Yesterday, the Community Workers' Co-operative (CWC) launched its brief on the Election 2011 Manifestos, filtering the manifestos through a lens that included antipoverty, social exclusion and inequality, together with a community development lens – in other words the what needs to be done lens with the how it gets done lens. As we become increasingly aware that poverty, social exclusion and inequality will only be addressed if there are deliberate strategies to address them, what are the party commitments? By Ann Irwin

 

Older & Bolder highlighted five key issues, our HIGH FIVE, for older people in General Election 2011: fairer care, secure pension, local transport, my involvement, and a national plan on ageing.

Our summary of the political parties' proposals in relation to those key issues is set out below. In terms of the implementation of any proposals by a new Government, the devil will be in the detail. Older & Bolder has identified some of the details that will, we believe, need to be tracked during and after the formation of the next Government. By Patricia Conboy

When the 30th Dáil was dissolved, the previous Government's third attempt at legislation overhauling Ireland's immigration and asylum systems lapsed, a development widely welcomed by the NGO sector, writes Ruth Evans of the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI).

Despite being 10 years in the making, the legislation failed to spell out who can come to Ireland, for how long or with what rights and obligations.

 

Last September, Labour was at 33% in the polls. On Sunday, Labour was at 20%. 'Labour support implodes,' concluded the Sunday Independent, in a front-page strapline.

Along with the rise of Fine Gael and the apparently growing credibility of Enda Kenny, the other big story of this election campaign has been this implosion of Labour.

So why has this implosion happened? The question should be, perhaps, has it happened at all.

A vote for Fine Gael is a vote for the infliction of some hundreds of billions of debt on to the Irish people, writes Vincent Browne.

If you are voting Fine Gael on Friday, you had better know what you are voting for. Fine Gael could not possibly be as incompetent as Fianna Fáil and in that respect it will be better. Neither does it have loyalties to failed policies. Not yet. The party will be new to government (only three of them will have been in cabinet previously). Several of them will be younger, but there will be very few Fine Gael women in cabinet.

 Social Entrepreneurs Ireland was set up in 2007, having grown out of an initiative funded by The One Foundation. It aimed to harness 'maverick' solutions to commercial and social problems. The SEI website currently features a blog comparing major parties' manifestos with regard to social entrepreneurship. A shortened form of the article appears below, as does a link to the full text.

An unconventional election debate held to a full house at The Button Factory in Dublin's Temple Bar, had the energy that voters are looking for in this general election. Organised by musician Candice Gordon, the event, called Re:Public2011, sought change in stuffy political leader debates and a campaign that would engage more people in politics.

Blogger Suzy Byrne said on RTE's Frontline Monday night that 'reform' is one of the most abused words of the election campaign. And indeed, the idea of political reform has been co-opted by every party and Independent in this campaign. How much of the rhetoric is genuine and what will work? Reformcard.com seeks to answer this by scoring political parties on their policies. Philip Connolly speaks to co-creator Joseph Curtin and academic Gary Murphy about the project.