Presidential Election 2025

I detest FF and Ahern for the ruinous way they crashed the economy and caused so much suffering to Irish people.

BUT, in the absence of a better candidate on the ballot, I would hold my nose and vote for Ahern for president entirely because of his efforts that resulted in the Good Friday agreement. Peace in Northern Ireland was a prize beyond anything else, and Ahern was a major player in achieving that.

The claim was that both MLMD and Ahern would be divisive.

Ahern is associated with an economic collapse in this country.

MLMD is associated with support for a terrorist organisation that made so many lives miserable in this country.

Both of those are clear examples of a divisive candidate.

McGuinness, Connolly, etc. don't carry anywhere near the same baggage. Didn't think that needed to be explained in detail.

Yeah we are all going to have different personal opinions and mindsets as to why we vote and yours isn't a bad one I think. Another thing to consider that supports your view is that Bertie can't do any economic damage to the country while in the Áras

Personally just from the point of view of our local hospital, UHL, I won't be giving any government candidate my vote. They simply don't deserve it

Would be good if the folk talking about divisivness would identify who is going to be divided exactly.

The war/conflict SF was involved in is over 25 years now for them.
Still they have an almost equal mandate to the orher two main parties.

SF has brought those two parties together rather than divide them.

A lot of people won’t vote for FG or Ff or Peter Casey because of their history.

Would I be undemocratic enough to say they cannot run because they are x, y, z?

Not a hope.
A few folk might need to put the ‘high office belongs to us’ nonsense where it belongs.
All political parties with nominating numbers and anyone who can fairly get themselves nominated via legitimate routes is entitled to run regardless of how you or I veiw them.

I've never suggested SF shouldn't run or shouldn't be allowed to run. It's just my observation that a SF candidate running who is a party member of long standing is highly unlikely to feature in the shakeup at the end of the count. That's all.

Two parties coming together to block another is not 'diviseness' at work.
It is showing up a sense of entitlement though - the 'power belongs to us' breed of entitlement.

That sense of toe-curling anti democratic entitlement is still evident in todays posts by yourself and dulpit.

SF have an almost equal mandate to FF FG. You may need to get over that, as they say.

P.S. I would say the same thing to anyone trying to stop or exclude a legitimately nominated candidate. Probably because of my belief in the republic and the sovereignty of the people.

Sorry, that isn't 'all' you said.

???

Who has made any other claim?

Blanch said:

Two parties who had spent 100 years in opposition to each other joined together to keep out Sinn Fein,

We know they came together to block SF. We have differing opinions on 'why' they did it.

They were perfectly entitled to do that just as we are perfectly entitled to comment on it.

The thing is that, for the presidential election, coming together won't block the SF candidate. They could run 4 candidates each if they had the seats and they'd just keep transferring to each other and we would get the same result.

Not nominating anybody would divert a lot of fire as anybody they do nominate will be under intense scrutiny and there will most likely be dodgy stuff found