Every Day is Election Day

Fresh from the steaming pile of subsidised effluent that is the Lisbon Treaty: Nicolas Sarkozy, in a proposal to cut the size of the European Commission, thinks it’d be a good idea for countries with a “similar heritage” to share an EU Commissioner.

Basically, Sarkozy wants the Benelux countries to share one, as well as Austria and Germany, and… you’ve guessed it: Ireland and the UK.

I’m completely flabbergasted by this. I’d have thought that the head of state of a major leader in the European project would have a better grasp of the notion of sovereignty and independence. I notice that he, for example, doesn’t manage to suggest that Luxembourg share with France.

What it really shows on Sarkozy’s part is a stunning ignorance of the cultures of the countries in question. As one writer on IrishElection.com put it,

Now the last Austria and Germany shared a representative to my knowledge it was under the terms of the anschluss and did not go well.

Does Sarkozy not recognise that Ireland fought with Britain for a good 700 years or more to purposely not share common representation with the UK? Does he really think that a country like Germany would be happy to have an Austrian represent them in the European executive? How much less likely are a volatile UK to stay committed to Europe when their chief representative is an Irishman?

I don’t know. The whole thing just cements the fear I had over Lisbon in the first place: politicians really just don’t get the people. 160 of our 166 TD’s ended up on the losing side in Lisbon. Now it seems the President of the European Council wants to end up on the wrong side of Europe.

Nicolas Sarkozy: Britain and Ireland should share one European Commission seat [The Telegraph]

Viva la Vida on repeat in work, at home, the iPod… tad ridiculous. And even more ridiculous that I just heard an ad on the radio announcing that it’s out on Friday… aaaaaaaaaaand I still squealed. Breaking the law can be good for the ears.

Juno is [finally!] out on DVD… Hurrah! Pizza night ahoy friendies. WATCH THIS MOVIE. The dialogue is phemonenal and Ellen Page is tremendous in it.

If you haven’t been before, visit www.rarebooks.ie. Fabulous. Just as a real musty bookshop should be, and if you buy online, they send you your book wrapped in old newspapers! Spiffy.

Softening to Damien Dempsey through his recent album ‘The Rocky Road’. Luke Kelly is alive and well folks…

We’re going to Neil Diamond on Saturday with respective parentals. Both sets are equally excited, and it should be yet another fabulous family occasion in Croker. President McAleese shall be in attendance so it’s a night for the glad rags…

Kilkenny kick off the championship season this weekend… WIN!

Davy Fitz in Waterford… I feel I must restrain myself here. I won’t say what I really want to for fear it will come back and bite me in the ass.

Home to vote tomorrow, how quaint. Driving home with Nickey and using the occasion to hang with Darmo on Thursday. I won’t lecture you, but I’ll be voting yes.

Oh, and Prince is cancelled. That’s the secret I couldn’t tell you the other night buds.

Meanwhile here are two photos of Reilly and I at Radiohead, and one of the boys themselves to boot:

Ps. I don’t really follow BB (I swear *cough*) but I will miss Dermot O’Leary from BBLB. Here is one of his best (Irish) moments. G’wan ya yellabelly!

I’m just back from a day-jaunt home, and on the bus this morning I was eavesdropping the driver’s radio tuned to Radio 1 where Playback was gathering pace, and featuring Finian McGrath’s interview on Wednesday’s Drivetime.

To summarise it briefly, McGrath, an independent TD who supports the coalition government, believes that Irish accession to the Treaty might be repugnant to Article 9 of the Irish Constitution. McGrath wants President McAleese to refer the Treaty to the Council of State, a body of judges and former Presidents and Taoisigh, who would decide on whether the proposed Treaty is unconstitutional - and if so, allow the President to stop its passage through the ratification process which ends in the June 12th referendum.

This, naturally enough, has caused a mild political uproar, with many wondering whether the President has the power to refer such a bill once it comes to her for a signature, once it has been ratified by the people through plebiscite. McGrath, for his part, has defended himself against arguments that his motivations are political (McGrath is advocating a No vote) by saying that the Yes side are just as bad, dodging his own questions on the legitimacy of the Treaty while in the Dail and diminishing his dissent to that of a crank who’ll take any action to stop Ireland’s accession to Lisbon.

Sometimes the attitude of some of our parliamentarians and public figures really astounds me. McGrath defends his calls for a consultation with the Council of State based on the fears that it threatens the foundations of the state itself. I, for one, can only assume that his intentions are fair and that his fears are genuine, and not just concocted for the sake of a desperate anti-Lisbon blockade.

What I’m particularly galled about, though, is McGrath’s seeming oblivion to what’s actually being voted on, and indeed his apparent cluelessness about what a referendum such as the Lisbon one actually entails. (more…)