If Sinn Fein are in power???

decisions

If Sinn Fein end up in power in 2011 what do you think they will do?
And how good/bad will it be for the country?

MagicMarker

They won't be.

johngalway

.

Bottle_of_Smoke

They'll become more centrist.

They'll probably come up with a Green Paper on reunification.

By the end of the term they'd be hated and end up returning 2-3 candidates in 2016.

Would be ideal for FF medium term interests if SF was part of the next government.

Johngalway, magicmarker, please keep on topic.

CokaColumbo

I'm not sure if Sinn Fein themselves know what they'd do if they found themselves in government to be honest. At the very least, I would imagine taxes would go up a lot and perhaps trade barriers would be put in place to 'protect' indigenous industries. A state visit by Gaddafi perhaps??

OhNoYouDidn't

Let the scaremongering and reds under the bed nonsense begin.

They will do exactly what they have done in government in the 6 counties. A genuine attempt to implement real change, with some success and some failures, and the old narrative of struggling to reconcile their core ideology with real politick

And the last thing they will do is touch corporate tax.

jimmycrackcorm

What exactly have they done in the north as i don't recognize anything that they publish add policy here...

Denerick

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

Let the scaremongering and reds under the bed nonsense begin.

Let the victimisation and preciousness begin. Lets ignore the fact that this organisation were for a very long time the political wing of a heartless terrorist organisation impervious to compromise.

They will do exactly what they have done in government in the 6 counties. A genuine attempt to implement real change, with some success and some failures, and the old narrative of struggling to reconcile their core ideology with real politick

And the last thing they will do is touch corporate tax.

I agree with that. I doubt their ideology will come to much if they actually got in power. They would seek pragmatic solutions, with a little partisan posturing here and there. Like any other party. The manifesto would go out the window, especially once they realise how impractical and self destructive most of their policy ideas are.

SF are getting a protest vote from me, by the way. Should be fun.

Fo Real

Everytime there is a Sinn Féin thread started in this forum, the usual suspects jump up onto their soapboxes in a futile attmept to give this mickey mouse party some credibility. All the while dancing around the elephant in the room that is their shady past links with terrorism.

It just reaffirms my suspicions that the politics forum is not representative of the general Irish public. It's infested with party hacks and the brainwashed. You never know who you're speaking to behind the anonymity of a forum username.

To address the OP's question: I predict a huge increase in non-EU immigration into the country, putting more strain on our already stretched public services. Sinn Féin have been pretty vocal about their support for Palestinians and Nigerians. At the same time, Euro-sceptic Sinn Féin will attempt to sever ties with the EU and our closest neighbours the UK, with disaterous consequences for the economy I'd imagine.

REPSOC1916

Fo Real wrote: »

Everytime there is a Sinn Féin thread started in this forum, the usual suspects jump up onto their soapboxes in a futile attmept to give this mickey mouse party some credibility. All the while dancing around the elephant in the room that is their shady past links with terrorism.

It just reaffirms my suspicions that the politics forum is not representative of the general Irish public. It's infested with party hacks and the brainwashed. You never know who you're speaking to behind the anonymity of a forum username.

To address the OP's question: I predict a huge increase in non-EU immigration into the country, putting more strain on our already stretched public services. Sinn Féin have been pretty vocal about their support for Palestinians and Nigerians. At the same time, Euro-sceptic Sinn Féin will attempt to sever ties with the EU and our closest neighbours the UK, with disaterous consequences for the economy I'd imagine.

143,000 people are brainwashed according to you. What about the 70,000 who voted for the Greens and PD's who probably did more damage to this country than the PIRA ever did.
Look where the Lisbon treaty got us. Also where are those blasted jobs they promised us.

OhNoYouDidn't

Denerick wrote: »

Let the victimisation and preciousness begin. Lets ignore the fact that this organisation were for a very long time the political wing of a heartless terrorist organisation impervious to compromise.

Lets not ignore that. Its a much more relevent debate than the tosh posted on here about death camps and shutting down the internet if they got in, or Fo Real's insane rant about immigration. Do militants who settle into poltics make better or worse polticians? I think there is a lot to be said for the idea that they aren't in politics for what they can get - they lived and died by it.

