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I fear that video is exactly what Americans expect of Irish politics. The SocDems are the only party running with real substance, I think. Their three pre-existing TDs should all get re-elected, hopefully. It's a shame they couldn't get a few higher profile new candidates though. Its also a shame Shane Ross and co. in the Independent Alliance were so attached to their Leaders Allowance expenses and didn't join the SocDems. If the SocDems were likely to have 5+ TDs they'd start to look like a real, rather than 'fringe' party. I think we'll end up with a Fine Gael/Labour minority government, with Fianna Fail support (without being in government) for the next 18/24 months. Basically until Fianna Fail feel they can pull the plug, have a new election, and win enough seats to be the larger coalition party in a government. I think Fianna Fail are too smart to go into government with Fine Gael as the minority partner - they know they'd likely be eaten alive at the next election. But they're also not likely to be in a position to create a workable coalition this election. My biggest hope is Renua lose all 3 of their seats, but from the looks of things Lucinda is fairly safe at the least.
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Feb 4, 2016 00:36
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TheLovablePlutonis posted:What party is going to kick the loyalists out of Ulster and reunite the island? At this stage a better outcome for all concerned would be to kick out the Republicans and reunite the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland  Think of all the hundreds of billions of debt that could be forgotten about. And the 8th amendment would no longer be an issue. And no more Michael Healy Rae in a position of power. It's win-win-win, really.@kustomkarkommando I think the main problem the SocDems faced when getting candidates of sufficient quality/stature was their formation relatively close to the end of the Dail term. If they'd been in existence for 3/4 years, and had had some success running candidates for county council, I think they'd be in a far stronger position. If the above discussed election outcome comes to pass however (another election in 18/24 months) it might be ideal for them. They should hopefully be in a stronger position then. Blut fucked around with this message at 20:48 on Feb 4, 2016 |
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Feb 4, 2016 20:34
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School Nickname posted:
Do you mean this? Young [public sector] workers seeking a home in our major cities will have 30pc of their rent paid by the State in a scheme aimed at allowing them live close to where they work. - http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/property-mortgages/city-workers-to-get-30pc-of-their-rent-paid-by-state-34419382.html In other news, Sinn Fein are now apparently the best supported party with under 35s in the state:  If FF/FG/LAB aren't careful they'll drive a whole generation of voters into SF's arms. All the specifically anti-youth austerity measures coming home to roost, I guess.
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Feb 5, 2016 14:47
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True, but I'd say the 25-34 year old demographic there wouldn't be half as bad at voting as the younger one. It should have a reasonable turnout %. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRS_social_grade has social grade definitions.
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Feb 5, 2016 16:51
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The whole Alan Kelly saga is hilarious. Talk about delusions of grandeur. The type of person who thinks its ok to say those types of things to journalists is exactly the type that should be kept far away from positions of power.
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Feb 7, 2016 12:43
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PEGIDA may be somewhat odious but by escalating things to violence the "anti-fascists" came across much worse there. Physically assaulting a peaceful political gathering just makes the anti-fascists look like fascist thugs, ironically. The near riot/aggressive behaviour towards the Gardai won't be winning them many fans either. A peaceful counter-demonstration would probably have gathered more people than the PEGIDA demonstration, and this would have been reported on in the media. This would have been a far better option in terms of influencing public opinion.
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Feb 7, 2016 21:44
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quote:Enda Kenny TD of Fine Gael, Joan Burton TD of the Labour Party, Micheál Martin TD of Fianna Fáil and Gerry Adams TD of Sinn Féin take part in a four-way debate Shame it's just those 4. I would have liked to have seen Lucinda and Stephen Donnelly on it too, they would probably have added a bit more substance to the debate. As it is I fear it'll just be The Establishment vs Gerry for 90 minutes. But if they were on it then I guess you'd also have to have Shane Ross, Boyd-Barrett and Eamon Ryan. And a 9 person debate would have been rather unwieldy.
