Election time

Steyr

So who you going to Vote for, you dont have to give a reason, for me its Fine Gael.

I'm going to inspect manifestoes, interrogate anyone who comes to my door, and then make my decision.

oscarBravo

Steyr wrote:

...you dont have to give a reason...

This is a discussion forum; giving reasons for opinions is its raison d'être. Steyr, you can start.

Heinrich

I know who will not get my vote; The Soldiers of Destiny and the PDs.

When I see the total shambles that we are living in I am certain that "the monkeys with screwdrivers behind the TV set", if I may be so bold as to use the quotation, could not do a worse job.

purple'n'gold

Fianna Fail has become complacent and arrogant. They also lack talent. Why on earth is Martin Cullen still a minister? Because they have no one to replace him. And when I think of P Flynn et al. I shudder. Fine Gael for me.

Steyr

The size of that Cow Harney as Minister for "Health" thats gas!:D Well done Govt:rolleyes:

ballooba

I will be voting Fine Gael, Labour, and Greens in that order.

Reason being, they are the only viable alternative to Fianna Fail and the PDs.

Similar to what purple'n'gold said, Fianna Fail have shown utter contempt for the citizens of this country and the PDs have shown they are unable/unwilling to keep them in line.

gandalf

Steyr wrote:

So who you going to Vote for, you dont have to give a reason, for me its Fine Gael.

Actually you do have to give a reason, this forum is not After Hours. You have been asked already by one mod here to expand your choice, I expect you to do this.

Oh btw input like

The size of that Cow Harney as Minister for "Health" thats gas! Well done Govt

is really not the quality of response thats expected in the Politics forum.

The_Minister

Steyr wrote:

The size of that Cow Harney as Minister for "Health" thats gas!:D Well done Govt:rolleyes:

I don't understand what you mean. Ministers are administrators, they organise things and come up with new policies. She doesn't look after any specific person's health, she just makes sure that there are GPs to do that. She wouldn't distribute healthy eating advice, or draw up leaflets about the subject.
There's more irony in a fat doctor, and theres not much even there.

Sleepy

Personally, I'll be voting for the Greens. I don't agree with all of their policies but there's no other party I either trust, respect or agree with broadly. If a new political party emerges before the election I'll listen to their manifesto but for now I'll just try and get a few idealists in who might get a few positive changes made for their votes on whatever cock-eyed scheme Fianna Fail want to use to prop up their property developer friends' industry this time around. :rolleyes:

Bitter? Moi?

ballooba

The_Minister wrote:

There's more irony in a fat doctor, and theres not much even there.

What if Jim McDaid was Minister for Transport?

Or Bertie was Minister for Finance? Oh, wait a second.

brianthebard

ballooba wrote:

Similar to what purple'n'gold said, Fianna Fail have shown utter contempt for the citizens of this country and the PDs have shown they are unable/unwilling to keep them in line.

What is this contempt you speak of? Fair enough people don't like the present government and I respect that, its not what I would have chosen, but it annonys me when people feel the need to vote "not-FF", or suggest that the country is going down the drain and its their fault. We still have almost the lowest unemployment in Europe, we still have good economic growth, our housing market has not slowed down yet (America's has, so that may have a knock on effect). Personally beyond the US troops in Shannon, I don't see any glaringly obvious failures by the government. Having said that, Shannon is enough for me to feel the need to change government. I'll be voting Labour, Socialist( if there's a candidate:rolleyes: Cause sligo is full of them) and Green.

If people can point out failures by the government, which they can say with reasonable certainty would not have happened under a different government, I'm all ears.

The_Minister

I intend to vote for the Progressive Democrats.
I think that economically they are the most sensible party (followed far behind by FG, then FF).
I think they have challenged alot of lobby groups and won (taxi drivers etc.), and I agree with most of their positions on non-economic issues (jobs being the best way to ensure a basic standard of living etc.

PD POLICIES:
I believe that changes are being made in the health system (I work part-time in a hospital, so I've seen some of the changes), and I think that the reforms already underway, along with the new contracts that consultants will be employed under, will move the health system to a position where the money invested makes a difference, rather that just making the problem worse in the long-run, by bloating the budgets of certain sectors.

I think that the proposal to move the docklands is brilliant, because I believe that Dublin needs to build up not out, we need highrise, and right now every highrise building is opposed by everyone in the neighbourhood.

While holding the Health ministry, they have done more for mental health than any other party (not really an achievement in Ireland, but its still something).

I liked the cafe bars proposal.

I think their policy on renewable energy is quite good.

El Stuntman

I find it hard to pick a party to vote for - lack of choice/differentiation between the mainstream parties

so it's easier to choose one to vote against: Sinn Fein.

