The general trend in opinion polls over the last few months has been one that strongly indicated an improvement in Fianna Fail support levels and fortunes, mainly at the expense of the government parties. The latest poll from the Sunday Business Post-Red C series of opinion polls went against this trend however, pointing towards improved support levels…
As set out in a previous post on this Forum (see here), Dáil reform is long overdue: this government’s efforts (to date and promised) are piecemeal, insufficient and in some instances completely – and arguably deliberately – miss the point (the most prominent example being Seanad abolition). So what reforms should they implement? This post…
As noted a number of times over the past number of years on this forum, this government was elected on a promise of ‘radical reform’. With the spotlight turned again on Dáil reform – because of the government’s promises of more change though only if the Irish people vote to abolish the Seanad – a review…
Post by Harry McGee, political correspondent The Irish Times. This article originally appeared in the Connacht Tribune, 12 June 2013 I have to say I was sceptical about the notion of a citizens’ assembly becoming part of official political discourse in Ireland. The idea is that rather than getting politicians to decide on new political direction,…
The last election was seen at the time as an electoral earthquake. In the midst of the worst economic crisis in our history it was to be expected that the voters would be gunning for the government of the day. The devastation of Fianna Fáil (losing three-quarters of their seats) and the disappearance of the…
Adrian Kavanagh, 13th June 2013 Opinion polls in the first part of 2013 all pointed towards significant gains in Fianna Fail support levels, leaving the party at its highest support level in opinion polls since the IMF-EU bailout in November 2010, with some of the polls rating Fianna Fail as the most popular party in the state…
In this newly published work in Electoral Studies, I (along with two colleagues: Dr. Maria Laura Sudulich of EUI Florence and Professor David Farrell of University College Dublin) asked whether candidates who spent more money were more likely to succeed at European Parliament (EP) elections.
Irish Politics Forum 