Way to go Fianna Fáil

Kermit.de.frog

Whilst the shinner bots wallow in their pretend "advance" and hijack every internet forum to fake their own relevance (even though it was only a protest vote) one party has genuine reason to crack open the bubbly.


With 25.3% of the vote and 266 seats Fianna Fáil is once again the largest party in the country and will surely lead the next government. With lots of new councillors and a sense the party has moved on the electorate are returning in droves (terror possibly at the other alternatives!?)

The people have voted for change. They want Micheál Martin.;)

Santa Cruz

Will we get a Martin and Mary Lou show after the next election?

TheDoctor

Next gov will be FF/FG or SF/Independents/Anti Austerity Alliance groups

donegal__road

I was watching National Geographic the last day about un-contacted tribes in the Amazon. National Geographic should come to Ireland and make a similar documentary.

Barely There

FF have increased their lead over the Shinners since the last election.

Most of the Shinner vote is softer than Liberace at the Playboy mansion.

Labour will take a few % off them at the next GE too.

Davarus Walrus

Indeed. Behind all the bluster and talk of seismic change the percentage of the vote going to centre-right parties actually increased.

hatrickpatrick

I will literally vote for anyone other than FF. I despise our current government with a fiery passion, but FF should never e allowed into the Dail again in any capacity after the banking crisis.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

I honestly think they'd still have a large 'core vote' if they started operating death camps around the country and invited leading members of Hamas and the DPRK regime to help with the running of them.

bumper234

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Whilst the shinner bots wallow in their pretend "advance" and hijack every internet forum to fake their own relevance (even though it was only a protest vote) one party has genuine reason to crack open the bubbly.


With 25.3% of the vote and 266 seats Fianna Fáil is once again the largest party in the country and will surely lead the next government. With lots of new councillors and a sense the party has moved on the electorate are returning in droves (terror possibly at the other alternatives!?)

The people have voted for change. They want Micheál Martin.;)

Agree with the bolded but it's also relevant to say that a lot of the FF votes were protest votes against the current government.

Hotale.com

Fianna Fáil support dropped compared to the last local elections....

road_high

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

I honestly think they'd still have a large 'core vote' if they started operating death camps around the country and invited leading members of Hamas and the DPRK regime to help run them here.

They have. I'd estimate that at around 20-25% minimum. I went to a rural school in a typical small Irish town and I remember vividly the amount of staunch FF houses, it was really overwhelming. FF are/were ingrained in the local community, especially related to the Church (Catholic) and the GAA. They're part of "ordinary" people. None of this has really gone away, I'd bet any money these same people returned to FF in their droves.
FG were the party of the professional middle class, big farmers and business owners.

kippy

Between now and the next GE (assuming this government go full term) there are a tonne of enquires due into the banking collapse and what exactly happened in the leadup to 2008.
These are completely pointless escapades as far as I am concerned but one thing they will do is bring back into focus the extent FF were to blame for the mess we are now still in. Personally I think thats the main reason FG and others are trying to run with these enquiries as not much of note will come of them.


Then theres the other side of the coin.
I dont think ANY makeup of government, in the past 3 years, would have done much differently to what the government we have had has done.
Yeah, they didnt handle a lot of stuff well and went back on a number of election promises but only a government that discovered a new money tree could have significantly done things differently.
That doesn't mean they did a good job, but it means their choices were limited.

Things can be improved etc but ultimately balancing the books is going to be painful for many. The fact that our entire debt is close to 180 billion is the worrying bit (moreso that ONLY 64 billion of this - and thus the portion we might get some help on is bank dept). This could end up crippling the plans for future generations.
The key focus for any future goverment, as well as jobs creation and all that other generic stuff, is some form of debt write off/forgiveness etc from the EU/IMF

JJayoo

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Whilst the shinner bots wallow in their pretend "advance" and hijack every internet forum to fake their own relevance (even though it was only a protest vote)

lol some gimp

cruais

Fianna fail will be the next in government. Politics in Ireland is a time cycle.

nc6000

donegal__road wrote: »

I was watching National Geographic the last day about un-contacted tribes in the Amazon. National Geographic should come to Ireland and make a similar documentary.

I asked someone from Brazil recently about these "uncontacted" tribes and they told me it's absolute nonsense.

SEPT 23 1989

25.3% of the voters are either connected or braindead

The Backwards Man

The old joke in Donegal is that if FF put a donkey up for election it would get in.

It's not even a joke tbh, we've been electing donkeys here for years.

neamhspleachi

Do we not have a politics forum?

RayM

Yeah, way to go Fianna Fail... From three MEPs to just one. Great work.

road_high

FF have the "common touch" and play to the gallery of public opinion. I think this has always been the reason for their popularity.

Collie D

I believe that the majority of people in this country (and I include myself) don't actually know what the f**k an MEP does and the locals aren't taken very seriously. I sincerely doubt that FF will do as well in a "real" election.

Don't jizz your pants yet, OP

Manach

It would have taken a complete incompetent office holders to make many people consider voting for FF, but Lab/FF managed it. Of course it would make complete sense to vote for the socialists - as soon as they disclose the location of their magic money tree that will pay for all their economic promises.

Leroy42

Hardly a great job. The government parties lost huge support, something like 10% each, yet FF picked up relatively small amount of this.

It mainly went to SF or the independents. So really the public have given the message that they are very unhappy with this government, but are not really inclined to opt for FF either.

