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Conference tallis::celt

Title:	Celt Notefile

Moderator:	TALLIS::DARCY

Created:	Wed Feb 19 1986
Last Modified:	Tue Jun 03 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1632
Total number of notes:	20523

120.0. "Vote Early and Vote Often" by ENGGSG::BURNS (There goes the Boston Burglar) Wed Jan 21 1987 12:16

Associated Press Wed 21-JAN-1987 10:56                       Ireland-Politics

   President to Dissolve Parliament, Set Election

                           By MARCUS ELIASON
                           Associated Press Writer

   DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - President Patrick Hillery signed a
proclamation dissolving the Irish Parliament today, setting the
stage for a general election on Feb. 17.
   Ravaged by record debt and unemployment, the 4-year-old
government of Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald was forced to call
the election nine months ahead of schedule after his Fine Gael
party lost its coalition partner, the Labor Party, in a Cabinet
rupture Tuesday over the 1987-88 budget.
   FitzGerald visited President Hillery at his official residence
in Dublin's Phoenix Park and the formality to dissolve the 166-seat
Dail, or parliament, was performed without ceremony.
   Labor leader Dick Spring, the deputy prime minister, said the
budget was unfair to low-income groups. He demanded a 4 percent
increase in social welfare benefits from July. The budget proposed
cutting $450 million in social welfare spending.

   FitzGerald would offer no more than 3 percent beginning in
November. He insisted budget cuts were needed to tackle
unemployment that has soared to a record 18 percent, and a national
debt that has gone from $18.6 billion to $32.3 billion since he
took office in 1983.
   To compromise with Labor, he told a news conference, would have
been ``to chicken out,'' and he challenged other parties to come up
with a less painful remedy.
   An election was not required until November. It will pit
FitzGerald, 60, against former Prime Minister Charles J. Haughey,
61, his arch-rival and leader of the Fianna Fail party.
   Haughey is running well ahead in opinion polls.
   This election will mark the electoral debut of Sinn Fein, the
legal political wing of the outlawed Irish Republican Army. Sinn
Fein decided in November to end a boycott of the Dail, Ireland's
parliament, that it has maintained since the nation was partitioned
in 1922, leaving the northern province under British rule.
   Another unknown factor is the Progressive Democrats, a new
center-right faction that capitalizes on widespread voter
disenchantment with the old parties and is showing strength in the
polls.
   Four hours after FitzGerald's goverment fell, his finance
minister, John Bruton, released the $12.678 billion budget he had
planned to put before the Dail.
   It would impose new taxes on gasoline and cigarettes, close
several tax loopholes and offer no income-tax relief to citizens
who already pay up to 60 percent on annual salaries of $22,500.
   Bruton and FitzGerald blamed the national debt of $33 billion
and record 18 percent unemployment on the free-spending policies of
previous governments.
   FitzGerald, an economist and former airline executive, is known
best abroad for the accord with Britain in November 1985 that gives
the Irish Republic a consultative role in the affairs of
British-ruled Northern Ireland.
   The agreement was praised here and abroad as a step toward
reconciliation between Roman Catholics and the majority Protestants
in the troubled province, but it probably will not figure heavily
in an election dominated by economic issues.
   FitzGerald was elected in 1983 largely by urban middle-class
voters who welcomed his promises of ``fiscal rectitude'' and ``a
constitutional crusade'' to liberalize national family laws that
lean heavily on Catholic teaching.
   His crusade for reform of the laws was soundly defeated when a
referendum rejected legalizing divorce by a 3-2 margin.
   Recent polls have put the Fianna Fail party ahead of
FitzGerald's Fine Gael by 43 percent to 24 percent.

