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Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen Send a noteboard - 23/01/2011 11:45:39 PM
I doubt there will be any alternative. Or at least i'd hope not, because that would mean Sinn fein in government.

Gotcha. *looks at opinion polls on Wikipedia* Ah, yes, I see the Green Party is going to be a quantité négligeable... so no possibility to include them and round out the coalition, then. That does leave precious few alternatives.

Yes, it unfortunately does.
True, the constitution was basically drafted by Eamonn De valera and a priest, whose name escapes me.

Heh. Nice.

Very. I believe Labour want to redraft the whole thing when they get in.
Minimal government interference type. So I guess that's right wing liberal.

Okay, the European kind of liberal. I wasn't sure.

Fine Gael are affiliated with the European People's Party, and Fianna Fail with the European Liberal Democratic and reform Party, if that clears much up for you.

Right. So not really like in Germany, then, not even if you switch them around. Oh well, I guess trying to see the same patterns in the politics of all European countries is a bad idea anyway.

Yeah, up until recently we've never had a substantial left wing political force in the country, something unusual in most Western democracies.
People from Northern Ireland can claim dual nationality. It's part of one of the peace treaty things. As he's from Belfast he can claim both nationalities.

Ah, that makes more sense. Still interesting, though, I doubt there are many people in the world who can claim to have been a member of two different countries' parliaments.

And most of them are probably Irish. Several members of the first Dail were non-sitting MPs. Constance Markiewicz was the first woman to be elected to any parliament when she was elected to Westminster.
Yes, my Wikipedia searching has left me somewhat dumb founded.

I'm always willing to explain if there's any interest, but like I said, it might take a while, depending on what exactly the question is. I think even most Belgians don't know exactly how many regional governments we have and what the powers and responsibilities of all of them are.

