Ireland on Sunday says that Bertie has told his staff to keep the month of May clear in his diary and they are speculating that there will be a snap election which will catch everyone, both the opposition and the PD's, on the hop.
I personally thought he would wait for the the SSIA money to come through but as the paper says, the money is not being paid out at one time, it willl be spread out over the year. The feel good factor will wear off as soon as they get back from Majorca accoringing to the article.
On the other hand the money is in the bank at present so the feel good factor is already there, along with plans on how to spend the "windfall".
There was also an article in the Sunday Tribune some time ago that said that the changes in the population in the constituencies will be known before Summer 2007, the date which the election is due to happen. This would mean that some rapidly growing constituencies are going to be under-represented and the potential TD who just lost out on the last seat, would be able to go to court and seek to have the election declared void, as the Constitution says how many people can be represented by a TD. and this number cannot be excceeded.
If the Government got the Constituency Commission to look at the changes in population again and to redraw the constituencies in line with the changing population there is no way of knowing how the boundaries of some of the constituencies will be redrawn. Some 3 seaters would become 4 seaters and some 4 seaters would become 3 seaters which by definition means some sitting TD's would lose their seat.
The opposition are in disarray at present. Both Rabitte and Kenny are under pressure and from FF's point of view, this is an ideal time to spring the election, before they (and the PD's) have time to properly prepare for it.
Murt
I personally thought he would wait for the the SSIA money to come through but as the paper says, the money is not being paid out at one time, it willl be spread out over the year. The feel good factor will wear off as soon as they get back from Majorca accoringing to the article.
On the other hand the money is in the bank at present so the feel good factor is already there, along with plans on how to spend the "windfall".
There was also an article in the Sunday Tribune some time ago that said that the changes in the population in the constituencies will be known before Summer 2007, the date which the election is due to happen. This would mean that some rapidly growing constituencies are going to be under-represented and the potential TD who just lost out on the last seat, would be able to go to court and seek to have the election declared void, as the Constitution says how many people can be represented by a TD. and this number cannot be excceeded.
If the Government got the Constituency Commission to look at the changes in population again and to redraw the constituencies in line with the changing population there is no way of knowing how the boundaries of some of the constituencies will be redrawn. Some 3 seaters would become 4 seaters and some 4 seaters would become 3 seaters which by definition means some sitting TD's would lose their seat.
The opposition are in disarray at present. Both Rabitte and Kenny are under pressure and from FF's point of view, this is an ideal time to spring the election, before they (and the PD's) have time to properly prepare for it.
Murt