General Election and Government Formation Megathread (see post #1)

Claw Hammer · 21-01-2020 07:41PM

Sardonicat wrote: »

In response to your first question, it's perfectly valid to only vote for one candidate. You can do so by placing the number one in the space for that candidate but an x is also allowable when only voting for one candidate also. You can vote for as few or as many as you like on the paper, but when it's more than one you must indicate the order of preference numerically.

I am not so sure about an x. It is certainly not allowed by law. There was a practice of allowing alphabetically marked votes where the order of preference is clear. That was challenged in the Kiely case.

The case, brought by former senator and Kerry County Council hopeful Dan Kiely, centred on whether ballot papers with a numerical sequence of preferences – but which don’t start with ’1′ – are valid.

Kiely took the case after losing out on a seat for Kerry County Council in the 2014 local elections, when – like they did this year – voters cast their preferences on two separate ballot papers: one for the European Parliament and one for their local authority.

In some cases, voters put their first and second preferences on one paper, and followed with their third, fourth and fifth preferences on the other paper.

At the time, election guidelines stated that both ballot papers could be accepted as valid, but the Supreme Court later found in favour of Kiely (who then missed out on a seat anyway) and ruled that papers which did not start with a ’1′ were invalid.

BonnieSituation · 21-01-2020 07:43PM

blanch152 wrote: »

Not more delays in public transport?

It's the FF way.

Few bypasses will placate the Culchies while the Capital creaks.

Claw Hammer · 21-01-2020 07:45PM

As the election is being held on a Saturday and polls will close on Saturday night, will counting begin on the Sunday morning or will it start on the Monday morning?

is_that_so · 21-01-2020 07:57PM

Starts the morning after so you'd imagine it will start on Sunday.

is_that_so · 21-01-2020 07:59PM

BonnieSituation wrote: »

It's the FF way.

Few bypasses will placate the Culchies while the Capital creaks.

Actually they've mentioned the Metro expansion in some way as have the Greens so could be a bit of flirting going on. That'll eat up a fair bit of change out of €11bn!

charlie14 · 21-01-2020 08:12PM

FrancieBrady wrote: »

I don't know.
It's still a very confused picture and we need a few more polls.

Gobsmacked with the Greens performance too, they don't seem to be convincing any huge number of the young vote and surely they should be?

Agreed. but with SF rise in this poll of 50% and their policy of leaving the pension age at 65, it would not surprise me if the two are related.
The greys carry a lot of voting weight so it will be interesting to see what FF and FG do.

Not overly surprised at the Green numbers.
Outside of Dublin the picking will be slim, and while those to young to vote may think they are a great idea, the young that have a vote like their comforts and travel.
Could see them dropping even further when costings are supplied for their proposals.

Snow Garden · 21-01-2020 08:15PM

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Neil Richmond in a tweet said it was Haughey.

Regardless if FF do get in there looks to a sharp enough apparent fall in the competency of those that would be ministers.

I'm not saying they are not competent - maybe they are more competent? From what I see it does not look that way overall.

Which FG ministers were successful in their portfolios?

Claw Hammer · 21-01-2020 08:17PM

imagination is a great thing. Normally counting starts the next morning, but does it have to? Is it known that it will start on the Sunday morning?

is_that_so · 21-01-2020 08:17PM

Snow Garden wrote: »

Which FG ministers were successful in their portfolios?

Helen McEntee, Coveney, Pascal, Richard Bruton all did well.

charlie14 · 21-01-2020 08:38PM

is_that_so wrote: »

Helen McEntee, Coveney, Pascal, Richard Bruton all did well.

FG made a major play the first week of campaigning on McEntee and Coveney`s work on Brexit, but it did not get much traction as voters look on it as a strategy agreed by all parties and not the sole ownership of FG.

Bruton`s Dept is in charge of the National Broadband Plan.

Not universally popular with the contract six times the original estimate, the contract going to the only bidder and after a state investment of 3 Billion the sole bidder will own the network.

