If her approval ratings do not improve because of it then Labor really will have reason to despair.
Ireland
Rundle: Irish eyes smile on the Left, but coalition is uneasy
The Irish elections were a triumph for the Left, with Labour nearly doubling its vote and Sinn Fein tripling theirs. But will the Fine Gael-Labour government be the wreck of the latter party?
Breaking promises: it’s the same the whole world over
So post-election, the first step is to negotiate a coalition agreement and the next is to tell the people who voted for you why you will be breaking your principal promise. Irish politics is following the well worn democratic path, notes Richard Farmer.
Nothing’s ever quite what you expect in Ireland
Ireland’s election produced very much the expected result, with the governing Fianna Fáil party sustaining the heaviest defeat in its history and losing about three-quarters of its seats.
Irish Labour eyes a national investment bank
Ireland is only the second country after smaller Iceland to have been bankrupted by its banks and bankers, with considerable assistance from weak politicians and corrupt businessmen.
Can Fianna Fáil rise above the scandals?
The Irish parliament is expected to be dissolved this week and Fianna Fáil is facing the prospect of a humiliating defeat that could see them become Ireland’s third major political party, writes Keshia Jacotine.
MacKerras: the conservative case for electoral reform across the Anglosphere
The Conservative Party got the better of the Liberal-Democrats in the negotiations for coalition government. And a new electoral reform agenda will likely go their way, too.
Guy Rundle: Rundle’s British Isles bites: Assange to the Frontline … Labour Lord’s it over Tories … Another Ireland crisis …
Looking hale and hearty from his country estate regime, WikiLeaks star-fleet commander Julian Assange yesterday appeared at London’s Frontline Club.
Ireland pollies’ message to the poeple: “don’t worry about it!”
Ireland: the country is on the verge of bankruptcy, another major bank is being effectively nationalised and the same politicians who presided over the economic disaster still don’t want the people to know what is actually happening, writes Richard Farmer.
Bond markets in Europe remain sceptical
Ireland’s decision to accept the EU bailout fund relieved the European bond markets for a very brief time, but the risk premiums are already returning higher, reports Richard Farmer.
And financial regulators wonder why smart people don’t trust them…
It was only back in July that the international financial regulators gave the major Irish banks the tick of approval. Fast forward four months and it’s a very different Ireland, notes Richard Farmer.
Guy Rundle: Rundle: Ireland failing as economic woes turn to political upheaval
Ireland is edging closer to political uproar today, with Taoiseach (i.e. prime minister for goddsake) Brian Cowen being accused of “clinging to power”, and rumours that members of his own party, Fianna Fail, may vote against him.
In Ireland: time for a government to go
The headlines on page one of the Irish Sunday Independent say it all about the state of Ireland and its attitude to the government really, notes Richard Farmer.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: The rise of the Greens
Crikey readers have their say.
Political snippets: A revolt in the ranks
There’s one thing about the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development: when it publishes one of its country reviews it goes out of its way not to openly contradict opinions expressed by the host government’s finance officials.
Default of the Irish?
Time is running out for Ireland. The debt-plagued country is being urged to accept a bailout to quell worries about its solvency, and to stop the turmoil in financial markets that is endangering weak members of the eurozone, says Karen Maley.
Not-so-lucky: Ireland’s economic woes worsen
Europe’s economic woes are back in the headlines, with Ireland appeaing in the most immediate danger thanks with the mooted €35 billion cost of bailing out Anglo Irish Bank causing Ireland’s budget deficit to increase to an alarming 32% of GDP (ten times the EU limit).
Ireland’s warning for America
The losses inflicted by the vainglorious Irish bankers are staggering. Overnight, the Irish government estimated that the total cost of bailing out the Irish banks had risen to a sickening €45 billion ($AUD 63 billion), writes Karen Maley.
PIGS might fly when it comes to public debt
Rising public debt is a key challenges facing world economies, with many countries with debt to GDP ratios over 100%. And it’s the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) who are at the most risk, explains Mark Crosby.
No luck for the Irish as French cheats prosper
Ireland’s football team was cruelly denied a place at next year’s World Cup in South Africa due to a blatant piece of cheating from the French this morning, declares Neil Walker.
We’re kidding if we think the GFC scars won’t last
Simon Nasht goes on a world tour of economic carnage caused by the global financial crisis, from Wall Street’s trading floor to abandoned factories in China. Where does the world go to from here?
Brits and Greeks move to tax banks
Greek and British governments are eying special taxes on the bank profits to help boost income and reduce debt bills, while Ireland may be forced to go to the IMF for aid if it can’t make deep cuts in spending.
Tony Blair: Europe’s first President?
Now Ireland has ratified the Lisbon Treaty, former British PM Tony Blair has all but shored up the support needed to become the first President of the European Union, inside sources tell the Times
The GFC: one year on
In September last year, the world was plunged into financial crisis. Things are slowly starting to turn around at a global level, but how are the countries hardest hit by the GFC coping one year later? TIME visits the Baltics, Ireland and Singapore.
