Wheres the alternative in irish politics?

Freiheit

F.F. Wrecked the country,F.G and Labour are doing what theyr'e told. Is there any real alternative in Irish politics? S.F. Have baggage and Im not sure how much substance they have beneath the huff. It shouldnt be that if FG let us down that the only alternative is FF. Is there any sign of a new force,a real alternative on the irish political landscape?

Liam Byrne

Good question!

And given the way FG & Labour have reneged on their promises and abused my votes, one that will require an answer before the next election in order for there to be any chance of me bothering to visit a polling station.

yermanoffthetv

But your daddy voted for them, and didnt his father vote for them before that...and they fixed the roads sure! Seriously though, there is no real alternative to speak of, SF? PBP? Both hard left parties with absoutely no grasp of economics or reality. In my opinion I think Ireland is overloaded with socialist parties and need some free market advocates to even things out...problem with that is youre immediately branded elitist/natzi/evil. Failing that, Id at least like politicians to be held to account for any promises they make.Its absolutely farcical all the promises the current shower have made and reneged upon :mad:


You promise it, it better happen or you resign.

thebman

I think Libertas will be running in the next election, Declan Ganley is on Irish TV too much to not be planning something.

Maybe he is just hoping for an EU referendum on further Euro integration.

yermanoffthetv

thebman wrote: »

I think Libertas will be running in the next election, Declan Ganley is on Irish TV too much to not be planning something.

Maybe he is just hoping for an EU referendum on further Euro integration.

Jasus it'd be great if he did. He was pretty much spot on about what was/is happening in Europe. Nobody seems to be talking about fiscal union (bar Shane Ross) which will be the final nail in the coffin of Irish sovereignty and pretty much means were a European federal state.

Liam Byrne

Given the mess that FF made of the country, ans given that the electorate here voted for them even when the corruption and mismanagement was blatant, could Europe really run us any more badly ?

Add in what the OP points out - that FG are continuing the screwing of ordinary folk - what's the alternative or most palatable option ?

meglome

yermanoffthetv wrote: »

Jasus it'd be great if he did. He was pretty much spot on about what was/is happening in Europe.

Oh great a liar and bull****ter, can't wait. What was he spot on about?

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Given the mess that FF made of the country, ans given that the electorate here voted for them even when the corruption and mismanagement was blatant, could Europe really run us any more badly ?

That's what I find kinda funny. People are screaming about loss of sovereignty but we had all the sovereignty in the world to repeatedly do the wrong thing and put ourselves in this position. I wouldn't as such like the EU to be approving our budgets but it's doubtful they could do a worse job.

yermanoffthetv

meglome wrote: »

Oh great a liar and bull****ter, can't wait. What was he spot on about?

Eh, that that the EU as it stands suffers from a democratic deficit, is overly bureaucratic and lacks transparency, Lisbon wouldnt bring jobs, the bank bailouts would cripple the country. Its far to say those things are broadly correct, no?

If you think the EU will do any better then I think youre mistaken, remember they were giving us a pat on the back and lauding us as the model of development for years.

meglome

yermanoffthetv wrote: »

Eh, that that the EU as it stands suffers from a democratic deficit, is overly bureaucratic and lacks transparency, Lisbon wouldnt bring jobs, the bank bailouts would cripple the country. Its far to say those things are broadly correct, no?

I think it's fair to say the EU is more democratic than our own Dail. Exports have been booming so how can you dismiss that Lisbon wasn't a factor? Our deficit is crippling the country not the bank bailouts. So no.

yermanoffthetv wrote: »

If you think the EU will do any better then I think youre mistaken, remember they were giving us a pat on the back and lauding us as the model of development for years.

They gave us plenty of warnings but we ignored them all. In fact we laughed at them. Do you think that making our government accountable would be a bad thing?

COYW

yermanoffthetv wrote: »

Seriously though, there is no real alternative to speak of, SF? PBP? Both hard left parties with absoutely no grasp of economics or reality. In my opinion I think Ireland is overloaded with socialist parties and need some free market advocates to even things out...problem with that is youre immediately branded elitist/natzi/evil.

I agree completely. We have a horrible imbalance in the political system in this country. You have the hard left like the PBP and SF and the centre parties Labour/FF/FG. We have no right wing representatives and anyone who mutters such ideals is shot down. I would love to see a new political party with proper leanings to the right. Have we ever had a right wing party in Ireland, in a social and economic sense? I know the PDs were on the right economically but they were far from a proper right wing party.