And I don't see how the army they represented are 'impervious to compromise'. The GFA is a compromise to the extent it is a fudge.

OhNoYouDidn't

Fo Real wrote: »

Everytime there is a Sinn Féin thread started in this forum, the usual suspects jump up onto their soapboxes in a futile attmept to give this mickey mouse party some credibility. All the while dancing around the elephant in the room that is their shady past links with terrorism.

It just reaffirms my suspicions that the politics forum is not representative of the general Irish public. It's infested with party hacks and the brainwashed. You never know who you're speaking to behind the anonymity of a forum username.

To address the OP's question: I predict a huge increase in non-EU immigration into the country, putting more strain on our already stretched public services. Sinn Féin have been pretty vocal about their support for Palestinians and Nigerians. At the same time, Euro-sceptic Sinn Féin will attempt to sever ties with the EU and our closest neighbours the UK, with disaterous consequences for the economy I'd imagine.

Polling ahead of FF at the moment. If thats 'mickey mouse' and lacking in 'credibility', that says more about your grasp on reality than anything.

COYW

REPSOC1916 wrote: »

143,000 people are brainwashed according to you. What about the 70,000 who voted for the Greens and PD's who probably did more damage to this country than the PIRA ever did.
Look where the Lisbon treaty got us. Also where are those blasted jobs they promised us.

Well, that would be a matter of personal opinion. In my opinion, human life is the most valuable thing in the world. Any member of a party that not alone condoned but supported the actions of terrorists will always be at the very bottom of the political chain for me.

Anyway, back to the original quesiton. SF will probably poll well in the next election, due to protest voting. It will be very interesting to see if FG and/or Labour are willing to go into government with them. If SF got into government, they would probably try to :

- increase taxes on middle and upper class people further.
- reverse any cuts made to welfare in the budget incl. re-introducing the christmas bonus.
- increase our rate of corporate taxation.
- sever ties with Europe and the UK.

Fo Real

REPSOC1916 wrote: »

What about the 70,000 who voted for the Greens and PD's who probably did more damage to this country than the PIRA ever did.

Are you serious? Who exactly died because of the Greens or PDs? There are towns along the border that have been unemployment blackspots for decades because of the "war" waged on our behalf by the IRA.

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

... or Fo Real's insane rant about immigration. Do militants who settle into poltics make better or worse polticians? I think there is a lot to be said for the idea that they aren't in politics for what they can get - they lived and died by it.

And I don't see how the army they represented are 'impervious to compromise'. The GFA is a compromise to the extent it is a fudge.

Since you personalised the debate, I'm going to predict that yourself, Mussolini, Nodin and RepSoc1916 will now begin to engage in the usual circle jerk of thanking each other's posts in this thread and reiterating each other's points no matter how many times myself and others counter them.

The splinter groups of the IRA didn't accept the GFA.

Denerick

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

Lets not ignore that. Its a much more relevent debate than the tosh posted on here about death camps and shutting down the internet if they got in, or Fo Real's insane rant about immigration. Do militants who settle into poltics make better or worse polticians? I think there is a lot to be said for the idea that they aren't in politics for what they can get - they lived and died by it.

And I don't see how the army they represented are 'impervious to compromise'. The GFA is a compromise to the extent it is a fudge.

Areas of agreement my man! I agree with you, generally speaking those who have given up arms and have instead persued peaceful politics tend to be unusually principled, which is a good thing. I have a lot of time for Gerry Adams as it happens and I hope he wins in Louth.

deise go deo

Fo Real wrote: »

Are you serious? Who exactly died because of the Greens or PDs? There are towns along the border that have been unemployment blackspots for decades because of the "war" waged on our behalf by the IRA.



Since you personalised the debate, I'm going to predict that yourself, Mussolini, Nodin and RepSoc1916 will now begin to engage in the usual circle jerk of thanking each other's posts in this thread and reiterating each other's points no matter how many times myself and others counter them.

The splinter groups of the IRA didn't accept the GFA. Ever hear of the Omagh bombing?

Yes, What has that got to do with SF?
Was that carried out by SF? No
Was that carried out by a group with links to SF? No.

SF had links to the provos, not the RIRA:rolleyes:

bladespin

I can't see it happening but if they did get into a position of power I'd imaging SF would become a moderate left to middle party and get on with the business of running a country.

