Irish Politics Thread

Yeah, the really big thing is that the legalization of gay marriage is entrenched into the Constitution now, alongside the banning of the death penalty, the right to divorce, and... the banning of abortion.

We gotta fix that last one eventually...

Any chance of a referendum on it anytime soon?

Actually, wouldn't it make sense to have multiple referendums (referenda?) in the same ballot?

We do, usually. Same Sex Marriage was bundled with a bill looking to drop the minimum age of Presidency to 21. It unfortunately failed.

Intentional sabotage by the No campaign, or just shitty marketing by the left?

edited 23rd May '15 5:49:22 PM by Ramidel

A lot of people didn't know that the Presidential Age referendum was going on. It actually experienced lower turnout, despite being on the same ballot.

Eh, very few countries would elect a 21 year old (or even a 20 something) as president. Even if the role was largely ceremonial. And even in countries where it`s allowed it still never happens, a few teenagers have been elected mayors of very small towns in the US while there are a relatively small cohort of early 20 somethings in various parliamentary positions (and not in core positions), they still don`t have a shot at power for a few decades.

I mean, technically Canada could elect an 18 year old as Prime Minister but I don`t see that happening without a massive population die off. Seniority and experience are huge factors in any society.

What I`m trying to say is that Ireland should`t be too bummed on this issue, it wouldn't change anything practical anyway.

A little late, but congratulations, Ireland

Best Of: "referenda" is not Latin. The phrase is "ad referendum", that is "referred to" [the people], it is a verb used as a noun and is invariant just like "cooking" or "parking". Best thing is to treat it like an English noun (since we're already treating it as a singular) and go with "referendums".

I was joking with my faux-Latin suggestion - I was 90% sure it was wrong. Good to know where the word comes from, though. Cheers.

So, Kenny's dissolving the Dáil tomorrow. Most insiders are pegging February 26th as the day of the election.

Who's everyone planning on voting for?

...it's Election Day. I appear to be the only Irishman on Tropes that knows this thread exists.

So, Hung Dáil then? Or will they actually go through with a Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil coalition?

I like Fine Gael. They seem the most sensible/least discredited out of all of them.

Fianna Fail have no real principles, which makes me distrust them by default.

Labour and the Social Democrats seem to be meh parties.

Sinn Feinn bring to mind a saying about leopards and spots.

Renua are creeps with a shit name.

AAA-PBP seem to be student-union-tier bleeding hearts.

edited 26th Feb '16 3:57:59 AM by Achaemenid

I'm the opposite, myself. Fine Gael are a shower of bollockses, what with their austerity measures, the quango of Irish Water, and a general feeling of them acting "holier-than-thou" and above the electorate.

Hell, the leader of the party called a good 60-70% of the country "whingers" during the election campaign.


Sinn Féin might have the most questionable past out of all of them, but they haven't fucked us over since the end of the Troubles. And they have some decent policies, in my opinion.


EDIT: I agree on Renua, Social Democrats and Fianna Fáil, but Labour pretty much sold out all of it's beliefs in the last five years. Nearly everything they promised wouldn't happen (Water charges, increases in student fees) happened.

AAAPBP are bleeding-hearts, yeah, but at this point bleeding-hearts might be what we need.

And as for Sinn Féin and "leopards and spots", the other three big ones are dogpiling on them. Every debate they went into, they were attacked from all sides. If you made a drinking game out of the amount of times the IRA was mentioned, you'd be dead two weeks ago.

edited 26th Feb '16 4:05:00 AM by GeekCodeRed

A lot of Fine Gael's policies were essentially determined for them by the conditions of Ireland's bailout, which was a result of the economic catastrophe caused by Fianna Fail. The Irish Water thing, in particular, was one of the IMF's terms.

Good that SF are being hammered to me.

I will agree that a lot of things were thrust upon them, but they also did awful lot on their own.

For example, it's not just the fact they brought in water charges, but how they did it: they consolidated all the local authorities' water departments into one giant quango, spent millions on "consultants", increased the amount of red tape for the actual workers (maintenace workers now have a 16 point procurement plan that takes a minimum of two weeks when they want to get a spare part), and when people protested at the idea of water charges, they treated the electorate like whining children.

Another gaff they made, this one more recent: their slogan going into the election has been "Keep The Recovery Going". Not really the right idea, when homelessness is at an all time high.


And on the other hand, despite the atrocities of the IRA, you have to remember how removed we are from it: The Good Friday agreement was 19 years ago. There's an entire generation of politicians in the party who have no connection to the IRA, and were instead drawn in because of their left-wing ideals. Especially in a time when the other major left-wing party has abandoned many of their principles.

And it's honestly hypocritical, because Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour all have connections to other radical groups. Fianna Fáil had several prominent ministers involved in smuggling weapons to the IRA in the 70s; Fine Gael is directly descended from the Irish Fascist Party; and Labour combined with "The Democratic Left", an offshoot of The Workers Party, aka the political wing of the Official IRA.

RTÉ Exit Poll.

Irish Times Exit Poll.

Well, it's looking like we're Hung. Not even Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil looks like it could make a coalition.

edited 27th Feb '16 4:44:49 AM by GeekCodeRed

A man is sentence for two and a half years for attack an 86 year old woman with Dementia.

Why did he attack her? Cause he thought she was trans.

https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/irish-airspace-and-waters-remain-europes-open-flank

RUSI has an article that talks about the weakness of Irish military defense in protecting its airspace and territorial waters. Also mentioned the Russian Navy ship incursion from last year.

Like Japan, Irish military's having retention problems.

The RAF is "obliged" to help the Irish based on an "arrangement" Dublin and London made. Irish doesn't have fighter jets or assets to handle ASW ops. Coupled with the lack of long-range radars.

PS - Trying to see if I can work here... way away from Canada (and Philippines/Singapore).

https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/irelands-security-policy-being-damaged-abuses-its-defence-forces

RUSI commentary on abuses being uncovered in the ranks of the Irish Defense Forces. Eoin Micheál Mc Namara said that reports of these abuses and other forms of discrimination towards women undermine Irish security policies.

Reposting from the European politics thread:

A riot exploded in Dublin after a stabbing led to the ire of far-right, anti-migrant groups. There have been mass confrontations with police, fires, and other chaos breaking out.

And it turned out that the stabber was a native white Irish man and the one who stopped him was a Brazilian immigrant.

So yeah...

Was he? I've heard that he is of Algerian descent.

The stabber or the one who stopped him?

Source: https://vxtwitter.com/PaulConnollyMT/status/1727970920235425810

Edited by LoneCourier0 on Nov 25th 2023 at 9:32:09 PM

PSNI provided backup in the form of water cannon trucks the Garda requested in case their Public Order Unit got overwhelmed.

It's not known right now who the stabber was. We know he was stopped by two immigrants; a French teenager disarmed him and a Brazilian guy subdued him. People have crowdfunded over €300,000 to buy the Brazilian man a pint.