Is there any party or person worth voting for in modern-day Irish politics?

bladespin

Like so many other democratic countries around the world our main political parties are now pretty much indiscernible from each other, even SF, hence the apathy most now have towards the political system: they've pushed so much to please everyone they're pleasing no-one.

It's leading to the rise in popularity of those with a more radical outlook (both sides of the centre), it won't be long before we start seeing more and more far right/left political figures and the trouble they bring.

So, yeah, there's not a single party I want to vote for in the next election, yet indies are trouble in themselves (even the best intentioned) - we need the return of the monster raving party to at least open a protest vote release.

thinkabouit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121201384#Comment_121201384

And Institutions like our Government partys dont do more or less the same thing?

theres a lot of similarity with county councils and The Dail. They’re there to make management decisions and implement laws & policies.

But until we change the decision making for policies & laws where on the road to ruin.

thinkabouit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121201356#Comment_121201356

The Dail is there the same as a county council. Its a management system to develop& implement policies & laws for the country.

well agree so that independents are a complete waste of time, and will get no problems solved will only halt progress.

Now lets vote for a political party. A complete opposite to independents. Weve voted that way for over a hundred years so we should find Utopia….

I dunno about you but i think Ireland’s very very far from Utopia.

Hotblack Desiato

No it's not utopia but it's a damn sight better now than it was ten years ago never mind 30 or 40; This sort of unfocused whining gets really boring really fast.

eire4

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121167684#Comment_121167684

Totally agree. Our system has its flaws no question about it. For instance we have still not really dealt with the Seanad. We didn't abolish it but its just sitting there clearly needing major reform. But as much as our system has its flaws overall all our PR voting system is vastly ahead of and better then the first past the post they use say in the US and is overall pretty good. I know I will certainly be voting when it comes time for the next election.

Ramasun

Always vote.

Win, lose or draw you had your say.

mikemac2

In Ireland the councillors who claim to be left leaning also vote to reduce property tax by the maximum 15%

Any other state these socialists would want the full whack so they can use that money for other causes.

In Ireland parties want to be all things to all people.

Finty Lemon

Attended a public meeting lately where Holly Cairns made a speech on a range of policy issues. When she was questioned on detail she withered to nothing.

Great leader? Leading ye up the garden path I fear. The politician with the best grasp of reality and the best ambition for the country remains Michael Martin.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121335356#Comment_121335356

We also have 'socialists' who scream blue murder against any form of property tax (and even, in some cases, wealth tax)

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121335356#Comment_121335356

LPT raised in Dublin sees a third of the money go out of the county.

So no point advocating top dollar LPT when monies raised from 1 in every 3 houses goes in full to Mayo or Roscommon.

Sam Russell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121338030#Comment_121338030

Leitrim.

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121338074#Comment_121338074

Them also :)

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121338030#Comment_121338030

A: it was a fifth not a third

B: it has been got rid of. The equalisation fund is no more

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121338255#Comment_121338255

It was a third at one point, someone posted the stats on Boards.

It has now been gotten rid of completley and monies raised stay 100% in the local community?

When did the change come in?

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121338283#Comment_121338283

I don't think it ever was.

With the rate rebase two years ago.

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121338302#Comment_121338302

I wonder how the smaller councils make up their shortfall?

A quick google seems to suggest that those councils with a surplus like Dublin City etc fund roads and housing with a portion of the surplus money, but lose the central funding from govt that would have previously paid for those services.

Give with one hand, take with the other.

I guess the central govt funding that DCC would have got goes to Mayo and Roscommon etc, instead of the DCC LPT.

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121082292#Comment_121082292

Given that their policy document predicted a fall in private sector commencements, when they are up 14% in 2023, you wouldn't have much faith in the rest of the document, would you?

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121340246#Comment_121340246

Are people not still voting for parties who have failed on many of their policy promises for decades? At what point do you lose 'faith'?

For me, I lost faith in the two main parties a long time ago. Final straw was FF taking us off the edge economically and then the cynical Kenny promises to bring new politics to how business was done here.

I gave them two terms and to be honest it is now worse as FF and FG circled the wagons to protect their power.

Francis McM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121340268#Comment_121340268

Well, if you think this country is such a basket case, why do you not go and live in N.I., where your SF have had power for some years, and during those years many would say things have got worse instead of better, despite huge handouts from "the mainland" each year?

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121347198#Comment_121347198

Where did I say this country was a 'basket case'?

