The following article was published in The Irish Times last Monday, 9 July 2012, under the headline: 'Principled compromise' could be way forward for Israel.
Since there has been some difficulty accessing it online, I am reproducing it as a blog.
The late Eugene Moloney was not a politician but he covered politics at its rawest and most edgy in Northern Ireland. Most of my memories of him derive from that period in his career.
It turned out to be an even damper squib than some people were forecasting. The latest tally is putting the Yes vote at 60.5% which is in line with the opinion polls.
Personally, I am quite proud of the way we hold referendums on just about everything in this State. It underlines the sovereignty of the people in a very significant way.
Greetings from sundrenched Killarney. It is a wonderful place especially in this weather but, ochone, ochone, your humble scribe is stuck indoors at a windowless conference centre.
They say you can’t compare opinion polls from different companies but I’m never exactly sure why and people will do so anyway. Thus it is comforting for the Yes side that today’s Millward Brown Lansdowne figures in the Irish Independent show 37% saying they will vote for the Fiscal Treaty as compared to 24% who are opposed.
Anecdotal evidence was suggesting the Fiscal Treaty referendum was going in a negative direction so it was a little suprising to see the RedC poll in the Sunday Business Post indicating a very comfortable margin for Yes.
Does anyone remember one of Bertie Ahern’s better malapropisms, when he described some unsuccessful venture as a “damp squid”. One could not help being reminded of it this afternoon, listening to Éamon Ó Cuív expounding the reasons he is staying in Fianna Fail.
Watching the film, Stella Days, one had to reflect that everything has changed in Ireland except politics. The movie, which is well worth seeing, stars Martin Sheen as a priest in a small country town in the 1950s who decides to open a cinema to raise funds for the building of a new church.
Bless me Blogosphere, for I have sinned. It is far too long since my last post here. I beg your indulgence on the grounds of having moved house in recent weeks, as well as carrying out assignments in China, covering the Taoiseach’s trip there, and in one or two other places.
