Latest posts
Here We Go Again
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The Spanish Presidency of the European Union on Wednesday will begin an Intergovernmental Conference to amend the Governing Treaties of the European Union to allow 18 MEPs to take their seats in the European Parliament under the Lisbon Treaty as elec...
Why Fine Gael Needs A New Leader
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As I write this the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party are meeting to discuss the motion of Confidence in Party Leader, Enda Kenny. I have already set out why I think Enda should go, but is Richard Bruton the person that should lead instead? I don’t...
Is Enda’s Time Up?
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Back in February I wrote this Enda Kenny has been the leader of Fine Gael since 2002. In that time he has revitalised the party but he has failed to capitalise on the failures of Fianna Fail. Today’s resignation of George Lee is the final nail in t...
We Are Family Too – What Does Family Mean to You?
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As with many of the Prides that are happening in Ireland this year, there is a common theme. The theme is “We Are Family Too”. As part of this, Dublin Pride have built a special site WRF2.com to find out what family means to people. I thi...
June 17, Dont Use the Word “Recession”
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As part of Cork’s MidSummer Festival, Superflex and the National Sculpture Factory have come together to ask the people of not to use the word recession on next Thursday June 17th. You may have seen posters about this around the city of Cork wi...
Should Bloggers get Accreditation to EU Institutions?
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M van den Broeke on Twitter asked this question, Should serious EU bloggers get some sort of accreditation to EU institutions? But on what criteria? Firstly I say fair play to her for bringing up the question. Its one that should be asked more, and n...
Fianna Fail Senators Caught “Flipping”
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Remember during the expense scandal in the UK that the big issue was over the “flipping” of the designations of first and second homes. Well it would seem that two Fianna Fail Senators were doing just that over here. Ivor Callely, who cou...
FF Senators not happy with Civil Partnership Bill
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There was some debate yesterday in the Seanad on the Civil Partnership Bill during the order of business. Fianna Fail Senators Labhrás Ó Murchú, Jim Walsh and John Gerard Hanafin raised objections to parts of the Bill and one called for a referend...
European Parliament Consents to the Enhanced Co-Operation Procedure
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Yesterday I blogged about the attempt by 12 member states the use the Enhanced Co-Operation Procedure in the area of divorce. This morning the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee voted to accept a report by MEP Tadeusz Zwiefka (EPP/PL...
Ireland and the EU – Past, Present, Future
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I have been meaning to post this for awhile but I didn’t know it had been posted on youtube yet. I saw this at the Alliance Francaise Symposium and I loved it and I hope you will too. Very informative! This video was created by the Irish delega...
A European Divorce
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Tomorrow the European Parliaments Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs will hear about the state of play on the first use of the Enhanced Co-Operation Procedure. 12 member states are proposing new rules in regards to Divorce and whe...
Germany 2011
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On Saturday night, European Televoters and Juries voted Germany the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. This is the second time in the History of Eurovision that German of won the contest, see a history on escireland.com. It now falls to the...
Eurovision Song Contest 2010: The Final
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So I have blogged the running order and some general thoughts on the final over on ESC Ireland.com so I will just be adding colour here. The last time Ireland got to the Final from the Semi Final was back in 2006 when Brian Kennedy represented Irelan...
Eurovision: Semi 2 – Come on Niamh!
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Image by adrian, acediscovery via Flickr Tonight sees the second of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Finals. Again 17 countries are competing for 10 places in the Grand Prix on Saturday. Tonight will also see Niamh Kavanagh represent Ireland...
OpenFM
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Yesterday I met with Sam Lyons and Emma Carroll of OpenFM a temporary station that will be broadcast in Dublin over the pride season and will also be online. The idea behind the station is to create an open space for discussion on LGBT issues, mental...
Liveblogging the Eurovision!
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Image via Wikipedia So the time is upon us! Tonight sees the first of the live Eurovision Song Contest shows on our TV screens. It is starting at 8pm (RTÉ 2 and BBC3). The running order for Semi-final 1 is here. ESCIreland.com will be running a l...
A European Army??
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Image via Wikipedia Last Tuesday I attended the Alliance Francaise de Cork/UCC European Symposium. In the afternoon we split into round-tables. I went along to the round-table entitled “The Question of the European Army”. This round-ta...
Explaining the European Union to Students
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Image via Wikipedia Today I had the joy of joining members of the European Movement Ireland in part of their schools roadshow on the European Union. Today we visited Colaiste Mhuire in Crosshaven. Leading the show was Andrea Pappin, the Executive...
The Con/Lib Agreement on Europe
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Image via Wikipedia My last post had a quick look at what the Con/Lib Agreement said on Political Reform. Now look at what should be a what the Agreement says on the EU. As a Euroblogger I probably should have done this first! The UK will not join...
Some points from the Conservative and Liberal Agreement: Political Reform
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Image via Wikipedia The Liberal Democrats have posted the agreement online. Here are some of things that jump out at me on Political Reform. We agree to establish a committee to bring forward proposals for a wholly or mainly elected upper chamber...