While FF are of course happy with the negative response to GF/Lab it marks a staggering fail to have not been able to pick up any of that given all their 'renewal'.

road_high

One MEP to EU is a spectacular fail. Go back a decade and I'd wager they had half the seats available (of whcih there were more). Had a look at the last few counts and it was pretty clear FF are transfer toxic. They got out their core that would "still vote for them if they shot their granny" vote of about 25%, this was maximised I think. Interestingly FG were not and this is what got 4 candidates elected for them.

conorhal

donegal__road wrote: »

I was watching National Geographic the last day about un-contacted tribes in the Amazon. National Geographic should come to Ireland and make a similar documentary.

Did you miss the one where they followed the Healy Rae's?

FTA69

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Whilst the shinner bots wallow in their pretend "advance" and hijack every internet forum to fake their own relevance (even though it was only a protest vote) one party has genuine reason to crack open the bubbly.


With 25.3% of the vote and 266 seats Fianna Fáil is once again the largest party in the country and will surely lead the next government. With lots of new councillors and a sense the party has moved on the electorate are returning in droves (terror possibly at the other alternatives!?)

The people have voted for change. They want Micheál Martin.;)

Sinn Féin are actually the biggest party in the country as a whole.

Kermit.de.frog

I actually think Micheál Martin has done a fairly decent job all the same. When you think of the chaos the party was in in 2010 he seems to have them on an even keel and set to return the government if their vote holds up or even grows.

And also Fianna Fáil have been engaging in constructive opposition and not the "no to everything" populism of Sinn Féin and i'd say there is some appreciation in the electorate.

Also Fianna Fáil have not been making any silly promises which is another plus.

So I think the comeback is on.

Kermit.de.frog

FTA69 wrote: »

Sinn Féin are actually the biggest party in the country as a whole.

We are talking about Ireland not the United Kingdom of which Northern Ireland are an integral part by voter choice and which is being jointly administered on behalf of Her Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland by Sinn Féin.

road_high

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

I actually think Micheál Martin has done a fairly decent job all the same. When you think of the chaos the party was in in 2010 he seems to have them on an even keel and set to return the government if their vote holds up or even grows.

And also Fianna Fáil have been engaging in constructive opposition and not the "no to everything" populism of Sinn Féin and i'd say there is some appreciation in the electorate.

Also Fianna Fáil have not been making any silly promises which is another plus.

So I think the comeback is on.

If they have, I've certainly missed that?? The same party that oversaw the whole mess in the first place, culminating in the IMF bailout bringing untold hardship to the nation.

Reekwind

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

25.3% of the voters are either connected or braindead

It's (still) a two-party system. Who else were those former FF voters going to plump for: Labour or Sinn Fein?

Blame the bankrupt political system, not the voters who are the least offensive part of it.

banquo

We just sent 4 Shinners and Nessa Childers - who voted the wrong way on a trade deal by accident.

Bet FF don't look so bad now.

The while "we're a FF family" mentality needs to be fine away with. I know of a few people who had to vote for FF candidates so as to make mommy happy. Absolutely ridiculous nonsense and the sooner the likes of Martin and the other FF cronies are done away with the better. We've a pretty pathetic shower to vote for in this country, listening to some of the nonsense spouted in the debates is enough to make you think that we're still living in the 1950s.

Santa Cruz

FTA69 wrote: »

Sinn Féin are actually the biggest party in the country as a whole.

Are you calling the country a hole?

Santa Cruz

banquo wrote: »

We just sent 4 Shinners and Nessa Childers - who voted the wrong way on a trade deal by accident.

Bet FF don't look so bad now.

I have no doubt that all these new MEPs will achieve as much as what they replaced i.e. S.F.A.

FTA69

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

We are talking about Ireland not the United Kingdom of which Northern Ireland are an integral part by voter choice and which is being jointly administered on behalf of Her Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland by Sinn Féin.

Fianna Fáil The Republican Party eh??

Lulz.

Kermit.de.frog

I think the question for the parties after the next election is a simple one for which I reckon Fianna Fáil will be top just about

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzZ86GYoxE0

Grudaire

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Also Fianna Fáil have not been making any silly promises which is another plus.

So I think the comeback is on.

It's ironic to hear many of their candidates act outraged at taxes such as the water tax and household charge.. all agreed and set in motion prior to the current government.


I'm sad that the comeback is on. We as voters are not sending a message that corruption and incompetence is unacceptable.

FTA69

Reekwind wrote: »

It's (still) a two-party system. Who else were those former FF voters going to plump for: Labour or Sinn Fein?

Blame the bankrupt political system, not the voters who are the least offensive part of it.

Realistically the only conceivable alternative is a loose program agreed between Sinn Féin, Labour and probably a number of Independents (or networks of) as well. The fact that both of our major parties are exactly the same is ridiculous to be honest. Irish politics needs to be fundamentally shifted onto a left/right basis.

If Labour weren't a bunch of spineless c*nts this might have emerged but maybe this is the wake-up call they finally need.

Lenin Skynard

The rise of FF is inevitable. Like was said above, their roots are firmly down in every town, village and city in the country. While FG are talking a lot about Sinn Fein and independents being a protest vote, FG were only ever a protest vote against FF last time around.

dixiefly

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

I honestly think they'd still have a large 'core vote' if they started operating death camps around the country and invited leading members of Hamas and the DPRK regime to help with the running of them.

That is true, there are still quite a number out there that vote FF only on the ballot and cannot/ will not give any preference to any other party.

humanji

Of the many reasons for locking this thread (including blatant trolling for a reaction in the first line), the best is that After Hours is become a dump for political threads. This one isn't adding anything new and is only trying to wind people up, so there's no reason for it to exist.