I said their number one policy is a white paper on reunification. They will also do what no other government have done since the the GFA and start planning/preparing for a United Ireland. They will push for a border poll.
Their other policies, apart from housing will mostly remain the same. The country is mostly run by the civil servants bar the odd change due to circumstance like setting up CAB after Veronica Guerin. Most know that.
SF abstain on the Special Criminal Court. Amnesty International came out against it but that doesnât matter. Do you not get it??? SF want a United Ireland. They donât wonât to wipe history, jobs for pensioners who fought a war ended 25 years ago!!! Whatever they have to do to get into power to push the agenda for a United Ireland they will do it.
The mad thing is. FG/FF have lost the young people. Housing is the main issue to most. FF/FG have not sorted it!
Why is there still loop holes for funds? They are happy to come in here and build homes to get massive rents and heroin! (HAP is heroin, once your on it you never come off it)!
If SF sort that one thing out and their is plenty of credited academically and people ins the SCSI who have an alternative view to the current government then the landscape of Irish Politics could change forever.
If Trump had been successful rather than Joe Biden, Ireland could be in the shit and Boris could still be power. @Tim_Riggins type
They have few achievements in the North. The Nationalist vote is up by 2% since 1998. Their singular achievement is supplanting the SDLP as the nationalist party of choice. Unionism eating itself is a stroke of luck that wonât make a difference to any UI vote.
In the South, they are simply next up on the block. As I said, FF were practically dead in 2011. They had a mini hope of revival in 2016 but were never getting back to where they were. FF in fact were seeing decreased vote shares for decades before, pure unadulterated populism and coalition pragmatism by Charlie and Bertie made sure they held on for longer than they should have as a power force in Irish politics. I donât think our PR system means we are ever getting back to one party with such influence.
Then you had Labour in 2011. If they had help out of government then they probably would have led one from 2016. But they were tarnished.
Now you have FG, 11 years in power. A reasonable length, but nothing lasts forever.
SF are next on the block, thatâs it. The boots on the ground stuff made sweet fuck all difference pre the 2020 election. What did was a government gaffe around the RIC. Thatâs politics.
In terms of the jibes over the 1970s and 1980s, you can ask for everyone to be quiet when SF stop mentioning British atrocities. They donât. Nor do they stop mentioning their volunteers over the years. They want it the way it suits them, as I said thereâs a narrative to keep up.
But in terms of far away stuff, it isnât all that faraway either. I personally donât think any other political party would get away with the likes of Deirdre Hargey being in government, but SF do. Not for something in the 1980s, but for something from 2005.
Thatâs life though, SF have managed to convince a lot of people it doesnât matter.
If you donât think FF and FG are taking this seriously then wake up. They are participating in most of the events. Jim OâCallaghan and Neale Richmond took part with Mary Lou in Dublin, and guess what? They mostly agreed on everything!!!
Also, politics is a game, cos they chatted like mates between questions.
Oh wow, what a stunning achievement. A white paper. This is what the keepers of the Republican flame will do after 24 years.
Could a new political entity not have done that in 1998? One not tarred with the issues of the Troubles?
Of course it could have. As I said, FF achieved a hell of a lot in delivering on what they promised as the Republican Party. I might not have liked them, but they did.
SFâs achievement here is (yet another) white plan on a UI. Never mind DeValeraâs plan for a UI with Ireland in the Commonwealth that he brought to the the British, never mind the New Ireland ForumâŚnever mind the numerous other ideas over the years. SF have another white paper, brilliant.
Do you understand a government white paper and preparing for a United Ireland?
Can you understand the difference in pushing for a border poll?
It is not in the Irish Governmentâs hands to call for a border poll. Itâs in the brits hands and they will probably ignore it for a while. But SF will, with assistance from our friends across the globe and especially in the US seek a date for border poll.
Yes mate, there was a big forum in 1983 and 1984 too where all the democratic parties of the day participated as well.
The slow learners were 13 years away from embracing democracy. Itâs taken them another 24 years for the exact idea that was ran several times in the past.
At the time the slow learners described that Forum as a ânationalist talking shopâ.
