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I found out something else today which makes it even better. Tim Send a noteboard - 24/01/2011 10:37:45 PM
It used to be the case that members of the Irish legislature were barred from being MPs, under a provision barring all members of legislatures of countries outside the Commonwealth (which Ireland left in 1948). But in 2000, they added "other than Ireland" to that bit of the Act, so that members of the Oireachtas could be MPs. So far from being a historical oddity that nobody ever got round to fixing, it was actually a deliberate choice made by the Blair government. The same amending Act also allowed members of the Oireachtas to sit in the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly.

I found this out because there is a story about Gerry Adams on the BBC's front page at the moment. He has purported to resign as an MP, which isn't legally possible. A previous BBC article by the same person (linked in today's one) says he wants to do this in order to stand for the Dáil, but I can't find anything to say that being a member of a foreign legislature disqualifies you from Dáil membership. But I may have simply not looked hard enough.
Vigilantibus non dormientibus jura subveniunt.

—Nous disons en allemand : le guerre, le mort, le lune, alors que 'soleil' et 'amour' sont du sexe féminin : la soleil, la amour. La vie est neutre.

—La vie ? Neutre ? C'est très joli, et surtout très logique.
How I found this out.
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So the Irish government has basically imploded. Stephen - 23/01/2011 04:47:10 PM 1764 Views
I am now confused Camilla - 23/01/2011 05:34:31 PM 1128 Views
You won't be the only person Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:21:23 PM 1025 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 1157 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 1093 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 1057 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 1011 Views
Those protests were only violent by British standards. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:54:15 PM 1186 Views
Really? Camilla - 24/01/2011 12:03:38 AM 990 Views
But... Wibble - 24/01/2011 07:28:17 PM 1051 Views
Re: But... Camilla - 24/01/2011 07:30:39 PM 1296 Views
What protests? Wibble - 24/01/2011 07:26:49 PM 1133 Views
Re: What protests? Camilla - 24/01/2011 07:28:40 PM 987 Views
Re: What protests? Nebhead - 25/01/2011 09:23:17 AM 1125 Views
There's a new objection Camilla - 25/01/2011 11:38:25 AM 1039 Views
I didn't object... Nebhead - 25/01/2011 11:47:11 AM 935 Views
Re: I didn't object... Camilla - 25/01/2011 11:49:36 AM 911 Views
If you look at the bottom of that list... Nebhead - 25/01/2011 11:58:24 AM 986 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 530 Views
Should I start chiming in on Norwegian politics now that I'm here...? Joel - 24/01/2011 12:42:03 AM 1022 Views
Why not? Camilla - 24/01/2011 08:49:07 AM 1083 Views
'Cos I doubt you'll like what I have to say, for one thing. Joel - 26/01/2011 01:55:13 AM 1115 Views
Re: 'Cos I doubt you'll like what I have to say, for one thing. Camilla - 26/01/2011 08:42:04 AM 1134 Views
I misconstrued your sarcasm, sorry. Joel - 26/01/2011 10:23:40 AM 1278 Views
That's been a while coming, hasn't it? Cowen seems to be losing it. Legolas - 23/01/2011 05:48:30 PM 1063 Views
Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:27:27 PM 1129 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 06:33:26 PM 1068 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 07:19:03 PM 1173 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 07:57:05 PM 1017 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 09:29:03 PM 1135 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Legolas - 23/01/2011 09:46:20 PM 1092 Views
I think Adams is an Irish citizen, and not a British one. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:45:34 PM 1052 Views
Re: I think Adams is an Irish citizen, and not a British one. Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:53:12 PM 1041 Views
The part that I find strange is... Tim - 23/01/2011 11:58:27 PM 1020 Views
Re: Certainly. he's been on dodgy ground for a couple months. Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:45:39 PM 924 Views
I found out something else today which makes it even better. Tim - 24/01/2011 10:37:45 PM 1237 Views
