Ireland General Discussion

[DC Al Fine]

The problem though isn't the EU, it is the Irish constitution (whose article 40.3.3 was written precisely to counter the 'threat' that the EU would legalize abortion).

Oh, I know. But given than all horrible European treaties passed (even if some needed reruns), I suppose you could do the same thing with abortion.

That would require, per the constitution, a referendum and alas I really don't think that Ireland is ready to vote for a liberal abortion regime yet.

Well, for Europe, they made Irish vote until they got the "right" answer.

Been there 3 times already and nobody really knows what answer the Irish people gave.

Europe passed its treaties, it is the thing who mattered for them. They don't care about the opinion of people, they just want a signature on their treaty.

You see, as I said before, there is this thing called the Irish Constitution....

I know that. I propose forcing them to amend it and make them vote on that until they say yes. It worked for European treaties.

And as I said before, there isn't any chance of that happening. We've already had 3 referendums (actually 5 question) on Abortion since 1983 which have indicated an overwhelming conservative majority (kind of). Abortion isn't going to be legalized 'on demand' in Ireland at time soon, which is unfortunate, but is the truth.

Also considering the sort of bitterness and rancor that previous Abortion campaigns have brought into Irish discourse, no politician even wants to touch the issue. Which is why this tragedy happened.

Can you give some examples of how bitter abortion debates were in Ireland?

[DC Al Fine]

Fianna Fáil are now just a couple of points away from being the most popular party in the country.

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Why??

As in any country, the voting public are terrible morons.

Elitist.

Working-class populism FTW. /TRUE LEFTIST

Splitting hairs between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail is not worth your time

[DC Al Fine]

At the rate things are going I wouldn't rule that out at all.

*cough*

Ipsos MRBI in tomorrow's Irish Times (traditionally the most accurate pollster, but carried out on Monday and Tuesday - before the announcement of the promissory note deal yesterday):

FF 26 (+5)
FG 25 (-6)
Ind/Oth 20 (+6)
SF 18 (-2)
Lab 10 (-2)
GP 1 (-1)

How would the Ind/Other be split up in an actual election?

[DC Al Fine]

How are local campaigns organized in Ireland given the multimember constituencies? Like suppose I am one of thee Fine Gael candidates in a district where we only expect to win one or two seats. Are we all working together or competing hard against each other to be the top Fine Gael vote getter? Does district get divided up into sections for each candidate or something?

[DC Al Fine]

How are local campaigns organized in Ireland given the multimember constituencies? Like suppose I am one of thee Fine Gael candidates in a district where we only expect to win one or two seats.

If FG only expect to win one seat there are highly unlikely to be three candidates. The usual formula is (number of seats you're sure of + 1).

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In theory...

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In practice.

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Yes, especially so in rural constituencies.

Ah that makes sense. What is there to stop candidates from sandbagging their teammates? I know if I was the odd one out in my seat I'd be tempted to attack my own team.

[DC Al Fine]

Mary McAleese compares infant baptism to conscription

It's strange to see Ireland transition to Western woke neoliberalism so rapidly.