Water John · 21-01-2020 08:43PM

Saw the FG election broadcast on RTE. Very poor and unimaginative as a piece of broadcasting. Whoever put it together should get a P45.

McMurphy · 21-01-2020 08:56PM

Water John wrote: »

Saw the FG election broadcast on RTE. Very poor and unimaginative as a piece of broadcasting. Whoever put it together should get a P45.

Prob the same eejits who did their badly received video.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/fine-gael-deletes-spoof-election-video-after-negative-response-1.4144252?mode=amp

L1011 · 21-01-2020 09:56PM

It will start on Sunday morning. Various returning officers websites have the date on it.

https://kerryro.com/index.php/15-general-election-feb-2020/44-general-election-count-feb-2020 for one

hotmail.com · 21-01-2020 10:22PM

If there's ever a united Ireland, the North won't count votes on a Sunday.

Xertz · 22-01-2020 12:57AM

It just means you're an Irish Citizen and can vote in all elections. They could do with being a bit clearer in their use of jargon.

"Election Type: Presidential" = All Elections and Referenda i.e you're an Irish Citizen.
"Election Type: Dáil" = Dail Eireann (General Elections), Local and European Elections i.e. you're a UK Citizen.
"Election Type: European" = Local and European Elections i.e. you're a EU Citizen (other than Irish or UK).
"Election Type: Local" = Local Elections Only i.e. you're legally resident in Ireland, but not an Irish, UK or EU citizen.

ShaneODub · 22-01-2020 01:36AM

Can anyone explain to me, where is the cost-saving in raising the pension age to 66 or 67 if another equivalent payment is made available to replace it? I thought that the point was that people would retire later, in which case wouldn't they be better off legislating against compulsory retirement for 65-year olds?

feargale · 22-01-2020 02:31AM

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Back in the 70s, Hall's Pictorial Weekly morphed from a silly parody of regional news into a hugely popular satirical show during the 73-77 FG led coalition, lashing into the government. They dialled it way back when FF got in again, and RTÉ cancelled it altogether without giving any reasons when Haughey became Taoiseach, because heaven knows there was no need for satire after that.

I remember it well. It lasted a short time after Haughey's takeover, but the only FF minister lambasted during Haughey's reign, was, surprise, surprise, Des O'Malley. Having done its job on Des it folded. Frank Hall, like just about every old style Northern Nationalist, was an FFer south of the border. He prostituted his profession as a journalist/comedian.

feargale · 22-01-2020 02:47AM

Perry in Sligo challenged this last time in the High Court, which, with typical government-challenging courage, decided that he had no standing in the matter. He lost a nomination because of it. If he had no standing who had? Then it was too late for him to appeal to the Supreme Court.
I am convinced that the quota provision is unconstitutional as an attempt to manipulate the election result. It is akin to the Indonesian "guided democracy" system of some decades ago, If they are trying to level the playing field, more in their line to abolish deposits.
By all means provide creche facilities or whatever for female legislators, but this pandering to the worst extremes of feminism is insanity. Amazons have the same stranglehold over cowardly legislators now that Dublin archbishops had in the past. Shout jump in a feminine voice and they will ask how high.

sabat · 22-01-2020 03:03AM

Wait a minute, how come the court ruled that this only applies to males and females when the rest of the state apparatus insists that myriad genders exist? Should the largest parties not be required to field 2 or 3 transgender/sexual/genderqueer/whatever candidates?

is_that_so · 22-01-2020 09:23AM

feargale wrote: »

Perry in Sligo challenged this last time in the High Court, which, with typical government-challenging courage, decided that he had no standing in the matter. He lost a nomination because of it. If he had no standing who had? Then it was too late for him to appeal to the Supreme Court.
I am convinced that the quota provision is unconstitutional as an attempt to manipulate the election result. It is akin to the Indonesian "guided democracy" system of some decades ago, If they are trying to level the playing field, more in their line to abolish deposits.
By all means provide creche facilities or whatever for female legislators, but this pandering to the worst extremes of feminism is insanity. Amazons have the same stranglehold over cowardly legislators now that Dublin archbishops had in the past. Shout jump in a feminine voice and they will ask how high.

