Posted on behalf of Michael Courtney, Dublin City University This blog outlines the main arguments from a recent article published in Irish Political Studies by the author. The article is available free to download until the end of August at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07907184.2015.1021796 There is considerable contemporary interest in maximising the efficacy of Irish democracy. This has…
The largest government party, Fine Gael, and the largest opposition party, Fianna Fáil, have both seen their electoral prospects improve over the last months, according to the Irish Polling Indicator. Fine Gael has recovered from a 22% low early December 2014 and now polls around 27%. Micheál Martin’s party also found the way up, increasing…
This year’s annual conference of the UCD Institute for British-Irish Studies will be on the theme of women in leadership. It will take place on July 6 at the European Parliament’s office in Molesworth Street, Dublin. To register to attend (free registration) see here: http://www.ucd.ie/ibis/newsevents/latestnewsevents/ibisannualconference2015/ Programme: 9:45am Registration 9:50am Welcome by Prof David Farrell (IBIS, UCD)…
Everyone is welcome at this post referendum seminar organised by the Voters, Parties and Elections Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association of Ireland.The seminar will include presentations using data from the 2015 Referendum Study. Please email Jane or Theresa on voterspartieselections@gmail.com to confirm your attendance for catering purposes. Further information on the referendum study is…
The marriage referendum was an emotional roller-coaster. The reports of thousands taking boats and flights home to vote in the marriage referendum were heart-lifting. Ursula Halligan’s revelation in the last week of the marriage referendum campaign that she had hidden her sexuality from everyone, including at times herself was heart-breaking. She cited the referendum campaign…
Posted on behalf of Dr. Jennifer Kavanagh – Waterford IT The controversy surrounding the non-reporting of statements by Catherine Murphy TD made in Dáil Eireann last week appears to have been ameliorated by the pronouncement by Mr Justice Donald Binchy that an earlier court order was not intended to stop the reporting of Dáil statements.…
By Michael Gallagher The expectation was that the same-sex marriage referendum would deliver a comfortable Yes and the vote on reducing the minimum age for the president an equally decisive No, and that’s just how it worked out. The latter achieved the distinction of delivering the lowest Yes vote (only 27 per cent) of any…
In the light of the marriage equality and presidential age referendums last week – both the product of recommendations of the Constitutional Convention, a review of the current state of play of government responses to the Convention’s recommendations is timely. The attached table gives the current situation as of today: ICC recommendations as of May 2015
There are many people and organisations to credit for the outcome of the marriage referendum, not least the incredible campaign mounted by the Yes side, as described by Noel Whelan in today’s Irish Times. A question to ask is whether this referendum would ever have happened but for the huge endorsement this issue received from…
Originally posted on Ruminative Rumblings:
It’s a glorious morning for democrats and equal rights campaigners everywhere: the Irish have voted nearly 2 to 1 to allow equal marriage rights regardless of sex. However, this is a big day for deliberative democrats too, because in all the coverage about the referendum, what keeps getting forgotten is…
Irish Politics Forum 