Election 2011 - Donegal news & views

Senna

Is Dessie Larkin running now in NE?

puffdragon

Since the Labour Party has effectively shelved Frank Mc Brearty and are now trying to distance themselves from him , where do they go from here?

cosanostra

They dont seem to have much support in Donegal when they recruited Jimmy Harte and tried to pull that stunt with Pringle i wonder what votes were for the labour party vs votes for mcbrearty in the by-election it seems to be more of a candidate following than party following.

muffler

no no no .

I did say there was going to be one thread only and I give a strong suggestion for the title but no one politician is going to headline it.

its late so I'll see to this in the morning.

thread locked

muffler

Thread opened again and retitled. This will now be used for all discussions concerning the election.

A reminder to everyone of what was posted elsewhere

Comments, thoughts, opinions etc should relate to the Donegal constituencies and candidates only. Any comments posted about national politics will be moved to the politics forum or deleted depending on content.

muffler

Senna wrote: »

Is Dessie Larkin running now in NE?

Old news now I suppose but he wont be running for FF.

He appears to be fairly popular and it wouldn't surprise me if he ran as an independent and performed reasonably well.

creaghadoos

who is actually standing for election in donegal

muffler

puffdragon wrote: »

Since the Labour Party has effectively shelved Frank Mc Brearty and are now trying to distance themselves from him , where do they go from here?

I think the issue should be where does big Frank go from here.

muffler

creaghadoos wrote: »

who is actually standing for election in donegal

There are only a couple of declared candidates yet but nominations close next week (open to correction on that) so we will definitely have the full picture then.

ednwireland

see the mud slinging has started pearse doherty has claimed he is a civil engineer when he's actually a civil engineer technician
is this the best that they can do


http://www.highlandradio.com/2011/02/03/pearse-doherty-accused-of-misleading-public-on-his-education/

homer simpson

creaghadoos wrote: »

who is actually standing for election in donegal

So far......

Donegal North east
Joe Mc hugh - FG
John Ryan - FG
Padraig MacLochlainn - SF
Charlie McConalogue - FF
Jimmy Harte - Lab
Betty Holmes - IND
Ryan Stewart - IND

Donegal South west
Mary Coughlan - FF
Brian O'Domhnaill - FF
Dinny Mc Ginley - FG
Pearse Doherty - SF
Frank McBrearty - Lab
Thomas Pringle - IND
Ann Sweeney - IND
John Duffy - GP

cosanostra

Donegal SW seem to be cut and dried going by paddy powers odds FF seem to be getting 3rd seat by default if only there was a stronger candidate i thought SF would have maybe ran Cora Harvey! cant see why FF are running 2 candidates when BOD hasn't a hope!

http://www.paddypower.com/bet/politics/other-politics/irish-government?ev_oc_grp_ids=398451

Glenman

cosanostra wrote: »

Donegal SW seem to be cut and dried going by paddy powers odds FF seem to be getting 3rd seat by default if only there was a stronger candidate i thought SF would have maybe ran Cora Harvey! cant see why FF are running 2 candidates when BOD hasn't a hope!

http://www.paddypower.com/bet/politics/other-politics/irish-government?ev_oc_grp_ids=398451

I agree with this. Pearse to top the poll with Mary and Dinny taking the other two seats, not sure what order. Yes, I'm surprised Cora Harvey is not running. On the other hand, she probably wouldn't get elected and she might do harm to Doherty's vote.

retalivity

I wouldnt have coughlan home and dry yet...
and yes, BOD hasn't a hope.
If labour had anyone but mcb, they could have threatened.
i expect pringle to stay underneath the radar and do very well on transfers, with an outside chance of the third seat

cosanostra

retalivity wrote: »

I wouldnt have coughlan home and dry yet...
and yes, BOD hasn't a hope.
If labour had anyone but mcb, they could have threatened.
i expect pringle to stay underneath the radar and do very well on transfers, with an outside chance of the third seat

If sinn fein vote manage their no 2s to pringle this could be likely he would be an independant allie of sinn fein in the dail however allot of sinn fein voters will not give another preference, over anything else i would love to see caughlan loose her seat i think she'll scrape through!

muffler

Boards.ie have now gone live with their "vote in the general election" poll.

