Sinn Fein City Councillors have placed a motion before Cork City Council calling for a debate on the Queens Visit to Cork. The motion reads “This Council does not endorse the invitation extended by An tArd Mhéara to the English Queen to visit Cork”. I expect that the motion will fail. According to Cllr Mick Nugent “The actions of the Lord Mayor in extending this invitation without informing the council and allowing its members an opportunity to object were...
The news broke this morning of the death of North Side Cllr David McCarthy. He was suffering from cancer and died this morning. He was first elected in 1985. In 1997 he held the office of Lord Mayor of Cork. In 1999 he topped the poll for Fianna Fail with 933 votes and in 2004 he increased his vote to 1,112 votes. In 2007 his stood as an independent candidate in the Dáil election gaining a respectable 2,492 votes....
So today we saw the first poll since the general election published in the Sunday Business Post. It was conducted by Red C. All figures are on difference since the election. The topline figures are: Fine Gael 39% (+3) Labour 18% (-1) Fianna Fail 16% (-1) Sinn Fein 11% (+1) Others 16% An interesting poll. Maybe people are regretting not voting for a majority Fine Gael government? That or is the sign that Red C over estimate Fine Gael support by...
Votewatch.eu have launched a new tool along the votematch lines. Using EP Votematch, having showed how you would vote on issues that have passed the European Parliament, it will rank the MEPs that you agree with most. It is an interesting idea and I must say I was surprised with the results. Across the whole Parliament I agreed most with Kristiina OJULAND an Estonian ALDE MEP. Among the Irish MEPs Marian HARKIN (Ind, ALDE) was the MEP I agreed with...
This is an excellent video from Belong To on Homophobia and bullying. Do watch it. Irish anti homophobic bullying advertisement, created as part of BeLonG To Youth Services annual Stand Up! LGBT Awareness Weeks. The campaign promotes friendship amongst young people as a way to combat homophobic bullying. For more information on the campaign please see: http://www.belongto.org/campaign.aspx Written & Directed by Anna Rodgers & Aoife Kelleher Produced by Zlata Filipovic There are talks that an LGBT Awareness week will...
I got this via email from Today FM. I think its a great idea! The Alternative Census With census day fast approaching, Today FM has decided to run The Alternative Census. While the official census is mandatory and asks boring questions about your education, employment, and religion, The Alternative Census is fun and asks all the questions that give us a picture of The Real Ireland. Questions like: Age you lost your virginity? Tayto, Walkers or King? Have you...
In the European Parliament has passed a Non-legislative resolution calling for European Political Parties to get legal statue so that they can play the role set out to them under Article 10, paragraph 4 of the Lisbon Treaty whereby political parties at European level contribute to forming European political awareness and to expressing the will of citizens of the Union. The report by Marietta Giannakou (EPP, Greece) was passed by 560 votes in favour, 93 against and 22 abstentions. The...
The Government have published the Legislative Agenda for the summer session. The following bills will be published Veterinary Practice (Amendment) Bill Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill Patents (Amendment) Bill Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill Electoral Commission Bill Local Government Services Corporate Bodies (Amendment) Bill Betting (Amendment) Bill Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Bill Finance (No. 2) Bill Fiscal Responsibility Bill Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme) Bill Courts (Enforcement of Maintenance and Appointment of...
I was doing my usual perusal of Guido Fawke’s blog this morning. This is a blog I normally find interesting and informative but as the Alternative Vote (AV) referendum campaign continues it seems to be peddling more lies about AV and STV (the PR varient used in Ireland). To try and show AV as a confusing system he posted this picture to try and show how confusing it is. Now that picture above would be ok if it showed...
A lot of people mentioned to me that were surprised that Simon Coveney was appointed Minister for Agriculture, Marine and Food. To me it was no surprise, not only is Simon popular with farmers, in a Red C Poll for the Irish Farmers Journal Simon was the most popular candidate for Agriculture Minister, but he has European experience. The majroity of legislations, rules and payments relating to Agriculture comes from the European Union through the Common Agriculture Policy. This...
Over on the Irish Times Blog Deaglán De Bréadún has a fantasy cabinet and is looking for suggestions for the new Fine Gael/Labour Government that will be appointed next Wednesday. Here is my go at it: Taoiseach: Enda Kenny (FG) Tainiste and Foreign Affairs: Eamonn Gilmore (Lab) Finance: Michael Noonan (FG) Enterprise: Joan Burton (Lab) Public Sector Reform: Richard Bruton (FG) Education: Ruairi Quinn (Lab) Social Protection: Rosin Shorthall (Lab) Agriculture: John Perry (FG) Justice: Brendan Howlin (Lab) Communications,...
