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Dáil talk
State of the Nation: A breakthrough for UKIP ... and a lovely day for kite-flying
Here’s everything you need to know about what’s happening in Irish politics right now…
EACH WEEKDAY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you a comprehensive guide to what’s happening in the political world.
Everyone’s talking about…
UKIP’s big breakthrough in Westminster.
The anti-EU party’s resounding by-election victory is likely to rattle David Cameron’s Conservative-led government, seven months from a general election.
Douglas Carswell, who defected to UKIP from Cameron’s party in August, was elected with 60 percent of the vote in Clacton-on-Sea, in a development that could signal a sea change in British politics.
The eurosceptic party also came within 617 votes of unseating the Labour party in its northern English stronghold of Heywood and Middleton in a second by-election yesterday, piling more pressure on Labour leader Ed Miliband.
The agenda…
- Polling is under way in the two Dáil by-elections, in Dublin South West and Roscommon-South Leitrim.
- Meanwhile polling closes in the controversial Seanad vote. Will John McNulty win the seat? We’ll know by lunchtime.
- The Cabinet meets today to discuss the Budget (and the international Ebola crisis).
John McNulty.
What the others are saying…
- An extra ten cents on the pint? That’s what’s on the way in next Tuesday’s Budget, according to the front page of today’s Sun.
- Voters would prefer tax cuts to improvements in public services, according to poll findings published in The Irish Times this morning.
- And John McNulty has agreed to step down from the Seanad if he wins today’s by-election vote, according to the Herald.
In case you missed it…
- Did you hear what Joan Burton had to say about water protesters? She’s wondering why they’re so intent on filming “every single second” of their actions.
- There were more hints about about a lowering of the top tax rate from Enda Kenny in a speech last night.
- And, should Lotto winnings be taxed to pay for more teachers? That’s what one Independent TD is proposing.
On the Twitter machine…
The Donald, folks.
[Includes reporting from AFP]
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