Talk about 2 non-event press conferences. Apparently Lendahand will have one tomorrow. Dear lord.
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Talk about 2 non-event press conferences. Apparently Lendahand will have one tomorrow. Dear lord.
According to RTE Biffo lives to fight another day
Yep. It's all over the net now. That'll do! Phew!
Delighted. One step closer to oblivion.
The excitement starts again... now we wait on VB so that he can tell us the front pages tomorrow. Hopefully the Mail will have some Anglo filth.
Edit: Martin resigns as MoFA
Election called for March 11th
Roll on a Lab/FG coalition to take the blame for FF's mess before the Irish people vote in a changed Fianna Fail in approx 4 years time
At this stage I will denounce democracy and e mail Paolo Di Canio about this non-racist fascism he's been going on about the last few years
It's funny that you mention that, jebus.
I have been thinking that a temporary dictatorship wouldn't be all that bad in the current climate. It'd offer the opportunity for widespread, thorough reform by whoever gets there first. Cut off NAMA, cut off the banks, bring in proper electoral reform plus reversing the billion other things wrong with this country.
It's just a pity I have this damn dissertation to do...
Unfortunately, I believe in democracy, which is frustrating. It's just so bloody pointless in this country with the idiotic majority of the electorate voting for their buddies. This is a chance for the electorate to really stand up for themselves and tell the politicians not to mess them around. The cynic in me says that a lot of the FF chancers will be getting back in. And if not this time, then definitely the next one.
What are the procedures for banning an organisation? I mean, the IRA are a banned organisation, and they never did half the damage to the country FF did!
according to breaking news, the greens have pulled out of government, citing a break down in trust, patience and communication with fianna fail. how long till the election now? looks like someone handed gormleys balls in at lost and found. still think the greens are going to suffer massively, and deservedly so.
I had a break down in trust, patience and communication with the greens quite some time ago. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
I can only assume the greens are hoping the election will come so quickly that people will still associate them with the welcome downfall of the government rather than all that went before.
Wow. Just WOW!Quote:
Originally Posted by Lim till i die
oh holy good god. ruth dudley edwards wouldn't get a look in with that amount of revisionism. unbelievable.
I'm with Eoin the prostitute Harris on this one. I'd love to see Lenihan get the job. The minister for being wrong about everything, always is just the man to lead FF to richly deserved oblivion.
I couldn't sleep last night and read that at about 4am, I was hoping when I woke up this morning it would have turned out to be some sort of night terror, but no there really is people that delusional in the world. :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Lim till i die
I've yet to see any kind of questions asked of the Finance Bill - it's being used as a carrot for the "opposition" who are now in majority to get an early election. Yet only a week ago FG and Labour were talking about voting against it and pointing out the horrors that it will unleash. It's a simple way for FF to bail out their buddies (and FG, Labour, Greens, SF too for theirs) before they lose power. This whole mess is being used to force through a bill that will destroy the country. It's not maybe, if or possibly, it IS. The Greens should be taken out and hung, they spoke in favour of a Nuclear Power Station in Wexford, laughing about the tiny number of Chernobyl deaths (less than 10). FF have no credibility. FG are going to be as bad. While Labour, well, Labour despite the media trying to slag off their supposed lack of policies, are going to wh@re themselves to one of the previous pair to get into power. SF have not enough standing to do anything, while the spanners that are Healy Rae and the fella who had his house built by the guy who went off his head in Florida are saying they have doubts about the bill, that they might not vote for it? Until, that is, a hospital is built in Kenmare and a casino granted to North Tipp.
We are seeing all sorts of hit and move tactics and media reporting, diaspora voting, resignations, possible coalitions, funding, jobs etc etc - but nothing, nothing is being done to rid the country of levels of corruption and nepotism that are more akin to Turkmenistan.
We're going to get the same type of governance as we've always had because, like an abused spouse, we're too used to it and too scared to try something different.
