Election to be called Fri - predict outcome

I doubt that many of them would even need to be bought. Michael Lowry for example gives his support to FFG for free every time

To be honest I don't know specifics as I have never had to call on them.

But at a very general level the way I would look at it is stepping in where the main organs of state can't help you any more.

Take the bus service between Kerry/Cork and Belfast of cataract treatment which they run with another independent from Cork.

The waiting lists are long in the public health service so there is another way and the likes of the HRs help facilitate that other way.

Bacik is desperate for that Ministerial position, she'll really push for Labour to be in gov. She won't care about the consequences in 5 years, she sees this as her chance. Labour have never learned their lesson.

All that pedophilia stuff is clear and blatant homophobia.

Fantastic. What party will he join next?

And as the final seats get filled that's all the hope Francie has left, ranting at the wireless, hoping that the new government give a TD from Limerick a ministerial position because Francis doesn't like the cut of his jib.

And surely it's FG that will give him the job not FF

He is a FG TD and they will be deciding whom of their TDs get a job.

'FG FF stagnated their way to victory', - Fionnan Sheehan.

A fair summary.

Metrolink is never happening anyway so don't worry too much about that. DART+ is just a rebrand of the existing services with slightly fancier trains so nothing to really get too excited about either.

If both get "cancelled" there will be no major difference to the daily lives of most Dubliners

I don't know the detail of MLMD's personal circumstances but enough has been aired to suggest that she has had a rough time.
I think it would be a mistake for SF to be seen to throw her under the bus.
Time enough mid term to consider changing.
For now she is their best communicator and I would give her a lot of credit for righting the ship during the campaign. Even if it was occasionally evident she was not firing on all cylinders.

I haven't a clue what you're talking about. All I know as fact is, as minister for integration who was in charge of the referendum earlier this year, he received advice from the AG that the wording of the proposed amendment around care was problematic and he suppressed that information from being made available to the voting public. It was leaked the day before the referendum much to his chagrin. He should have been relieved of his cabinet position at that point.

I don't know anything about pedophilia or homophobia in relation to him. I know he is gay but that is inconsequential to his performance in his cabinet role in the previous government. He deceived the electorate and it's a pity that deceit wasn't punished by him losing his seat as a TD.

I have mixed feelings about Stephen Donnelly losing his seat. I think jumping ship from the Soc Dems to join FF, especially after making his name originally railing against FF on the Vincent Browne show, was completely unforgiveable. He also didn't seem to be particularly good at politics.

However I have heard many people say that he was one of the more decent Ministers of Health in recent times (low bar I know). Unlike a lot of the previous occupants of that job he didn't have his eye on the Taoiseach's job in his future and so was able to commit to it in a way that they didn't. Everyone knows that that job is a poisoned chalice so obviously there are loads of things that you can point to that are wrong with the area currently but it seems like he was making improvements.

The other high profile FF casualty then was Anne Rabbitte. I wonder how much of her losing that seat was down to her losing votes because of the criminal case against the farmer who threw dung at her. There were probably a lot of farmers who didn't like that and voted for Albert Dolan instead.

They will have more seats than FG. 1 more seat I thought?