Presidential Election 2025

corkie · 02-11-2025 07:32PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123957314#Comment_123957314

How did you get the reduced 20% figure?

Cyclingtourist · 02-11-2025 07:47PM

People who stayed in bed 'took part in a legitimate political action, as is their right'.

Bishop of hope · 02-11-2025 08:01PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123957201#Comment_123957201

But why, he wasn't running for election?

Matt Cooper outraged, do you suppose he had a favourite candidate, or any pundit?

Westernview · 02-11-2025 08:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123957486#Comment_123957486

Why does he have to be running for election? People are subscribing to the podcast and expecting to know they are getting views from someone not connected to the election candidates. Or if they are connected that they declare it.

expectationlost · 02-11-2025 09:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123955873#Comment_123955873

They said they were going to discuss government infrastructure progress and that John Collision article, would that get your blood up enough?

jmcc · 02-11-2025 10:04PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123956885#Comment_123956885

Don't think that he (Donohoe) wants to be leader. In recent times, it has been a case of people with ambitions greater than their talents and the results are an absolute disaster for FG. They've taken FG from 76 seats to just 38. This fiasco of a presidential election hasn't helped FG. As for the media pushing him forward as FG leader, there's too much going on at the moment with the FF recriminations and the average journalist almost always fixates on the most popular story.

Cluedo Monopoly · 02-11-2025 10:08PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123957727#Comment_123957727

And that's 38 seats with an extra 14 seats in the Dail in the last election. Fine Gael also look anti-democratic in terms of explicitly whipping councillors and also guilty of using dirty tactics to smear other candidates. Their desperation to win the Presidency has done long term damage to their brand.

jmcc · 02-11-2025 10:31PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123957735#Comment_123957735

FG probably had a good chance to win the election with McGuinness. Replacing her with Humphreys highlights FG's Stupid People Problem. Stupid people make stupid mistakes and cost their parties elections. It appears that they've gained a kind of critical mass in FG management. Kelly, a proven vote getter who appeals across party boundaries, would have been a much better candidate than Humphreys. He might also have been a bit of a threat to the current power structure and leadership in FG. So what did FG management do? They chose one of their own. Humphreys was deputy leader of FG. I think that she was replaced by McEntee.

FG used to have a strong brand as a party of decency and fiscal responsibility. The core of its brand was that it wasn't FF. Now, due to weak and incompetent management — the same management that gave people Humphreys as the FG candidate — it is indistinguishable from FF in the eyes of the electorate.

FG was depending on FF transfers to get Humphreys elected. The FF campaign imploded and many FF voters didn't bother voting. The core problem for FG is that Humphreys was such a weak candidate that she may not even have won with FF transfers against a combined Left candidate.

After a disaster of a presidential election for FF and FG, the only thing left for them now is to merge. As transfers are never 100%, FF and FG could get to the situation where the losses of lower prefernce candidates could be seriously damaging in a Labour 2016 way. A single FFG party might have a better chance in the next GE.

Hotblack Desiato · 02-11-2025 10:35PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123957727#Comment_123957727

Lazy analysis. The historic high of FG in 2011 was for one very specific reason and was never going to be repeated.

FG didn't have a great presidential election but at least their candidate (who was very clearly their second choice) didn't blow up on the launch pad like FF's first choice

Cyclingtourist · 02-11-2025 10:46PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123957727#Comment_123957727

"They've taken FG from 76 seats to just 38."

You guys love quoting 2011 for FG but not so much for FF.

Never reference 2002 when FG won just 31 seats.

Caquas · 02-11-2025 11:58PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123957112#Comment_123957112

Cambridge?? You rely on the Cambridge Dictionary😂 That is a hopeless definition. It says "making a similar criticism" is whataboutery. So practically any effort to draw a moral principle applicable to more than one case can be condemned as whataboutery.

The Oxford English Dictionary defintion is better:

“The technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counter-accusation or raising a different issue.”

I didn't raise a different issue or even make a counter-accusation. I simply asked about the same issue in regard to CC - i.e. did posters believe she , like Ivan, should have disclosed her vested interest before making public comment?

Incidentally, in the past, the Irish usage of "whataboutery" was much more subtle than the OED definition. Whataboutery meant the practice (by Shinners and Loyalists etc. ) of defending an atrocity by pointing to an earlier atrocity on the other side. We now hear that particular rhetorical misdirection frequently from Hamas fellow-travelers but is rarely called out which means that Palestine (like N. Ireland in the past) is doomed to a cycle of futile violence.

But we're getting off track. I started this thread to discuss the Presidential election thread so I will ask again -

Should CC have disclosed her work for the banks? If not, why should Ivan lose his job?

Caquas · 03-11-2025 12:09AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123957727#Comment_123957727

You may be right that Paschal doesn't want the job. He may aim higher and he would be well capable of a top international post - DG of the IMF?

But he must know that Simon is not cut out to be Taoiseach. Simon managed as Taoiseach for a few months by dint of nervous energy but he has been exposed as an empty cipher, a weather vane at best. Unfortunately, I think Simon will survive long enough to become Taoiseach again but mainly because he won't face a credible challenge within FG even though their poll ratings will continue to plumb new depths.