On the Finance Bill, Noonan said yesterday that the bill that they will be voting on bears little resemblance to the budget as was announced and that it has been seriously watered down. He also said that it is a matter of expediency at this stage and that anything in it that they don't agree with they will change if they get into power.
Simples.
The opposition don't have a majority for the Finance Bill - the greens have said they'll vote in favour of the Finance Bill, and haven't indicated how they'll vote in the confidence motions. I'd take the opposite view, in that the opposition are using the Finance Bill stick to beat our an earlier election and a orderly change over. Cowen could go to the park on Wednesday and still set an 11th March election date.
Correct. But FF arent guaranteed that majority as it stands due to some back benchers not voting for it.
There is no way at this stage that Cowen could try that stunt.
Anyway, afaik an election must be held within at least 30 working days of the dissolution of the Dáil. So it won't drag out to March 11th.
Edit: Just did the maths there and dissolution on Friday gives us a maximum date if March 11th.
Last week he was going around saying that he couldn't lead the Government if he wasn't FF leader - Never underestimate FFers!Quote:
Originally Posted by BonnieShels
Link. Please, pretty please, link.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spudulika
Spudulika, I usually find myself in agreement with you, but those facts are, afaik, dead wrong. A nuclear reactor for Wexford wasn’t in the Programme for Government, the revised PfG, or either of the manifestos of the three governing parties in 2007. Are you mixing up your information with Eamon Ryan calling for a debate on nuclear energy, which, he said, would give voters enough information to decide to reject an Irish nuclear plant? I graded a dissertation recently enough on governmental policy on nuclear power in Ireland that failed to mention either of your points. (Granted, they may have been made after the student finished: I stand open to correction).
Is it just me or is there a lot of guff on this site recently about the Greens? The kind of screaming hyperbole that would fit better with the Tea Party Movement than with otherwise sensible posters (and even those I disagree with are generally sensible and well-reasoned)?
Yes: the Greens are architects of their own misfortune. Yes: they are going to be punished by the electorate for propping up FF, and it’s not undeserved. Yes: people are hurting because of increases in fuel prices, and because many Green policies cost to implement. Yes: they deserve criticism for their actions. Yes: they showed incredible naivety over the last 4 years. Yes: they speak to a middle-class urban voter, and not the electorate as a whole....
But no party deserves to be slaughtered with wilful disinformation and the kind of vitriol those articulate chaps in the IFA and the tally-ho West Brit hunting brigade proffer instead of discourse.
And lest I’m accused of partisanship, the same applies for every party.
A little more belle raison, chère clarté, if you please.
Rant over. Politics lecturer’s hat taken off until classes recommence next week...
I wouldn't have thought they've been hammered on here on the basis of IFA or pro-hunt lobby tbh. For all the other completely valid (imo) reasons you mentioned - and you missed Gormley leading them in after the feckin planet bertie speech - yes they have been hammered on here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eminence Grise
I'd agree with you I don't recall them being in favour of nuclear, and I think that all blew up over Greens in other countries moving towards nuclear being a least worse option. Not 100% but I think the French Greens support nuclear power as a fossil fuel alternative. Of course, once the interconnector (one of Ryan's pet projects) is live, if it isn't already, Ireland is already effectively nuclear powered anyway.
It was on PK Today Spring 2009, a debate with the Greens spokesman on the Nuclear debate, a rep from Npower and "a nuclear energy expert". The Greensman spoke heavily in favour of the Carnsore Point development, Kenny never took him apart. The "expert" said that the deaths from Chernobyl were in single figures, the Npower rep said that Nuclear power would be good business from an Irish point of view.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eminence Grise
I know what I'm talking about on this as part of a mini-thesis I re-discovered the old plans from the late-70's in a study of an old Marxist Geography Journal which correctly pointed out the major flaws in Government thinking. Since then I've always kept an eye on the objectives of the government shakers because the plan has only been shelved. I know what I heard on RTE Radio 1 and I apologise I cannot produce a link, though I have mentioned this previously on threads.
