The timetable for the new government will not be fixed by the new government. It is already decided by the EU and the IMF and the State has signed up to that. So there is no leeway there and the timetable is very demanding, writes Vincent Browne.
Members of the Fine Gael parliamentary party and some 1.000 Labour Party delegates endorsed a Programme for Goverment at separate party conferences today. The Programme was unanimously endorsed by Fine Gael, while Labour delegates overwhelmingly endorsed the Programme. Members of Labour spoke in support of and in opposition to the Programme before a show of hands settled the outcome. [Video of Labour conference & PDF of Programme are below]
Eamon Gilmore seemed like a viable possibility for Taoiseach, earlier in this two-year election campaign.
He may have brought Labour to record poll numbers, but he's not the closest a Labour leader has ever got to leading the government.
Limerick candidates from the larger parties have pulled an Enda Kenny by avoiding a public debate organised for the Pery Hotel Thursday evening at 7:30pm. (The debate will be streamed live on Politico.ie).
A spokesperson for the Claiming Our Future group of community and voluntary organisations said Sinn Fein's Cllr Maurice Quinlivan is the only elected politician so far to confirm he would be attending to set out his policies and take questions from the public.
Despite what it says in its manifesto, Fine Gael in government will not have the power to defy the ECB, writes Vincent Browne.
Fine Gael has been serious about policy over the last several years because there are several people in Fine Gael serious about policy. People such as Richard Bruton, Leo Varadkar, Phil Hogan, Simon Coveney, Brian Hayes and others.
Over 950,000 people tuned in to last night's five-way leader's debate on RTE. Enda Kenny undoubtedly had the most to lose, particularly following his absence at last week's TV3 debate, so the Fine Gael camp will be relieved to see him emerge relatively unscathed. Colin Murphy offers his analysis of the event.
Gerry Adams won last night's debate by a country mile, showing a brilliant and consistent display of focused anger. It didn't matter (to those to whom that appeals) that he clearly neither knows nor cares where the money comes from.
Two dates haunt this election campaign: 30 September 2008 and 28 November 2010. The first of these was the date of the bank guarantee. The second was the day of national shame, the day of the EU-IMF rescue deal, writes Vincent Browne.
The bank guarantee represented the most spectacular single transfer of wealth ever in the history of this country, from society at large to a financial elite. The elite being depositors of more than €100,000 (depositors up to €100,000 had been guaranteed previously) and bondholders who had lent money to the banks.
A meeting of left-wing political parties at the weekend showed that while points of consensus on left unity exist, the obstacles are many. By Alison Spillane
On Thursday morning last Eamon Gilmore said at the Labour Party election headquarters in Golden Lane, Dublin, that he was seeking a mandate in the general election to renegotiate the €67 billion rescue package with the European Union and International Monetary Fund. He said the challenge facing the electorate was to accept the rescue deal or to trust Labour to change its terms.
Brian Cowen is a man of integrity, but he was unable to question this society's sacred cows. All our parties and their leaders have this flaw, writes Vincent Browne.
Brian Cowen does not, and did not, lack integrity. Neither does he lack very considerable abilities. It is entirely credible that everything he did in public office he did in the interests of the country, as he perceived those interests.