If there was an election tomorrow, I wouldn't have a notion who to vote for. The parties in the centre have had their turn in government and it hasn't/isn't working. The parties on the left are 20 times more clueless and being completely honest, I would never vote for the hard left, particularly SF.

Liam Byrne

COYW wrote: »

yermanoffthetv wrote: »

Seriously though, there is no real alternative to speak of, SF? PBP? Both hard left parties with absoutely no grasp of economics or reality. In my opinion I think Ireland is overloaded with socialist parties and need some free market advocates to even things out...problem with that is youre immediately branded elitist/natzi/evil.

I agree completely. We have a horrible imbalance in the political system in this country. You have the hard left like the PBP and SF and the centre parties Labour/FF/FG. We have no right wing representatives and anyone who mutters such ideals is shot down. I would love to see a new political party with proper leanings to the right. Have we ever had a right wing party in Ireland, in a social and economic sense? I know the PDs were on the right economically but they were far from a proper right wing party.

If there was an election tomorrow, I wouldn't have a notion who to vote for. The parties in the centre have had their turn in government and it hasn't/isn't working. The parties on the left are 20 times more clueless and being completely honest, I would never vote for the hard left, particularly SF.

Define "right wing", though ? If anything, a lot of the "protect the rich and powerful at all costs" ideal is far too right-wing in my book, and both FF & now FG are happy to do that, with Labour's blessing.

I'd love to vote for a proper slightly-left-of-centre party, but there isn't one available.

thebman

Right wing is too ambiguous a term TBH. There is no party in this country that is an advocate for less government control in the economy.

steelcityblues

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Define "right wing", though ? If anything, a lot of the "protect the rich and powerful at all costs" ideal is far too right-wing in my book, and both FF & now FG are happy to do that, with Labour's blessing.

I'd love to vote for a proper slightly-left-of-centre party, but there isn't one available.

Labour are that right now - with the emphasis on slightly.

Liam Byrne

steelcityblues wrote: »

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Define "right wing", though ? If anything, a lot of the "protect the rich and powerful at all costs" ideal is far too right-wing in my book, and both FF & now FG are happy to do that, with Labour's blessing.

I'd love to vote for a proper slightly-left-of-centre party, but there isn't one available.

Labour are that right now - with the emphasis on slightly.

Labour are ****e at the moment - regretting voting for them. They got no mandate from me to keep paying unsecured bondholders and avoid cutting costs.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Bannasidhe

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

It's a bizarre combination of protect sections of the public service - in particular those at the top of the pecking order - while simultaneously draining the services themselves of the resources to carry out vital tasks in a cost effective manner.
Prime examples of this are the ban on recruiting staff which means that the HSE are paying millions a year for agency nurses while also being overloaded with administrators.
The universities are another nightmare - the recruitment ban has meant that non-tenure and fixed term teaching contracts were slashed at the same time as people are being urged to return to education. The system is on the point of collapse while being overloaded with administrators (in UCC there is 1 admin worker for every 'teacher' - yet in my time there I, and all the lecturers I worked with, did our own admin and supplied the results on excel sheets to the departmental sec who uploaded them to a central system - I could never work out what the hell most of these administrators were actually doing...) and senior academics with tenure who undertake no teaching duties whatsoever.

Those at the top of the HSE/University sector are protected, continue to enjoy salaries way above those of our European neighbours and have jobs for life. Those on the front-line are struggling just to maintain any kind of standard - and are losing that struggle.

There is a complete disconnect in Irish politics making it neither left wing fish nor right wing fowl (couldn't resist the pun ) - but a deeply unsatisfactory combination of big, inefficient, government and socio-economic conservatism.
The prime example of this was the decision to cut disability allowance to new young claimants (now withdrawn granted) while increasing the allowances TDs can claim. It makes no sense.

I am no supporter of Nanny State politics, but do believe that government has a duty of care of protect citizens from exploitation - it cannot prevent people from being bloody stupid which is how I would define many of the Nanny state laws - the problem is that while government may bring in legislation against exploitation - it then utterly fails to enforce that legislation with no consequences for those who fail to do their jobs. Have any of the 'regulators' of the financial or building sectors been punished for the dodgy goings on in the like of Anglo or the construction of substandard housing like Priory Hall?

