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State of the Nation: Can Joan Burton save the Labour Party?

Here’s everything you need to know about what’s happening in Irish politics right now…

EACH WEEKDAY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you a comprehensive guide to what’s happening in the political world.

Everyone’s talking about… 

New Grangegorman Colleges Sam Boal Sam Boal

Labour’s think-in is taking place in Wexford over the next two days with TDs and Senators discussing how to advance the party’s agenda in the forthcoming budget, or as TD John Lyons put it on Morning Ireland earlier, to demonstrate to supporters “that their vote for Labour last time was not in vain”.

A Red C poll at the weekend showed just a one per cent rise in support for Labour, hardly ‘The Burton Bounce’ that was evident in a B&A poll over the summer. It demonstrates that Tánaiste Joan Burton still has a lot of work to do to save her party from the type of result it got in the May elections.

What’s on the agenda today? 

What the others are saying? 

  • The pre-Budget leaks and kite-flying begins as the Irish Times reports on plans to for a ‘return-to-work dividend’ for parents. Joan Burton tells the paper it’s all about making work pay. (Page 1) 
  • The Irish Independent has a big investigation on the nearly €12 million in pay-offs to councillors who lost their seats in the local elections with all of the councillors who got payments listed on ages 12 and 13. 

Inside the Fine Gael think-in… 

Much of what happened at the FG gathering in Fota Island last week revolved around Leo Varadkar and his apparent ‘scolding’ from Enda Kenny. Unperturbed, the Health Minister was in good spirits at the social gathering on Thursday evening. He was holding court until the small hours at the picturesque resort and even joined in the sing-song with a distinctly average (Soz, Leo) rendition of Tender by Blur which involved reading the lyrics off his phone.

Day Two of the Fine Gael Think-In. Taoi "Is it Oasis or Blur for you then, Enda?" Eamonn Farrell / Photocall Ireland Eamonn Farrell / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

In case you missed it… 

Our most popular story over the weekend was… 

Our (entirely unscientific) poll on Saturday asked you if there was an election tomorrow who would you vote for? The result is perhaps indicative of a party’s ability to get out the social media vote more than anything else.

poll sat 13 sept 2014

Finally, on the Twitter machine…

We were wondering the same ourselves:

Like Politics? Then ‘Like’ our dedicated Facebook page or follow our dedicated Twitter account

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53 Comments
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    Mute Beano
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    Nov 18th 2015, 11:35 AM

    Skys days are numbered. Losing out on Premier League and Champions League rights to BT Sport. With the emergence of Netflix and other websites, no one is willing to pay for Sky Movies anymore.

    112
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    Mute Clark Griswold
    Favourite Clark Griswold
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    Nov 18th 2015, 11:56 AM

    Realistically it’s either SKY or UPC(Virgin). If most people had the choice and money wasn’t an issue you’d have SKY for Tv and Virgin for broadband. The SKY TV interface has always been faultless in my opinion and much smoother than UPC. If SKY had high speed broadband and weren’t piggy backing on Eircom’s lines SKY would dominate the market in Ireland.

    145
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    Mute Tim Outrage
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    Nov 18th 2015, 12:03 PM

    Hardly. The majority of people don’t have broadband speeds necessary for on demand Netflix. Not to mention that the Netflix library is not great. I have Netflix and Sky. They are complimentary services imo. Netflix for when I want something specific to watch, but I use sky for the majority of my tv viewing. Nobody should be using Sky movies though. It’s a ridiculous expense for a bad selection

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    Mute Jack f
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    Nov 18th 2015, 12:04 PM

    Anyone who pays full whack for sky is crazy!it probably costs approx €200 per month if you add in bt sports/setanta/lfc tv/mutv/Chelsea tv/boxnation aswell as the complete sky package.openbox v8s cost me €160 for the 1st year and only €70 a year after that

    16
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    Mute Rochelle
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    Nov 18th 2015, 12:10 PM

    Eventually these sort of premium cable packages will go under but never underestimate how slow the mass audience is to change.