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Feb 11, 2016 17:47
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kustomkarkommando posted:Claire Byrne will be doing a live seven leader debate on Monday FYI, so the big four plus Lucinda Creighton, Stephen Donnelley and either Boyd-Barrett or Murphy - the greens weren't invited cause they had no TDs and haven't been very happy about it. I had heard about something being on on Monday actually but forgotten, that sounds great. 7 should be a just about manageable number. I think Creighton, Donnelly and Boyd-Barrett being there will make for a much more interesting debate than tonights.
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Feb 11, 2016 19:25
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I'm looking forward to this debate tonight. Donnelly is extremely intelligent, Boyd-Barrett is usually mostly lucid, and despite Lucinda having reprehensible political views she is at least a good debater. Between the three of them they should improve the quality of the debate significantly, hopefully.
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Feb 15, 2016 15:00
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Boyd-Barrett did mostly very well, came across very passionate about inequality. The crowd certainly seemed to like him. Donnelly did well also I thought, but possibly came across a bit too "intellectual" (or management consultant-y). Lucinda did OK. Clear, relatively concise arguments. But clearly isn't perceived as much of a threat, she got pretty much ignored by the other candidates. Adams/Martin/Kenny were all about the same 'meh' level. The constant bickering between them just comes across as childish. I'd put Adams slightly ahead of the other two, though he did make a couple of numerical errors. Burton came across very badly I think. Constantly talking over others, attacking Donnelly, not responding to points made to her. She gave the impression of someone not just fighting for her party, but for her seat. Quite desperate. The Irish Times has a poll up on who won the debate, its currently: Donnelly 29%, Adams 20%, Martin 15%, Boyd-Barrett 13%, Kenny 11%, Lucinda 4%, Burton 4%
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Feb 16, 2016 01:56
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I think thats literally the first time I've seen someone say they actually believe Gerry wasn't in the IRA. I don't doubt his intelligence but its a shame he's still leading SF. The terrorism associations from the troubles are definitely still a big issue for a lot of people (especially older voters). With a younger 'untainted' candidate like Pearse Doherty in charge SF would be in an even better electoral position. Pearse would be a bit less prone to numerical errors, too.
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Feb 16, 2016 23:09
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Got to hand it to Lucinda, this is a pretty funny response: https://twitter.com/LCreighton/status/700240314964054016 I had a quick look on Paddypower at the election odds for the other SD candidates, from the looks of things Anne-Marie McNally (Dublin Mid-West) and Gary Gannon (Dublin Central) look to be the most likely, at 6.50 (decimal) odds. Outside of the 3 sitting TDs that is. The other candidates all seem to be very distant, odds of 21.00 - 80.00. Hopefully one (or both) of them manage to pull off a surprise and gets in.
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Feb 18, 2016 14:39
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They also introduced a new Motor Tax (yearly registration fee for car owners) regime in 2008 that effectively punishes poor people who can't upgrade their older cars to newer ones. You have a situation where older cars that are worth €2000 could be paying €800 a year in tax, whereas someone driving a brand new €60,000 car might only be paying €150 a year. I think that still annoys a lot of people. (the tax rates are based on CO2 emissions, which means anything built before 2010 or so pays much higher rates since the engines were less emissions-efficiency-orientated)
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Feb 22, 2016 14:06
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lemonadesweetheart posted:KInda neat thing that runs through some of the issues to give you a better idea on which candidate to pick. There seems to be quite a proliferation of these types of sites this election cycle. There's also: http://www.votomatic.ie/ http://smartvote.ie/ I think smartvote has the best interface of the three of them. I really wish this debate tonight wasn't just the 4 party leaders. Quite worried its going to be another shoutfest with no substance given no Boyd-Barrett/Donnelly/Lucinda there.
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Feb 23, 2016 17:11
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StoneOfShame posted:Blindboy from the Rubberbandits on Anton Savage again pretty pissed off that none of the parties have anything real to say about mental health and that they dont really care about it. http://www.todayfm.com/player/podca...ection_-_Week_3 He had a whole segment about that on the Des Bishop Rte2 youth targeted election show last night, must be an issue fairly close to him. That show wasn't as bad as I had expected, actually. Obviously pitched a bit low to try and target people not too interested in politics, but not awfully so.
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Feb 23, 2016 19:33
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Somehow all 4 of them are losing at the same time. Awful.