Whether or not we want to smoke in our cars, stuff our faces on MacDonalds or utter the odd blasphemous comment is not the business of the government - but the construction of hazardous housing and the fraudulent manipulation of bank shares is.

Yet, government will interfere with the behaviour of the individual like the worst sort of totalitarian regime while ignoring the actions of banks, developers like worst sort of Laissez Faire government.

Ireland - the Laissez Faire Nanny State. :eek:

Dr Galen

I don't think this thread belongs in the cafe at all tbh, I think it's a really valid question, a serious one, and as such should be in the more serious side of the "house"

Cheers

DrG

Sand

I dont think its possible to explore an alternative in Irish politics. Essentially - given the "whip" rules, the Dail is a side show. A national political movement is voted into power, based on local personality contests (so already, a disconnect between voters and reality). That national political movement then votes to elect a government - usually the terms under which the government are elected bear little resemblance to the terms under which the voters were asked to vote.

Even then, practically the entire Dail is then emasculated - once the government is appointed the Dail has fufilled its purpose, apart from giving various people the opportunity to talk to an empty chamber.

Power is then held in the cabinet, which makes decisions and merely asks the Dail for a rubber stamp to maintain the pretence of democratic accountability. Of course, the cabinet are essentially noobs - people who are usually teacher or publicans or lawyers who havent the slightest ****ing clue of how a country is run or have any idea of how their country was previously run. They are essentially, completely and totally inexperienced in everything except winning local popularity contests. As well as teaching, running a pub or being a lawyer. All information is horded so that the Dail is completely uninformed - therefore, a politician can have a 20 year career and not have any more idea of whats going on than what they read in a paper.

So in reality, power sits with the permament government - the civil servants. These are the people who are always in power, who are always advising inexperienced and out of their depth ministers, who are always in a position to present "the facts", who brief the politicians with their speaking points and what to say ( which more than anything else betrays the reality - if ministers were driving, theyd know their own minds well enough to present their idea...) and who never face any accountability at all. The worst fate to befall a civil servant is to be promoted to Europe.

People often wonder why politicians say X in opposition and Y in government. Its because the government never, ever changes. Y is always the position. All that changes are the puppets presenting the position of the civil service. If a minister dares to go against the civil service, then he will be briefed against and left to the wolves. Ever wonder why McCreevy is the most hated and reviled Minister of recent times in the media? He was also the Minister renowned for ignoring his civil servants and going against their "advice". Thats why.

nesf

Sand wrote: »

I dont think its possible to explore an alternative in Irish politics. Essentially - given the "whip" rules, the Dail is a side show. A national political movement is voted into power, based on local personality contests (so already, a disconnect between voters and reality). That national political movement then votes to elect a government - usually the terms under which the government are elected bear little resemblance to the terms under which the voters were asked to vote.

Even then, practically the entire Dail is then emasculated - once the government is appointed the Dail has fufilled its purpose, apart from giving various people the opportunity to talk to an empty chamber.

Power is then held in the cabinet, which makes decisions and merely asks the Dail for a rubber stamp to maintain the pretence of democratic accountability. Of course, the cabinet are essentially noobs - people who are usually teacher or publicans or lawyers who havent the slightest ****ing clue of how a country is run or have any idea of how their country was previously run. They are essentially, completely and totally inexperienced in everything except winning local popularity contests. As well as teaching, running a pub or being a lawyer. All information is horded so that the Dail is completely uninformed - therefore, a politician can have a 20 year career and not have any more idea of whats going on than what they read in a paper.

So in reality, power sits with the permament government - the civil servants. These are the people who are always in power, who are always advising inexperienced and out of their depth ministers, who are always in a position to present "the facts", who brief the politicians with their speaking points and what to say ( which more than anything else betrays the reality - if ministers were driving, theyd know their own minds well enough to present their idea...) and who never face any accountability at all. The worst fate to befall a civil servant is to be promoted to Europe.

People often wonder why politicians say X in opposition and Y in government. Its because the government never, ever changes. Y is always the position. All that changes are the puppets presenting the position of the civil service. If a minister dares to go against the civil service, then he will be briefed against and left to the wolves. Ever wonder why McCreevy is the most hated and reviled Minister of recent times in the media? He was also the Minister renowned for ignoring his civil servants and going against their "advice". Thats why.

