Search Results for 'Insider'

“The only valid poll is on election day!” is the guff politicians huff and bluster with when the latest round of opinion polls turn out badly for them. Yet fear not reader, Insider can assure you all politicians, regardless of what they say publicly, take opinion poll findings very seriously.

With the schools back, the evenings longer, and summer giving way to autumn, focus is switching to the resumption of the Dáil and to what the political environment will be like over the coming months. Are we facing a winter of discontent or are the dark skies starting to give way to brighter days?

Seeing the occasional poster of a local election candidate advertising public meetings on various issues of concern, Insider noted that, within a month’s time, towns, villages, and the countryside will be radically altered as the election poster blitz takes hold.

One of our great national traits is the knowledge that we could all do the other fellow’s job so much better, be it politicians, teachers, referees, whatever, we all know better. Some of us keep this to ourselves but others have no difficulty letting the whole world know.

While the new FG/Labour coalition has had several big ‘set piece occasions’ since coming to power – the renegotiation of the EU/IMF agreement and the jobs initiative during the summer for example – last week’s Budget was always going to be a watershed moment.

Political anoraks will have enjoyed - and indeed are still enjoying the fallout from - the past month as the first genuinely competitive British general election since 1992 has played out.

“We cannot fix the economy without fixing the political system as well,” is a familiar refrain in Irish political discourse these days. The calamity of the economic collapse and the role of the political and associated systems in bringing it about, or at least in failing to act to prevent it, have focused minds on this matter.

AS THE Galway Races gets under way the latest Fianna Fáil ‘cutback’ - or ‘adjustment’ if you prefer - will be obvious to one and all. The Fianna Fáil tent is no more. Is this a sign of the times or just a sensible move by new Taoiseach Brian Cowen?