"I mean, if everyone had a soul, there would be no contrast by which we could appreciate it. For giving us this perspective, we thank you." - Nate
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So the Irish government has basically imploded. Stephen - 23/01/2011 04:47:10 PM 1714 Views
I am now confused Camilla - 23/01/2011 05:34:31 PM 1074 Views
You won't be the only person Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:21:23 PM 982 Views
You do realize Britain is pretty much the envy of the Western world at the moment? Legolas - 23/01/2011 06:27:05 PM 1099 Views
Re: You do realize Britain is pretty much the envy of the Western world at the moment? Camilla - 23/01/2011 06:34:47 PM 1031 Views
I did. There was more violence than in ours, that's true (ours have none so far, knock on wood). Legolas - 23/01/2011 06:41:34 PM 1009 Views
Re: I did. There was more violence than in ours, that's true (ours have none so far, knock on wood). Camilla - 23/01/2011 06:43:41 PM 954 Views
Those protests were only violent by British standards. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:54:15 PM 1099 Views
Really? Camilla - 24/01/2011 12:03:38 AM 936 Views
But... Wibble - 24/01/2011 07:28:17 PM 995 Views
Re: But... Camilla - 24/01/2011 07:30:39 PM 1243 Views
What protests? Wibble - 24/01/2011 07:26:49 PM 1080 Views
Re: What protests? Camilla - 24/01/2011 07:28:40 PM 928 Views
Re: What protests? Nebhead - 25/01/2011 09:23:17 AM 1069 Views
There's a new objection Camilla - 25/01/2011 11:38:25 AM 991 Views
I didn't object... Nebhead - 25/01/2011 11:47:11 AM 879 Views
Re: I didn't object... Camilla - 25/01/2011 11:49:36 AM 844 Views
If you look at the bottom of that list... Nebhead - 25/01/2011 11:58:24 AM 930 Views
And Britain had to live with the Conservative Wilderness for 15 years before it could get there *NM* Roland00 - 24/01/2011 02:43:16 AM 509 Views
Should I start chiming in on Norwegian politics now that I'm here...? Joel - 24/01/2011 12:42:03 AM 966 Views
Why not? Camilla - 24/01/2011 08:49:07 AM 1033 Views
'Cos I doubt you'll like what I have to say, for one thing. Joel - 26/01/2011 01:55:13 AM 1052 Views
Re: 'Cos I doubt you'll like what I have to say, for one thing. Camilla - 26/01/2011 08:42:04 AM 1074 Views
I misconstrued your sarcasm, sorry. Joel - 26/01/2011 10:23:40 AM 1228 Views
That's been a while coming, hasn't it? Cowen seems to be losing it. Legolas - 23/01/2011 05:48:30 PM 1005 Views
Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:27:27 PM 1072 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 06:33:26 PM 1024 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 07:19:03 PM 1123 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 07:57:05 PM 969 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 09:29:03 PM 1076 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 09:46:20 PM 1036 Views
I think Adams is an Irish citizen, and not a British one. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:45:34 PM 992 Views
Re: I think Adams is an Irish citizen, and not a British one. Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:53:12 PM 989 Views
The part that I find strange is... Tim - 23/01/2011 11:58:27 PM 965 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:45:39 PM 872 Views
I found out something else today which makes it even better. Tim - 24/01/2011 10:37:45 PM 1169 Views
I was reading your post and going "what about the Chiltern Hundreds"? Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:44:32 PM 988 Views
Today's news: it got better again! Tim - 26/01/2011 07:51:51 PM 1051 Views
Oh, alternatively we could elevate him to the House of Lords. Tim - 26/01/2011 11:08:44 PM 1006 Views
Awesome idea. Something like "Baron Adams of Londonderry", I'm thinking. *NM* Legolas - 27/01/2011 07:54:26 PM 489 Views
We made his arch-rival a Lord, after all, so it would only be fair. Tim - 28/01/2011 08:26:15 AM 946 Views
"This is the voice of a life peer" Michael - 28/01/2011 02:18:04 PM 1064 Views
Here you go Elaine - 25/01/2011 12:55:33 PM 1101 Views
That's the site I found too. Tim - 25/01/2011 01:25:56 PM 937 Views
Right. Elaine - 25/01/2011 01:42:49 PM 1171 Views
well, the only interesting thing in swedish politics is a wikileaks document and the reactions... jh - 23/01/2011 06:21:00 PM 1060 Views
That's interesting Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:32:05 PM 1020 Views
What is inappropriate about trying to keep out barbaric unskilled people? Tom - 23/01/2011 10:59:53 PM 1030 Views
The inappropriateness is the generalisation in the claim Camilla - 23/01/2011 11:16:52 PM 998 Views
Generalizations are inappropriate when they are disproven by statistics, and appropriate when proven Tom - 24/01/2011 07:33:14 PM 951 Views
I've looked into the statistics a bit more. Tom - 24/01/2011 09:11:52 PM 967 Views
I take it you're talking about the Middle East in its most narrow sense here. Legolas - 24/01/2011 09:56:22 PM 999 Views
... the fact that they are asylum seekers, and their skill certainly shouldn't matter in that case. jh - 24/01/2011 07:08:14 PM 892 Views
Schweden schafft sich ab, eh? Tom - 24/01/2011 07:31:33 PM 1160 Views
Not to mention... ßelals Girl - 26/01/2011 07:55:26 PM 885 Views
ßelals Girl - 26/01/2011 07:46:19 PM 1002 Views
Hopefully they'll stop using Irish officially as a way to cut down on unnecessary costs. Tom - 23/01/2011 10:57:08 PM 948 Views
I'd support that Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:26:20 PM 1028 Views
Ironically, if you de-officialised Irish you could get EU money to help preserve it. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:48:14 PM 923 Views
I never realised that Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:54:43 PM 948 Views
But why, why? Tom - 24/01/2011 08:35:43 PM 909 Views
Because it's the only thing justifying their insistence they're not British? Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:03:54 PM 967 Views
But all language learning should be purely voluntary (after what parents teach their children). Tom - 25/01/2011 03:05:28 AM 943 Views
What, so you don't think students in high school should be taught foreign languages? Legolas - 25/01/2011 06:34:21 PM 971 Views
Irish is the mother tongue of about 7,000-15,000 people at most. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:04:00 AM 1001 Views
Wikipedia says it's more like 40k-80k. Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:41:41 PM 1369 Views
And Elaine, Stephen, or any other Irish people here: do feel free to comment. *NM* Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:42:36 PM 490 Views
Inflated statistics from what I've read. Tom - 26/01/2011 09:45:51 PM 910 Views
They might be, indeed. Elaine - 27/01/2011 01:08:09 PM 1153 Views
More to the point, are YOU interested in learning Irish? Tom - 26/01/2011 05:15:18 AM 913 Views
Calling Ireland the new Sodom and Gomorrah, are you? Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:02:05 PM 1060 Views
I don't think it's as fun as Sodom and Gomorrah, at least not post-crisis. Tom - 26/01/2011 09:48:54 PM 1014 Views
Re: I don't think it's as fun as Sodom and Gomorrah, at least not post-crisis. Legolas - 27/01/2011 08:42:21 PM 892 Views
Presumably because they agree with J.R.R. Tolkien and Tómas Sæmundsson about language's importance. Tim - 24/01/2011 10:16:05 PM 1056 Views
So Australians and New Zealanders are really English then? Austrians are just Germans? Tom - 25/01/2011 03:01:14 AM 1010 Views
I never said I agreed . Tim - 25/01/2011 08:19:11 AM 980 Views
I would suggest that a distinct dialect does the job just as well majander - 25/01/2011 02:23:59 PM 1008 Views
That's a very good point. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:06:32 AM 981 Views
Indeed. Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:06:00 PM 1036 Views
The thing is, people who feel really strongly about that usually insist it's a separate language. Tim - 28/01/2011 04:20:57 PM 862 Views
It's really more about having a unique silly costume to wear at Miss Universe pageants. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:09:10 AM 852 Views
You're confusing what we sell to gullible American tourists with what we actually value . *NM* Tim - 28/01/2011 04:15:01 PM 434 Views
What the hell happened to the Celtic Tiger Country? *NM* Blaine - 24/01/2011 05:47:12 AM 562 Views
Thrown away on bling and tat, unfortunately. Elaine - 24/01/2011 01:01:27 PM 885 Views
The Celtic Tiger is dead, Ireland had a GDP contraction of 14% in the last two years. Roland00 - 24/01/2011 01:47:06 PM 969 Views
It's still there, but it aimed a bit too high and got a bit scorched. Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:07:36 PM 855 Views
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