My vote will be dedicated to attempting to ensure that my local Sinn Fein candidate doesn't get elected, how negative is that?!

purple'n'gold

Bertie Ahern imo has not done a good job since he was elected taoiseach. He is cute more than intelligent, and street wise more than clever. He is very lucky that the economy picked up at just the right time for him. He is supposed to be the great negotiator and conciliator but his record shows that all he does is give in to the public service unions. He has never stood up to them. He has almost ruined competitiveness in this country with his most stupid crime “benchmarking”. He may claim some success as regards northern Ireland, but he is really just being swept along by events he has no real control of. Actually his dithering is an asset; he didn’t say anything contentious or put his foot in it. He just stayed quiet. The sooner he is replaced the better.

gazzer

Personally any politician who comes to my door and supports decentralisation in its present form will not be getting a vote from me:

Decentralisation effects me personally as my job is moving to Kildare and unless i get called from my driving test and pass first time (and not have to wait another 18 months for a new test) I will not be going with the job as it will involve 2 buses to Hueston Station and then a train.

Other issues that will determine who I vote for will be answers to questions like:

By how much has the garda numbers increased in the Dublin 15 area since the government came to power?
What will you do to deter anti social behaviour and a rise in crime?
What are your views on management companies and what do you think about people living in houses (not apartments) been made pay these charges?
How many extra buses (esp the 38 service) have come on stream since the government came to power?

SeanW

Agreed. FF had 10 years to sort out the problems and not cause any new ones, but instead they've spent that time doing F*@# all and making speeches now and then about how everything's going to be great in tomorrowland. I can count on one had the number of good things they've done in that time, but can also find plenty of things they could have sorted out easily but didn't.

An example is the driving test system, or lack of a functioning one. It's ridiculous and anywhere else in the world it would not be tolerated. But under Fianna Fail, it's business as usual. It's not flipping rocket science to match testing capacity with demand but apparently its too much to ask the series of tossers who call themselves "Minister for Transport" who obviously just couldn't care less.

Many of the problems Ireland faces could be solved if the powers that be actually gave half a damn. That's why I think tt's time for a change. I'll be voting FG, Green, Labour in that order.

ballooba

brianthebard wrote:

What is this contempt you speak of?

It seems impossible for a Fianna Fail Taoiseach, Cabinet Member or TD to get sacked or be asked to resign. They can do whatever they like and it is deemed acceptable. Prime example of such contempt would be the fact that our Taoiseach as Minister for Finance signed blank cheques for the distribution of our money.

brianthebard wrote:

We still have almost the lowest unemployment in Europe, we still have good economic growth, our housing market has not slowed down yet (America's has, so that may have a knock on effect).

50% of females are employed by the State, paid by Stamp Duty, paid by personal debt. 50% of males are employed in construction which is paid for in personal debt.

That is not a sign of a healthy economy.

Our housing market already has begun to slow down.

brianthebard wrote:

Personally beyond the US troops in Shannon, I don't see any glaringly obvious failures by the government.

They failed to put in any decent transport infrastructure. What's the trip like from Sligo to Galway/Dublin/Belfast/Cork by train/bus/car?

They have made a complete mess of the hospitals. If I was involved in an accident in Sligo I would be heading for the border pretty sharpish.

This government had vast sums of money at their disposable which they squandered. They throw money at people on every project. Prime example being Thornton Hall. Themselves and the civil servants can pass the buck all they want, the fact is they are both to blame.

is_that_so

I am and have always been a floater. I try to vote for what I see as the best option.
I tend to look at what the plans are, as posted earlier, but I am more keen to see a joined up plan. Now the government's plan may be joined up thinking but it in the main it's just repackaged and rebranded promises. I'd like to think that what goes on is this country also has a vision of who we are now . To me a land of spaghetti junctions ain't it. On that basis I am looking more towards the alternative. On a practical level I think it really is time for a change so I will be voting against the government on this , Greens, FG, Labour in the main.

partholon

im a floater too but im anti the present gov so my vote will probably go to sinn fein, the greens , any independant in my area and probably the socialists coz christ knows joe needs some company in the dail:D

the " alternative" are anything but so i wont be voting for them as theyve sod all in common with me. personally im hopping the demographic's in the dail gets a good shake up so i'd like to see the smaller parties increase their mandate and the larger ones reduced.basically i want FF to get the **** scared out of em. but thats just me

Kojak

I think I'll be voting Fine Gael - I just think that a government shou;dn't stay in power too long, they become stagnent IMO.

Rebeller

brianthebard wrote:

I don't see any glaringly obvious failures by the government.

Have you been living in the same country as the rest of us for the past few years?

Yes, Ireland is an economically wealthy state if you consider official rates of unemployment, economic growth rates etc. However, per capita GDP and GNP simply provides a general overview of how things are. Averages are never a good indication of real poverty rates for example as a few super wealthy individuals will skew the figures.

Ireland has a functional adult rate of illiteracy of nearly 23% (i.e. 23% of our adult population have difficulty understanding basic product labels, food ingredients, instruction manuals etc).

Is that the sign of a healthy wealthy functioning state?