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
120.1	I WISH I COULD	FNYFS::AUNGIER	Rene El Gringo sin casa, Irish Rebel	`Tue Feb 03 1987 03:26`	17
	I contacted the Irish embassy in Paris to find out if there was a postal vote, and they said no. Italy, Spain and many other countries in Europe have a postal vote if you are registered with the embassy. Maybe the Irish government are afraid that 45 million people will vote by post and only 2 or so million in Ireland itself. It is estimated that as many as 45 million could have a right to vote due to being of Irish decent. Sad I cannot vote for Charlie, much better than the puppet Garret who signed the Anglo-Irish accord. Long may he stay out of power. Extraditing Irishmen and women to Northern Ireland and Britain. Rene Aungier (Ferney-Voltaire, France)
120.2	Irish citizenship revisited	TALLIS::DARCY	George @Littleton Mass USA	`Tue Feb 03 1987 10:52`	25
	Interesting you mention the right to vote due to Irish descent. I contacted the Irish Consulate in Boston and it appears any children of a person born in Ireland are considered to be Irish citizens. In addition, grandchildren of a native Irishperson (that's me) can apply for their citizenship with sufficient proof of being (birth certificates of x, x's parent, and x's grandparent, as well as marriage certificate(s) if x's name is different than the grandparent. This is probably due to change though, so if you're a foreigner interested in obtaining your citizenship do it now. The Irish govt. has become increasingly upset at incidents in which Irish passports are abused, e.g. US officials have been caught with Irish passports obtained legally, but used under the pretense of the US govt. What does Irish citizenship give you? Well I could come up with a few things - less hassle if one decides to buy land in Ireland, permits one to work in Ireland, maybe easier to attend school in Ireland?, novelty of belonging to one's ancestor country, voting?, and children can now apply for citizenship too. The biggest reason is probably the land issue. I think Ireland has some restrictions on the amount and location of land foreigners can buy. Current costs are about $55 US for processing and forms can be obtained from your local consulate.
120.3	EVERY HOME SHOULD HAVE ONE	FNYFS::AUNGIER	Rene El Gringo sin casa, Irish Rebel	`Wed Feb 04 1987 03:24`	13
	Irish nationality would also give one the right to work in all European countries who are members of the E.E.C. (European Economic Community). It also gives you less hassle at borders. I have traveled a lot in various countries in Africa and Middle East and once they see the Green passport with the Harp on it and know it they sometimes don't even open it. When I went to Morocco some years back, I crossed from Ceuta which is a small area close to Morocco owned by Spain, they looked at the cover of my passport and waved me on. Rene
120.4		SWSNOD::RPGDOC	Dennis (the Menace) Ahern 223-5882	`Wed May 27 1987 16:39`	13
	To apply for Irish citizenship based on a granparent's birthplace being in Eire, you need a certified copy of the birth certificate which can be had from: Registrar General 8-11 Lombard Street East Dublin 2 Price - 3 pounds (punts) Does anybody know whether the United States will allow dual citizenship?
120.5	Eire as gaeilge, Ireland as bearla.	GAOV07::MHUGHES	I got a mean wriggle	`Thu May 28 1987 06:04`	17
	Leaprechauns will correct. Re .-1 >to apply for Irish citizenship on a grandparent's birthplace being >in Eire,............ Some people might interpret what you said as meaning that their grandparents had to be born in the present-day Republic. This is not true (most peoples grandparents were born prior to 1949 or 1922). You are entitled to it as long as your grandparents were born on the island of Ireland no matter how long ago. (of course you are correct to use Eire as it does mean the island of Ireland, its just that many do not understand that). aside : I'm 36, my mother was born here in Galway in 1919, in the United Kingdom. Snake is a pernickity whore.
120.6	IF	CSSE::LEONHARDT	Dick Leonhardt	`Thu May 28 1987 11:30`	3
	This assumes that the birth was recorded, my Grandfather had to use his baptizmal cirtificate and a notorized letter from his mother to get US citizenship.
120.7	Dual citizenship	PH6VAX::DEMARIA		`Wed Jun 03 1987 14:24`	13
	My wife and children applied for Irish citizenship in Dec 86. At that time I called the state department and posed the question of dual citizenship. Basically they said they could care less! The only way to jeopardize your US citizenship was to publicly renounce it AND leave the country. The only warning they gave was concerning travelling on the Irish passport. They said it would be more difficult to get help because there are fewer Irish embassies (sp.) than US. Hope this helps PS We are still waiting for the paperwork to be completed.