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Feb 23, 2016 23:09
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This constant talking over each other is farcical. Why can't they mute the mics of anyone not currently being asked a question?
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Feb 23, 2016 23:58
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I agree - most likely outcome is FG minority gov with supply & confidence support from FF. FF are too smart to go into a proper coalition government as the minority party. FF will give it 18/24 months, just long enough for FG to make some more mistakes and some more memories of 2011 to die. Then they'll withdraw their support, and hope to become the largest party once again. Its a pretty logical strategy, I think. FG will presumably ditch Enda at some stage well before theres a hint of any new election, they won't want to repeat his performance of this month. I'm not sure if it's too soon for an openly gay leader (Leo), given the elderly rural vote. But would like to be proved wrong on that. If I amn't, I think Simon Coveney might step up. In regards to the other parties: SDs I'd love to see pick up an extra seat or two but they'll probably remain at 3 seats. Might get another LAB or Independent Alliance defector at some stage though hopefully. Should also be in a better position funding/candidate wise by the next election. SF have a big Gerry problem. His IRA past and vagueness with numbers definitely turn away a lot of undecided voters. Someone untainted, and more intellectually rigorous, like Pearse Doherty would really help move them along in their "legitimization" process. If Pearse (or even Mary Lou) was appointed early enough in the Dail term they could be a real force to be reckoned with in the next election. Renua will hopefully be reduced to just Lucinda. Not sure what she'll do in a party-of-1. Rejoin FG at some stage once Leo becomes leader? LAB...poor Labour. Full disclosure: I'm traditionally a Labour voter so they have my sympathies, but I've migrated my primary support to the SocDems (like so many others). If the party elders hadn't sold their souls in 2011 they'd almost certainly now be facing the prospect of being the largest party in the country. Shoulda listened to the Labour Youth members (and every political commentator)... I think Joan will go, and they'll be reduced to 10 odd seats. Not sure where they'll go from there. With the SDs and SF attacking them from either end of the Champagne Socialist and Working Class Socialist spectrum they're going to have a serious ongoing squeeze.
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Feb 24, 2016 12:54
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Anyone over the age of 8 who uses 'u' instead of 'you' needs to be shot, regardless of their political preference.
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Feb 25, 2016 18:55
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Their republican/terrorist credentials are the main reason I wouldn't vote for them. I think a lot of their left-wing policies are very agreeable, but I do worry that they'd just ditch them if they got into government. I fear that for Gerry and co the end goal of being in power is Republicanism, not Socialism. In 5/10 years time though hopefully that'll be less of an issue as the old guard retires/dies off. Ideally I'd like to see a reasonably strong hard-left party (SF minus the Republicanism, amalgamated with AAA-PBP ), a strong centre-left party (LAB/SDs amalgamated) and a centre-right party (FF/FG amalgamated). But thats probably far too optimistic. If we're unlucky it'll still just be FF & FG playing pass the government football 
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Feb 25, 2016 20:27
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Biffo only had 3 years in which to mess things up. Bertie had 11. Given a similar length of time I'd be fairly confident in Biffo''s incompetence at least drawing the two level.
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Feb 25, 2016 23:43
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Maybe I'm optimistic but I think most of our politicians fantasize about power largely in respect of how they can use it, rather than for its own sake. Apart from Alan Kelly anyway, who probably just has erotic fantasies about being Frank Underwood. In other news, I thought this was quite cool. A government of the below makeup would certainly be more interesting at the least. 
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Feb 26, 2016 00:16
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Labour, officially the 7th most left-wing party in Ireland.
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Feb 26, 2016 12:30
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Lucinda going out would be fantastic. Renua crashing and burning down to 0 seats might help put a fear of social conservatism into some of our politicians, maybe. In other Labour news Eamon Gilmore has "said the demise of Labour started in 2011 when they took on the job in Government to try to turn the country around and that today was a result of that." (15:14 update on http://www.rte.ie/news/election-2016/constituencies/dun-laoghaire/ ) This literally made me groan in pain. Everyone who wasn't a senior TD in line for a ministerial position in Labour knew, and said, this in 2011. He has some set of balls on him. For reference, the Labour vote in Dun Laoghaire (Gilmore's constituency) has gone down by 20% (!!!) since 2011, at first count.