UN Human Development Index 2005

Ireland has the second highest rate of poverty within the western European EU countries

UN Report

I don't need to cite international studies or reports to evidence the dramatic and successive failures by the Soldiers of Crookery:

10 years of unprecedented wealth have left us with:

- an ineffective, overpriced, traffic-congested roads network;

- wholly inadequate public transport infrastructure;

- a third world health system that forces tax paying citizens suffering from very treatable diseases to plead on national radio for treatment to prevent their death, given that they have a right to such treatment anyway;

- the real possibility of power brownouts and blackouts due a failure by the current regime to allow for the construction of additional power plants preferring instead to blindly promote the virtues and wonders of tax payer subsidised privatisation of state resources;

- complete lack of ability to deal with major impending issues such as global warming and oil shortages:

I could go on all night

If people can point out failures by the government, which they can say with reasonable certainty would not have happened under a different government, I'm all ears.

Bear in mind that Fianna Fail has been in government for 39 of the last 50 years and 17 and a half of the past 20.

The buck stops with them for ALL of the above and every other domestic problem facing the Irish people today.

If Fianna Fail are re-elected to office it will be final confirmation for me that democracy does not work.

I will be voting for the Greens because I honestly believe they are the only political grouping with genuine alternative vision.

More than anything else, I will vote for the Greens because they are only political party in this state untainted by the corporate prostitution of "political donations".

ballooba

Rebeller wrote:

If Fianna Fail are re-elected to office it will be final confirmation for me that democracy does not work.

Ditto.

Sleepy

El Stuntman wrote:

I find it hard to pick a party to vote for - lack of choice/differentiation between the mainstream parties

so it's easier to choose one to vote against: Sinn Fein.

My vote will be dedicated to attempting to ensure that my local Sinn Fein candidate doesn't get elected, how negative is that?!

It's largely how I've voted most of my life and the reason I always go the whole way down my ballot sheet: whoever I least want to represent me gets the lowest voting preference up to whoever I consider the least offensive candidate.

Dontico

SeanW wrote:

Many of the problems Ireland faces could be solved if the powers that be actually gave half a damn. That's why I think tt's time for a change. I'll be voting FG, Green, Labour in that order.

voting the same.

on the top of my head heres 5 reasons.

1- "WE'll let you defens your homes." being a person who has been attacked by travelers in my own home, i think its time some does something about the problem.

2-not sending youths to jail, instead putting them into the defense force as better way of disciplining them.

3-as the first time ever we were a rich country and the current gov has wasted many oppertunities to put our success into action.

4-FG will check every CIA plane that comes intomour airports.

5-FG are just plain sensible.

ghostdancer

Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein, PD's and the Greens in said order.

although there's plenty I dislike about the current government (mainly the PD's side), the other choice is Enda Kenny and Pat Rabitte running the country, which is pretty frightening.

Ardent

ghostdancer wrote:

although there's plenty I dislike about the current government (mainly the PD's side), the other choice is Enda Kenny and Pat Rabitte running the country, which is pretty frightening.

As frightening as the bunch of incompetents currently in power?

I'll be voting FG, Labour. Time for a changing of the guard. I never bothered voting in the past but I made sure I was registered to vote this time - the last 4 years in this country has really p*ssed me off, I don't even know where to start with the problems...

gandalf

Haven't decided what order I will be voting in but I will be tailoring it to get out at least one of the two FF and one PD that are in my local area. I doubt they will be ousted though as Dublin South is a bit of a FF stronghold, I have canvassed the area in the past.

Colonel Sanders

Rebeller wrote:

If Fianna Fail are re-elected to office it will be final confirmation for me that democracy does not work.

To be honest the last genera election confirmed to me that deocracy doesn't work. Ater McCreevy's pre election budget the number of people teling me they'd vote fianna fail as they a few bob extra in their wage packets shocked me, these people obviously didnt realise that they'd pay this money back with interest through stealth txes and higher cost of public services, which are completely inefficient.

Then low and behold a former wexford hurling manager runs for office the year after he has brought the wexford hurlers to an all ireland semi final. I spoke to this mn on several occasions and I don't think he mentioned social and/or political policy once. He knew the popular vote was his. A number of people told me theý'd vote for him as he 'seemed a nice fella'.

For what its worth I haven't decided who to vote for yet but will certainly be looking to oppose the current govt.

InFront

gandalf wrote:

I have canvassed the area in the past.

Well don't come knocking on my door!

Ah so much for the secret ballot. In order -

Jim O Leary (FG),
Alan Shatter (FG),
Olivia Mitchell (FG),
Alex White (Lab)
Aidan Culhane (Lab)
Eamonn Ryan (Vegetable Party)

Order might change slightly depending on how the candidates are looking the day of the election.

gandalf

LOL don't worry I left the Labour party after 1992.

I hope Shatter gets back in, he is a good public representative and intelligent as well. Have met him on several occasions.