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Poll: Does the presidential election matter?

The presidential election has been dominating our media for weeks – but how much does it really matter? Have your say in our poll…

COUNTING IS NOW well under way for the 2011 presidential election, which has dominated the media for the last few weeks and even months.

Many have argued that the president has the power to inspire the nation, to represent Ireland’s interests abroad, and to make key decisions on Oireachtas legislation.

However the office has little direct political power and many of the president’s capacities – such as addressing the Dáil – can only be carried out with approval from the government.

So today we’re asking: Does the presidential election matter?


Poll Results:

No - the president is largely a figurehead (892)
Yes - but not as much as the election hype would have you believe (784)
Yes - the choice of who holds the presidency is very important (729)
I don't know (22)

Follow the 2011 presidential election count liveblog >

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44 Comments
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    Mute The Descolada
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:11 AM

    Interesting study. Of course airlines disagree, since it hits then where it hurts.

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    Mute The Descolada
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:13 AM

    @The Descolada: *them

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    Mute BRIAN MCCARTHY
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:21 AM

    @The Descolada: it will hit you harder when airfares double because of this or there’s no direct flights left to places you’d like to visit in the future. Air travel is an industry that weshould be supported not demonising. Without it our island nation would be left in isolation. Think before you write

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    Mute Ken Faherty
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:43 AM

    @The Descolada: Airlines are a business, not a charity. If there’s a route that’s not viable, the route won’t last. So two options, increase the fare being charged or cut the route altogether. Nobody needs reminding we are an island nation!

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    Mute David Duffy
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    Apr 15th 2021, 9:49 AM

    @The Descolada: the study was done in 2017 with no masks. This is complete nonsense.

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    Mute Sean Lucas
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    Apr 15th 2021, 9:54 AM

    @The Descolada: Irish traffic has been the most affected in Europe. I doubt they need the middle seats. American carriers blocked it off until recently. Not anymore due successful vaccine rollout

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    Mute The Firestarter
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    Apr 15th 2021, 10:14 AM

    @The Descolada: Can you blame them insofar that they’ve been pretty much put out of business for over a year. Mark my words, between Covid and the Greens, this world is and will continue to be a much less fun place particularly when it comes to travel.

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    Mute Jas
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:40 PM

    @The Descolada: the Airlines paid for the study , and several US Airlines have been using this policy for months now.

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    Mute Brian Kelly
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:15 AM

    16,000 people arrived into Dublin in the last two weeks. Are they all corona virus free I do wonder!!?

    96
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    Mute BRIAN MCCARTHY
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:23 AM

    @Brian Kelly: yes. With mandatory pcr tests 99% of them would be. Sure the 500+ daily cases are probably being spread in supermarkets and/social interactions

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    Mute Gerard Carthy
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:35 AM

    @Brian Kelly: Really. Do you ever wonder how case numbers and hospital figures are falling constantly if they weren’t all virus free?

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    Mute Seosamh Ohuaine
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    Apr 15th 2021, 9:42 AM

    @BRIAN MCCARTHY: Yeah because we didnt get the variants through travel. It was all supermarkets

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    Mute Paul Mcnevin
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    Apr 15th 2021, 7:26 PM

    @BRIAN MCCARTHY: More like meat factories.

    1
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    Mute Jim Buckley Barrett
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:17 AM

    So the price of a flight ticket will go up by 1.5 times

    53
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    Mute Gerard Carthy
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:36 AM

    @Jim Buckley Barrett: Yes and in six months the same people will be moaning about Ryanair rip off.

    51
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    Mute Claude Saulnier
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:23 AM

    What a surprise since we’ve been told for over a year to stay between 1 to 2 m apart.

    When will a study look into the relationship between reducing the funding of public healthcare systems for decades and the impact on people recovering or on the budgets of healthcare systems vs budget of Covid handling?

    51
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    Mute Sean Oige
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    Apr 15th 2021, 9:22 AM

    @Claude Saulnier: Its already done. It was in the lancet around 6 months ago. If I get time I’ll try and find the link….

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    Mute Sean Oige
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    Apr 15th 2021, 9:28 AM

    @Sean Oige: not the paper that I was looking for but there is a lot of work being done on it. https://socialprotection.org/discover/blog/universal-health-coverage-uhc-and-coronavirus-crisis-%E2%80%93-challenges-and-responses

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    Mute The Firestarter
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    Apr 15th 2021, 11:45 AM

    @Claude Saulnier: Are you for real, the issue with our Health Service is not underfunding, we actually have one of the best funded Health Services. The issue with our health service has always been about decades of mismanagement, wanton wastage of money, too many pen pushers and not enough medical staff as a result. Add in to the mix unions completely averse to any kind of change, and voila you have the Irish Health Service.

    14
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    Mute Tarraing Mo Liathróidí
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:35 AM

    So basically flying will now go back to being an expensive exercise again for most, cos taking away middle seats will mean prices will go up. If people are vaccinated and are allowed enter a country, then it shouldn’t matter where they sit on a plane. Between this and the political version of covid 19 known as the greens trying to get rid if 10 euro flights, I have a feeling plenty will have to save a whole lot more and have less chance of taking short haul flights going forward cos this just sounds like a mess

    51
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    Mute Arch Angel
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    Apr 15th 2021, 9:52 AM

    @Tarraing Mo Liathróidí: These seem to be interpolated studies based upon other ones, none of which took into account all the factors like wearing masks or vaccinations. The truth being, nobody knows until it’s tried in a real world senario.
    If this was a 100% death sentenance for all, and we tend to lose sight of the fact the it will be for a small minority of people, I doubt anyone would dare get on any plane, mask, vaccination or not.