In the past I voted for my local Green candidate where there was one, usually up in the top 3 preference slot. I was delighted to see them come in, though as in the mid-late 90's in Germany, they proved themselves no match for the lizards that occupy mainstream politics. They got into bed with one of the most corrupt kleptocracies this nation has seen since DeValera, and didn't have the courage of their convictions to get out when they saw what they were dealing with.
I hope and pray that this upcoming election will deliver a government worth respecting, though the manner in which they will push through this finance bill, continue to sell the soul of the nation, and refuse to do anything that resembles progressive planning, it's sickening.
Again I apologise for not providing a link, though I am certain that an RTE head on hear can provide an archived link to prove me right.
Although he does make a good point near the end, the Irish electorate is easily stupid enough to put Brian Lenihan in charge of the country purely on the basis that he got better from cancer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lim till i die
The redtop readers probably think he cured it.
Mattie McGrath to run as an Independent: http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0125/treacyn.html
Fortunately we can trust the good people of Tipperary not to be taken in by such a transparently cynical move.
Well. It could happen.
My mother's from there, and I swear that every time I visit relatives down there I hear a new story about Mattie McGrath doing something stupid. It's like he's their pet retard or something.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr A
First of all deepest condolences to all those effected. I am conscious of the sensitivities involved and not at all attempting to play down or belittle the tragedy that occurred in Cork yesterday.
But what, if any, will be the impact on the election campaign of the plane crash? Events such as this can have a dramatic impact on elections. A different situation entirely, but the Madrid bombings cost the peoples party a Spanish General Election they were almost certain to win.
We are a lot further out, and even FF aren't daft enough to try to pull the stroke the PP tried then, so one would expect the impact to be much less in this situation. But will there be any impact at all?
Could the statesmanlike performance (he has done very well in the coverage we are getting in the north, though I haven't seen as much of him in southern news) of Martin McGuinness, or the fact he was almost on the plane, have any impact on SF's performance? Is the airport in Micheál Martin's constituency?
Obviously this is remains speculative business at this point. There are a number of funerals to come, which will, rightly or wrongly, be set piece media events where a politician can do him or her self enormous credit/damage with a few words. and
Without trying to minimise the loss of life, it's a 12 person crash with 6 fatalities, what possible effect could it have on a national election? If it does, we're a lot worse than even my low estimations of the country as a whole.
Not necessarily anything so blunt as someone deciding that they have got over 30 years of the IRA because McGuinness missed his plane, but it has had an affect already by dominating the news agenda for 2 days. As tragic an event as it was, it couldn't have happened at a better time for Enda Kenny. Debate-gate is dead because of it.Quote:
Originally Posted by dahamsta
And no one on here will need to have the role of funerals in Irish political life explained to them.
Al-Qaeda Outrage v Air Accident from Fog. It's not really a like-for-like comparison. FG and Lab will still coast home.Quote:
Originally Posted by backtowalsall
"Debate Gate" as you call it, was a non-event anyway. Even the meeja are acknowleding that Kenny's non appearance won't matter, especially as he is due to appear in 3 debates before the end of the campaign.Quote:
Originally Posted by backtowalsall
So... how will all these O'Callaghan revelations affect Micheal?
Who's for an FG minority government?
FG 38% (+3)
Lab 20% (-2)
FF 15% (-2)
I/O 14% (+3)
SF 10% (-3)
GP 3% (+1)
If it did transpire that Labour became the main Opposition party, it would pretty much lock FF into third-party status (they'd barely make 20 seats on these figures).
Are these the new RedC figures?
Yes, this is the new Red C poll - the projections given from this are:
FG 76
Lab 38
FF 20
Ind 20
SF 12
Greens 0
Still can't see us having that many independents.
:eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by culloty82
We're overestimating the power of the voting booth, FF will jump a good 10-15 seats. 10 Independents, FG with less, hopefully Leo the Lovely not re-elected.
That Independents category also includes ULA candidates.