The Standards Were Never Meant to Be Met
Irish public-policy standards are not aspirational goals being inadequately pursued. They are theatrical artefacts written with engineered holes by the lobbyists who help draft them, …
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Tagged: Lobbying
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The shape of access: what 84,178 lobbying returns tell us about Irish public policy
84,178 returns across 11 years on the Irish lobbying register. The access patterns are visible in the data. Business lobbies dwarf labour and civil society. …
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Sold the view, extinguished the path
In April 2024 Fáilte Ireland announced that the Wild Atlantic Way generates €3 billion in annual tourism revenue. Six months later the State quietly removed …
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The Evidence Nobody Brings Into The Room
In 2013 the UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, was asked on live radio whether he could live on £53 …
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Two Terms! No more!
Last Sunday, Hungarian voters answered a constitutional question Irish voters have never been asked. Should the chief executive of the country be allowed to serve …
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Irish Minister Who Thinks the Problem Is the Coverage
Patrick O'Donovan, Minister for Media, Communications, Culture and Sport, went on Limerick's Live 95 today and said he would ask Coimisiún na Meán — Ireland's …
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Ten Cent Off a Litre
On Saturday evening the government announced a €505m fuel support package in response to six days of nationwide protests. The measures include a 10c reduction …
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This Is Not Normal
You already know something is wrong. You've known for a while. The news cycle confirms it daily: climate collapse accelerating past every guardrail, genocide broadcast …
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The Wrong Form of Protest
Three senior ministers, three statements, all on message, all in the same forty-eight hours, all addressed to a movement whose members are not in any …
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It Is Too Much
It is too much. That is the first thing to say, and most of the writing about the present moment will not say it, because …
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The Ladder They Pulled Up
Ireland's government wants more professional landlords. Ireland's young people can't find jobs. These are not two stories. They are one policy, viewed from opposite ends …
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The Tools Already Exist
Ireland has some of the strongest public records laws in Europe. FOI, the Lobbying Act, beneficial ownership registers, planning databases — the infrastructure for accountability …
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