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    Mute Hugo Bugo
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:30 AM

    I thought it had to be 2 metres apart for covid , last time I checked the aisle seat and the window seat on my Ryanair flight were not 2 metres apart, more like 50cm tops, this is just another nonsense make it up as we go along study.

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    Mute HectorPickaxe
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:38 AM

    @Hugo Bugo: The study suggests that blocking the middle seat can reduce transmission. It doesn’t suggest that staying 0.5 metres apart can prevent covid transmission. Go back to sleep I’d say

    41
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    Mute Martin Galvin
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    Apr 15th 2021, 10:45 AM

    @HectorPickaxe: Each seat should be it’s own individual sealed, sterilized, oxygen-fed pod ….. That way we can sit in our own filth for 8 hrs to New York, without bothering the fragile-minded, worried about catching anything….. Prices of flights will go through the roof, but hey, as long as the PC snowflakes feel safe, it makes total sense ….

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    Mute Hugo Bugo
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    Apr 15th 2021, 2:04 PM

    @HectorPickaxe: if you are gullible enough to swallow this kind of nonsense then I think u need more than sleep to fix that for u, a virus that is transmitted through the air with a passenger that is 40 to 50cm away from u to the left, to the right, in front and behind u but leaving the middle seat empty will lower transmission when it’s been drilled into us for 12 months that 2 metres is the magic number, OMG u are so gullible its hilarious, I would love to be doing business deals or be a salesman on your doorstep, lol.

    1
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    Mute Dave McCabe
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:44 AM

    More bunkum, the fact is if you’re vaccinated it doesn’t matter , if you’re not , you ain’t flying anywhere anyway in the next few years

    36
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    Mute Thomas O' Donnell
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    Apr 15th 2021, 9:55 AM

    @Dave McCabe: Vaccines much less effective against SA and Brazil variants, so it does matter.

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    Mute Aire Dezamba
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:43 AM

    I have not seen any evidence of Covid spread on an aircraft if ppl are wearing masks..

    16
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    Mute Aidan O' Neill
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    Apr 15th 2021, 11:16 AM

    @Aire Dezamba: apart from you know the British variant that plagued this country in December in Janaury after over 50k people had flown into Ireland for Christmas

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    Mute Aire Dezamba
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    Apr 15th 2021, 11:31 AM

    @Aidan O’ Neill: they most likely had Covid before travelling….

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Apr 15th 2021, 11:35 AM

    Google it, I’ve seen loads of published seating plans showing how a couple of people spread it to several other people on the same flight. More so in America where they regularly fly between States.

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    Mute Aire Dezamba
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    Apr 15th 2021, 2:53 PM

    @Fiona Fitzgerald: masks are working and help to prevent Covid on flights..”Emirates had five flights with seven or more infected passengers on each flight, for a total of 58 coronavirus-positive passengers flying on eight-hour trips. And yet, nobody else on the planes — none of the other 1,500 to 2,000 passengers — picked up the virus, Freedman and his colleague report in the Journal of Travel Medicine”. …passengers were wearing masks

    https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/10/20/925892185/do-masks-really-cut-your-risk-of-catching-covid-19-on-long-plane-flights

    3
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    Mute Willem Mevius
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    Apr 15th 2021, 10:41 AM

    Flying Petri dishes. Of course the airlines want you to think they’re safe. How come you end up with a cold every time you get off a plane?

    14
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    Mute Sean Lucas
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    Apr 15th 2021, 8:53 AM

    Many airlines have done this throughout the pandemic. United airlines only now unblocked it last month. Vulnerable have all been afforded vaccine in the US I guess

    8
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    Mute Ciara McCorley
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    Apr 15th 2021, 10:27 AM

    Flight out to Spain last week was packed with families.. Barely an empty seat on it! And no, I wasn’t on it, friend flew out to her sick mother!

    11
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    Mute Sean Lucas
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    Apr 15th 2021, 12:50 PM

    If one is concerned about someone sitting next to them, buy those seats. Simple

    6
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    Mute Joeohah
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    Apr 15th 2021, 9:10 AM

    Suggests! A new science similar to unknown “experts say”

    5
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    Mute John Duggan
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    Apr 15th 2021, 10:35 AM

    thats news from 12 months ago

    3
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    Mute Brian Flavin
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    Apr 15th 2021, 9:47 AM

    Airlines refused reduce passengers and if argee reduce passengers may end up increase cost ticket flight

    2
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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Apr 15th 2021, 11:37 AM

    @Brian Flavin: Maybe they could put some parcels in the middle seat to defray costs? I’m not flying anywhere until I get my jabs, but I was thinking that I’d be fine staying put beside a silent stack of post for a flight.

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    Mute JustMeHere
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    Apr 15th 2021, 7:43 PM

    @Fiona Fitzgerald: I think that would be a health and safety issue in case of an emergency etc.

    1
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