Sinn Fein and how do they form a government dilemma

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122006364#Comment_122006364

Don't bother quoting me, if I wanted to hear Sinn Fein propaganda I could find it myself

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122006379#Comment_122006379

They talk out of both sides of their mouth on every issue.

Look at immigration. Throwing crumbs to the far right while at the same time Chris McManus votes against measures that will address the issue.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122006379#Comment_122006379

So just build anything you want where you want?

This objection was fully tested and rightly declined. Imagine the state of the country if you just allow a free for all. Ridiculous

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122006390#Comment_122006390

Sending on Pearse with the faux outrage act to talk about immigration on the day Simon Harris took over was incredibly embarrassing.

Incompetence from top to bottom.

If Sinn Fein had been shut down years ago from blocking developments we wouldn't have as big a crisis we have now, the mess they made in DCC for 5 years is still trying to be resolved.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122006430#Comment_122006430

Sending on Pearse with the faux outrage act to talk about immigration on the day Simon Harris took over was incredibly embarrassing.

What was the connection there?

Was there an embargo on talking about immigration because Simon was taking over?

robwen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122004161#Comment_122004161

Clearly already on the SF payroll

Bobson Dugnutt

Pearse Doherty is becoming a liability. Just the sort of bleak and unrelenting negativity that sums up SF these days. Shouting for 30 second TikTok videos. Found out the odd time he appears on tv or radio, especially with his very poor grasp of detail.
If I was Louise O’Reilly, Pa Daly, Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire etc then I’d be thinking that it might be time for a new leadership. They don’t get to decide that obviously, but they surely realise the tide is going out with the current inner circle.

Field east

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122004183#Comment_122004183

it was the voters who decided the make up of the current government. SF had the numbers if it wanted to form a gov but failed to negotiate same, I wonder why? I would be very happy if the current failing/failed/ confused/lost/ gutless/no strategy/ no plans/ etc, etc, etc, etc government were returned in the next GE if it continued to run an economy along the current lines re rude economic health, very low unemployment, significant annual savings for the rainy day, satisfactory handling of MAJOR one off issues eg Covid, BREXIT, recovery from the recent depression

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008701#Comment_122008701

it was the voters who decided the make up of the current government.

Voters voted for 'parties'. They didn't decide diddly squat about the formation of the government because one of those parties was telling them they 'would never coalesce with FG' and the other was telling them that 'putting FF back in would be akin to putting Delaney back in charge of the FAI'. Seems to me that that has cost FF 5 percentage points or thereabouts and the 20% FG voters seem to be happy with the arrangement.

Bobson Dugnutt

When SF was riding high in the polls at 34/35 percent then they were probably thinking about which constituencies they would run 2 or even 3 candidates in. At 24% and being transfer toxic they now have a different problem on their hands. If they drop below 20% at any stage then the Mary Lou, Pearse, Eoin team will have to be taken out by the leadership.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008760#Comment_122008760

When SF was riding high in the polls at 34/35 percent then they were probably thinking about which constituencies they would run 2 or even 3 candidates in.

Funny, I thought they were thinking that when they achieved 24% in the GE not when they hit the highs of 34/35%. Was that not the big talking point - that they should have run more candidates.

Party president Mary Lou McDonald acknowledged that Sinn Fein might have done things differently with hindsight.

“I am advised I should have had a running mate in my own constituency, that’s for sure,” she joked, after topping the poll with lots to spare in Dublin Central.

“We certainly could have fielded another candidate, but hindsight is a great thing. I’m just delighted that the candidates that we did run have performed so astonishingly well and have come back so strongly.”

Sinn Fein’s Donnchadh O Laoghaire, who topped the poll in Cork South Central ahead of Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, was taken aback by the results.

“Yes I was surprised, that is the truthful answer, we weren’t expecting a vote like this,” he said.

mikep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008644#Comment_122008644

Pearse was on morning Ireland and came across as a very angry man. They all seem be getting more angry as they go along...

Bobson Dugnutt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008861#Comment_122008861

Didn’t catch that. I tend not to listen to him these days. It’s not like he has anything new or relevant to say. Same when you see clips from the Dáil. There will be Pearse, ashen-faced, doing his shouting, pointing his finger, waving sheets of paper thing. It will be boring, abrasive and contain nothing new.

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008861#Comment_122008861

More houses are being built, children's hospital is nearly finished, big increases for public servants, inflation is coming down, even Limerick hospital is making progress, record numbers of first-time buyers, new immigration reforms, a lot of things are being sorted over the next few months, Sinn Fein will need to sing a different tune about how they will make things better, and drop the ould whinging and crying. If they don't (and I don't believe that they can do it), their poll ratings could fall further.

FrancieBrady

Have to say I do love reading the exceptionalism about 'angry' 'whinging' opposition leaders. Seems to me opposition leaders have always relentlessly attacked the sitting government but seemingly that is a 'new' thing now. All those images of an ashen faced Micheal Martin, Kenny or Varadkar pointing across the chamber while in opposition have been wiped from many minds, it seems.