Yes Minister! should be compulsory viewing for anyone posting in this forum.

Desire2

nesf wrote: »

Yes Minister! should be compulsory viewing for anyone posting in this forum.

A most brave idea Minister nesf!;)

Desire2

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Labour are ****e at the moment - regretting voting for them. They got no mandate from me to keep paying unsecured bondholders and avoid cutting costs.

Hopefully there was some method in that madness in that if the Euro(zone) survives we will get some concessions on our interest rates and can return to borrowing from the markets in return for paying unsecured bondholders in full thus far
Surely it is a tactic to try regain the trust of Lenders.?
If not we are complete dicks.

Killer Pigeon

1. Flush all parties present out of the Dáil,
2. Give some sort of incentives to the people to create new ones,
3. Reduce the power of the government, drastically.

mistermouse

Will probably not matter too much if we cede more power to Europe as seems to be looking the case. There are merits in that, but as often pointed out we are a small nation and a very small populace in the European scheme of things

I'd be very surprised though if Sinn Fein and perhaps Labour do not use this governments long term to position themselves to capitalise on Fianna Fails downfall and move more into a central position. What I call the Pearse Doherty strategy of Sinn Fein is an example of them looking to get new people, articulate and without baggage. Their economic policies may be slowly changed too with an eye on the bigger picture.

Fianna Fail should be rooting out all that they have stood for over the past years and be trying to rebuild with new blood, but it would need to be a huge change. Plus there is the real position that good people would not want to put themselves forward for

The problem is that no party would give room to a new movement and few within parties would look to change their own in house structures. There'll be no turkeys voting for Christmas, Christmas will be over in a few weeks time and we'll still have turkeys in the Dail and Politics all year.

The Parish Pump will still be around too come next election and being in the know will too.

snafuk35

Some time in the new year I believe that FG/Lab will collapse.
There is huge public anger building as a result of the budget and we are going to be a drip drip defection of Labour ranks that will force Gilmore to pull out. Within in FG there is still a bitter rivalry between the Kenny camp and the rebels which were led last year by Bruton and Varadkar. They will stick their heads above the parapet if Kenny's poll figures start to go down.

SF are still struggling to get support to lift them above the 10-15% mark which they seem to hovering thereabouts because they are still seen as the IRA party. Adams seems determined to cling on as party leader and his leadership has never been seriously challenged in 40 years. Doherty or MacDonald seem to be obvious successors but when the old Provo leadership is shifted ut, SF will essentially be a left republican party a little to the left of the Labour Party and FF who still enjoy the support of the voters they wish to target. They are also fighting for the share of voters that go to hard left socialists like RBB and Uncle Joe.They may find themselves force to merge with Labour or FF or else wither away.

FF is toxic but could benefit from traditional FF voters who held their noses and voted for FG and Lab in the last election. They may stomp reluctantly back to the sheep fold.

The socialists and independents have made little or no impact. Ming has been fairly quite, Wallace has been discredited by his financial worries and only Shane Ross has been seen or heard banging the right-wing Eurosceptic drum. There is no tradition of hard left politics in Ireland except among a tiny micro group of communists.

Catholic conservativism remains strong at parish level in much of the country areas but as a political force in Dublin or other urban centres is almost extinct. When Catholic conservatism was at its height, its economic outlook based on Catholic social teaching was anti-entrepreneur and akin to left wing politics (which is why socialists found they could not make any headway.)

There is a massive empty space that could be filled by a new party but for any party to succeed it much find that niche. For politics to change there would have to be an immense cultural shift akin to the swing that occurred in 1918 when the Irish Parliamentary Party collapsed.

I forsee three equally matched parties at the centre FF/FG/Lab fighting for position with the support of independents whereas before it was two parties FF/FG with Lab as the bit extra.

We will have an unstable political system with regular changes of government resulting in different combinations of the above for the immediate future.

ILikeBananas

Sand wrote: »

I dont think its possible to explore an alternative in Irish politics. Essentially - given the "whip" rules, the Dail is a side show. A national political movement is voted into power, based on local personality contests (so already, a disconnect between voters and reality). That national political movement then votes to elect a government - usually the terms under which the government are elected bear little resemblance to the terms under which the voters were asked to vote.

