Rónán Mistéil's blog

It’s nearly 6.30a.m on the 1st March 2011, and the final constituency to elect their portion of TDs in this General Election is Galway West. Having completed a second count overnight, and electing Éamon Ó Cuív (FF), Derek Nolan (LAB), Brian Walsh (FG), Noel Grealish (IND) and Seán Kyne (FG), Catherine Connolly (IND) was a mere 17 votes behind Kyne – I’ve the full breakdown of counts and recounts in the constituency here (thanks Stephen Kearon for the idea to make the spreadsheet). Connolly has now (understandably) called for a recount, and the Returning Officer has granted it and scheduled it to begin at 4pm today.

So excluding Galway West’s representatives, that brings the total number of Fine Gael seats to 74, followed by 36 Labour, 19 Fianna Fáil, 14 Independents, 14 Sinn Féin and 4 others. With negotiations between Fine Gael and Labour having begun yesterday, it looks like we’re on our way to seeing a massive coalition government with a majority of up to 112 seats vs 54. This will make it almost impossible for the opposition to win any vote in the Dáil. However, although their numbers will be small, the composition of the opposition is very interesting and extremely varied.

Aside from Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, who differ broadly in terms of policy, the Independents/Others also come from a wide range of backgrounds. From the likes of Stephen Donnelly of Wicklow (elected in the early hours of this morning) to Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan of Roscommon South Leitrim, the differences between opposition TDs and their policies clearly outshadow their similarities.

There is a common thread however following the election, on both sides of the incoming Dáil there’s an appetite for a change to Irish politics. Some may consider the end of 14 years of Fianna Fáil leadership to be change enough, but both Fine Gael and Labour have promised political reform in one form or another (links here and here), and most of the opposition propose more changes, even Fianna Fáil has undergone major upheaval following Mícheál Martin’s new leadership in an effort to save the party, so whatever side you’re on, the new Dáil promises to be a lot less of the same old politics.

So as negotiations continue between Fine Gael and Labour to decide on policy and cabinet positions, and the recount of Galway West’s ballots exhausts us even more, the nation can rest at ease that whether happy with the overall result or not, we have yet again democratically elected our representatives and our voices have been heard, for better or for worse.

This year’s General Election is the most online fought election we’ve ever seen, and unless politicians have been living under a rock, they should realise the powerful potential it has in allowing them voice their policies/opinions/general ramblings on the unsuspecting public. Even though only a small portion of voters may read a tweet or a facebook update, the mainstream media are guaranteed to be paying close attention, and no one will argue that their coverage is vitally important.

So seeing as a lot of the political parties are new to all this Web 2.0* stuff, here’s how it works.

*You shouldn’t call it that, or ever refer to the country as ‘Ireland 2.0′ or I’ll have to make fun of you like this again.

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This morning I was quoted in Trinity’s University Times. The tweet published was emotionally driven and written on Wednesday afternoon in the aftermath of bloody clashes with the Gardaí at the student fees protest in Dublin. However, I stand by what I wrote, but I can understand that being limited to 140 characters, it can easily be interpreted differently to how I meant it.

Fortunately, blogs don’t have a character limit, so here’s my full response to anyone who misunderstood the meaning behind it:

Regarding my tweet featured in the University Times this morning (http://goo.gl/CLGXy), at the time I wrote it, reports were still coming in as to what exactly had happened at the march in relation to the clashes with Gardaí. From photos and videos that were appearing fast and frequent on twitter, it seemed clear that there were certain elements at the protest that decided it was their right to drink cans and give abuse to the Gardaí. I can only assume that anyone willing to become involved in a stand-off with the might of Gardaí on horseback and in riot-gear has either had an excess of drink in them or a lack of braincells.

Pricing the poor out of education is certainly not what I meant by the tweet, and I accept that income level probably has nothing to do with the behaviour of those elements on the day, but needless to say, a rise in fees will weed out many of those not willing to take their education seriously, and as far as I’m concerned anyone willing to disrespect our elected officials by throwing eggs, or our Gardaí by clashing with them hasn’t taken their education very seriously up to this point.
From whatever background you come from, everyone should accept that a few thousand euro is more than pocket change, and no one will part with that kind of cash unless they actually wish to pursue third level education seriously. Anyone taking a student protest as an opportunity to drink cans and cause trouble, in my eyes, is someone that would sooner spend their money on anything but further education.

By raising fees (which I do believe should happen), it will weed out people from every social background that aren’t willing to take education seriously. It will also raise some much needed capital for the Government’s coffers, and capital, unlike violent protesters, is something the country is in dire need of.