Get your asses over there and vote

puffdragon

Mc Brearty will do as much harm to labour as Gerry is doing to SF remember what we're voting for here is on a national scale these people will in the near future dictate to a large degree the future of our country.!! If your going to denounce Pearse Doherty for misrepresenting himself(which he shouldent have done) then where do you go with Frank Mc Brearty,? no schooling at all and a bad attitude to boot!!

cosanostra

puffdragon wrote: »

Mc Brearty will do as much harm to labour as Gerry is doing to SF remember what we're voting for here is on a national scale these people will in the near future dictate to a large degree the future of our country.!! If your going to denounce Pearse Doherty for misrepresenting himself(which he shouldent have done) then where do you go with Frank Mc Brearty,? no schooling at all and a bad attitude to boot!!

I think the whole Pearse civil engineer/technician thing was blown out of proportion although he did misrepresent himself i dont think he done so on purpose or more importantly he didnt gain anything from it!

Regarding FMB i think the question needs to be asked if elected how long would he remain in the labour party?
I dont think anyones education should come into being a good public representative but his attitude is why i wouldnt vote for him

retalivity

cosanostra wrote: »

I dont think anyones education should come into being a good public representative

Its definitely a start

ednwireland

as someone said on the politics forum, that did the same diploma in waterford they called themselves civil engineers
(i have an ordinary degree in chemistry and would call myself a chemist if i worked in it)
if thats the worst dirt they can dig up on him they are scraping th barrell
non story imho

Senna

I'll be voting in NE, but do people really think Mary Coughlan will get back in? I knew she had a large support before, but i cant see the people of the SW voting in anywhere near the same numbers.

I'd say there'll be another candidate in NE before Wednesday.

retalivity

Senna wrote: »

I'll be voting in NE, but do people really think Mary Coughlan will get back in? I knew she had a large support before, but i cant see the people of the SW voting in anywhere near the same numbers.

I'd say there'll be another candidate in NE before Wednesday.

she's F FAIL, and sadly, people still vote blindly

cosanostra

Senna wrote: »

I'll be voting in NE, but do people really think Mary Coughlan will get back in? I knew she had a large support before, but i cant see the people of the SW voting in anywhere near the same numbers.

I'd say there'll be another candidate in NE before Wednesday.

The problem is there is nobody strong enough to break the FF core vote and FF will get the third seat because of that!

Who do you think will put their hat in the ring in Donegal NE?

Has anyone noticed FF are making announcements of funding for local projects on a daily basis?

ednwireland

anyone noticed the almost complete lack of posters, drove from DT to raphoe yesterday and saw a couple of not that i'm complaining nice to see ( the lack of them)
or is it just that most canidates looked at the weather forecast for last week ?

fontanalis

retalivity wrote: »

she's F FAIL, and sadly, people still vote blindly

Exactly; this won't change. Short of FF committing some kind of genocide (or something worse than bankrupting the country) people will still vote for them, and be proud of it.

irish1967

ednwireland wrote: »

anyone noticed the almost complete lack of posters, drove from DT to raphoe yesterday and saw a couple of not that i'm complaining nice to see ( the lack of them)
or is it just that most canidates looked at the weather forecast for last week ?

Just drove DT to LK. They are starting to appear. SF in the lead so far. FF in 2nd. Didn't see any FG or LAB. a lot of the FF posters are generic ones with Michael smiling at you.

NIMAN

SF are going to do very very well in Donegal.

ednwireland

irish1967 wrote: »

Just drove DT to LK. They are starting to appear. SF in the lead so far. FF in 2nd. Didn't see any FG or LAB. a lot of the FF posters are generic ones with Michael smiling at you.

yep definitely a few more up today - whats up with our mary no FF posters round donegal town :eek:


edit a couple appeared now - very low key almost like she doesnt want to get elected

Senna

cosanostra wrote: »

Who do you think will put their hat in the ring in Donegal NE?

I thought the Blaney clan might put someone in, or someone else in the guise of IFF, but doesn't look like it now. Although they have a couple of days left.

muffler

muffler wrote: »

There are only a couple of declared candidates yet but nominations close next week (open to correction on that) so we will definitely have the full picture then.

I've just read that this Wednesday (Feb. 9) is the closing date for nominations.

cosanostra

Hearing on Highland this morning Dessie Larkin may still run as an independent would people be fooled by the independent guise i know Brian O Domhnaills brother Seamus fooled a lot of people by using the independent front only to flip back to FF I think given time larkin would flip back too or be that closely associated it wouldn't make a difference!

Senna

cosanostra wrote: »

Hearing on Highland this morning Dessie Larkin may still run as an independent would people be fooled by the independent guise i know Brian O Domhnaills brother Seamus fooled a lot of people by using the independent front only to flip back to FF I think given time larkin would flip back too or be that closely associated it wouldn't make a difference!

