An update from the NUI #Seanad16
Dear candidates, Here is an update on polling in the election: As of noon today 18-04-2016: Ballots cast: 19,186 Ballots returned: 19,500 Ballots reissued: 861. Today 18 April is the last day on which a voter can request that a ballot paper be re-issued with a reasonable expectation of getting the re-issued ballot paper in time to vote in the election. We will continue […]
Eamonn Mallie meets Michael McDowell
Recently, I sat down to discuss politics, nationalism and other topics with broadcaster and journalist Eamonn Mallie on Irish TV. You can watch the interview back here: https://goo.gl/1tEm8z
Five myths about the Rising
The centenary of the Easter Rising is surrounded by myth, moral ambiguity, historical revisionism, and by political re-interpretation and re-invention. For those, like myself, who unambiguously value and cherish the establishment of an independent, sovereign Irish republic, 1916 is the starting point of its existence, albeit that it was not brought to fruition for years afterwards. It is […]
Kenny and Martin must choose stability over stalemate
Under Article 28.10 of the Constitution, Enda Kenny must resign from office if a motion to nominate him as Taoiseach is defeated on Thursday 10th March. If that happens he places his resignation in the hands of the President. In that case every other member of the Government shall be deemed also to have resigned, […]
No public appetite for general election re-run
It seems clear that some members of Fianna Fáil may have their “tails up” because of the very significant improvement in seat numbers and in their share of the General Election vote. This positive feeling which they have about themselves contrasts with the sense that Fianna Fáil was a toxic political brand from 2009 onwards. […]
Why the rise of Trump is a global issue
It is truly an irony that many sophisticated European liberals now look back at the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H Bush Senior as periods when the western world’s fate lay in safe hands. But the continuing degradation of rational politics in the US by the modern Republican party is creating a nostalgia even for figures whose […]