Election to be called Fri - predict outcome

You mean decent opposition in terms of Labour and Soc Dems? Yes, I agree.

I meant exactly what I wrote.

Was Michelle O'Neil elected to the Dail?

Anyone know why she was there today?

One outcome I could have predicted - Michael O'Leary's comments about teachers did no harm at all to Peter Burke in Longford-Westmeath. Burke topped the poll, elected on the first count and brought in a running mate. Nailed on for another top Ministerial post.

Will the people's votes give pause to all those in the media who piled on and misrepresented what O'Leary said? No, they are shameless.

Will FG regret their spineless apology, throwing O'Leary to the media dogs (though he is well able for that)? Of course not.

How many teachers in the new Dáil?

lol! from south dublin to the airport? do you know it will serve the largest town in Ireland without a rail line? Swords… it will carry 100,000,000 passengers a year, facilitate massive amount of new residential construction and take serious volumes of traffic off the road… And FYI, dublin is a massive loser in terms of the spend it gets versus the wealth it redistributes to the rest of the country…

You're forgetting Morton's White Elephant Fork;

1. If there's demand for something, it needs to be built to satisfy demand.
2. If there's no demand for something, it needs to be built in order to induce demand.

What are you talking about?

Mick Clifford outlining the madness of the delay in forming a government and the nonsense of it possibly dragging into January.

The electorate voted back in FF and FG. Their laziness in forming a government quickly is leaving a bad taste.

That's a drop in the ocean to be fair

Willie isn't liked by many in FF so while he'd probably take health he'll never be offered it despite his vote getting abilities

This

Martin didn’t give O’Dea for any role over the past 5 years - never mind a ministry. There wasn’t even media speculation that he might be considered for something.

Hard to see any scenario where he’s considered for anything at this point. If he was 4-5 years younger he’d be a shout for Ceann Comhairle - but he’s 1) too safe a seat if standing for reelection and 2) at possibly 77 by the next election too much of a risk of a by-election in the next 2 election cycles

Given that we have higher traffic numbers on existing motorways, perhaps it does?

https://trafficdata.tii.ie/publicmultinodemap.asp

It is also not a motorway between Cork and Waterford, it would be a connection to Rosslare and the southern Atlantic seaboard.
Parts of the N20 has similar traffic numbers to the N25 in parts, and a motorway is being built there.

SF seem to have a 20% baseline now, FG are slightly above that. FG must be due some time in opposition come 2029 (18 years in power at that point). I don't see SF falling away in any major way while in opposition, unless they repeat the latest scandals (the next GE could end up being very close to the locals/EU).

I do wonder if FF are heading back to being the party of government, they've really had an astonishing recovery since 2011.

But what if they were part of a good govt with SF, do you think their voters would take it out on them for delivering a government that was seen as competent and improved things like housing, health etc.? Of course if they didn't perform well voters would take it out on them, as they should with any bad government, regardless of party. Both parties would no doubt be heavily penalised by voters if the govt was a complete shambles and made everything a lot worse.

FG had a similar percentage drop from 2016 to 2020 and they're still around so stop with the Chicken Little act "the sky is falling"! Using terms like 'rapid decline' and 'categorically downwards' make you look foolish and sound hysterical. Fact is that parties FPV's fluctuate from one election cycle to the other. All 3 major parties have been in or around 20% for the past two elections now.

’——- an alternative opposition with decent numbers ———‘. You left out one MINOR element is WITH AN AGREED PROGRAMME