Story of the Week
It’s all about the elections this week, and while it’s over four years since we had one, it’s not so long since we last exercised the franchise on the ill-starred family and care referendums in March. Those referendums were a damning verdict from the electorate on the government’s strategy and arguments - and Current Affairs Editor Arthur Beesley has been relentlessly digging into the quagmire of advice that was given to Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman beforehand. It hasn’t been pretty reading for O’Gorman or the coalition, and on Thursday, Arthur reported that Department of Justice officials warned the referendums risked creating prolonged “legal uncertainty” over migration rules. Despite this, O’Gorman claimed that the proposals had “no legal impact” on immigration law.
The referendums have rapidly attained fiasco status for the coalition, and Arthur’s stories now cast a shadow over just what voters were told beforehand.
O’Gorman’s spokesman said that his remarks reflected the Attorney General’s advice, but given the volatility among voters and the general lack of faith in politics and politicians, this look at how this particular sausage was made will do the government no favours. For most people, the referendums are very much in the past, but the damage to trust may not be.
Bust up
It all felt a little bit contrived, but Regina Doherty’s ruck with the Green Party over their plans for Dublin and their “autocratic” style of doing politics caught the eye.
A high profile row over an issue that might rally the base in the run-in to an election probably suited both parties - but you can’t shake the feeling that this might have been a misstep by Doherty. It’s often said that the Greens are blueshirts on bikes, and while there is no shortage of vitriol for Eamon Ryan’s crew among FG voters (especially in rural constituencies), many blueshirts in the capital also have bikes. Doherty will probably poll well on first preferences, but she will need transfers to get elected, and this could risk turning as many people away from her as towards her.
Banana skin
Politics and policy are complex old things, but sometimes a very simple talking point will stick with voters. Sinn Féin’s argument for an average house price in Dublin of €300,000, originally given by Mary Lou McDonald in an interview with The Irish Times, may be just such an issue. In two patchy media outings this week, the Sinn Féin leader defended the comments while also appearing to move away from them with a convoluted explanation of an affordable housing scheme that probably left people scratching their heads. Sinn Féin’s home patch is housing, so anything that undermines their credibility on this is a definite banana skin.
Here’s our splash from Wednesday which digs into the issue.
Winners and losers
Em… TBD over the weekend, to be quite honest with you.
The Big Read
This weekend is different, and events will rapidly overtake anything we can point you to here. But we have pulled out all the stops for the elections, and The Irish Times online will have every development covered over the weekend and beyond. Your first port of call will be the irishtimes.com homepage, which will shortly get its election makeover, but here’s an exhaustive list of where you can keep track of developments:
All our Limerick Mayoral race content will be here
Need to know more about one of the 31 local authority races? We have you covered.
We will be podcasting over the weekend too, so keep an ear on those feeds.
Hear here
It was a bumper week for fans of our Inside Politics podcast (both of them), with Election Daily making a brief return. Limbering up for the General, so we are. In the latest episode Jennifer Bray and Sarah Burns told Hugh Linegan why the traditional TV debates are becoming less relevant to voters.
Jennifer Bray
— The warfare is now being conducted online amongst the parties, because that's where the action really is.
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