And they are off (finally)
So Bertie finally called the election. I have been planning to put up some topical posts on politics anyway. Except my enthusiasm has been a bit dampened. At a stroke Bertie has also managed to disenfranchise me. By calling the election for Thursday the 24th I know for sure I will not be around (I am speaking at a conference) so I don’t get a say. And this despite going to the effort of checking the register, re-registering and so on. I am not alone of course. By calling the vote for a Thursday Bertie always intended to deny a large section of the population out of their vote.
While I government needs to have discretion on when to call an election, I think the day for all votes should be fixed for Friday. I am a special case, but the nature of this country is that there are large numbers of people who from Monday to Friday are not living in the same place as they are at the weekends. It’s not just students. When I started working I lived in Nenagh, but went home to Dublin (or went on the town in Galway, Cork, Waterford…) every weekend. As a “blow in” there was no way I would have moved my vote to North Tipperary.
At this stage it looks like the issues will be Health, Crime (manufactured in there by Fine Gael), Property (in particular stamp duty) and possibly the environment. What is interesting is the things that are not being talked about.
Where is reform of the civil service. You might say it isn’t a big issue, but Benchmarking 2 is coming up, and the new government will have to bring closure to the whole sorry decentralisation mess.
And where is Child Care? With a large young population, miserable legal parenting provisions, and extremely expensive childcare you would think this one would be jumping up and down. But apart from sops thrown at budget time it doesn’t seem to be featureing. Let me give you an idea of how far behind the rest of Europe we are on this one. My Swedish boss is out on paternal leave as of today. He is gone for 2 months, and his youngest child is 2 years old! They get 18 months which can be moved between parents as required, and a minimum of 90 days has to be taken by the father. The local authority provides creche spaces for about €200 a month. In Ireland paternal leave is 1 DAY! That is so little it is an insult not a benefit.
I can think of a few other issues that I would like to see getting more prominance. But they are more personal peeves (uplands access, public transport infrastructure, provision of leisure facilities for young people – like skate parks, climbing walls and alternatives to the standard ball sports). Anyway I have a few more posts to discuss these things.
As Bertie has denied me a vote, I have to use this blog to make my voice heard.
7 comments SK | General, My Life, World
That Child Care thing is ridiculous. I had no idea the statutory entitlement in Ireland was so paltry (and insulting, as you say).
Those Swedes eh? I think most countries and governments could learn a lot from them. Their ban on TV advertising targeted at children under 12 is sheer genius.
I think with the election it is not just a time to look at politicians but also time to look at ourselves!! People’s expectations of politicians are OTT, it is us the individuals that hold the key to creating the society we want. People should look at themselves and be more responsible for there actions/children/lifestyles etc rather than blame ‘the government’ for all ills!
I will add that the politicians are happy to step into this mess and offer the solution to all ills so as to get elected.
Eh, Kieran, who makes the laws – the politicians. I could run as an independent but I won’t get far.
And the two issues I mentioned as being ignored above (Civil Service reform & niggardly childcare provisions) are both cock-ups created by the government.
Paid paternal leave is one day, but fathers are entitled to 14 weeks unpaid leave same as mothers. Also, if your wife/partner dies in childbirth you can get her maternity leave. So that is something to be grateful for.
Um, Kieran are you suggesting that no one have children as a means of creating the society we want? i.e. one without a child care burden? But then who will keep the economy ticking over when we are all pensioners with our hands out for our contributory pensions? Who will shore up the pensioner burden? The government’s failure to act on childcare is going to create a social time bomb in twenty/thirty/forty years time. We are moving towards having one of the lowest birth rates in Europe! Childcare is a contributing factor in that. That has far reaching implications. Countries need young people to drive their economies.
Kieran,
with all due respect, as a response that’s a bit tragic and useless. There are major issues surrounding child care. The key one is that young families are completely stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they want somewhere stable to live, many of them have wound up moving to commuterville to be able to afford to buy. They need two salaries to pay mortgages. If they do have children, they still need the second salary to pay the mortgage and also horrifically high childcare fees. Very often they don’t live where they work which has a knock on effect on community spirit where they do live. It has a knock on effect on society.
Many things are based on personal choice and decision. But some things have to be done collectively. Building the society we want is amongst those. All western societies require children. But many of them – the anglosaxon ones in particular – go out of their way to make it unattractive to actually have children between ridiculous childcare costs, lousy facilities for same, making it extremely difficult in the workplace for women to take time off work to have children, and making it really, really hard for women tot ake time off and raising them without taking a major, massive economic and professional hit, hence the huge requirement for childcare.
This can only be sorted out by legislation which is the remit of politicians.
On the issue of what day of the week an election is held – you mean that’s not fixed? Huh. In the US it’s always Tuesday, which means lots of reassurances that people must be allowed time off work to vote if they need it. I think it’s better in France where it’s always on Sunday.
I wonder whether you can vote by absentee ballot, or is there not enough lead time for that?
Hi stwidgie, the date is not fixed in Ireland. It is decided at the discretion of the outgoing government. Traditionally it has been on Thursday. But in recent years they have tried Friday votes to get the numbers up. This worked, but the new voters tended to be younger and didn’t vote for the current governing party. So it wasn’t in their interest to continue with Friday polls.
There is provision for an absnetee ballot, but only for those living away from their registered address, like students and prisoners. According to my local government office voting FAQ (http://www.dlrcoco.ie/voters/FAQ.htm):
“Q: I will be temporarily out of the county on the date of the election, can I vote?
A: Unfortunately there is no facility for arranging postal facilities in this instance. ”
So I am bunched.