Exactly, I didn't say any such thing.

We are a wealthy inclusive outward looking country which is getting some things badly wrong because of the priorities of the two parties who have swapped power between them since independence.

The point of my post (which you want to divert to your nemesis) was that those two parties have made many promises in manifesto's they reneged on over the decades.

Why would voters continue to have 'faith' in anything they promise?

Francis McM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121347663#Comment_121347663

You did say FF took us off the edge economically, and as you say you have lost faith in the two main parties a long time ago. You complained that the parties in power in Ireland have failed on many of their policy promises for decades.

Why do you not go abroad and try to find a country that has succeeded on "many of their policy promises for decades". Maybe Venezuala ( you could do some bird watching), Cuba or North Korea?

At least the parties in power have a track record of building an economy, not destroying it by kidnapping, bombing, scaring off FDI etc.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121362658#Comment_121362658

I am a fighter.

I don't give up just because some abuse their power and wreck the economy. I'm no Arlene who will leave because of a democratic vote.

What kind of a country would we have if people just fecked off??

Francis McM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121362747#Comment_121362747

Arlene and her father were attacked by Republican twice : once when they shot her father and the second time when they bombed the school bus she was on as a young girl. Because of the Ethnic cleansing of protestants which took part the last time ( think the Bandon valley massacres and the burnings out and the intimidation a century ago ) she thinks she would not feel comfortable the next time the British withdrew - if they ever did, it a hypothetical situation - and would leave. Who could blame her?

You are just victim blaming when you ask " What kind of a country would we have if people just fecked off??". You think the many tens of thousands "who fecked off" the last time should have ignored their neighbours being killed, the intimidation, the house burnings etc?

I must have hit a nerve with you when you bring up Arlene out of the blue. Was it when it was pointed out to you "At least the parties in power have a track record of building an economy, not destroying it by kidnapping, bombing, scaring off FDI etc."?

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121363238#Comment_121363238

Arlene who was a public representative at the time said she would abandon her people if a democratic vote went against her.

I would never leave if a democratic vote decided something.

Thousands of people suffered in the conflict/war on both sides and would not run because they couldn’t handle democracy. Arlene is not someone unique.

Francis McM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121363262#Comment_121363262

She did not "feck off" after the gun attack on her father by Republicans, or after the sectarian bomb attack on the bus full of protestant kids.

You talk about her "abandon her people if a democratic vote went against her.". Democratic votes went against her already and she has not "fecked off" as you put it.

If there ever was a vote for a U.I, she would be retired , and would it matter to her ex-voters or you if a retired politician left the island in the case of violent fighting and intimidation, which surely would happen again in the case of a U.I. ?

You are victim blaming again. Do you think the many tens of thousands "who fecked off" the last time should have ignored their neighbours being killed, the intimidation, the house burnings etc?

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121363354#Comment_121363354

https://sluggerotoole.com/2023/11/12/examining-the-online-trolling-and-harassment-directed-at-unionists-part-2/

Arlene features prominently in this article.

Here is a quote from her:

"I do believe that women who are unionists come in for much more bile than our male colleagues. I am the wrong type of woman in politics for the world of social media – if I was a republican, liberal it would be a different story"

Are you surprised therefore that she has been referenced here again by a good republican? Arlene is a nice easy target for them because she is a woman and she walked away from the abuse, so they think they can continue with it.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121363354#Comment_121363354

She did not "feck off" after the gun attack on her father by Republicans, or after the sectarian bomb attack on the bus full of protestant kids.

You talk about her "abandon her people if a democratic vote went against her.". Democratic votes went against her already and she has not "fecked off" as you put it.

I didn't make it up. She told Patrick Kielty what she intended doing if there was a majority in favour of a UI in a documentary.

She mever mentioned 'fighting or intimidation'. She just would not be able to stomach the will of the people.

It mattered when she was a public rep, that she would just abandon her constituency.

Doesn't matter now what she does frankly as she is no longer a public representative.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121363384#Comment_121363384

What 'abuse'?

You are exaggerating things again.

Criticism is not abuse.

Francis McM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121363508#Comment_121363508

Do you condemn the people who attempted to murder / shot her father?

Do you condemn the people who bombed the school bus she was on ( with other kids ) years later?

A simple yes or no will suffice.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366637#Comment_121366637

I condemn all the violence from the start.

There is NO hierarchy of victims.