The fault lines on which an election will be fought are fairly well established now, Doherty points out the main ones here:

https://twitter.com/PearseDoherty/status/1778709649346224553

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008861#Comment_122008861

The faux outrage act has been going on for years. Try to find the video with him taking off his mask during covid when he was outraged about something as well. It was hilarious.

I think it was someone had taken all the choccie biscuits

Field east

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122004183#Comment_122004183

IYO, why was it necessary for FF being essential to form a gov with SF when there was enough Left wing/left leaning individuals and parties elected to form a government. The Labour Party was on board with a little compromise re gov programme and the Greens were definately on for Working with SF to form a gov.. One did not need even a national school cert to know why SF did not seriously try to form a gov after the last election

mikep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009220#Comment_122009220

I'm aware of his faux outrage for years.. this morning he just sounded really angry.. even when Ciaran Cuddihy found a €750 million hole in his alternative budget he didn't sound as angry...

They should probably all take a step back and see where the anger is getting them. It must be draining, physically and mentally...

Bobson Dugnutt

A party is under absolutely no obligation to go into government with a coalition partner they are ideologically and morally opposed to. That’s the facts of the matter.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009254#Comment_122009254

The alternative budget which they released and had to pull for errors, still has huge holes in it? anyone really surprised?

For the proposed Minister for Finance, he was on the other day doing the faux outrage on immigration and now today on housing.

In the video above he was going on about Health?

That's a lot of faux outrage, do they have nobody else in the party anymore or just sticking Pearse because they think people like his act?

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009235#Comment_122009235

This has all been gone over before.
The numbers were not there to form a stable government. Here is the then leader of the Soc Dems:

Catherine Murphy, co-leader of the Social Democrats, believes Sinn Féin is "serious" about forming a left-wing bloc but acknowledges Dáil arithmetic is against this taking shape.“We are interested in talking about the detail of policy and where there can be a similarity of approach,” she said. “None of us know where this is eventually going to end.”

And this contemporaneous article sums up what was going on fairly well re: options and negotiations.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/is-a-sinn-fein-led-coalition-of-the-left-still-possible-1.4181210

It is just a tired old jibe now about 'seriousness'. A taunt in other words.

Bobson Dugnutt

I don’t know why they keep rolling out the same few heads. Doherty, the utterly insufferable Eoin Ó Broin, McDonald, that other big unit from Donegal. Carthy is ok, but he has a voice that is difficult to listen to for any extended period of time.

Cullinane is good, Pa Daly, O’Reilly; that O’Rourke lad from Meath.

Time to change the faces, the strategy, the social media campaign. Not working.

Field east

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008735#Comment_122008735

Francis , I think that you are getting a bit confused now. You are now throwing out words / sentences in the hope that they will stick/ not being questioned

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009235#Comment_122009235

You are absolutely correct.

There was one ingredient needed to form a coalition of the left last time out - leadership. That ingredient was missing from Sinn Fein, PBP, Labour and the Social Democrats. To be fair to PBP, they did publicly get annoyed at the lack of leadership and made their views known, and the other two parties have acknowledged the problem and changed leaders. It is Sinn Fein who think that doing the same thing again will lead to a better result.

Bobson Dugnutt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009321#Comment_122009321

They should also be aware that a coalition with PBP would last less than a month. There is no one ideologically pure enough for an Irish communist. They are almost like the Free Presbyterians - believe the book and the teachings or you are damned.
Not a serious party.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009320#Comment_122009320

I have disputed a claim you made.

it was the voters who decided the make up of the current government.

They didn't.

The voters elected TD's who then went on and decided 'the make up of the current government'. It is their prerogative to do that but the voters had no act or part in it, had Micheal left the door open it could be a SF/FF coalition now. The voter would have had no say in that either.

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009320#Comment_122009320

Interesting that the opinion polls now have relevance when FF have lost support, but when SF are down 10% and back to their general election performance, they have no meaning.

markodaly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008644#Comment_122008644

The more I see of Pearse Doherty, the more unimpressed I get.

His 'angry shtick' is getting tiresome. When he burst onto the scene in 2011 he was somewhat a fresh face, but now, he just plays the same role.

He would be a shoo-in for a ministerial portfolio next time out if SF goes into government, but I'd wager he would be found out quickly as he appears to be hard to work with.

It's one thing to be the angry man complaining about the government, but no one wants the angry minister complaining.

markodaly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009210#Comment_122009210

"Out of ideas.."

The facts dont back that up.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/property/developmentconstruction/arid-41343209.html

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorials/2024/03/13/the-irish-times-view-on-housing-supply-some-progress-on-building-new-homes/

It seems that a corner has been turned on this.

To say otherwise is just not factual or credible

Topgear on Dave

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009235#Comment_122009235

Really I don't think either SF, PBP or Soc Dems regard Labour as being a serious party of the left given how often they have gone in with FF/FG and the attempts to implement water charges.

Parties do have some principles.