The basic aim of it is to increase the number of female politicians, which in theory will provide role models to encourage other women to get involved. Nothing wrong with that IMO but it's certainly none of what you imagine here.
Test how convinced you are by pointing to the Article it contravenes.

FrancieBrady · 22-01-2020 10:28AM

Deleted User wrote: »

Presenters in the broadcaster have would have different political affiliations and some wouldn’t gave any, of course. But sometimes those who do make it very obvious that they do. The political/news/current affairs division of RTÉ does an excellent job at balance; where I’ve heard the most obvious bias is on Liveline and Darcy. Ray once said he’d emigrate if Enda Kenny came into power, and yesterday Joe Duffy was being quite blatantly anti FG; today he was going out on a limb to criticise both of the biggest parties equally, my hunch is that it was in response to complaints, probably from FG people or those interested in balance.

The 'Ray D'arcy' point is kind of indicative of the problem here. You can portray the station as 'biased' if you want really. All you have to do is ignore somethings and hype up others.

D'Arcy did not work for RTE when he made that comment about Kenny, he was a guest.

Was/is he particularly biased?

Well his show on Today FM was raided by Gardai after he facilitated the 'nude paintings' of Brian Cowen artist to get publicity for his stunt. Both he and his producer refused to hand over the email trail to the artist.

So both FG and FF could portray him as biased.

My own opinion is that there is no particular bias or conspiracy going on, only a workforce consisting of a certain set of people who sometimes give certain emphasis and exposure to their own preferences. Especially on 'issues'.

sid waddell · 22-01-2020 10:55AM

Was Scrap Saturday scrapped because of FF interference?

No other reason makes sense because it had only been on air for two series and was hugely successful, it was a sensation at the time.

Nighthawks was canned at the exact same time, that programme brought down Haughey.

Zubeneschamali · 22-01-2020 11:34AM

sid waddell wrote: »

Was Scrap Saturday scrapped because of FF interference?.

Wikipedia says The show was very popular with listeners and there were accusations of political interference when it was dropped by RTÉ

but the reference to the Examiners archive is broken.

FrancieBrady · 22-01-2020 11:52AM

Maria Bailey not running

https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/1219932842219704321

Penn · 22-01-2020 12:56PM

Jesus the Fine Gael Help To Buy Scheme is an absolute shocker, and completely tone deaf to the issues people trying to buy a home face

https://twitter.com/FineGael/status/1219739395579895813

No need for any deposit, still applies to couples earning over €100k, and will only benefit developers who'll increase prices.

And not a hope is Jane building a house for €200k even if she does have land.

Absolutely ridiculous.

An Ciarraioch · 22-01-2020 01:19PM

John Waters has joined up with Gemma O'Doherty, and is running in Dún Laoghaire:

https://twitter.com/Independent_ie/status/1219949089825214464

is_that_so · 22-01-2020 01:24PM

FrancieBrady wrote: »

Maria Bailey not running

https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/1219932842219704321

Never in doubt

22-01-2020 01:27PM

Goodbye Maria, don't let the door hit you in the arse. (lest their be another lawsuit)

An Ciarraioch · 22-01-2020 01:31PM

I note that the odds for Longford-Westmeath have James Reynolds of the National Party at 6/1 - are there that many far-right voters in the Midlands? Granted, that leaves him seventh in a four-seat constituency, but still eye-opening!

L1011 · 22-01-2020 01:33PM

An Ciarraioch wrote: »

I note that the odds for Longford-Westmeath have James Reynolds of the National Party at 6/1 - are there that many far-right voters in the Midlands? Granted, that leaves him seventh in a four-seat constituency, but still eye-opening!

A decent number of Longford voters will be voting Longford down the card after the 2016 result; irrespective of anything else.

General Election and Government Formation Megathread (see post #1)

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