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Feb 27, 2016 17:12
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Labour must be praying for O Riordain to get in so they can hit the 7 seat speaking time magic number. AAA-PBP and the SocDems/Greens should both manage to grab an independent or two to form two speaking groups I'd say. I can't wait to hear details of the FF/FG negotiations start to emerge. This is going to be fascinating.
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Feb 29, 2016 00:36
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Cabinet posted:My fingers are still crossed for an error for Burton tbh. On that note actually Labour from the looks of things seem to have gotten very few transfers from SF and AAA/PBP due to all the vitriol directed at them. Which is a shame. They've made some horrible mistakes, but in almost every case the country would be better off with a Labour TD than an FF/FG one. I wish there was more solidarity on the Left, instead of sniping at each other. The two largest (and objectively worst) parties in the state are the centre-right duo. I understand SF for instance wanting to make sure they get the 1st preferences they're in competition with Labour for, but I wish their supporters 3rd/4th pref went to Labour instead of FF (as seemed to happen in a few constituencies).
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Feb 29, 2016 01:26
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Cabinet posted:I think the left's issue with Labour is they have shown they are not committed to a left platform. It isn't "sniping" as such as justifiable anger after being let down. They're more committed to a left platform than FF or FG though, at the least. I completely understand previous Labour supporters switching to other left parties (myself being one of them) for their 1st/2nd pref votes. But it seems silly to not even give a lower pref vote to Labour when it might potentially kept a right-wing TD out. SF seem to be more concerned with hurting Labour's brand for their own gain than with furthering the broader ideological left-wing cause. @kustomkarkommando Kelly would be a disaster. For Labour's sake I really hope O'Riordain gets in. Both from a leadership and a speaking rights reasoning. Interesting point on the 1 technical group though, I had never heard that. Would 3 parties (SocDems/Greens/IA for example) coming together count as a technical group still? Or would they be regarded differently since they're not a collection of independents? Blut fucked around with this message at 13:55 on Feb 29, 2016 |
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Feb 29, 2016 13:50
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Cabinet posted:Which would be fine, if Labour weren't actively campaigning for a continue of the coalition. To vote for Labour is basically to vote for FG. Leftists don't want to continue to coalition because of how little Labour did to pull FG left. It's all well and good to (correctly) disparage Labour's left credentials/actions since 2011 though, but in some constituencies the last seat this week was between an FF/FG candidate and a Labour candidate. In that scenario anyone who actually has left-leaning political views, regardless of party affiliation, should be hoping for a Labour win. I don't think anyone can doubt that both FG and FF are at the very least slightly to the right of Labour. And Labour have far more potential to swing back left than either of FF/FG. Neither is ideal, but I'd far rather a FG/LAB coalition government than FG/FF, given the choice. And they are/were the most likely choices facing us. The very angry, Labour-are-terrible-in-every-way SF supporter sentiment just seems either selfish (a ploy by SF to get more votes) or childish (seeing everything in black&white good vs bad instead of shades of grey). The left's ridiculous tendency to fight each other / split parties constantly instead of coalescing against the centre-right has been a major problem in Ireland for the past 90 years. I hope with the retirement of Gerry's Generation from SF they lose some of the irredentist nationalism, and gain more people committed to actual left wing economic policies. But we'll see.
