In a toss up between reckless and careless, the Government has lost another minister this evening. Martin Cullen, Minister for Sport and Tourism has resigned his seat at the cabinet and as TD. It’s a hard hit for Waterford. Munster loses another minister.

Cullen was admitted to hospital last week for continuing back problems.

More to come as it happens!

Cullen 1987 election posters via the very excellent Irish Election Literature blog

The controversial Dublin city 30km per hour speed limit will remain in place after votes to reduce the affected area and abolish the measure failed to pass at last night’s city council meeting. The meeting got hot and heavy at times, with councillors scrabbling on technicalities of the discussion – an obvious indicator of tension.

Labour’s Andrew Montague who had proposed the original measure was seeking an amendment to the area that the speed limit affects. This amendment failed to get the requisite 26 votes. As did Fine Gael’s Bill Tormey’s proposal to withdraw the limit.

Watch the discussion here. Interesting to note the mentions of Eamon Gilmore and RTE! (It appears my video has the stutters, apologies)

The CSO has released numbers this morning showing that the amount of time lost to industrial disputes has jumped from 4,179 days in 2008 to 329,706 days last year. The jump amounts to a 7,889% increase in days lost to industrial action over 2008.

The one-day national strike on November 24th last  was undoubtedly the biggest single contributer to the jump. Almost 250,000 public sector employees including teachers, nurses, prison officers and even Oireachtas staff took part.

The amount of disputes almost doubled year-on-year from 2008′s number of 12 to 23.

From tomorrow, the amount of time that our politician’s spend in Leinster House will be tracked by electronic fobs. For the first time outside of votes, time spent in the house will be tracked in a purpose-built system.

This is one of the first moves in tracking value for money for work done by our public representatives. The Department of Finances published expense schedules last month to reform the way that TDs and senator claim for expenses incurred. TDs and senators have claimed up to €24 million in expenses and allowances in the past three years.