DUBLIN — During Ireland’s election campaign, the centrist heavyweights in government — Prime Minister Simon Harris’ Fine Gael and Foreign Minister Micheál Martin’s Fianna Fáil — worried they’d be left with too few lawmakers to maintain their stable partnership. No worries. Thanks to a surprise surge by Fianna Fáil, the two parties have emerged stronger than before — and appear poised to form the country’s next government with little need of third-party support. With all results declared from Friday’s election, Fianna Fáil has won 48 seats, its best performance since 2007. Combined with Fine Gael’s 38 seats, the two will…
Author: Shawn Pogatchnik
DUBLIN — Irish voters thwarted Dublin’s best-known gangland boss from gaining a seat in parliament following a marathon election count full of shocks and twists. Gerry “The Monk” Hutch had launched an out-of-the-blue campaign for a Dublin Central seat after flying in from Spain, where he awaits trial on money-laundering charges. Last year, Hutch was acquitted of murder in connection with a criminal underground feud that left 18 dead, including his own brother. Few media analysts expected Hutch to make an impression in an already crowded Dublin Central field featuring two of Ireland’s biggest political names: Sinn Féin opposition leader…
DUBLIN — The top three political parties in Ireland have finished in a virtual three-way tie in Friday’s election, according to detailed exit polling published at the moment polls closed. The results from the survey of 5,018 voters leaving polling stations nationwide — conducted jointly by Trinity College Dublin, pollsters Ipsos B&A, the Irish Times newspaper and broadcasters RTÉ — suggest that no party has won a clear victory. As a result, Ireland could face weeks of difficult negotiations to forge a multi-party government capable of commanding a stable parliamentary majority. Ballots in Ireland’s election will start to be counted…
DUBLIN — Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris was forced to apologize Saturday to a disability services worker for treating her dismissively — a self-destructive campaign moment that could cost him dearly in next week’s election. Harris, 38, has been criss-crossing the country and shaking hands frenetically in a bid to keep his centrist Fine Gael in power for what could be a party-record fourth straight term in the Nov. 29 vote. But his brusque treatment of Charlotte Fallon at a supermarket check-out line could mark the moment when, much as happened during the last election in 2020, his party lost…
DUBLIN — Ireland’s Prime Minister Simon Harris fired the starting gun Friday on a three-week election campaign that the two main government parties — aided by bloated state coffers and a giveaway budget — are widely forecast to win. Fresh off the government jet from a European Union leaders’ meeting in Budapest, Harris stood on the steps of his central Dublin office to declare: “Ladies and gentlemen, if you give me your trust, I will give you my all.” The 38-year-old, who took charge of his center-ground Fine Gael party only seven months ago, said he hoped to return as…