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Feb 29, 2016 16:25
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lemonadesweetheart posted:A vote for labour is a vote for FF or FG depending on who takes power and a lot of people are sick of it. No, a vote for Labour is a vote for Labour. You're arguing as if its a vote for Labour vs a vote for PBP or SF or the SocDems. But with our STV system you can vote for all of them, in descending order of preference. A candidate from any of those parties would be better than one from FF or FG, if you've got in any way progressive or leftish views. Joan Burton made a lot of mistakes, for example. But would you rather her in the Dail or someone like FF's young-gun Jack Chambers? A 25 year old who's resolutely Pro-Life for some inexplicable reason: https://www.facebook.com/LovinDublin/videos/1309297732430327/ Because in a lot of constituencies that is what it came down to on later counts. If SF/PBP votes had transferred en masse to Labour when the SF/PBP candidate was eliminated, it could have kept more FG/FF candidates out. But instead SF focused on Labour as being evil, the votes didn't transfer and went to waste, and conservative/centre-right TDs got elected. Cabinet posted:Again, the same points. It's not as if Labour are our only left wing party. There are SF, there is AAA/PBP, Social Democrats, Socialists, and a swarth of left leaning Independents. We are not dealing with a FPTP system. Ireland benefits from having a broad spectrum of parties and independent candidates. If we have the opportunity to punish a party who has failed us, we should take it. If Labour come back in 2021 or whenever and have reformed themselves into a party where they will actually put their foot down and represent the poor I will give them a preference. As it stands, myself, and other leftists, have no reason to put any preference for them in 2016. As above, I completely respect people being disillusioned with Labour and giving other parties their higher preference votes. But I just think its very disingenuous of SF to attack Labour so much when they're from broadly the same side of the political spectrum. The real enemy isn't other left-wing politicians who have drifted towards the centre (like Labour), it's the hard/centre-right conservatives in FF/FG/Renua. "punishing Labour" by allowing FF/FG candidates to get elected doesn't do the country any good. The prospect of 5 years of a FF/FG government that we now face should fill everyone under 40 or in a lower-income-tax-band with dread.
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Feb 29, 2016 19:08
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Cabinet posted:The fact is that a vote for Labour was always a vote for a FG/Labour coalition. Leftists were tired of feeding Labour votes just so they can prop FG up. Maybe circumstances would be different if Labour weren't so married to FG and expressed an openness to coalition with SF and other leftists. This was not the case in 2016. They were passive in government and they were passive in the election. They deserved what they got. The problem I'm addressing is not people voting for FG or FF. They're already lost causes/awful people. My problem is when you see SF/AAA candidates being eliminated, and their votes aren't transferring to Labour candidates still in the running. Thats a lack of lower preference voting for LAB from people of leftist views. Labour were never in line to get as many seats in 2011 as part of an unpopular government. But lets say they got a LOT of transfers and got 15 more seats, so were sitting at 22. And FG/FF both got 5-8ish seats less than they currently have, so were both sitting around 40. That's a very optimistic, but still possible outcome. We'd still be facing a FF/FG government, but we'd have a lot more leftish TDs in the Dail. Presuming more gains for LAB/SF/AAA etc in the next election we'd then be looking at the possible prospect of a LAB/SF/others left-wing coalition government. Instead, with Labour being eviscerated and more seats going to FF/FG as a result we're going to have a more stable FF/FG government than otherwise. And the sum total of 'left' parties is only 38 (LAB/SF/AAA/SD/GR) seats. Which means they'd need to double their numbers in any new election to form a government, which seems unfortunately unlikely. Basically, it just seems self-defeating of any proclaimed leftist to not give Labour a lower preference vote. Because its not SF/AAA you help, its FF/FG.
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Feb 29, 2016 20:05
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Cabinet posted:My point still stands, that there are plenty of other options to vote left and not Labour. I really don't think that FF/FG sucked up as many Labour seats as the other left leaning candidates. We aren't dealing with a Conservative/Lib Dem situation here. The number of other left options isn't relevant to my point at all - once again, its that anyone of leftish political views not giving LAB even a low preference vote potentially results in an extra FF/FG candidate. Which is wasteful, if they actually want to increase the influence of leftish political views in the Dail. Anyway, in other news the lack of a result in Longford-Westmeath is getting a bit ridiculous at this stage. It looks like it'll be tomorrow at the earliest before we have anything...a solid 6 days from the election day. Paddypower have the odds of another election this year at 50%. Which is a bit lower than I expected. They must have some confidence in FF & FG reaching an agreement of some sort. The Indo are reporting that FF are demanding an end to water charges and replacement of Enda as preconditions for a supply & confidence agreement. God knows how they'll handle abolishing water charges if that comes to pass. They can't not refund those who've already paid without a massive backlash, but don't seem to be able to go forward with enforcing the charges either. Quite a mess.