Even then, practically the entire Dail is then emasculated - once the government is appointed the Dail has fufilled its purpose, apart from giving various people the opportunity to talk to an empty chamber.

Power is then held in the cabinet, which makes decisions and merely asks the Dail for a rubber stamp to maintain the pretence of democratic accountability. Of course, the cabinet are essentially noobs - people who are usually teacher or publicans or lawyers who havent the slightest ****ing clue of how a country is run or have any idea of how their country was previously run. They are essentially, completely and totally inexperienced in everything except winning local popularity contests. As well as teaching, running a pub or being a lawyer. All information is horded so that the Dail is completely uninformed - therefore, a politician can have a 20 year career and not have any more idea of whats going on than what they read in a paper.

So in reality, power sits with the permament government - the civil servants. These are the people who are always in power, who are always advising inexperienced and out of their depth ministers, who are always in a position to present "the facts", who brief the politicians with their speaking points and what to say ( which more than anything else betrays the reality - if ministers were driving, theyd know their own minds well enough to present their idea...) and who never face any accountability at all. The worst fate to befall a civil servant is to be promoted to Europe.

People often wonder why politicians say X in opposition and Y in government. Its because the government never, ever changes. Y is always the position. All that changes are the puppets presenting the position of the civil service. If a minister dares to go against the civil service, then he will be briefed against and left to the wolves. Ever wonder why McCreevy is the most hated and reviled Minister of recent times in the media? He was also the Minister renowned for ignoring his civil servants and going against their "advice". Thats why.

This is actually the most depressing post I've read on here in months. The reason why is because I suspect that it is all true.

thebman

ILikeBananas wrote: »

This is actually the most depressing post I've read on here in months. The reason why is because I suspect that it is all true.

Why leave it as suspicion whenever a minister is challenged on anything, they tell you they don't actually make any decisions.

They don't even decide if they are going to walk from one terminal of an airport or get driven FFS.

wendell borton

yermanoffthetv wrote: »

In my opinion I think Ireland is overloaded with socialist parties and need some free market advocates to even things out...problem with that is youre immediately branded elitist/natzi/evil.

we had some the PD's and Charlie McCreevy whose policies have led to the current mess.

bmaxi

Being asked to choose between the "alternatives" in Irish politics is like being asked to choose between the Kray twins. Which one will hurt you the least?
There is no tradition of public service in Ireland, all we get are platitudes. Indeed, I listened to Brendan Howlin this morning waffling on about his love of country, enough to make a stone vomit. All this talk about sharing the pain, is just that, talk. There is nobody in the establishment feeling any pain, the pain is felt in Tallaght and Finglas, not in Foxrock and Killiney.
Ask me what is the answer though and I'm afraid I can't answer. The demise of Fianna Fáil is just the end of a name, whether or not they rise again is irrelevant. There is a political elite out there and they will choose who will represent you, not you. This was evidenced at the last local elections when FF imposed candidates in constituencies, against the wishes of the local Cumainn. These will go on to become the TDs of the future and will be guaranteed to follow the directions of the mandarins, so ensuring that power is maintained within a tight circle. We will always have the same Government, only the names will change.
Other than the unthinkable, I can't see any way to break this cycle.

Dammer

Freiheit wrote: »

F.F. Wrecked the country,F.G and Labour are doing what theyr'e told. Is there any real alternative in Irish politics? S.F. Have baggage and Im not sure how much substance they have beneath the huff. It shouldnt be that if FG let us down that the only alternative is FF. Is there any sign of a new force,a real alternative on the irish political landscape?

Unfortunately the only alternative is, and as much as I hate to say is Sinn Fein

FG and Labour are just following FF's plan and they lied to the people of Ireland (Roscommon Hospital, disabled citizens)

No one is fighting the EU with respect to Private banks debts that have been put on us via Anglo Thank you FF! :mad:

blinding

Dammer wrote: »

Unfortunately the only alternative is, and as much as I hate to say is Sinn Fein

FG and Labour are just following FF's plan and they lied to the people of Ireland (Roscommon Hospital, disabled citizens)

No one is fighting the EU with respect to Private banks debts that have been put on us via Anglo Thank you FF! :mad:

Sinn Féin are the opposition.

