General Irish politics discussion thread

He showed no empathy or understanding of the difficult lives that carers and the people they care for have. He just wanted to leave, immediately.

If he wasn't the leader of the government who is responsible for the policies that directly affect carers and people with disabilities and if he wasn't looking for re-election - then fine. But he is.

David McWilliams predicted in his IT column last week that government parties might do less well than had been predicted - he noted the global trend this year of incumbent governments performing quite poorly in elections.

The thing is (I say this as someone with a child with disabilities), just taking the time to listen would have said an awful lot. It tends to feel that you are shouting into the void when you give out about the current state of affairs for disability services, getting somebody to listen is so hard.

If he had stayed put, listened to all of her issues and then say something like "I understand how hard that is. We have made some changes are X and hope to do Y. I'll get one of my colleagues to take your details" and then make his exit it would have been a good interaction.

It's great that he's driven. It'd be better if he actually did something. Or acknowledged that they have failed this sector up to now.

FG down to 19% in today's IT poll, FF 21%, SF 20%. Squeaky bum time for the last seat in most constituencies!

Media commentators put the FG slump down to a campaign "littered with missteps" (Michael O'Leary on teachers, Simon "didn't sign the contract" for the Children's Hospital and he walked away from a disability worker). These useless commentators, who are consistently wrong about everything, never tire of saying that the major parties are "not listening to the people" but they refuse to take seriously the clearest result of their own poll - that the cost of living is the voters' main concern. 65% of voters gave costs as their main concern (cost of living plus cost of renting plus price of housing). And what about the 7% who said "the economy" was their main concern? They are not complaining about the lowest level of unemployment or the strongest growth rate in Europe. It's all those businesses driven to the wall by the increased costs of doing business. Added together - 72% of voters are mainly concerned about costs of living/renting/housing/business.

But instead, the media think FG is in trouble because the Taoiseach didn't spend more time with a woman attacking the government with baseless claims about "doing nothing for disability". They also ignore another key poll finding - Simon's personal rating has fallen in line with FG so causality may run the other way - his popularity is down because voters are losing faith in FG.

Could it be that the voters understand not only that all those promises will have to be paid for but - with a grasp of fiscal policy which surpasses almost all the media's favourite economists - voters also understand that the effect will be to push up the cost of everything? We all know FG attracts a superior sort of voter 😊 - the sort who don't like politicians buying votes.

Morning Ireland grilled Micheal Martin this morning about what would happen if Trump collapses our economy. But the problem was not that FF was over-promising and writing a blank cheque for carers allowance (abolish the means test). No, all that spending is sacrosanct as "investment in public services". The solution RTE wants is - more taxes (and fees)!

https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22463933/

Greens are being punished for prioritising Greenways over public transport investment, and getting up the backs of people who are car dependent but would have liked realistic options rather than endless tiny bike lanes that take years to build and assume that cyclists only every cycle in straight lines and don't turn off or enter from anywhere.

Saw an interaction with a journalist/lecturer and the compiler of the above.

What you are clinging to Mark is 'a bit of fun'.

'word on the street'???

No back up, just what you think is a taunt, how utterly predictable.