General Election - Who will you vote?

E92

Ulster9 wrote:

Luckily few Irish people like you think Ireland stops at the border.If that is the new ideology of Fine Gael then its a sad case who votes for them.

Well, mods I'm sorry if I'm straying off topic here, not for the first time most likely, but unfortunately I was sick since monday and therefore have not been able to reply till now.

It is a fact that Ireland according to the Irish constitution, which Sinn Fein supported under the Good Friday agreement in 1998 is twenty six counties. Ireland is 26 counties IMO anyway. As I mentioned before, there will be a time(and now is not the right time for the reasons which I posted in this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055077645&page=4) when this country will be 32 counties, and when that time is right, then I look forward to Ireland being a 32 county state. Again I mentioned it before, I do support in principle a unification of the island of Ireland. I am also not a member of Fine Gael, therefore I do not articulate the views of the Fine Gael party, so dont go criticising FG or its people just because one supporter(but non member) expressed his own view. I am merely expressing my own views. I respect your views, because while I dont agree with them obviously, you are entitled to your own opinion just as much as I am. I still think that its time we stopped moaning about what happened in the past, its time to move on.

By the way I do not accept that there was a war going on up in NI. Thats just my own opinion.

In relation to Gerry Adams being on the leaders debate, you can duck and dive the issue all you want but fact still remains that the leader of Sinn Fein for the people in the Republic is Caomhin O Caolaghain. I know well the whole reason why Sinn Fein want to send Adams out is because Sinn Fein are so desperately worried that O Caolaghain would not cut the mustard against Enda Kenny(and certainly not against Pat Rabbitte, who is one of the best politicians in this regard),and yes the implication of what I said is that Adams is a superior debater to Caoimhin.The whole point I'm making there is that it does not say a lot about SFs regard for their 'leader' in the Republic. I'm not in the slightest bit bothered whether Adams or O Caolain is sent out because either of them will talk a lot but not really say a lot IMO. The thing about SFs want to increase the Corporation Tax rate to 17.5%, as mentioned in this thread earlier is the proof in the pudding there.

I would like to add my agreement to what ninty9er said, contrary to what some Republicans believe, it is not only Republicans who want a United Ireland. This 'new ideaology' as you call it is more widespread than you might think I believe, its just that nobody says it IMO. The truth IMO is that most Irish people are not really that bothered by the whole thing too much, yes they definately would like a UI, but they're doing quite nicely now as it is, and many are not really bothered by the whole history of the country as much as SF are.

Lastly, sorry if it seems that I directed my responses only at you, there were others too, and I think, well I hope I addressed some of their views in my reply.

And if ye think that my criticisms about SF are to do with the their past alone, you clearly dont want to hear all the other reasons why I dislike them(but suffice to say most of them have been mentioned already with regard to their policies on normal issues like tax, economy etc, and I see no virtue in mentioning them all again so I wont)

2dizzylizzie

Poblachtach wrote:

Thanks RUU.


If anyone has a particullar problem with any or all the parties maybe you could take time to explain why.

Personally, I would not vote Fianna Fail/PDs because of their systematic downgrading of my local hospital.

And selfish I know, their slowness on broadband.

That’s the whole HSE thing; I'm actually studying it at the moment! For all people give out about it if cash grabbing consultants and other people who are trying to prevent proper implementation of the scheme would stand aside it would be really good for over all health care. There have been reports both independently and carried out by the Gov carried out since the 50's calling for a plan like it. The idea is to take all the best of each area in medical care and place them in different hospitals specialising in that area of health care e.g make 1 hospital for neurosurgery, 1 for cancer care, 1 for cardio etc. and then each of these hospitals would be amazing at what they do = better care for patients. Then the rest of the hospitals would be free to deal with other types of cases like ER type stuff better. The idea of having less is to make for a more concentrated better system as opposed to a thinly spread low quality one. It makes sense really!

Ulster9

It is a fact that Ireland according to the Irish constitution, which Sinn Fein supported under the Good Friday agreement in 1998 is twenty six counties. Ireland is 26 counties IMO anyway

Ireland is 32 counties.Check with the GAA.The laws of the Irish State extend only to the 26 counties.Saying that Ireland is only 26 counties do you not see how ridiculous that sounds?

In relation to Gerry Adams being on the leaders debate, you can duck and dive the issue all you want but fact still remains that the leader of Sinn Fein for the people in the Republic is Caomhin O Caolaghain.

He is not the leader in the republic because Sinn Fein have one leader and thats Gerry Adams.Where does it say that a partys leader can only take part in electoral debates if he is a resident.He is a democratically elected leader of SinnFein which is running canidates in the elections so cope on.Running scared i think and if you re not bothered then why bring it up?

Also regarding corpaoration tax, i would agree i dont think its wise to increase it now especially when competiveness is an issue but i m pretty sure that its not actually in their manifesto to do so.Labour even suggested it at one point but that doesnt mean they are gonna increase it either.

mikemac

Our local TD was my schoolteacher and my mother's cousin. Ain't voting for her though.

Was going to vote Labour and signed up to Labour Youth and went to a few events. While I like the candidate and the Labour front bench, won't be voting for them either. Hillwalkers Bill was the final straw.

