a great job as compere of the evening and making sure that everything went in order and making sure that everyone was entertained. Micheal Ring TD did a fantastic...

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Holiday Atmosphere at Ard Fheis?

April 4, 2009
By Stephen
Holiday Atmosphere at Ard Fheis?

If you take a walk outside the main hotel there is a big crowd outside enjoying the sunshine. There is a relaxed mood among delegates as the various sessions continue this evening. I attended the YFG session for part of it, but had to leav early. I was there for contributions from Lucinda Creighton (Europe) and Brian Hayes (Education). They gave good speeches, with Lucinda focusing on the Lisbon Treaty and the Lisbon Strategy (not to be confused). Brian...

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The Morning Sessions

April 4, 2009
By Stephen
The Morning Sessions

We started this morning we two motion based sessions on Health and the Economy. There was no new substantive addition to the heakth policy as announced by Enda Kenny last night. The only addition was the idea of a National Body Test (NBT), which would be “an age appropriate annual check up to pick up illnesses early.” which is an interesting idea. Dr. James Reilly TD’s speech was very good and had some hard hitting words aimed at the...

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