Election 2024 - The Other Important Issues

Ireland's General Election will take place on Friday November 29th, 2024. Overall, 685 candidates are running across 43 constituencies for 174 seats in the next Dail or Parliament. 

Much of the focus and discussion so far has been on what the mainstream media have dubbed 'Auction Politics' as politicians and their parties try to better each other with promises of various benefits if elected. Examples include, free university fees, child care benefits, dropping the USC charge, reducing the VAT rate on hospitality and so on. 

While many of these areas are genuinely important, the relentless competition for votes between the different party candidates means that the conversation around a few core issues (cost of living, housing, healthcare) tends to dominate the media coverage at the expense of other topics.

In this episode, we take a closer look at the three main party's manifestos to see what they have to say about some of the other important issues. Specifically, defending Ireland's democracy, our values and our freedoms, the role of the Media and Press freedom, as well as the party's positions on Foreign Policy, supporting Ukraine, plus their positions on Defense and Security.


Date of Recording: November 26th, 2024.


Portrait pictures of the leaders of Ireland's main political parties (L to R) Micheal Martin, Fianna Fail, Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Fein, Simon Harris, Fine Gael
The leaders of Ireland's main political parties (L to R) Micheal Martin, Fianna Fail, Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Fein, Simon Harris, Fine Gael

DIVE DEEPER:

Additional information on the topics discussed in this episode:

  • All of the manifestos referred to in this podcast are available on the party's websites


Audio transition: Sound Soul by Diamond_Tunes, Pixabay

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