This is my issue and the likes of Cullinane jumping on stage and shouting IRA slogans doesnât help, and his iffy history never mind OâSnodaigh basically employing spies in the 2000s.
Beyond slogans, there is nothing of substance there.
They say theyâll do one thing in the South, they do the opposite in the North.
As @anon98850436 has said, they arenât going to nationalise anything. They are making a concerted effort to buddy up with corporate Ireland. Corporate Ireland have also tried to buddy up with them, as they know what way they wind is blowing.
The policies on housing is EOB copy and pasting the pieces he likes from other countries. It will shift whatever way the winds go once they get in. For example, once the BTR heavy supply we have coming down the tracks comes in, I donât expect SF will ultimately run out large private investors as they will suss what it will do to rents again.
I mean, these are facts. Your big win here is a white paper, this means absolutely nothing. Itâs nothing new, just a variant of the ideas that all the democratic nationalist parties have had over the years.
The shortest route to a UI in 1998 was for SF to leave the pitch. That didnât happen.
Thereâs this weird thing of Shinners thinking that things that have just struck them are new. It reminds me of Pete Campbell talking about direct marketing.
You say that likes itâs a criticism. Itâs not. More of this please. Do things that have been shown to work elsewhere rather than things that have been shown not to work both here and elsewhere.
So buy to rents are the answer? With rents that high HAP comes into play? HAP, payment from the government! In any property deal thatâs 5 star covenant. Jesus.
Payment to funds that they dont keep their rental cash in this country for one evening is the answer? Donât spend their cash in this country?
Is this what we have become?
Fuck the funds! Tax the fuck out of them. Will they stay here, yes! They will but stop them buying 3/4 bed family homes and cap rents.
Who wants to live in a country where youâre worried if your child can buy a house never mind live near you???
Who wants to live in a country where we have loads of flats for people but the rent is so high theyâre fucked forever.
Iâm not saying SF is the answer. Iâm a Republican and if theyâll fight for a UI quicker than any other party, which Iâm sure the will, then Iâll vote for them.
I do genuinely think FF/FG have lost anyone under 40. SF have actually a different plan and may have the balls with the boys from Belfast who fought British soldiers behind them rather than students brought up listening about ancient wars between Dev and Collins while getting a lift to Trinity and UCD in Daddyâs Merc.
EOB will mention Copenhagen for example and the number of state delivered social housing projects.
What he neglects to mention is that they are generally smaller in nature.
EOB though also ascribes to the idea that we can redo the mistakes of old on large social housing areas.
These two things donât mix.
Nor does the fact that Copenhagen is still one of the most expensive places in Europe to rent. These kinds of inconveniences are not mentioned, as EOB just mentions the things that sounds nice.
Similarly EOB recently penned this piece;
Frank McDonald longs for Dublin to be Paris, also one of the most expensive cities in Europe. So much for affordability.
Again this just comes back to EOB picking out the nice sounding things.
Whatâs funny is that when you bring policy criticisms up, people just say well the incumbents have failed so why not give the others a go? But this goes back to the whole âdonât mention the past man, the kids donât care!â stuff that the likes of @Spidey buys into. The reality is that it doesnât matter what SF do as they are next option there for the population who clearly want some change. So in that context, why not mention their immediate past?
The sole argument for SF seems to be sure they deserve a chance. As if itâs the local council thatâs being discussed. morons repeating FG and FG have fucked up they country (they havenât) and that SF deserve their chance and will fix housing and health? How will they do this?? Mary Lou saying âthe builders will be foundâ?
Things can get decidedly worse under a joke party which is all SF are, promising pie in the sky to fools.
Itâs grand saying people will get what they wish for but the silent majority certainly doesnât want SF but will live with their consequences while their freedom fighter fantasist voter base will support them through whatever criminality arises as all part of the imaginary struggle.
They are not the answer but the fact someone born in last ten years will not own a home before aged 35 is the reason thereâs a question. FFG have ruined this country. SF being foisted on the Irish people is on them. Leo varadkars legacy is he made them electable.
There wasnât an impetus on building houses FG have dropped the ball on that. But SF donât have any answers for it either. And come with way more baggage