I can't see them messing with corporation tax etc, they may mess around with tax bands for the higher earners.

An aside to some of the posts above, SF aren't the only party linked to cold blooded murder or other very serious illegalities, plenty of others are tarnished from past indisgressions, of all our current choices Labour AFIK would be the only party not to have some skeleton rattling in their wardrobe, they might do but I'm just not aware of it.

Denerick

bladespin wrote: »

An aside to some of the posts above, SF aren't the only party linked to cold blooded murder or other very serious illegalities, plenty of others are tarnished from past indisgressions, of all our current choices Labour AFIK would be the only party not to have some skeleton rattling in their wardrobe, they might do but I'm just not aware of it.

FG ousted the blueshirts pretty sharpish. De Valera jettisoned the IRA very quickly once he got into power. These battles are almost a century old. Martin Mc Guinness was a convicted IRA bomber. There is no comparison to be made here.

deise go deo

bladespin wrote: »

I can't see it happening but if they did get into a position of power I'd imaging SF would become a moderate left to middle party and get on with the business of running a country.

I can't see them messing with corporation tax etc, they may mess around with tax bands for the higher earners.

An aside to some of the posts above, SF aren't the only party linked to cold blooded murder or other very serious illegalities, plenty of others are tarnished from past indisgressions, of all our current choices Labour AFIK would be the only party not to have some skeleton rattling in their wardrobe, they might do but I'm just not aware of it.

Gilmore has a nice little skeleton called the OIRA. There have been several roumers about 'past indescretions' with them in his younger days.

deise go deo

Denerick wrote: »

FG ousted the blueshirts pretty sharpish. De Valera jettisoned the IRA very quickly once he got into power. These battles are almost a century old. Martin Mc Guinness was a convicted IRA bomber. There is no comparison to be made here.

Cough*Lemass*Cough

bladespin

Denerick wrote: »

FG ousted the blueshirts pretty sharpish. De Valera jettisoned the IRA very quickly once he got into power. These battles are almost a century old. Martin Mc Guinness was a convicted IRA bomber. There is no comparison to be made here.

Those are pieces of history, there are much more current links to crime for the majority of parties; from members who've committed crimes to criminals being protected by attourney generals, other parties have also sought favouritism for convicted drugdealers while most tried to protect the clergy from abuse allegations before it became fashionable to actually stand up to them.

Bottle_of_Smoke

deise go deo wrote: »

Gilmore has a nice little skeleton called the OIRA. There have been several roumers about 'past indescretions' with them in his younger days.

I'd disagree there.

By the time he joined them they'd moved away from violence. They had a ceasefire in 1972 and in 1974 the members inclined toward physical force became the Irish National Liberation Army and their political wing the Irish Republican Socialist Party.

Joining Official Sinn Fein when Gilmore did would be more akin to joining Gerry Adams Sinn Fein in 2001.

Sleepy

Let's be honest how would they get into government?

FG will never invite SF to join a coallition. That was clear after the 2007 election and re-affirmed by Kenny's Late Late appearance last year.

FF? Could Sinn Fein hold their support were they to prop up a government they've hurled abuse (quite rightly) at for the last 10 years or so? Can't see FF being an acceptable partner to SF at all.

Labour? I sincerely doubt that SF and Lab would have enough of a vote between them to form a government. Even with Independent and/or Socialist Workers Party support I can't see a rainbow government without FF or FG in the near future (and god help us all if this happened).

Denerick

If FG/LAB + Independents are a few votes short of an overall majority, SF will hold the balance of power. In this case, all previous pronouncements will go out the window. Politicians live to get into power after all.

FF will still probably get between 40-50 seats in the next Dáil, making them a strong opposition party. If SF do as well as polls currently suggest they will (c. 15 seats) then we should expect a bumpy ride. Especially if the Irish electorate reverts to form and elects a whole load of cute whoors in the Jacky Healy Rae vein, making the formation of a new government particularly difficult. (Frankly I'm expecting around 15 bogmen in the next Dáil voted in on the basis of bringing bypasses to Ennis and the like - plus the left alliance will probably pick up one or two seats and I'm also predicting the Greens will have around 3)