[Godge]

Originally Posted by raymon

Did you read the comments that discredit this bloggers analysis as exaggerated.

In any case whichever poll you read FF is doing terribly . Michael Martin has proven to be a terribly weak leader. He was weak in cabinet and is weak in opposition.

FF deserve his leadership .

I am not a supporter of FF and hope they do badly but I wouldn't rely on this poll.

[raymon]

Originally Posted by Godge

I am not a supporter of FF and hope they do badly but I wouldn't rely on this poll.

Point taken. The upcoming RedC poll should be interesting.

[Chucky the tree]

Fianna Fail have done very well so far, exceeded my expectations. If anything this is the start of the beginning. If Fianna Fail can run the country into near obvillion and still come out with 16% of the vote a year later then why would anyone expect them to do even worse as time goes by?

[john reilly]

Originally Posted by bmaxi

It makes my flesh creep to think that SF will ever form part of a government in this State but at this stage it looks inevitable. Labour deserve no better than what they are getting, they have betrayed their constituency. I would have expected no different from FG, even in good times they would have behaved the same way.

well sinn fein are the oldest party in ireland and what better way to show are appreciation to them, for standing up against the british opression when the rest of the parties where willing to standby while irish people were tortured and killed

[john reilly]

Originally Posted by raymon

And the FF whinging continues .

This time they are complaining that Rte has a bias against them.

In their arrogance the don't realise that 84% of the country has a bias against them, except for 16% and a few FF shills in the Irish Independent and one in the Irish Times.

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...y-3031981.html

Come on Fianna Fail , when will your whinging stop

in fairness they are not the only whingers

[[Jackass]]

Given the tribal nature of Irish politics (which will ultimately cripple us indefinitely), the FF vote will never ever go away, and they will and still are the biggest party in the country. It's a sad state of affairs, but it's like people who support a football team...

If Man Utd got relegated from the premier league, no matter what, there would always be that hard core support, and the bandwagoners might abandon them for a short while, but as soon as they're back up in contention, they'll all come flocking back.

It's pathetic, but my honest belief of how Irish politics works.

I think they'll be back in if not by the next general election, with out question by the following one. God help us all.

[RandomName2]

Originally Posted by Fenian Army

Where do people like you get crap like that from? I hope you don't really think crap like that, if you do you have serious problems

The fact that the party has a military wing?

Okay - decommissioned, but former members are a mainstay of their organisation. Their inability to confront this heritage is also worthy of serious consideration.

The fact, also, that decommissioning and entering the Dail were merely pragmatic considerations rather than policy also rankles with me. The fact also that a number of murderers have been promoted by the party is also somewhat disturbing.

Their international ambitions - to isolate Ireland from the EU whilst attempting to generate a hegemony with Northern Ireland, is not one that, at least at face value, would appear benevolent.

This is all notwithstanding their hard-left economic and social policies.

[john reilly]

Originally Posted by RandomName2

The fact that the party has a military wing?

Okay - decommissioned, but former members are a mainstay of their organisation. Their inability to confront this heritage is also worthy of serious consideration.

The fact, also, that decommissioning and entering the Dail were merely pragmatic considerations rather than policy also rankles with me. The fact also that a number of murderers have been promoted by the party is also somewhat disturbing.

Their international ambitions - to isolate Ireland from the EU whilst attempting to generate a hegemony with Northern Ireland, is not one that, at least at face value, would appear benevolent.

This is all notwithstanding their hard-left economic and social policies.

from this alone they get my vote

[Eggy Baby!]

Originally Posted by john reilly

well sinn fein are the oldest party in ireland and what better way to show are appreciation to them, for standing up against the british opression when the rest of the parties where willing to standby while irish people were tortured and killed

Man Sinn Fein went through loads of splits since it was founded. SF today kept the name to be associated with past nationalists. In reality it shares little heritage with Griffiths, Collins etc.

[K-9]

Mod

Thread is about the latest opinion poll. Could posters try and base it on relatively recent events and not comparisons with Collins et al.

[RandomName2]

Originally Posted by john reilly

well sinn fein are the oldest party in ireland and what better way to show are appreciation to them, for standing up against the british opression when the rest of the parties where willing to standby while irish people were tortured and killed

+1 as per what K9 said.

I could call myself Brian Boru and be both the oldest man in Ireland and the greatest representative of ant-Viking endeavours/ bank bailouts.

Going on about the 1910s and 1920s is as anachronistic as it is off-topic.

[Liam Byrne]

Originally Posted by RandomName2

+1 as per what K9 said.

I could call myself Brian Boru and be both the oldest man in Ireland and the greatest representative of ant-Viking endeavours/ bank bailouts.

Going on about the 1910s and 1920s is as anachronistic as it is off-topic.

It's useful at deflecting from the fact that SF are as bad as the others, whether claiming for oil or print cartridges - if you keep people focussed on 1916 then they won't notice what you're up to nowadays.

[patwicklow]

Well it will be great news tree hungers are gone PD,s who ever they were are gone, and FF yes will be gone never to return Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.............................anit it bloody great.............

[Foghladh]

Originally Posted by raymon

What do you mean "show something new" ??

What could they possibly "show" to gain back some of the "swing" vote ? I am sincerely interested.

I watched Callearly's press conference today and I still don't know what he was mumbling on about. What a shockingly poor representative .

I can't see what the FFers could do or say to make up for the suffering they have caused.

I think that they need to show a break from the past and by that I mean leadership. I don't think that Micheail Martin can ever lead Fianna Fail to a decent showing because he is closely associated with all that went before and can never escape that.
That association aside, I don't believe that he's a particularly charismatic leader anyway and does nothing to further the FF profile to the good. I don't even know if the personality exists within the FF ranks but, if they could find it, then with the party structure that exists they could really move on.

In one way I'd nearly say that this has given Fianna Fail an opportunity to renew itself. If they could consign a lot of the deadwood to the back shed and take the chance to promote new blood with no baggage then they could go far. I believe they have the time to rebuild. They'd be mad to think of seriously contesting the next election and in my opinion would be far better to work the local ground first. This term of government will always be the clean-up term as far as the voter is concerned. After the next election however FG, and whoever their partners will be, will find themselves more answerable to their own policies.

Now having said that I don't believe for a second that FF will take this chance to regenerate. Party loyalty in Ireland is next to family and all parties here have a habit of sticking with their leaders until the writing is on the wall. But if they did I see no reason why the average voter in Ireland wouldn't a first preference vote in 5 years time. That's the nature of the swing from what I can see

[K-9]

Originally Posted by Liam Byrne

It's useful at deflecting from the fact that SF are as bad as the others, whether claiming for oil or print cartridges - if you keep people focussed on 1916 then they won't notice what you're up to nowadays.

Originally Posted by patwicklow

Well it will be great news tree hungers are gone PD,s who ever they were are gone, and FF yes will be gone never to return Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.............................anit it bloody great.............

Mod

Maybe we could focus on the nowadays part then Liam, as per the previous warning?

And maybe a slightly higher level of posts in general.