Thanks to all the readers and those who comment, email and send me news and information. Congratulations to all the other winners and nominees, brilliant to see so many female winners across the categories too!

Update: Gaelick have their wits about them and have the full list of winners.

There are lots of reasons to vote or not vote for people in elections and I’m sure I’ll be busy writing about them over the next few months when commenting on the campaign.  Allegations as to their private lives and loads of rumour mongering rubbish which arrived in email in the past 48hrs won’t be among the posts. I’ve never seen the like of it before in my seven years of blogging or in twenty years of election watching.

The vitriol I’ve observed and received from some gays is nauseating – the worst type of drama queens.  We are far better than this, or should be.  Not that there’s any real ‘we’ or community but I expected better.   David Norris’s decision to withdraw from seeking a nomination doesn’t mean that gay people can’t run for public office and be elected.  (Ask John Lyons, Dominic Hannigan or Ruth Illingworth – I’m not saying there is no homophobia in elections, I’m well aware it exists).  Legislative equality for gays and lesbians isn’t affected either.  Enough with the hyperbole. I hope David Norris remains in the Seanad and continues to speak out, legislate  and support the many causes he has fought for.   I’m not interested in dirty elections and I hope this stuff stops now and we remember that the presidency is an important elected office and don’t end up seeing someone elected by dis-interested default.

For years I have endured commentary from those in mainly the print media about the fact that bloggers can’t be trusted, have no editors or legitimacy.  Despite asserting that blogging and mainstream journalism were different things, talking about crowd sourcing and fact checking and pointing to the fact that often blog content is nicked and printed as fact without accreditation, I still have been challenged about the poor standard and poor ethics of blogging like it was the same thing or it really mattered (or that I was responsible!).  I’ve also spent a lot of time learning talking about libel and defamation and that the law applies to all.

Now in the midst of the melt down of News International and possibly other media groups as the so called ‘dark arts’ aka lying, stealing, bribing and cheating are exposed I am forced to endure further debates.  From the Marian Finucane show yesterday and other programmes we are hearing about the need for (or impossibility of) control of the internet – mainstream editors in Ireland including the Evening Herald’s Stephen Rae are pointing to the ‘bad boys’ that can’t be controlled online and that nothing like what has happened in the UK will happen here.

Not all journalists blag and hack, not all bloggers want to be journalists or should be trusted.  They are not the same thing but are rapidly merging as news and opinion is more likely to be read and shared online than anywhere else.  Who produces the news and how it’s produced and churnalism and news aggregators online and the work that goes into building stories and views of events using products like Storyful and the fact print is dying can not be avoided any more.

You can’t believe everything you read no matter where you read it.  The debates which have been held online and elsewhere for some time about the close relationships between police and the media and politicians and the media might suddenly get more mainstream coverage.

Pointing to the corner at others ‘being worse’ than you are is a well known distraction technique which after the uncovering of the methods of some in News International won’t work anymore.   The debate has to grow up and the media education of the public needs to begin.

If you are an organisation with a campaign or an issue you want to raise, a reader, writer, public representative or other blogger who wants to write something on an topic which you think myself or my readers might be interested in maybe you could drop me a line about the proposed post.

My email address is tips@mamanpoulet.com and I look forward to hearing from you!

Dublin Central FG Candidate Paschal Donohue reflects on the end of Week one.

The Big Ticket is a public debate between candidates to be held in Sligo next week.

Get ready for the Leaders Debate with Leader Debate Bingo on Election2011.ie

Claiming Our Future are organising a similar election meeting in Dun Laoghaire on February 17th. Keep an eye on the Facebook page.

The Polish Parliament has passed a bill which if signed by the President will introduce gender quotas in the lower house.

The 5050 Group a single issue national advocacy group dedicated to achieving equal representation in Irish politics.

Colm King on the return of Charlie Bird

Alastair Campbell on Enda and the debate

- Not a lot of coverage of the views of ordinary members of Fianna Fáil in the media at the moment so it’s interesting to see this new project – The Legion of the Rear Guard

Legion of the Rearguard aims to bring together Fianna Fáil bloggers, and most importantly grassroot FF members, to write articles and suggestions with regard to the Fianna Fáil party. In essense, those behind this site wish to provide a means for the membership of the FF party to communicate their views as Fianna Fáil moves into what will be the most important election and post-election period in its history.

I can see already there are new (to me) people blogging on the election which is a great development. I will do round up posts before and through the campaign.

East Meath TD Thomas Byrne has today welcomed Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny’s tentative return to the national political stage after his recent protracted leave of absence

Commenting on Fine Gael’s new online gimmick, fronted by a new ‘virtual’ Enda Kenny, Deputy Byrne said: “I am glad to see that Enda Kenny is back on the scene, albeit in virtual format only. I look forward to seeing whether this latest Enda is an interactive model and whether he will be available for political debate on the real issues facing Ireland today.”

“There is nothing like an election to focus the mind. After over 35 years in the Dáil, Enda Kenny or his handlers have decided to ask voters for their views promising that their input will form part of FG’s policies. How this will work, however, is not clear.”

“I also see that one of the first questions posed by Fine Gael is “do you consent to receiving campaign messages by mobile phone”, I begin to wonder about the real purpose of the website. Anyone who signs up better prepare for a deluge of text messages from Enda.”

“The prospects for this latest online initiative from Fine Gael, following proudly as it does in the footsteps of such gimmicks as ‘Whack-a-Dodo’ and ‘The Contract’, are not good; but I’ll welcome any initiative that gets the message through to Fine Gael that governing this country is not about gimmicks and easy headlines, but hard work and tough choices.”

Deputy Byrne said that a considerable number of TDs were now interacting on a daily basis with constituents through Facebook. “At the 2007 election, I helped pioneer election blogging. Over the last year and more I have found Facebook an excellent way of interacting with constituents but it must be done in a genuine way.”

I await all the other election blogging pioneers to issue their statements on the matter.