Referendum & Elections
Today it is no longer good enough just to be born in Ireland to be Irish. The referendum was carried with almost 80% of the voters voting "yes". I, along with about 300,000 other, did not have our wish granted. I will disagree, but commit. However, I fear that many people either did not understand what the referendum proposed, or thought that I was about something else. I have only anecdotal evidence, but on several discussions/debates/pub arguments I have had with friends on the subject, it seems that many people seen to think that voting "yes" would mean less asylum seekers coming to Ireland to seek refuge, and thus there would be less people to take social welfare benefits (some friends of mine begrudge their tax Euros going to refugees getting social welfare benefits). This change really had very little to do with that.
Counting is still going on the the European Parliament elections ("the largest transnational elections ever held in history" according to one television journalist earlier, and indeed the second biggest democracy in the world, with the exception of India, now that the 10 new countries have joined). Gay Mitchell, from Fianna Gael, still looks likely to top the poll in my constituency (Dublin is one big constituency in the European elections, with four seats to the Parliament). Eoin Ryan from Fianna Fáil looks good for the second seat, and my second preference Proinsias De Rossa looking good for the third. There seems to be a real battle on for the fourth seat, between Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald, Green's Patricia McKenna and my first preference, Ivana Bacik, of Labour. The media observers who are at the count centre in the RDS seem to be suggesting that it will go to McDonald, which I am not too happy about. Ballot box in one hand maybe, but what's in the other hand under the table? It kills me to see this massive rise in Sinn Féin's support country-wide, when they are still the only party aligned to a private army.
Country-wide, Sinn Féin have eaten into a lot of Fianna Fáil's support, who took a predictable mid-term battering (but there is no way i'd write FF off; still probably two years to the next general election; an economic upturn which seems to be happening, and the nicely timed SSIA maturing for most of the country will put them in a strong position when the time comes; the old line "its the economy stupid" always holds!).
After the Red Hot Chilli Peppers / Pixies / Thrills gig yesterday, I arrived back to Clonsilla early enough to have a quite pint with my housemates before going home. After we had sat down in the local pub, I realised we had arrived to some kind of Sinn Féin after-party. None other than Mary Lou McDonald and their local elections candidate were present (can't remember the guys name), and in good spirits. They must have been pretty confident of Mary Lou's performance. The Sinn Féin'ers were all singing and jumping around and enjoying themselves. I restrained myself from going over to talk with some of them to ask them a few questions I'd like to put to them. I was tempted to go over to McDonald to ask her how the count had been going that evening, and how close she was to getting in, but I didn't.
On a positive note, in the local elections, Labour have won the most seats on Dublin City Council, and also in my local area, Fingal County Council. Labour have very strong support in Dublin; its a pity that could not be replicated in more places around the country.
Because not all counties in Europe finish voting until 9pm tonight, no official results will be available until then in the Parliament elections, in case results from one country might bias voting patterns in other countries. I can understand that policy, but I'm not sure if someone in Malta or Poland really care who gets the fourth Dublin seat!
Counting is still going on the the European Parliament elections ("the largest transnational elections ever held in history" according to one television journalist earlier, and indeed the second biggest democracy in the world, with the exception of India, now that the 10 new countries have joined). Gay Mitchell, from Fianna Gael, still looks likely to top the poll in my constituency (Dublin is one big constituency in the European elections, with four seats to the Parliament). Eoin Ryan from Fianna Fáil looks good for the second seat, and my second preference Proinsias De Rossa looking good for the third. There seems to be a real battle on for the fourth seat, between Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald, Green's Patricia McKenna and my first preference, Ivana Bacik, of Labour. The media observers who are at the count centre in the RDS seem to be suggesting that it will go to McDonald, which I am not too happy about. Ballot box in one hand maybe, but what's in the other hand under the table? It kills me to see this massive rise in Sinn Féin's support country-wide, when they are still the only party aligned to a private army.
Country-wide, Sinn Féin have eaten into a lot of Fianna Fáil's support, who took a predictable mid-term battering (but there is no way i'd write FF off; still probably two years to the next general election; an economic upturn which seems to be happening, and the nicely timed SSIA maturing for most of the country will put them in a strong position when the time comes; the old line "its the economy stupid" always holds!).
After the Red Hot Chilli Peppers / Pixies / Thrills gig yesterday, I arrived back to Clonsilla early enough to have a quite pint with my housemates before going home. After we had sat down in the local pub, I realised we had arrived to some kind of Sinn Féin after-party. None other than Mary Lou McDonald and their local elections candidate were present (can't remember the guys name), and in good spirits. They must have been pretty confident of Mary Lou's performance. The Sinn Féin'ers were all singing and jumping around and enjoying themselves. I restrained myself from going over to talk with some of them to ask them a few questions I'd like to put to them. I was tempted to go over to McDonald to ask her how the count had been going that evening, and how close she was to getting in, but I didn't.
On a positive note, in the local elections, Labour have won the most seats on Dublin City Council, and also in my local area, Fingal County Council. Labour have very strong support in Dublin; its a pity that could not be replicated in more places around the country.
Because not all counties in Europe finish voting until 9pm tonight, no official results will be available until then in the Parliament elections, in case results from one country might bias voting patterns in other countries. I can understand that policy, but I'm not sure if someone in Malta or Poland really care who gets the fourth Dublin seat!