I was reading your post and going "what about the Chiltern Hundreds"? Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:44:32 PM 1034 Views
Today's news: it got better again! Tim - 26/01/2011 07:51:51 PM 1102 Views
Oh, alternatively we could elevate him to the House of Lords. Tim - 26/01/2011 11:08:44 PM 1066 Views
Awesome idea. Something like "Baron Adams of Londonderry", I'm thinking. *NM* Legolas - 27/01/2011 07:54:26 PM 513 Views
We made his arch-rival a Lord, after all, so it would only be fair. Tim - 28/01/2011 08:26:15 AM 1008 Views
"This is the voice of a life peer" Michael - 28/01/2011 02:18:04 PM 1137 Views
Here you go Elaine - 25/01/2011 12:55:33 PM 1156 Views
That's the site I found too. Tim - 25/01/2011 01:25:56 PM 990 Views
Right. Elaine - 25/01/2011 01:42:49 PM 1228 Views
well, the only interesting thing in swedish politics is a wikileaks document and the reactions... jh - 23/01/2011 06:21:00 PM 1105 Views
That's interesting Stephen - 23/01/2011 06:32:05 PM 1070 Views
What is inappropriate about trying to keep out barbaric unskilled people? Tom - 23/01/2011 10:59:53 PM 1082 Views
The inappropriateness is the generalisation in the claim Camilla - 23/01/2011 11:16:52 PM 1076 Views
Generalizations are inappropriate when they are disproven by statistics, and appropriate when proven Tom - 24/01/2011 07:33:14 PM 1012 Views
I've looked into the statistics a bit more. Tom - 24/01/2011 09:11:52 PM 1019 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 1063 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 945 Views
Schweden schafft sich ab, eh? Tom - 24/01/2011 07:31:33 PM 1211 Views
Not to mention... ßelals Girl - 26/01/2011 07:55:26 PM 938 Views
ßelals Girl - 26/01/2011 07:46:19 PM 1056 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 1013 Views
I'd support that Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:26:20 PM 1079 Views
Ironically, if you de-officialised Irish you could get EU money to help preserve it. Tim - 23/01/2011 11:48:14 PM 978 Views
I never realised that Stephen - 23/01/2011 11:54:43 PM 1010 Views
But why, why? Tom - 24/01/2011 08:35:43 PM 964 Views
Because it's the only thing justifying their insistence they're not British? Legolas - 24/01/2011 10:03:54 PM 1021 Views
But all language learning should be purely voluntary (after what parents teach their children). Tom - 25/01/2011 03:05:28 AM 998 Views
What, so you don't think students in high school should be taught foreign languages? Legolas - 25/01/2011 06:34:21 PM 1030 Views
Irish is the mother tongue of about 7,000-15,000 people at most. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:04:00 AM 1056 Views
Wikipedia says it's more like 40k-80k. Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:41:41 PM 1422 Views
And Elaine, Stephen, or any other Irish people here: do feel free to comment. *NM* Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:42:36 PM 513 Views
Inflated statistics from what I've read. Tom - 26/01/2011 09:45:51 PM 966 Views
They might be, indeed. Elaine - 27/01/2011 01:08:09 PM 1211 Views
More to the point, are YOU interested in learning Irish? Tom - 26/01/2011 05:15:18 AM 970 Views
Calling Ireland the new Sodom and Gomorrah, are you? Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:02:05 PM 1116 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 1066 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 953 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 1109 Views
So Australians and New Zealanders are really English then? Austrians are just Germans? Tom - 25/01/2011 03:01:14 AM 1064 Views
I never said I agreed . Tim - 25/01/2011 08:19:11 AM 1031 Views
I would suggest that a distinct dialect does the job just as well majander - 25/01/2011 02:23:59 PM 1077 Views
That's a very good point. Tom - 26/01/2011 05:06:32 AM 1046 Views
Indeed. Legolas - 26/01/2011 06:06:00 PM 1087 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 915 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 905 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 459 Views
What the hell happened to the Celtic Tiger Country? *NM* Blaine - 24/01/2011 05:47:12 AM 587 Views
Thrown away on bling and tat, unfortunately. Elaine - 24/01/2011 01:01:27 PM 945 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 1020 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 913 Views
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