Category Archives: Ireland

Micheál Martin faces a battle of conscience to form Irish government

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Fianna Fáil leader is a key player in breaking parliamentary deadlock, but has ruled out working with Sinn Féin

Ireland’s political deadlock hinges on the cold, hard numbers of parliamentary arithmetic, but there is an additional, nebulous factor: the conscience of Micheál Martin.

The leader of Fianna Fáil is the party leader best positioned to wrangle a government and emerge as taoiseach. It would safeguard his job as party leader and crown his career, giving him a chance to shape history in the Brexit era.

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Gerry Adams will be Sinn Féin negotiator, leaked brief reveals

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Party challenged over IRA links as former leader quietly chosen to help form next government

Sinn Féin has included Gerry Adams on its negotiating team to form the next Irish government, fuelling renewed scrutiny over the party’s links with the IRA.

A party briefing note leaked on Friday named Adams as a negotiator, raising questions as to why he was not on the published list. The disclosure came as political opponents piled pressure on Sinn Féin to renounce the IRA in advance of talks to form a coalition government.

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Varadkar resigns as Irish government enters stalemate

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Taoiseach will continue as caretaker leader after inconclusive sitting of Dáil Éireann

Leo Varadkar has resigned as taoiseach after Ireland’s hung parliament entered deadlock over the choice of a new premier.

Varadkar submitted his resignation to Michael D Higgins, the president of Ireland, on Thursday night after a tempestuous but inconclusive sitting of Dáil Éireann, which met for the first time since the 8 February election. It adjourned until 5 March, giving party leaders three weeks to try to form a ruling coalition.

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Irish contractors get first look at grounded ‘ghost ship’ MV Alta

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Cargo ship ran aground near Cork after floating in the Atlantic since September 2018

It leans on the rocks at an almost jaunty angle, framed by the horizon whence it came, not a soul in sight.

MV Alta, a ghost ship that traversed the Atlantic for more than a year without crew or passengers, berthed at last. The 77-metre cargo vessel’s odyssey came to an end during Storm Dennis last Sunday when it ran aground near Ballycotton, a fishing village in County Cork, Ireland, overlooking the Celtic Sea.

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Varadkar prepares to go into opposition as deadlock continues

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Irish parliament set to meet on Thursday despite no party having a majority

Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s taoiseach, has said he is prepared to lead his ruling Fine Gael party into opposition and to let Sinn Féin and other parties try to form a government.

Varadkar emerged from a six-hour meeting with Fine Gael’s parliamentary party on Monday night saying he “relishes” the chance to rebuild it from the opposition benches.

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Ghost ship washes ashore in Ireland after more than a year at sea

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Public warned away from MV Alta, which ran aground on Cork coast during Storm Dennis

Abandoned by its crew, the cargo vessel made a lonely odyssey across the Atlantic, a ghost ship seemingly destined never to make port.

The 77-metre MV Alta drifted for over a year, skirting the Americas, Africa and Europe, rusting and derelict yet resolutely afloat.

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Mary-Lou McDonald: violent dissident republicans should disband

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Sinn Féin president’s statement comes after senior party figures were threatened

Violent dissident republicans should disband, the leader of Sinn Féin has said. Anti-peace process renegades threatened the party’s vice-president, Michelle O’Neill, and veteran policing spokesman Gerry Kelly after they supported a recent recruitment campaign for new Catholic officers.

The party’s president, Mary-Lou McDonald, said they would not be deterred or intimidated by the gunmen. She added: “These people have no politics, no strategy and nothing to offer. They are at war with their community and are now threatening political representatives who serve the people.”

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Ireland: Fianna Fáil rules out coalition with Sinn Féin

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Decision leaves Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael with choice of a deal or risking fresh election

Ireland’s largest party, Fianna Fáil, has said it will not consider going into government with Sinn Féin, a decision likely to prevent the leftwing nationalists from entering power for the first time.

It effectively leaves Ireland’s two dominant centre-right parties – Fianna Fáil and Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s Fine Gael - with a choice of joining forces or risking a fresh election that could further boost Sinn Féin.

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Sinn Féin begins efforts to form leftwing coalition in Ireland

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Mary Lou McDonald will talk to Greens and others but pact with Fianna Fáil is also possible

Sinn Féin has started reaching out to leftwing parties to try to form a ruling coalition but potential allies have said there are insufficient parliamentary numbers to produce Ireland’s first government of the left.

Ireland’s traditional ruling parties, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, signalled on Tuesday that they would give Sinn Féin’s leader, Mary Lou McDonald, time to try to forge a rainbow alliance in recognition of her party’s stunning general election results.

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This election shows Ireland has moved on from Sinn Féin’s past | Siobhán Fenton

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Voters now appear more concerned about social justice and housing than the party’s historical connections

For almost a century, political power in Ireland has been held by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The two centrist parties have ruled in some form or another, be it through coalitions or confidence-and-supply arrangements with other smaller parties. Saturday’s general election has upended this political duopoly.