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Mar 3, 2016 00:21
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I read somewhere that Penrose was originally ahead of Bannon by 1 vote, then ahead by 3 votes after the most recent recount. Crazily close if so.
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Mar 3, 2016 00:59
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Cabinet posted:I think the issue here is you are treating STV like FPTP. Not giving Labour a preference does not mean that FG or FF will get the seat. The leftist support will drift to the leftist parties. The issue there is the Labour voter putting FG (or less likely FF) as a preference. http://www.rte.ie/news/election-2016/constituencies/dublin-bay-south/ http://www.rte.ie/news/election-2016/constituencies/kildare-south/ http://www.rte.ie/news/election-2016/constituencies/kildare-north/ http://www.rte.ie/news/election-2016/constituencies/louth/ http://www.rte.ie/news/election-2016/constituencies/clare/ For illustrative purposes, here are 5 constituencies where if SF/AAA votes had transferred in a higher number to LAB after the SF/AAA candidate was eliminated there would have been a seat less for FF/FG. To use the top example, Dublin Bay South, when the SF candidate was eliminated only 50% of his 5200 odd votes were redistributed. 85% of the candidate eliminated before him's votes were redistributed, for reference. The LAB candidate only got 600 votes of the 2600 that were redistributed. The LAB candidate then missed out on the final seat, to an FG candidate, by 300 votes. If 400 more of the 2600 unused SF votes had gone to the LAB candidate we'd have one less FG TD in the Dail. Or, either, if the LAB candidate had received more transfers of the votes that were transferred.This is the core of what I think seems wasteful. Not giving LAB a preference after AAA/SF, in those examples, very explicitly gave FF/FG seats. It wasn't a large number of preferences going to FF/FG, it was a lack of ones going to LAB. As someone with leftish political views, I think the Dail and country would have been better off with 5 more LAB TDs rather than FF/FG ones. Despite what SF may wish you to believe, not giving LAB/the SDs/other left parties that aren't SF your lower preferences will very much give seats to FF/FG even in our STV system. The number of left TDs in this Dail actually went down quite considerably unfortunately, so I wouldn't hold my breath too much on a leftish surge. There were 63 TDs on the left in 2011, but only 47 now in 2016. The Irish public, outside of under 30s and city dwellers, seems to prefer FF's brand of populism.
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Mar 3, 2016 12:45
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Cabinet posted:Exactly this. Even if Labour were in power they did piss all. They married themselves to FG and if you were voting for Labour you were voting for them to prop up a FG government. If Labour got more seats who exactly would they prop up in government, Blut? I'll take your lack of engagement with the above figures as a backing down from your "Not giving Labour a preference does not mean that FG or FF will get the seat." factually incorrect stance so! If LAB were plus 5-10 seats currently they wouldn't be propping anyone up in government. We'd still be looking at an FG minority or FG/FF coalition government. There would just be less FG/FF TDs. Which would be helpful in the next election, when every extra left leaning TD would increase the possibility of a genuine 'left' government - one that excludes both FF & FG. Any potential left government in the near future is realistically going to have to contain LAB/SF/AAA/SD/GR at the minimum, and that's being very optimistic given their current combined seat numbers. On the Ceann Comhairle PaddyPower has Sean O'Fearghaill (4.33), Pat the Cope Gallagher (4.33), Michael Ring (4.33), Fergus O'Dowd (5.00) as favourites, at decimal odds. I think it'll go to one of the two FF options there. FG are still too traumatized from their election losses to give up another seat, and it'll prove a useful negotiation carrot to use with FF.
