How to best educate myself on who to vote for in the General Election?

A-Trak

I'm sure I'm not alone in asking this.
As a joe soap not overly political, I want to make an informed choice and not just cast a vote in anger.

goat2

just look up who has been in power within the last 12 years, and count them out of your considerations for a start,

zig

A good question,but tough to answer. I think this should be made a sticky as there will probably be alot of people wondering the same thing coming up to March.

The problem with reading their websites or their own info of any sorts means that you are reading promises from their own point of view, which alot of the time is nonsense.

Heres my bit of advice, go onto all of their websites, ignore any of their generic promises, i.e. "improve education", "improve healthcare", and look for very specific intentions and figures. "Cut public service to xx000", "reduce student fees to xxx a year".
There are other issues too , like where do you stand on the bailout for instance, this is quite an important one so you must find out where each party stands to help make your decision.

Another thing you could do is go back through the last 10/20 pages of this forum, as there is at least one thread per party(probably more) including arguments both pro and against, some of them are nonsense, some of them arent, so just read both sides and see how you feel.
Ill throw up a few links as I come across them.
Edits(links):
Sinn Fein:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056154255

Fine Gael:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056151401

Labour:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056150738

Socialist party:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=69143553#post69143553

Theres plenty more if you do a search on this forum only and select 'search titles only' and put in the name of the party.

gandalf

Do what I have done over the last year which is to write down where you want to see the country move. What changes you want made to the political system to avoid the mess that has now been created.

Ignore personalities or who filled the most potholes locally etc, those people are exactly what is wrong with this country politically. If they want to do that they should be honest and run for the County Council.

Go to the websites of all the main parties, read their policy documents and white papers with your list of requirements and note where they match your ideas and vote for the one that is closest to those. Also ensure you press any canvassers or candidates on items you want clarified or you think are important to you. If they cannot answer you to the degree that satisfies you ask them to get someone to contact you back who can.

Good luck and use your vote wisely, future generations of this country are counting on you.

Wolfe Tone

I wouldnt be relying on the posts on this forum to decide who you are gonna vote for tbh!!! You need to make up your own mind.

Write down what you want, see what partys vision is closest to yours. You wont find a perfect match though, I didnt.

zig

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

Write down what you want, see what partys vision is closest to yours. You wont find a perfect match though, I didnt.

True, a compromise has to be made somewhere, your never going to be happy if you want every single box ticked.

gandalf

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

I wouldnt be relying on the posts on this forum to decide who you are gonna vote for tbh!!! You need to make up your own mind.

Write down what you want, see what partys vision is closest to yours. You wont find a perfect match though, I didnt.

I agree with you 100%. Everyone needs to do some decent research into who they are going to vote for and part of that research is those parties recent history (that is aimed at the Government parties btw and not Sinn Fein in case people get sensitive )

Wolfe Tone

zig wrote: »

True, a compromise has to be made somewhere, your never going to be happy if you want every single box ticked.

Ive picked SF as the party I will vote for, but I certainly disagree with them on a number of issues. I doubt we have many people here whose chosen party are 100% perfect in their eyes.

goat2

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

Ive picked SF as the party I will vote for, but I certainly disagree with them on a number of issues. I doubt we have many people here whose chosen party are 100% perfect in their eyes.

what was it about ff, fg, labour, indipendents, and the GREEEEEENS that put you off voting for any of them, do you have a good sf candidate in your area

Wolfe Tone

goat2 wrote: »

what was it about ff, fg, labour, indipendents, and the GREEEEEENS that put you off voting for any of them, do you have a good sf candidate in your area

Gerry Adam is the SF candidate, best you can get really, can't wait to see him in the Dáil. Im also a dedicated republican so unfortunately I am rather restricted in parties which share my ideology.
What put me off?

FF, thats obvious
Labour: They would be my second choice, but a distant second.
FG: Same as FF in my mind really
Greens: Bunch of lying feckers

Lady Chatterton

A-Trak wrote: »

I'm sure I'm not alone in asking this.
As a joe soap not overly political, I want to make an informed choice and not just cast a vote in anger.

