The falling popularity of two major political parties in Ireland would be no surprise to anyone who regularly reads the Irish daily newspapers. A recent poll covered by the Irish Independent gives the gist of the situation nicely, so I’ll link to four of the relevant articles here — along with some key quotes for those who want the shorter story.
First, a tiny bit of background information. (more…)
Last week, Ireland’s Government presented its budget for 2009 with the theme, “solidarity and patriotic action in most difficult and uncertain times.” The prevailing response to the the Fianna Fail party, in particular its Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, was that they chose the right tune but played too many notes off-key. To put it in terms from the US election: Lenihan used a hatchet rather than a scalpel.
The proposal that generated the loudest outcry was the introduction of means-testing for medical cards for those over 70 years old. For the past several years, persons over 70 received a card that entitled them to free health care. With budget deficits looming, the Government chose to limit spending on health care for the growing number of Irish people living a longer time. The proposal was a means-test which would eliminate free care for those able to pay their own way, thereby introducing a tiered system of benefits.
The specific extent of means testing was more than a small step away from universal health care — according to the Irish Independent, more than 50% seniors would not qualify for full coverage. The response was immediate outrage. A protest was called for this past Wednesday, to bring that outrage to the door of the Dail on Kildare Street, just a few blocks from our home. (more…)
At midday here in Ireland, the consensus was that the vote on the Treaty of Lisbon is too close to call. I find this remarkable, given that every political party holding seats in the Dáil (except Sinn Féin) endorsed the treaty. The major Irish political parties have impressive networks of party loyalists on the ground. Their networks seem more oriented toward mass mobilization than the US’s Democratic and Republican parties. While the US’s parties are fund-raising machines, they struggle with voters’ apathy and fragmentation on particular policies. So I assumed that the parties would get out the vote. But the relatively high turnout rate for this referendum appears to tell against ratification, according to the results so far.
Let’s look at the campaigns for and against the Lisbon Treaty, as I saw and heard them. (more…)
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