He would run if he had the financial backing, not sure who's going to give him the 40k+ needed to run. But with Letterkenny not really represented, its likely a group of "business men" might fund a candidate. Thats politics :rolleyes:.

North_West_Art

very good
http://www.highlandradio.com/2011/02/07/ann-sweeney-defends-bcks-election-poster/

but criminal when you think that Norway now has a universal healthcare service on the profits of our oil and gas field

buckfasterer

Did anyone else notice the Highland Radio website running an advert for Brian O Domhnaill at the top of the page? I know that money was probably paid but I still think it would be better for them to remain impartial here.....they look like they are nailing their colours to the mast here!

cosanostra

buckfasterer wrote: »

Did anyone else notice the Highland Radio website running an advert for Brian O Domhnaill at the top of the page? I know that money was probably paid but I still think it would be better for them to remain impartial here.....they look like they are nailing their colours to the mast here!

Brian o Domhnaills girlfriend is a manager in highland might have something to do with it also he is a friend of shaun doherty and trained with him for marathon! But Highland nailed their FF colours to the mast a long time ago!

patricia88

A vote for SF is a waste of a vote. They know themselves that they won't be in government. They are hoping to take 7-8 seats in the Dail in this election. They can promise us the earth and they know that they will never have the power to do anything about it. The SFers running in Donegal have been involved in politics in this county for a long time. The only time I see them is when they are looking for my vote. I'm not that easily fooled SF!

puffdragon

Im always intrigued when people say they are "not that easily fooled" and yet vote for partys like FF, FG, Labour, do they not already feel a wee bit fooled or like me totally betrayed and poor!!

muffler

patricia88 wrote: »

The SFers running in Donegal have been involved in politics in this county for a long time. The only time I see them is when they are looking for my vote.

The Fiannafailers running in Donegal have been involved in politics in this county for a long time. The only time I see them is when they are looking for my vote.

The Finegaelers running in Donegal have been involved in politics in this county for a long time. The only time I see them is when they are looking for my vote.

^ ^ Sound familiar?

patricia88

I'm not leaning towards any particular party here. I'm just fed up with SF being portrayed as marvels. Have a look at their website and read their priorities for the next Dail. By all means they sound fantastic. Very unrealistic though. This isnt going to be an easy mess to clear up. At least the other partys have realistic targets.

K-9

puffdragon wrote: »

Im always intrigued when people say they are "not that easily fooled" and yet vote for partys like FF, FG, Labour, do they not already feel a wee bit fooled or like me totally betrayed and poor!!

Tbh, I think if anybody thinks any one party will not fool us well.............

ednwireland

muffler wrote: »

^ ^ Sound familiar?

yep they are all politicians

BlackEdelweiss

You mustenht have been in Letterkenny yet, Fine Gael candidate, sorry independent candidate, sorry Labour candidate jimmy harte had posters on every lamppost from one end of the town to the other, even God was sick looking at his face so he sent a big storm to blow half of them down. It is ridiculous that one candidate is allowed to put up so many posters, do they really think that is going to make any one vote for them rather than make everybody sick of looking at their silly, photoshopped faces smiling smugly down at us. Jimmy harte even has posters up on poles in Harmony Hill which I think is in very bad taste and I hope it all backfires on him. And I hope you have picked up all the posters that blew down jimmy, that is definately pollution.

ednwireland wrote: »

anyone noticed the almost complete lack of posters, drove from DT to raphoe yesterday and saw a couple of not that i'm complaining nice to see ( the lack of them)
or is it just that most canidates looked at the weather forecast for last week ?

puffdragon

patricia88 wrote: »

I'm not leaning towards any particular party here. I'm just fed up with SF being portrayed as marvels. Have a look at their website and read their priorities for the next Dail. By all means they sound fantastic. Very unrealistic though. This isnt going to be an easy mess to clear up. At least the other partys have realistic targets.

"realistic targets" your having a laugh surely, following the very open debate on The Frontline on RTE last evening I have no problem in recommending you listen carefully to same as It was made abundantly clear that no party's targets are correct at the moment as none of them add up ! To be very honest the clearest and most honest statement of the night came from Michael Noonan of Fine Gael ,who in a rare burst of political honesty said that the only chance of making the books balance is to adopt a stance very close to that of Sinn Feins , although he used different language he and Fianna Fail seem to be now advocating what they call "burden sharing" which is a soft introduction of the same idea as Sinn Fein that the bond holders will have to take some pain or as Sinn Fein would say "burned" .

