who will hold the balance of power

horn dog 1

Im interested to know how people feel about the upcoming Election in Ireland, and if what the polls suggest are true the drop in support for the PDs and the expected rise of support for Sinn Fein, which could result with Sinn Fein holding the ballance of power.

Is this a result of dissatisfaction with the Parties or is it an exceptance that Sinn Fein are a Political Force to be reckoned with ?

Biffa Bacon

Is this a result of dissatisfaction with the Parties or is it an exceptance that Sinn Fein are a Political Force to be reckoned with ?

Definitely a bit of both. All the mainstream parties are completely devoid of talent and ideas and Sinn Féin are very active in constituencies they think they can win.

However, even if Sinn Féin do hold the balance of power I can't imagine any party bringing them into government.

Boston

hes right, sinn fein are very very active on the local level, sheldom do you see a sinn fein member on two, but you will often know him or her from your area because then generaly have their offices or live in that area.

As for going into goverment, stranger things have happened

horn dog 1

I agree that of all the parties in my area they are the one most noticable at the grass roots level. I think that the main Politcal Parties should be concerned at this because in Northern Ireland that is how they increased there vote, although they did not make the breakthrough till the last Election they were continualy increasing there council seats... My belief is that if the major Parties dont clean up there image and stop and take the Irish Electorate seriously Sin Fein and the Independants will not only increase there seats but give the major Parties a serious wake up call who knows proberly what they deserve.

Saruman

Wow Horndog a serious post.. no need for moderation this time..

On a serious point (and back on topic):
Sinn Fein.. not impressed! I just could never bring myself to vote for them.. not just because of their ties with IRA but on a political level! Firstly their primary goal is a United Ireland! A view i dont see as necessary in the least and certainly not a primary issue.. maybe it would be nice to have united Ireland but to be honest its probably more trouble than its worth.. also they believe in socialism.. i do not and especially not their kind! Gerry Adams was on the "Last Word" on TodayFM a couple of weeks ago and he was not convincing in the least! I mean everything he said just seemed as if it was out of a hat and he could not actually back any of it up! But come to think of it Bertie was on there another night (the real Bertie!) and he was not much better at convincing me! However at least he is likeable enough. The Pd's.. well MAry Herney (Harney.. whatever..) was also on there another night and she spoke like she knew what she was doing! She actually made some politcal and economic sense.. for one thing her views on monopolies and privatisation.. Her views of the Aer Rianta monopoly versus Ryanair! I dont think she said she wanted the monopoly gone completely but i think that lesser airports like Cork etc should be private and invoke competition and renewal in those areas, shannon may have been one of them too.. and Aer Rianta Keep Dublin airport running or something along those lines..

To be honest i dont know who im goign with.. whats Labour up to? and Fine Gael? actually FG are bigger muppets than some newbies on the boards.. they spam the public with crap and they always blame the current government on everything wrong with society (who predated FF/PD???) well its low blow polatics at the moment and im not impressed with any of them.

horn dog 1

The fact that you are not sure of weather any of the parties are worthy of your vote is a indication of the state of irish Politics, Mary Harney comments about aer Rianta lately in my opinion was suspicous as her Party refuse to reveal how much donations were given to them recently by Ryan Air.....
What ever happens come the next elections I pity the guy who comes looking for your vote unless hes the real Berty......

Saruman

When in doubt.. vote for Dustin!

mike65

Predictions for balance of power - Most likely PDs', then Labour, then asorted "independants", then SF.

I suspect the FF/PD will be returned, unless something
unexpected happens, which of course it well might, but the
opposition would'nt exploit it proberly anyway.

Mike.