The other three are cut from a three cheeked asre !

RichieC

There's not enough wealthy people in ireland to make a credible "free market" party.

turkeys wont vote for Christmas.

Doc Ruby

Are the libertarians going to field anyone in the next election? I wouldn't call myself a libertarian but I'll give them the vote if they can cut the government down to size a bit and rein in the beaurocrats, its really gotten out of control.

Liam Byrne

Doc Ruby wrote: »

Are the libertarians going to field anyone in the next election? I wouldn't call myself a libertarian but I'll give them the vote if they can cut the government down to size a bit and rein in the beaurocrats, its really gotten out of control.

Seriously ? Despite where rampant greed and capitalism has gotten us ?

If anything the crash has indicated why we need regulation.......better and more ethical governance, maybe, but also better and more ethical commerce, which the libertarians are against.

Killer Pigeon

We need Ron Paul! Ron Paul 2012 and Ireland as 51st state!!

Doc Ruby

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Seriously ? Despite where rampant greed and capitalism has gotten us ?

If anything the crash has indicated why we need regulation.......better and more ethical governance, maybe, but also better and more ethical commerce, which the libertarians are against.

I dunno I'm just sick of where my tax money is going, and I don't mind either taxes or reasonable regulations for the most part. Any better ideas?

Sand

@Liam Byrne

Seriously ? Despite where rampant greed and capitalism has gotten us ?

If anything the crash has indicated why we need regulation.......better and more ethical governance, maybe, but also better and more ethical commerce, which the libertarians are against.

The banks took crazy risks because deep down, they believed theyd be bailed out. Libertarians, rightly or wrongly, would have told the banks to get ****ed in September 2008. We, as a nation, are deeply, deeply in trouble because libertarians werent making the decisions in September 2008.

And as for the Irish regulators, they werent libertarians. Neither were the banks. And neither were the Irish government. There were regulations on the books. The Irish regulators had all the powers to enforce them. They simply failed to do so. Libertarians might point to that as supporting their view that states are at best bad at their job.

There's nothing in libertarian thought that is against ethical commerce. Theres been nothing ethical achieved by the the policies pursued for the past few years which were entirely against libertarian thinking.

I'm not a libertarian for what its worth, but lets lay the blame where it belongs - at the feet of the statists who are always utterly and totally convinced that they are smarter than the "irrational" markets and everyone else. By following their madcap schemes the entire European project ( and by that I mean the EU, not the Euro) is at risk, and any further progress dead for at least a generation.

Killer Pigeon

RichieC wrote: »

There's not enough wealthy people in ireland to make a credible "free market" party.

turkeys wont vote for Christmas.

But there's always wealthy people...

Killer Pigeon

Sand wrote: »

We, as a nation, are deeply, deeply in trouble because libertarians werent making the decisions in September 2008.

Full stop.

FeckinUsername

There is no alternative whatsoever so long as the electorate think in terms of the failed tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee politics that has brought us to where we are. Sinn Féin are the only logical alternative in this state. They are the only ones forwarding realistic alternatives to the current failed policies of FF/ FG.

Liam Byrne

There's nothing in libertarian thought that is against ethical commerce.

Not having a watchdog means that we will see more of the same.

You're also reversing the point - there is nothing in libertarian thought that supports or encourages ethical commerce either, so I cannot see how it is being proposed as a solution.

snafuk35

FeckinUsername wrote: »

There is no alternative whatsoever so long as the electorate think in terms of the failed tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee politics that has brought us to where we are. Sinn Féin are the only logical alternative in this state. They are the only ones forwarding realistic alternatives to the current failed policies of FF/ FG.

A high tax, high spend, extreme nationalist party that is in bed with gangsters, paramilitaries, dodgy builders and friends with Arab dictators and terrorists is NOT what we need.

Doc Ruby

snafuk35 wrote: »

A high tax, high spend, extreme nationalist party that is in bed with gangsters, paramilitaries, dodgy builders and friends with Arab dictators and terrorists is NOT what we need.

Really, sounds like politics in the USA to be honest, haha, no I keed because I love.

Seriously, I am fed to my back teeth with Fine Fáil and Fianna Gael, Labour and god almighty save us from the Ultra Left Army. To a man and woman they all stink of corruption and agendas they don't want to talk about in the light of day.

Are there no alternatives at all?