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Mar 3, 2016 22:35
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Cabinet posted:No, I did not engage because it is still an amazing misunderstanding of STV. You cited five seats of 30 that Labour lost. You also ignore that we have seen an increase in left wing TDs. I cited 5 seats, because I said from the outset it was 5-10 seats. They were the first 5 seats I came across to illustrate my point. It's a pretty clear demonstration of the mathematics of STV. You initially argued that "Not giving Labour a preference does not mean that FG or FF will get the seat." when those figures prove it did exactly that in multiple constituencies. If more of SF/AAA-PBP's voters had utilized their lower preference votes to vote for other left-wing parties we would have less FF & FG TD's in the Dail today. You seem to be of the opinion that only hard-left parties are the 'true left', but its delusional to think that Ireland will ever have a government made up of only SF and the AAA-PBP. The middle classes are never going to vote for them.The centre-left parties, ie at present LAB, the Greens and the SDs, will be required in any leftish government. There aren't enough 'left' voters to support a broad spectrum left government as it is, nevermind one that excludes the soft / centre-left parties like LAB and the SDs. LAB in the last 50 years have been the only major leftish party involved in Irish governmental politics. Given SF's implemented policies so far while in government up North, LAB are likely to keep that record for some time. For the record, I actually potentially would quite like to see an SF/AAA-PBP government, for one term at least. But its just not realistically going to happen without the support of centre-left parties. And even at that it'll require almost doubling the number of left TDs in the Dail to achieve it - a tall order. If there is ever to be a chance of an actual 'left' government in Ireland all of the parties on the left should be encouraging transfers to each other, not engaging in partisan attacks than benefit the centre-right parties.
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Mar 4, 2016 14:02
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lemonadesweetheart posted:Blut, you're not going to convince anyone that Labour should get seats over FF or FG until Labour proves it can go into government and not just follow lock step whatever FF or FG want to do. You're absolutely right that it makes sense that people should do this but right now people don't see any real difference between a seat going Labour or a seat going FF or FG and they're not far wrong. This kick in the balls still hasn't registered properly with labour because they're still whining that they were just doing what was best for the country instead of sacking up and realising that the reason they only have 7 seats now is because of their last five years in government. Irish people are like goldfish so maybe next cycle you'll see the labour resurgence you seem to want. Believe or not I'd actually have a selfish personal preference for LAB to stay where they are at 7 seats, so the SocDems can take advantage of the 'soft' left niche and expand into it. LAB only got a 3rd preference vote from me last week. But I wrote a thesis on how ideological splits amongst left-wing population groups tend to dramatically damage left-wing parties chances of forming governments, mostly to the benefit of the centre-right parties. So its a pet peeve of mine when supporters of one left party attack another above all else - its just very problematic and short sighted. I imagine you're right about the goldfish memories though. If FF could be forgiven for the horrors of last decade after only 5 years LAB will probably also bounce back.
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Mar 4, 2016 16:57
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kustomkarkommando posted:Well never mind, Seán Ó Fearghaíl elected CC - O'Sullivan was in for a shout but a couple of SF TDs didn't transfer to her so she fell short. SF votes not transferring to a left-wing candidate, resulting in an FF/FG person being elected? Who could have seen that coming  From what I've heard FF would prefer to stay in opposition supporting an FG minority government on supply & confidence. But FG are determined to drag them into government so the two parties will share the blame come the next election. So FG are using the threat of a new election against FF (knowing FF are low on funds). An interesting standoff.
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Mar 10, 2016 17:57
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All FG's talk of the 'economic recovery' does seem to be having a rather large unintended side effect: pretty much everyone in the public sector now demanding a rollback of cuts, since the economy is doing so well apparently. My biggest sympathies go to the Newly Qualified Teachers, who do the same jobs as their peers who qualified a few years earlier for significantly less pay. Its a grossly unfair system.
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Apr 3, 2016 12:02
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Its all slightly ridiculous really. Everyone knew a month ago it was either going to be an FG minority gov with FF support or an FG/FF coalition. They've just wasted a month already, and no doubt more time to come, to confirm this for themselves.
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Apr 7, 2016 13:02
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 01:43 |
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kustomkarkommando posted:http://m.rte.ie/news/2016/0412/781165-luas-dublin-dispute/ As someone who doesn't rely on the Luas for their commute I have to say I find this whole Mexican stand-off fascinating. I don't agree at all with the vitriol directed at the Luas drivers - How DARE they strike! For better working conditions! Scum! They earn as much as junior doctors (which surely begs the point why are junior doctors so underpaid, not how overpaid are Luas drivers...)! - but they do seem to have been on reasonably high wages to begin with. I can't see them winning this battle as Transdev start playing hardball.
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Apr 13, 2016 00:20
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