What a hoot this campaign has been. Such welcome relief from the doom and gloom merchants. Gallagher's implosion has been fascinating and yet we don't know if he has actaully imploded. He could just as easily hang on to his vote as lose half of it.
I voted for Michael D. The Labour party for me is the party who's agenda is closest to ours. Of course as President, Higgins can do nothing direct to help our cause, but I'm impressed by his response to the questions posed by AI.
Caveat: I'm a member of the Labour party, however my decision to join was directly affected by my membership of AI. I joined earlier this year and campaigned for Ivana Bacik, specifically because of her stance on our issues.
I voted against the Oireachtas enquiry referendum as I don't think there are enough safe guards in place. The Referendum Commission, which is an impartial body set up to simply provide the public with the facts regarding the referenda (when did this word become referendums??), says the following in relation to the ability of the Dail to decide whether potential enquiries are 'Matters of general importance':
Quote:
The Courts may be asked to review such decisions but it would be difficult to challenge successfully any such decision by the Dáil and/or the Seanad, given the wording of the amendment.
I voted in favour of the judges' pay referendum as I don't buy the argument regarding the impartiality of judges being diminished by a yes vote. Where were the judges concerns about their impartiality being called into question when the Dail was increasing their pay?