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THE WRIT FOR the four by-elections on 29 November was moved in the Dáil today.
Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy said the polling orders would be signed after the writ was moved to allow political parties “get their poster teams at the ready”.
He called on the elections to be “fair and respectful”, stating that there will be “stiff competition” as there is an array of talented candidates.
The upcoming by-elections are happening as a result of the four TDs who vacated their seats after being elected to the European Parliament in May.
The four seats vacated that now have to be filled are:
Moving the writ for the Dublin Mid-West by-election, the housing minister paid tribute to his colleague Frances Fitzgerald, stating that she will be “an enormous loss to Dáil Eireann”.
Speaking in the Dáil today, Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty said he was pleased the by-elections will be held so soon after the European elections. He highlighted that 10 years previously he had to go to the High Court to force a by-election in Donegal.
On that occasion, the court ruled that a 17-month delay was unreasonable. Doherty won the resulting by-election after Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher’s election to the European Parliament in June 2009.
Current legislation now means that by-elections must be held within six months of a Dáil seat being vacated.
Labour leader Brendan Howlin said today that these four by-elections bring us “one step closer to getting rid of this government”.
The Taoiseach has already admitted to his party members that the party has a fight on its hand as it is not usual for a sitting government party to have much success in by-elections.
At a recent Fine Gael fundraiser he said:
“Winning by-elections is very difficult for Government parties. It has only happened three times in 35 years. But it can be done.
“There are four by-elections and only one of the seats was held by Fine Gael. We have selected strong candidates and we have a strong message to bring – James Reilly, Colm Burke, Emer Higgins, Verona Murphy.”
Braving the weather this evening, the Taoiseach officially began canvassing in the Dublin Mid-West constituency, for what is expected to be the party’s best hope in terms of winning a seat.
Fine Gael Councillor Emer Higgins has a large support base in the area and the backing of former TD for the area, and now MEP, Frances Fitzgerald.
However, also running in that constituency is former Green Party TD Paul Gogarty. He could be tipped for success due to his recognisable name (and who can forget that music video as well as his ‘F**k you Deputy Stagg’ moment).
Speaking in Clondalkin today, he said what the results of the by-election will have on the Dáil arithmetic depends if Dublin-Fingal and Wexford, which were held by Clare Daly and Mick Wallace go to someone else other than Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
Fine Gael will be looking to retain the seat, with Fianna Fáil pushing hard to retain the Cork North-Central seat and also possibly gain another.
Win or lose, what all parties will be looking at in these four by-elections is the transfer of votes.
With the general election just a few months out, all eyes will be on where votes are transferred – where the public are putting their votes, and where they are putting their number two votes on the ballot paper.
While it is obviously not an exact science, political anoraks will see this mini-election of sorts as an indicator of what might be to come at Easter, or Varadkar’s preferred date on May 2020.
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Say nothing or the Government will impose an early switch on tax.
Sh!t, I knew I forgot to turn something off a few months back.
Has the comments of the week article been disposed of lads? It had become a bit of a Saturday morning tradition tbh
I’ve noticed that too. There’s been no ‘Top Comments…’ article for the last couple of weeks.
mcgoo. 3 weeks now. Yes it’s missed. Bit of light hearted banter it was..
@mcgoo:
Brinster must have most comments. Trouble is, he said nothing.
Nevermind comment of the Week. — Where is Quinton gone with them Techie articles?
And that fella who called himself a businessman and came out with utter claptrap. He was entertaining
Why worry about what the great unwashed vote for, let them eat cake!
It might be because some of the top comments have been criticising the journal over there closing comments on other articles.
No, still have the windows open.
It’s all in the mind, if you think you’re cold you’ll feel cold, but this isn’t cold weather, it’s mild temperatures.
Just put a fleece on at night, you’ll be grand.
I would hazard a guess that the majority of women in Ireland have turned the heat on, while they have killings with their man who is trying to turn it off without getting caught. This exciting little game will now go on continuously until around next May or June.
And I thought it was only me
Not since they put a freeze on Irish water bills. I used to use them to light the fire.
Not until Christmas Eve.
@David Murphey:
Old school.
Respect.
I wear an extra Geansaí around the house.
@brian magee:
What’s a geansai?
Cod piece.
Along the western coast of Ireland, 2016 has been a bleak dismal summer without sun or heat
Not so great in the “sunny” south east either.
Just how we like it.
For some people, it is a choice of heat or food and medicine.
Or beer even.
Everyone is different. While my sister has her heating on I find an hour or two in the evening just to warm up the house is grand.
Am male. Don’t need heating.
How about just Yes/No?
There’s no on switch with solid fuel. Have I started burning the stock of wood I logged this year or the turf saved? Just in the last few days on the small stove. At least I know for certain that the fuel only has my blood on it.
‘A’ rated gaff so no need to yet, thankfully.
‘C’ rated gaff, burnt the lot in Sept and was warm for an hour!!!!
@M Bowe: x rated gaff, always on fire.
Don’t you just love the #Irish sense of humour!
Yes indeed. Lets keep it that way. Don’t overly dilute the gene pool!
Waiting to see how much the government give us back in the budget before i make an extravagant decision about warming my house up
No but we’ve turned the emmersion off!
Turning off the emersion won’t really make any savings. If you hot water isn’t being used and the cylinder properly insulated the emersion won’t need to heat water therefore not use any substantially measurable amount of electricity. I only had two wash hand basins and a sink off the hot water so instead of heating a cylinder of water I opted for a combination boiler which heats the hot water as I need it
Its spelt immersion. Ive had heating on for an hour or two here and there, but lit the first fire of the year last night. Love having a big open fire in the sitting room. #smellofturf
Spelled is spelled spelled. Not spelt.
Good to see so many options but what about, ‘Yes, just for some of the colder nights/ mornings’….all depends on your heating options because as already mentioned solid fuel stoves can be turned down to a continuous warm output.
Should be another option. Did the wife turn on the heating yet …
Invest in a smart thermostat. One that learns your habits, and that you can temporarily override at the touch of a button or twist of a knob, or even from you smartphone. Forgot to change a setting when you left the gaff? No problem!
There are a number of good brands to choose from these days too, and some can do your hot water too.
A++ rated so no
@Leitrim303: Bought a timber-framed house and it has struggled to drop below 18 degrees even downstairs.
@Danny Nash: ya we have no oil boiler. the house stays around 20c even in winter. Defiantly the way to go.
Nah! It’s still 30C here . . .
Nope. Not cold enough yet
Me mammy leaves her bedroom window open every night of the year. And she doesnt allow the heating to be on. Its always like an igloo in our house. To me anyway
still beautiful over here in Toronto!
Legend summer and autumn.
Hell no, I’m sweating in this weather
Need to find the switch first.
have your say