    I mean, Xtra Vision and video rental still exists!

    41
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    Mute Trevor Dunne
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    Nov 18th 2015, 12:30 PM

    You’re being ripped off even at that, £15 a year through theukguy’s server on any openbox/dreambox etc

    13
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    Mute hard yaka
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    Nov 18th 2015, 1:18 PM

    On demand content is very poor for new movies.

    3
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    Mute Brian Nagle
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    Nov 18th 2015, 10:45 PM

    They didn’t lose out on premier league

    3
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    Mute Christine Hanway
    Favourite Christine Hanway
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    Nov 18th 2015, 11:56 AM

    Was paying UPC €160 a mth for TV and broadband for a complete package of all tv, movies and sports… on top of ur TV licence.. got an android box.. problem solved €44 a mth on broadband…

    51
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    Mute Fozz
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    Nov 18th 2015, 12:54 PM

    Which Android box did you get and what stations do you receive?

    12
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    Mute Fergal Barry
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    Nov 18th 2015, 1:13 PM

    @christine.. its very difficult to get a seamless stream of live TV though on it. Dnt get me wrong, I love my android box and use it for tv shows without adds all the time and for movies too… but getting a reliable stream to watch soccer can be very frustrating.

    25
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    Mute See My Vest
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    Nov 18th 2015, 2:16 PM

    Phoenix started using premier league pass. It’s not skipped or buffered on me yet.

    16
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    Mute Christine Hanway
    Favourite Christine Hanway
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    Nov 18th 2015, 2:25 PM

    I have an mxq box, there’s a new t8 box I think it’s called comin out and il be upgrading to that.. I bought it from go gadgets.. they come preloaded with all necessary apps/add ons.. ya can subscribe to Ntv for €14.99 garuantees a reliable stream and it’s basically a full sky package of all channels we done a 3 day trial an it worked perfect so considerong signing up its month to month ya dont have to sign into any contract, we’ve had the box a few months now we nearly always seem to find a decent link for the footie but i agree it can get frustrating the more ya play around an try different links ya get to know the good ones.. I use showbox and genesis mainly for shows an films, and got the ivue programme guide and it opens ya up to every live channel, even more sports options and links them to the add on, it probably sounds like gibberish what I’m writing here now but if ya have the box ya wil have all the above.. I really hope they stay around working cause the price of tv packages is absolutely scandalous now!

    14
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    Mute Alan Henderson
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    Nov 18th 2015, 11:35 AM

    Sky/siteserve =redacted. I.d rather paint a wall and watch it dry then give that cant a penny.

    38
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    Mute IrishGravyTrain
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    Nov 18th 2015, 11:31 AM

    Squeaky Bum time for Sky. Far better alternatives out there.

    36
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    Mute Al
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    Nov 18th 2015, 11:37 AM

    Like who? They’re all the same I.M.O. and cost the same. Very little competition.

    47
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    Mute afc
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    Nov 18th 2015, 11:59 AM

    The internet

    33
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    Mute Al
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    Nov 18th 2015, 12:36 PM

    I have android boxes in some rooms. It’s not the same. It’s better than nothing and free once you buy the box.

    14
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    Mute Brendan McCaffrey
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    Nov 18th 2015, 8:25 PM

    Look really really hard.
    Some incredible alternatives.

    2
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    Mute Liam Walsh
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    Nov 18th 2015, 11:55 AM

    How is this delivered? If through the satellite dish it can only handle two things at once at the moment and if through the internet, then will speeds be fast enough? The article doesn’t mention that Sky Q will also offer 4K broadcasting that will be available as a premium extra just like HD & 3D were years ago. I do not have Sky, only Saorview and Kodi which is enough and better than what Sky has to offer.