Caquas · 03-11-2025 12:15AM

RTE see the Ivan problem. Their answer - we put our trust in contributors to declare conflicts of interest.

https://x.com/sandra_hurley/status/1985019271265579449?s=61

RTÉ Statement on Ivan Yates:

Yates not used as presenter or contributor during Coimisiún na Meán election period between Sep 22 - Oct 24
Was used before and after these dates
RTÉ relies on professional bona fides of contributors to declare conflicts of interest

1/2

Continued:

Yates would have been asked to disclose interest if it had been known
RTÉ satisfied there was no breach of election guidelines

2/2

Cluedo Monopoly · 03-11-2025 08:57AM

We now know that Yates was working for FF for over 2 years. They never let FG or anyone else know. During the election people assumed Yates was working for FG or at least giving them advice. To make matters worse FG upped their smear campaign anyway.

The contrast to Connolly's campaign is immense. She kept her integrity throughout. The electorate were clever enough to pick the correct candidate.

Seth Brundle · 03-11-2025 09:12AM

Mod: several posts deleted.
Any continuation of the After Hours style of posting will result in instant one week forum bans

Bishop of hope · 03-11-2025 11:43AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123958132#Comment_123958132

Here we have the smear accusation again, what was that smear? Was she asked about anything that hadn't happened or choices she'd made or opinions she hadnt given in her career?

The only smear in the campaign I seen or heard was against HH.

Cluedo Monopoly · 03-11-2025 12:07PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123958581#Comment_123958581

The FG attack video was the Barrister smear. It absolutely blew up in FG's face. The Bar Council and the Minister for Justice roundly criticised it and said the role of the Barristers should never have been brought into the election. During the final debate it was firmly presented as a smear and Humphreys couldn't deny it. Both presenters agreed that Connolly had answered all questions relating to it.

jmcc · 03-11-2025 12:21PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123958132#Comment_123958132

Are you sure about 2 years? The FF statement refers to two sessions of training between the 23rd and 29th of September. It was four hours of coaching in total.

https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2025/1103/1541870-ivan-yates-fianna-fail/

expectationlost · 03-11-2025 12:21PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123958132#Comment_123958132

Huh?

2022: Ex Fine Gael TD Ivan Yates is now advising Fianna Fail

https://extra.ie/2022/01/02/news/politics/ivan-yates-fianna-fail

Clearly people feel theres a difference between this and training 1 of 3 candidates and commentating on a presidential race.

Cluedo Monopoly · 03-11-2025 12:26PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123958725#Comment_123958725

They said 2 years on Radio 1 this morning. Fionnan Sheehan was on. They said he helped them in the General and Local elections.

jmcc · 03-11-2025 12:38PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123958740#Comment_123958740

It will be interesting to see confirmation from FF. At the moment, it has only confirmed his presidential election work.

zell12 · 03-11-2025 12:47PM

Maybe he coached Darragh O'Brien too?! 😃

Cluedo Monopoly · 03-11-2025 12:50PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123958814#Comment_123958814

On how to tell housing lies ? 🙂

expectationlost · 03-11-2025 01:30PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123958814#Comment_123958814

Yes he did and Jame Browne both Ministers for Housing. How did you guess?

https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/1985335199639408863

Cluedo Monopoly · 03-11-2025 01:35PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123958954#Comment_123958954

Jaysus Martin has to go. The housing disaster is way too serious to allow spin merchants to instruct ministers how to fool the electorate.

The election that keeps on giving.

dulpit · 03-11-2025 02:17PM

If nothing else, this should tell people that Ivan Yates is a poor media trainer. Or else the FF ministers and Jim Gavin were absolutely useless before he got his hands on them and he made them just useless.

Kiteview · 03-11-2025 02:19PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123958672#Comment_123958672

That was not a smear. It was a statement of fact.

The blatant hypocrisy was portraying herself as some sort of champion of those being dispossessed WHILE actively pursuing them in the courts. It is the former, not the latter, that is the hypocrisy.

Had she declared the latter (as people are saying that Yates should have done), there’d have been no hypocrisy whatsoever - but, of course, any pretence of her being a champion of those being dispossessed would have gone out the window.

I am absolutely certain that had it emerged during the campaign that Humphreys or Gavin had engaged in that sort of double standards, that parties such as Sinn Féin etc - and their supporters on here - would have been decrying the hypocrisy of it all and highlighting it as an example of the bad faith / corruption of the candidates and their parties.

Either way it blows up any claim by the parties that backed Connolly about being concerned about people being dispossessed right out of the water.

Cluedo Monopoly · 03-11-2025 02:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123959119#Comment_123959119

I don't agree at all. When did you expect her to declare this? She hadn't been a barrister for over 10 years and had moved to family law for the latter years of her practice. Did you want her speaking in the Dail about her previous clients and breaching confidentiality?

I have never voted for Sinn Fein by the way.

It was a smear. A smear that did not work.

Connolly answered the first time she was asked that she represented credit institutions. Have a look at the debate, it's crystal clear.

There are plenty of barristers in the Dail, have they ever told the public who they represented??

expectationlost · 03-11-2025 03:58PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123958954#Comment_123958954

There it is, thats Yates company. €500 Euro for media training via Yewtree Infotainment.

https://www.thestory.ie/2025/10/10/e1-1-million-in-payments-to-ministers-and-oireachtas-members-through-scheme-for-pr-social-media-and-secretarial-assistance/

also trained Norma Foley for 1k. And Robert Troy for 1.5k in 23

https://www.thestory.ie/2024/03/08/over-e1-million-in-spending-on-secretarial-allowance-scheme-for-ministers-tds-and-senators-but-little-transparency-over-payments/

Brendan Bendar · 03-11-2025 04:03PM

Wonder are the Revenue aware of all this ‘training’ and stuff that appears to be going on?

Presidential Election 2025

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