Did the political compass quiz and I found I'm pretty conservative. Must be a blueshirt so- FG get my vote and it's a pity we have no Green candidate here in Tipp North.

brianthebard

You're not really basing your vote on a quiz??

ninty9er

micmclo wrote:

Our local TD was my schoolteacher and my mother's cousin. Ain't voting for her though.

Was going to vote Labour and signed up to Labour Youth and went to a few events. While I like the candidate and the Labour front bench, won't be voting for them either. Hillwalkers Bill was the final straw.

Did the political compass quiz and I found I'm pretty conservative. Must be a blueshirt so- FG get my vote and it's a pity we have no Green candidate here in Tipp North.

What Brianthebard said....those quizzes are complete sh1te.

Seriously we have a majority centrist party political landscape in Ireland at the moment with liberal and conservative views crossing paths within every party's policies

brianthebard

Aye micmclo, if green policies are what's important to you then you can at least find the candidate in your constituency that best represents those views, even if its not the Green party's own candidate.

mikemac

brianthebard wrote:

You're not really basing your vote on a quiz??

Ah no, I'm not basing it on a quiz. I'm a regular reader here and on politics.ie.
Well informed on the political scence.

It's only when I joined Labour Youth, did I realise how much I disagreed with a lot of their policies.
For instance I'm against Shell to Sea and don't oppose the USA using Shannon. Not a fan of same sex civil unions either.
Maybe it's unusual for a young person to be conservative but that's me:)

Law and order, better public transport and cutting waste in public spending are my main issues.
Extra funding for the defense forces also.

brianthebard

Labour youth are known to be a lot more militant and out there than the parent party. Tbh given what you say about shell to sea and shannon you seem to favour FF policies. The other policies you mention are pretty much part of any parties plans, except for the extra funding part.

Brolly

nesf wrote:

Transport infrastructure improved outside of Dublin. Investment in rural areas increased (just services stuff). Fine Gael losing, badly.

That's what I want from the next election tbh.

Hi all. This is my first post. Got to agree with nesf - All I want is for Fine Gael to lose! (and Labour!)

Fianna Fáil is the only sensible option for this Country - the economy is getting better and better, the health care system is improving (despite the setback with Nurses actions) and road infrustructure is constantly improving under Transport 21. I live in Donegal and the €50 billion investment for links with Dublin (and further) is great.

The opposition parties seem to forget that it takes time to expand hospitals (planning and the actual building of them) and credit to Mary Harney, she has improved health services greatly. Another big one, and this is a complete joke - Fine Gael say they will increase Garda numbers by 2000 to 16000. Do they not know that there are 15000 at present, not 14000!!!

I am only 20 (not a lot of knowledge of the days gone by) but from my parents and grandparents I have realised how bad the days got when Fine Gael were in power - high Corporation taxes, terrible economy etc.

So on May 24th, if you have not already decided who to vote for, check out Fianna Fáil's commitments and you can be assured they will implement them.

E92

brolly wrote:

I am only 20 (not a lot of knowledge of the days gone by) but from my parents and grandparents I have realised how bad the days got when Fine Gael were in power - high Corporation taxes, terrible economy etc.

Well I am in a similar age bracket to you, but its clear that you don't know the record
of the Fine Gael and Labour party in Government.

High Corporation taxes were there all the time, when Feel and Fail were in power too. It was because of the previous rainbow government that Corporation taxes are the low level they now are. Ruairi Quinn introduced the measure when he was the Minister for Enterprise. The country's fastest rate of job creation ever was when Fine Gael and Labour were last in government. It never fails to amaze me how many people don't realise(or alternatively choose not to realise) this statistic. When Fine Gael and Labour were last in power Inflation was 1.5%. Now its 5.1%, or basically around 3 1/2 times the rate it was when the rainbow were in power. Thats hardly good economic management from the crowd that claim to be the 'experts' in this field. We had to rescue the country from oblivion in the 80s, because in the General Election of 1977, Feel and Fail announced that they would give the country the sun, the moon and stars.They got in, and Fine Gael and Labour had to clean up their mess afterwards Garret Fitzgearld once famously said''We didn't realise how bad it was''(the state of the public finances). You might say that the 80s were very bad for this country, thats absolutely true, the country had no money, and therefore FG and Labour made tough decisions, very unpopular decisions I completely accept, but the right decisions. The economy doing very badly wasnt unique to the 80s, our economy sucked until the past 15 years(and FF were in power for a lot that time before the economy turned around too). The FG-Labour coalition delivered the country's first ever budget surplus in over 25 years IIRC in 1996. Then in 1989 the programme for National Recovery was introduced, and it was said that not long after this time the country turned around for the better. But of course, what everyone tends to forget is that Fine Gael made that happen, because of Alan Dukes's 'Tallaght Stratgey', which forced Feel and Fail to do the correct things for the country, otherwise, FG would pull the plug and FF and the PDs were out of Government, and with a bit of luck, they will be out of their jobs in exactly 23 day's time.

Tricity Bendix

The PDs weren't in government during the time of the Tallaght Strategy. And the problem with Lab/FG during the 80's is that they didn't make the tough decisions. Instead of cutting expenditure, they let the public debt stack up at a time when international interest rates were high. It took the Tallaght Strategy followed by a FF-PD government to restore order following a decade of economic madness. Madness that was acted out by Fine Gael under Fitzgerald just as much as Labour and Fianna Fáil.