March 8th - What’s your vote? **Mod Note In Post #677**

A few other loopers turned up including Andy (beats women, drug dealer and his kids have a barring order) Heasman and Dee Wall. Both on disability while journeying around the country annoying people, letches the both of them.

Yeah, Marie Sherlock made an absolute fool of herself on RTE, par for the course for Labour. Sinn Fein look incredibly foolish and out of touch. The Social Democrats disappeared off the face of the earth today.

Not someone I would vote for personally, but at least Peadar has got some kind of a mandate (unlike another fecking "citizen" journalist), he spoke well and was consistent.

Ha I doubt much champers about the place.

Only saw Ryan and Leo out... rest at home hiding .

Greens will be gone after this government.

But don't kid yourself all those young enough in FFG will be back again 4.5 years time . People will forget , move on and hate whomever replaced them so much it'll be "time for a change " yet again .

A massive cull needed in government and a fish rots from the head down.

A general election is needed badly

Pretty much all parties campaigned for Yes. An election will achieve nothing, the same parties will be in power afterwards, there is no alternative.

I agree with everything you wrote until the last sentence.

"the future is bleak"? come on, you live in one of the richest countries in the world, bleak is living in north korea, Russia, not Ireland.

Interesting stat: the care referendum was the highest no vote in any referendum, the family referendum was the third highest. Over 1m people voted no to each amendment.

I think these stats, plus the ratios at play (3:1 and 2:1 No:Yes) puts to bed any talk of the no "minority" simply being more motivated than the yes "majority" who stayed at home, and that the result is somehow not representative of the public's views.

It will have to be forced on them. They won't do it otherwise.

nah had enough of him during his time with the PD’s. Though do appreciate his role in this referendum which has been epic.

That's a soundbite, not reality for many people.

The country being "rich" because of massively skewed GDP figures doesn't tally when a recent report said adults are reducing their own food intake so their children don't go without. It doesn't tally with people being stuck at home or unable to afford to buy a home of their own. It doesn't tally with not being able to get to see a GP when they need to, or spending hours on a trolley in A&E (having spent hours before that sitting in the waiting room if not critical).

We may not be North Korea or Russia, but then we don't claim to be a 3rd world or dictatorship either. If we're going to compare ourselves to anything, try other first-world modern republics and democracies.

The majority of the population are still going on foreign holidays, out at weekends in restaurants, pubs, gigs, buying new electric cars, etc etc only a tiny minority are reducing their intake of food, also no one needs to do that in Ireland, st vincent de paul and numerous other charities wont see anyone go hungry.

unemployed in Ireland? the Government will more or less pay you to go study for a few years in college, same for helping you start a business. you wouldnt get that help in most other countries.

as someone said on radio lately, the Irish are like the French now, we live in heaven but we think we live in hell.

Massive housing crisis, failing health service, can't get a GP appointment for weeks, working people unable to have kids due to affordability, a government more interested in NGO group-think and soundbites than actually doing or achieving anything, houses being thrown up in areas with no GP or school places, a disgraceful special needs system for children, complete mismanagement of services and developing the economy, we can't service the people who are here and the government is spending millions on economic migrants welcoming them with open arms. Sure tis grand, isn't it?

Even with all mainstream parties advocating for yes votes, there were two landslides for no. Neither referendum was even close.

I think trust in politicians and parties is really low now. It has been since the recession and I don’t see any sign of it changing. The electorate are way more volatile now and there’s no sign of it settling.

FF and FG don’t have anything like the loyalty they once had. And they’re not as active as they once were either. FF in particular used to have a v strong grassroot structure. That’s almost gone now, and v few are joining either of the big two with the hope of seeing policy aims realised.

SF and the Greens are the parties with youthful energy now, but the market is wide open for a right wing party.

13 years after the landmark 2011 annihilation of FF, Irish politics still hasn’t found a new normal.