Less than 24 hours after yesterday’s entry “We, the People” was written, all seems changed. The morning news cycle is dominated by the headline in the Irish Independent that “Rabbitte leaves door open for Ahern pact“. Now, there may not be as much to the story as the headline makes out, as it wasn’t until he had been “pressed repeatedly on the issue” that Rabbittee acknowledged that he “may” (not would) have to “rethink his strategy if the only likely alternative is to call a second election”.

This seems a terribly grudging concession to incessant questioning. Read the rest of this entry »

.. will soon cost more. Not only are the ongoing hearings on the Broadcasting Bill (mentioned here on Wednesday) likely to result in a broadened definition of television requiring a tv licence fee (even if not so broad that it will catch mobile phones – though it will be interesting to see how effectively this is achieved), but the fee itself is soon to to go up.

Oh joy. Read the rest of this entry »

On the ‘This Week‘ show, on RTE Radio 1 this afternoon, Pat Rabbittee (Leader of Ireland’s Labour Party) artfully danced around presenter Gerald Barry’s questioning about whether Labour will go into coalition with Fianna Fáil after the next general election, expected in early summer. Rabbittee: ‘it won’t arise’; Barry: ‘but if it does?’; Rabbitte: ‘I want Fianna Fáil out’; Barry: ‘but what if?’. And so it goes; and so it went (the full interview is here).

Whatever about Rabbitte’s position now, in my view, if the numbers after the next election are such that the only possible government is a coalition of Fianna Fáil and Labour, then, after the election and the weeks of horsetrading that generate that potential coalition and its programme for goverment, there must be another election, to allow us, the people, to give our imprimatur (or not) to it. Read the rest of this entry »

Today, the Digital Hub, Dublin, plays host to a conference organised by the group-blog Irish Election. A great Irish politics blog, and a sign that the campaign for the election, expected early summer next year, is already well and truly under way.