Sinn Féin topped the poll in first-preference votes for the first time, with a share of 24.5%. Fianna Fáil received 22.2%, while Fine Gael, in government since 2011, came third with 20.9%. Under Ireland’s proportional representation voting system, it will take several days for the calculations to be made to establish exactly how many seats each party will win. Once that’s clear, negotiations will begin to see who can somehow form a government.

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What does the Irish election result mean for Brexit?

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A Sinn Féin coalition will rattle unionists, who consider Boris Johnson’s EU deal a betrayal

Sinn Féin won the most first-preference votes in Saturday’s Irish general election, delivering a shock to the country’s political landscape after decades of domination by the centrist rivals Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

However, the fragmented results will produce a hung parliament with no party close to 80 seats, meaning there could be weeks – possibly months – of negotiations between party leaders before a government is formed.

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Government officials working on plans for bridge linking Scotland to Northern Ireland, No 10 confirms – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen

Q: Do you think there is any chance of Boris Johnson changing his mind in relation to ruling out an extension to the post-Brexit transition?

Sturgeon says she has to assume that what the UK government says about ruling out an extension is what they mean.

Q: Have you had any contact from the police in relation to Derek Mackay’s conduct? And do you think he should resign as an MSP?

Sturgeon says she has not had any contact over this from the police.

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Sinn Féin declares victory in Irish general election

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Party leader Mary Lou McDonald calls for talks with main rivals to form coalition

Sinn Féin has declared victory in Ireland’s general election and called for talks with other main parties to form a coalition government.

Its leader, Mary Lou McDonald, urged Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to start negotiations with the republican party as the scale of its breakthrough confirmed a realignment of Irish politics.

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Irish general election: who won and what happens now?

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Weeks – possibly months – of negotiations are likely to follow Sinn Féin’s strong showing

Sinn Féin won the most first-preference votes – 24.5% – making it the most popular party and a strong contender to be included in the next government. Leo Varadkar’s ruling Fine Gael party slid to 20.8%, coming third, and Fianna Fáil, the main opposition party, also slipped, falling to 22.1% in second place. The rest of the vote was split between the Greens, on 7.1%, and small leftwing parties and independent candidates.

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Sinn Féin to try to form ruling coalition after Irish election success

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Party disrupts Ireland’s centrist tradition by taking almost a quarter of votes

Sinn Féin will try to form a government in Ireland after apparently winning more votes than any other party in Saturday’s general election – a historic result that upended the political system.

The party leader, Mary Lou McDonald, told cheering supporters on Sunday that a “revolution” had occurred and she would try to form a ruling coalition with other parties. “This is no longer a two-party system,” she said.

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Tired of a two-party system, Irish voters have made Sinn Féin mainstream

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Issues such as high rents and homelessness fuelled party’s 22.3% exit poll result

Sinn Féin’s breakthrough in Ireland’s general election was decades in the making, but not even Sinn Féin saw it coming.

Once a revolutionary party associated with guns and balaclavas, a toxic brand, it slowly edged from the fringe into the mainstream, inch by inch, and then on Saturday made a giant leap.

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Ireland general election: Sinn Féin surges to 22% in exit poll

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Republican party level with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in Saturday evening’s poll

Sinn Féin has scored dramatic gains in Ireland’s general election, according to an exit poll on Saturday night, realigning Irish politics and boosting the party’s chance of joining the next government.

The republican party won 22.3% of the vote while Leo Varadkar’s ruling Fine Gael party slumped to 22.4%, the poll said, potentially spelling an end to Varadkar’s tenure as taoiseach. Fianna Fáil, the main opposition party, won 22.2%.

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Ireland election: polls open with Sinn Féin poised to play key role

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Republican party is hoping poll surge will translate into a parliamentary breakthrough

Voters are going to the polls in Ireland after a tumultuous general election campaign during which Sinn Féin has surged into contention as a potential party of government.

The republican party hopes a rise in popularity among young and urban voters will translate into enough parliamentary gains to make it a kingmaker or participant in Ireland’s next coalition government.

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Man dubbed ‘largest facilitator’ of child abuse images pleads guilty

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Eric Eoin Marques, citizen of US and Ireland, faces up to 30 years in prison over web hosting service

A man once described by an FBI agent as the world’s largest “facilitator” of child abuse websites pleaded guilty on Thursday to operating a web hosting service that allowed users to anonymously access hundreds of thousands of images and videos depicting child abuse.

Eric Eoin Marques, 34, faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years after his guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to advertise child abuse images. A plea agreement will ask the US district judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland to sentence Marques to 15 to 21 years in prison, but the judge is not bound by the recommendation.

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