Read you local newspaper as they are bound to be writing extensively about the candidates in your area. Check out the various party websites. Engage with the politicians that call to your home asking for your vote. For the national picture, you should watch, Primetime, Tonight with Vincent Browne and Frontline.

goat2

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

Gerry Adam is the SF candidate, best you can get really, can't wait to see him in the Dáil. Im also a dedicated republican so unfortunately I am rather restricted in parties which share my ideology.
What put me off?

FF, thats obvious
Labour: They would be my second choice, but a distant second.
FG: Same as FF in my mind really
Greens: Bunch of lying feckers

i also have sinn fein in my sights for a vote number 2 is up for grabs, but the greens would not be considered

mikemac

What's important to you?

And now contact your candidates over it. Call, email or write a letter.
The canvasser you meet on the door can't answer everything single question but ask them and they'll get back to you

If your local candidates never bother replying to you, well take that as a sign too.
But generally they always will once you give your name and address, you are a constituent after all

Edit; I almost forgot. No matter how much your candidate promises something, they obey the party whip, not you

Koyasan

Before reading their manifestos, you might find this exercise useful and interesting.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/

to find out where you sit on the spectrum, and then thsi blog post on irish political parties.
http://jasonomahony.ie/?p=6930

Fianna Fail: Moderately low tax, pro-business, moderately pro-union, pro-social spending, socially moderate, pro-European.

Fine Gael: Moderately low tax, pro-business, moderately pro-union, pro-social spending, socially moderate, pro-European.

Labour: Moderately low tax, pro-business tax, pro-union, pro-social spending, socially liberal, pro-European.

Greens: Moderately low tax except for resource taxes, pro-social spending, socially liberal, pro-European.

Sinn Fein: Pro-business tax, pro-tax on high earners, pro-social spending, anti-European, relaxed about law enforcement. Uncomfortable with current relationship with UK.


It's not enough, but it's a good start before looking at their policies in more detail.

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

Greens: Bunch of lying feckers

When did they lie? Do you have a link? I've heard this a lot, especially recently with the Clmiate Change Bill but all the accusations from IBEC and the IFA have been shown to be false. FoE have put out a detailed post about it I can link to.

wonderfulname

http://www.voteforme.ie/ Is pretty handy, especially what you'll find under the "compare" tab.

Sulmac

I posted this in another thread but it's relevant here too.

Fianna Fáil - Issues
Fine Gael - Recent Policy Catalogue
Green Party - Policies
Labour - Our ideas & policies
Sinn Féin - The Issues
United Left Alliance - Our Programme

edit: Of course, when looking at Fianna Fáil and the Greens, bear in mind what of these actual policies they have been able to implement in the past few years!

bluecatmorgana

Koyasan wrote: »

Before reading their manifestos, you might find this exercise useful and interesting.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/

to find out where you sit on the spectrum, and then thsi blog post on irish political parties.
http://jasonomahony.ie/?p=6930

Fianna Fail: Moderately low tax, pro-business, moderately pro-union, pro-social spending, socially moderate, pro-European.

Fine Gael: Moderately low tax, pro-business, moderately pro-union, pro-social spending, socially moderate, pro-European.

Labour: Moderately low tax, pro-business tax, pro-union, pro-social spending, socially liberal, pro-European.

Greens: Moderately low tax except for resource taxes, pro-social spending, socially liberal, pro-European.

Sinn Fein: Pro-business tax, pro-tax on high earners, pro-social spending, anti-European, relaxed about law enforcement. Uncomfortable with current relationship with UK.


It's not enough, but it's a good start before looking at their policies in more detail.



When did they lie? Do you have a link? I've heard this a lot, especially recently with the Clmiate Change Bill but all the accusations from IBEC and the IFA have been shown to be false. FoE have put out a detailed post about it I can link to.

This is me


Edit: it did nt work

It turned out Im
Economic left/right: -5.38
Social Libertarian/authoritarian: 5.54