    28
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    Mute James O Donoghue
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    Nov 18th 2015, 12:08 PM

    Kodi is brilliant. Problem is most of rural Ireland have not got speed for it. People buy 4k tvs and can’t use them to their potential. I’ve 1mb line I’m forced to stick with sky

    12
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    Mute KevinMunster
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    Nov 18th 2015, 12:13 PM

    Kodi is not brilliant, too often games are skipping or there’s no good stream. Only one stream for the Leinster match on Sunday and the quality was poor

    15
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    Mute See My Vest
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    Nov 18th 2015, 2:15 PM

    Depends on the add on you’re using. I find Phoenix for premier league and sport devil for rugby work well. Have uktv now for UFC on BT sports. I never have an issue with quality but as mentioned above I’m lucky enough to have a halfway decent Internet. Not great but not the worst.

    4
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    Mute Francid Dooley
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    Nov 18th 2015, 11:37 AM

    How much time do we need in a day for all this

    18
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    Mute Ray Dempsey
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    Nov 18th 2015, 12:40 PM

    I have kodi and I have a smoothstreams subscription for €60 a year where I can get any sports event.

    14
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    Mute Fergal Barry
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    Nov 18th 2015, 1:14 PM

    Which add on may I ask?

    1
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    Mute paul farrell
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    Nov 18th 2015, 1:57 PM

    Believe in better !!!!!!!!

    10
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    Mute The Irish Bull
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    Nov 18th 2015, 1:54 PM

    Constant price increases, extremely poor customer service and nothing but repeat programming, I think Murdoch’s days are numbered with Sky.

    9
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    Mute Mike Tobin
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    Nov 18th 2015, 11:35 AM

    Yeah like all companys these days…

    8
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    Mute mickmc
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    Nov 18th 2015, 3:49 PM

    I left sky at the start of the year and really haven’t missed it. I find myself watching less and less tv all the time and anything I do watch can be got on saorview, freesat, skysport app on vodafone or Netflix. If I’m anything to go by sky in it present form is in big trouble.

    7
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    Mute grace
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    Nov 18th 2015, 7:36 PM

    Sky can f**k off they keep upping their prices my mother is paying for all channels and they still wont give her a sky+ box she has been a customer for more than 15 years

    6
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    Mute Darren Mulligan
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    Nov 18th 2015, 1:19 PM

    I use kodi streamed from my laptop to tv using my phones Internet and never have any problems €20 a month for my Internet

    6
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    Mute Permo Dermo
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    Nov 18th 2015, 6:30 PM

    New techno ways to watch the sam old tosh on Sky- reminds me of that Bruce Springsteen song “99 channels and nothing on”

    3
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    Mute Will Bourke
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    Nov 18th 2015, 7:25 PM

    MovieHD, CartoonHD, Showbox + cast to TV. Simples

    2
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    Mute ger walsh
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    Nov 18th 2015, 11:27 PM

    Android boxes are sh*te…. you can’t beat a jarvis box running a linux OS… no back round bloatware like android boxes… and streamsupreme for sports.. happy out with that €35 for 3 months for all ur sky sports & BT sports in all the us sports channels, Being sports.. and premier league pass too for all ur 3pm ko’s

    1
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    Mute Guido Marchett1
    Favourite Guido Marchett1
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    Nov 18th 2015, 9:42 PM

    So it’s a step in the right direction as they know with time there dominance will start to fade as people move to new ways of consuming TV shows. But the Xbox one can do this stuff better, you can get free to air to with an adapter, it has a to guide as slick if not better than sky, and the guide also pills from Netflix and the to shows and new movies from within the Microsoft store. So new movies/tv box sets = like renting a dvd, my subscription for Xbox live plus Netflix and that’s the content. There is loads of other services u can plug in to for subscriptions for sport and so on. And then of course they have launched a DVR service that allows u to record programs and watch back, and run multiple devices. Microsofts issue is they don’t market the Xbox for those reasons so not many people know this but now you do :) it’s another option

    1
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