With Ireland’s general election now firmly decided to be happening this year – despite the Government’s insistence that they would work until the coalition’s term was up, some time in March 2025 – there has been a recent onslaught of activity in and around Leinster House. 

The sheer amount of activity can lead to a hazy blur of understanding the various events and their consequences, and this unfortunate phenomenon is only compounded for students focusing on their looming deadlines, or on an extended reading week holiday. 

This, again, is where Misc. Magazine comes in. Since 1895, we’ve endeavoured to capture the spirit of Trinity: a college uniquely placed at arms length both from the levers of power and Irish society more broadly. To close that gap is to inform ourselves of the happenings in the city and country, with November 2024 providing a lead-up-to-election special. 

A general election date is yet to be determined. 

In recent weeks and months, speculation has been stirring regarding when the Government will call a general election – particularly in the aftermath of the local council elections, in which Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil enjoyed relative success and Sinn Féin suffered somewhat expected disappointment. 

This speculation has been set at bay, now, with public statements from coalition leaders that an election will take place this year, although an exact date is yet to be determined. Upon the dissolution of the Dáil an election must be held within 30 days, a fact aiding many to place bets on when election day will take place.

  It would be unfavourable, both for the government and the electorate, to have such a consequential vote in the run up to Christmas – effectively ruling out any date after December 9. Working backwards, this means a date could be announced as soon as next week, with the political world gearing up for polling late this month. 

Sinn Féin suffers more scandals. 

In what has, perhaps, been the most discussed political scandal since 2020’s ‘Golfgate’, the public has witnessed a drip feed of information from all sides in relation to an internal investigation into now former Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley. 

Stanley announced his resignation from Sinn Féin on October 14th, after an inquiry into him reached preliminary conclusions of “gross misconduct” – a process which Stanley labelled as “a kangaroo court”. 

Upon his resignation, Sinn Féin stated that they have passed matters onto Gardaí, which prompted questioning as to why this was not done sooner, before Stanley publically resigned. 

The nature of the allegations against Stanley have since, slowly, come to light. The Sinn Féin inquiry concluded that Stanley sexually harassed a woman in October 2023 during a meeting between the two that centred around the woman applying for jobs in the European Union. 

After meeting in Dublin for drinks one evening, Stanley suggested – strongly, the woman says – that she stay in his hotel room for the night, as she did not live in Dublin. The woman says the two slept in the same bed although nothing physical happened. Stanley maintains that he slept on the floor that night. 

In text messages seen by the inquiry, she later demanded €60,000 from Stanley and said “I will consider not sharing what happened as long as you compensate for the emotional damage” she suffered that night. She now sees these texts as “unwise and idiotic”. 

Stanley maintains that nothing inappropriate took place that night, and both him and the woman have criticised Sinn Féin’s handling of the situation. In the run up to a general election, however, scandals from Sinn Féin’s past seem to be catching up with them. 

The General Election: who’s in and who’s out?

The most recent phenomenon to take Leinster House by storm is the borderline mass resignation of Fine Gael TDs, who have overtime decided to not contest the next general election.

18 Fine Gael TDs have announced that they will not seek re-election, more than half of the party’s 33 representatives in the Dáil. Some of these are top party officials, such as Deputy Leader Heather Humprhies. This trend was sparked back in 2021, with the resignation of then-Housing minister Eoghan Murphy. 

No other party is suffering from this scramble away from the public-facing roles in the party – however, it must be added that Sinn Féin TDs are also leaving their posts, albeit in smaller numbers. These are typically due to resignations from the party, with Brian Stanley vowing to run as an independent candidate now in the upcoming election.

Reasons Fine Gael TDs have given for not running for re-election range from wanting to spend more time with family and focusing on their physical and mental health to simply moving on and wanting to pass the torch to a new generation.

Budget 2025, a student-perspective. 

On the first of this month, the government announced their final budget as the current coalition. While it wasn’t a traditional pre-election ‘give away’ budget, there were still significant areas of concession, particularly towards students and young people.

The student contribution charge for Irish, UK, and EU students was reduced by €1,000 for the third year in a row – the government insists, however, that no permanent fee reduction is being legislated for. 

The legal minimum wage for over-20s was increased from €12.70 to €13.50, an act welcomed by many. However, this is still €1 short of the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation of €14.50 an hour. 

There was no increase in excise duty to the purchase of alcohol, however a 50 cent duty per millilitre of e-liquid in vaping products was implemented. This compliments the government’s legislation to regulate the marketing and sale of vapes to young people.

Return to Misc. Magazine next month for November’s political round up.