So that last week of the flew by and before I knew it I was voting an tallying the results! I had a very long weekend awaiting results, but for a change in a national election, the results had me and others shocked. We knew Fine Gael were going to do well, but we didnt think we were going to do *this* well. It was amazing to see Fine Gael Candidates who I had met over the years topping the poll...
Got this via text: Our Enda, who art in Mayo. Hallowed be thy Fine Gael, Thy election won. Thy will be done in Dublin as it is in Carlow. Give us this day our weekly cheese and forgive us for Bertie, as we forgive Michael Lowry and Michael Noonan. And lead us not into Brussels, but deliver us from the IMF. Amen.
So tonight its all about the preparation for the tally tomorrow. I have to be in the concert hall in Cork City Hall. I shall be doing the tally for Cork South Central but Cork North Central will be counted in the same hall. I will be trying to keep people updated on both counts on twitter. Keep an eye on the #tags #CNC and #CSC Check out Mamanpoulet.com for more ways to follow the counts tomorrow. Also there...
The last few Thursdays I have been interviewed for a Radio show. This is this mornings interview where they made me make a prediction on the election. I made the following prediction: Fine Gael 79 Labour 35 Fianna Fail 22 Sinn Fein 16 Greens 0 Independents 15 Whats your prediction? I will be responding to the election on the show on Monday. Tune in around 9:30am thurs 24 feb show stephen spillane Related articles Election 2011: End of Showtime...
A bit late in reporting on this poll but I was working and canvassing! So to the topline figures: Fianna Fail 15% (-1) Fine Gael 40% (+1) Labour 18% (+1) Green Party 3% (+1) Sinn Fein 10% (-1) Others 14% (-1) Some minor changes from Sundays poll, but it is still quite interesting. Fine Gael are still holding their ground and the Greens have moved back up to the top of the margin of error range! Fianna Fail, Sinn...
The second last poll of the campaign will be in the Irish Indepdent by Milward Brown. The topline figures are as follows: Fianna Fail 14% (-2) Fine Gael 38% (+1) Labour 20% (nc) Green Party 1% (nc) Sinn Fein 11% (-1) Others 16% (+2) An interesting poll. Shows that Fine Gael are holding strong. Labour have managed to halt their slide, while Fianna Fail have lost some of the support they had regained. It will be interesting to see...
There have been a few questions asked about the Election Broadcasting Moratorium which is changing this year in comparison to previous elections. This year, broadcasters will be allowed to cover the election up until 2pm on Thursday. From the BAI Guidance Radio and television broadcasters shall observe a moratorium on coverage of an election. The moratorium will operate from 2pm on the day before the poll takes place and throughout the day of the poll itself until polling stations...
I noticed on the way to work a number of interesting posters that have made an appearance! So today I decided to take my camera with me on the way to work. Here are the pictures that I took! Some people have a great sense of humour! Know of more funny posters? Leave a link in comments!
I have a feeling we will have a few polls this week as in we enter the last lap and the Irish Times have an Ipsos MRBI poll in tomorrows paper. The topline figures are: Fianna Fail 16% (+1) Fine Gael 37% (+4) Labour 19% (-5) Greens 2% (+1) Sinn Fein 11% (-1) Others 15 (nc) This poll confirms the results of the polls in Sunday’s papers. Labour seem to have made a massive mistake in their camapign and...
Two polls today! Its like christmas! Sunday Business Post/Red C Poll Its five days to polling day and the Sunday Business Post have their last opinion poll of the campaign. The headline figures are as follows: Fianna Fail 16% (+1) Fine Gael 39% (+1) Labour 17% (-3) Greens 2% (-1) Sinn Fein 12% (+2) Independents 14% (NC) This poll shows some recovery for Fianna Fail and another advance for Fine Gael who are really approaching 40% and possible overall majority. This...
We need to change how we refer to people with disabilities
On Wednesday I found this post by a parent of a child with disbilities trying to get people to stop using the “r-word” on twitter. It documents the responses she got, some make fun, but others take her point. We need more people like her! That post brought a tear to my eye. I rarely use the word, and now I will endeavour to use it less. Then while going through my news feeds I discovered this story on the Irish Examiner,...
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