The fact is we will not make the first Interest payment on the IMF loan because traditional party policy is to persist with the notion that we can somehow afford to mortgage the country to three times its actual value, much the same as the massive house mortages some unfortunate people have been lumbered with . It only remains to go back to the IMF in six months time and say "sorry" we cant afford this, then what? .

The whole country is in negative equity! the only part of the country making money are the brass-plate companies registered in Dublin taking advantage of our corporate tax rate, and The Shell gas field off our west coast, Reality will bite soon but it wont bite for the wealthy , it will bite for the poor who normally survive on the margins of a soft black economy with wee part time jobs , (and no harm in that) because the middle class were well enough off to suffer that, but now that the middle class have to take massive paycuts then spending in the local economy will fall and poor people will keep getting poorer. sad but true!!

On a more serious note the real effect of persisting with Fianna Fail pay up politics is that in ten years time families who can no longer afford to send their children to third level colleges now, will find themselves in five or ten years time, abandoned by the system, the very system most FF FG Lab policies support. Build the economy, teach the students, or rob the whole system for the benefit of the Bond-Holders, you will soon have to decide, I hope you have the vision and foresight to make the right call on this one!!

cosanostra

patricia88 wrote: »

A vote for SF is a waste of a vote. They know themselves that they won't be in government. They are hoping to take 7-8 seats in the Dail in this election. They can promise us the earth and they know that they will never have the power to do anything about it. The SFers running in Donegal have been involved in politics in this county for a long time. The only time I see them is when they are looking for my vote. I'm not that easily fooled SF!

How can you say it would be a wasted vote we vote people to be our tds that includes opposition and we need a strong opposition that will hold our goverment to account!

muffler

Comments, thoughts, opinions etc should relate to the Donegal constituencies and candidates only. Any comments posted about national politics will be moved to the politics forum or deleted depending on content.

Guys/gals ^ that is what I posted twice on this forum. Now if you want to discuss/debate national issues then feel free to do so in the General Election 2011 Forum

Can we now stick to local politics/politicians and local issues please.

retalivity

How reflective of the actual vote do people think the boards poll is for donegal?

http://www.boards.ie/vote/results.php?c_id=10

SO far, fianna FAIL wouldnt get a seat on FP's, although i'm thinking this poll will be very skewed as the grey FF would not be very computer savvy, never mind frequenting boards.

fontanalis

North_West_Art wrote: »

very good
http://www.highlandradio.com/2011/02/07/ann-sweeney-defends-bcks-election-poster/

but criminal when you think that Norway now has a universal healthcare service on the profits of our oil and gas field

Is there a link to what gas has been found and extracted off the Irish Coast? As far as I know Norway has enough of their own resources to prop their economy.
Sorry mods if this is off topic but the whole "resources being stolen from the poor Irish" keeps popping up.

ednwireland

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

You mustenht have been in Letterkenny yet, .

correct i havent

retalivity wrote: »

How reflective of the actual vote do people think the boards poll is?

http://www.boards.ie/vote/results.php?c_id=10

SO far, fianna FAIL wouldnt get a seat on FP's, although i'm thinking this poll will be very skewed as the grey FF would not be very computer savvy, never mind frequenting boards.

was wonderingthat myself, would love to see it happen the (but i doubt it will)

muffler

Next off topic post is going to get the user concerned a ban until after polling day. No more warnings.

ednwireland

another candidate in sw donegal (looks like the independant vote will be scattered as usual)
theyd have more chance having one independendant candidate and getting behind them

http://www.highlandradio.com/2011/02/08/ardara-town-traders-chairman-to-contest-in-donegal-south-west/

The Chairman of the Ardara Town Traders, Stephen Mc Cahill(Cathal) has confirmed that he will run as an Independent in Donegal South West.

The decision was made at a meeting in Ardara last night.

The 51-year-old has been involved in community life in Ardara and the surrounding area for many years.

He says he’s running because Donegal needs change during these difficult times:

cosanostra

ednwireland wrote: »

another candidate in sw donegal (looks like the independant vote will be scattered as usual)
theyd have more chance having one independendant candidate and getting behind them

http://www.highlandradio.com/2011/02/08/ardara-town-traders-chairman-to-contest-in-donegal-south-west/

Mary caughlan will love this news more of her core votes getting nabbed!