They betrayed their party values when they went into government with Fianna Fail after the Spring Tide. It wonât be the first time they will be punished by the electorate.
Disagree.
Labour will lose the dole vote, those wasters will vote for Sinn Fein. Labour made unpalatable decisions but also kept a sharp eye on itâs senior partner.
Whatever way you look at it, FG & Lab have presided over an economic recovery with more people working than not. Genuine hard grafting taxpayers who got through the recession are doing okay again. The standard of living is not yet at Celtic Tiger levels but working people are doing okay.
Why would you think that public vote would take a chance on Sinn Fein or Fianna Fail?
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flesh that guff out
No.
It is very unlikely that FF will go into government with SF / IRA. That would be appalling to a large chunk of FF voters.
I agree that FF supporting a FG led minority government could be possible.
The big mistake Labour made on water charges was not just saying it was a FG policy in FGâs manifesto and you canât get everything you want in Government. A worse selling out was RuairĂ Quinn making a cast iron promise of no third level fees only to go straight in and increase them in a regressive way. The Lib Dems were destroyed for that in the UK.
It can be difficult in a coalition government, for coalition unity, to say that was Xâs policy. It might though be easier in the general election campaign to blame some of those things on FG.
The difficulty for Labour is in many of the seats theyâve traditionally got support (liberal south Dublin) they are losing stalwarts like Gilmore and Quinn.
I still think Sinn FĂ©in will struggle to gain a few marginal seats because of transfers. Many simply will not transfer to them.
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A lot of underestimating public anger on this thread. Itâs not water charges (which are fair you should have to pay for sanitized water, unless you have a well on your property), for the majority things have still not improved economically since 2009. Yes for the reasonably well off to rich who were semi sensible during the boom, but thatâs a minority. Itâs all about turnout as at least 30% donât vote unless enraged about something. Bashing SF, especially though the media, might backfire on FG. The next few years elections in Europe will be interesting with big swings away from the center in both directions. Another few attacks in Paris and Le Pen could well win. SF could easily control who forms the next govt in Ireland, just as the Unionists did for years in Westminster
How crazy was it that the public got hotter under the collar about water charges than it did about the bank bail-out?
I would have thought that after recent events the last things Parisians would have wanted to see was the self-styled AK47 â but sure enough heâs over at this COP21 seminar in the French capital today. He was cheerily defending Eireâs record on the matter this morning before being ambushed by Keelan Shanley who referred to these scurrilous allegations doing the rounds that he leaked Labour polling data last week and to the quotes from some thuggish Labour backbenchers that he was âa boil that needed to be lancedâ.
On matters Parisian though Alan must surely be worried that recent events will give his coalition constituency colleague Noel Connan a bit of boost, considering Noelâs expertise in matters pertaining to ISIS. There surely wonât be enough votes to save both Deputies so Alan will rely on his transfers; the last thing he needs is for Noel to come back into vogue again with the renewed focus on the ISIS security threat.
The public, like this forum, is made up of a few educated people and a lot of simpletons. Youâre talking about a country that voted for Dev in droves for 50 years.
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The same Niall Collins that was ashamed to canvas as FF the last time?
Where do you live @labane?
In the state that first elected to public office the greatest union leader and liberal Democrat to have walked this noble land.
Lets say Adams agrees to go after the 1916 hula
Do you think it would be more palatable then?
North Korea?
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Fail
Thats my feeling too.
I just feel there could be a sting in the tail here.
The only thing with SF is the left vote could be so fragmented, they will not gain from transfers. You could have a plethora of left wing independents in a hape of constituencies all taking voted off each other. This would leave SF in a quandry. Run a second candidate in some constituencies to try and at leasr grab some second and third preferences
The next Dail will elect 8 fewer TDâs which reduces the number of seats to 158. With SeĂĄn Barrett returned automatically, Iâd expect the breakdown to more or less as follows:
Fine Gael - 61
Fianna FĂĄil - 41
Sinn FĂ©in - 19
Labour - 12
Renua Ireland - 2
Independents incl Social Democrats - 21
Green Party - 1
Id say ff fg and labour would snap your hand off for that result