General Election - Who will you vote?

singloud

Potential for running the country, would they be any good in your opinion?


I agree about Ireland could have a better public service. When I first moved the Belgium I was amazed at the health service and transportation, Belgium has huge problems with corruption, everyone hating one another and no common language but I'll miss the health service, thats for sure.

Elmo

so that the only possible governments would be FF/SF or FF/Lab

SF would have to make the same gains as The Greens to be likely partners in a government with FF. (But in saying that they could always stay with 5 and 6 seats and still go into government with FF as long as the PDs go below 3 seats).

I wouldn't rule out an FF/Green Government.

Trevor Sargent has only said that he won't be Tainiste if Bertie is Taoiseach, and that they won't allow politicians like Fahy be in the cabinet. So if Bertie lets Cowan be Taoiseach the Sargent could be Tainiste.

Voipjunkie

Elmo wrote:

SF would have to make the same gains as The Greens to be likely partners in a government with FF. (But in saying that they could always stay with 5 and 6 seats and still go into government with FF as long as the PDs go below 3 seats).

I wouldn't rule out an FF/Green Government.

Trevor Sargent has only said that he won't be Tainiste if Bertie is Taoiseach, and that they won't allow politicians like Fahy be in the cabinet. So if Bertie lets Cowan be Taoiseach the Sargent could be Tainiste.

I would not even rule out a FF/Green coalition with Bertie still as Taoiseach as once the election is out of the way what people said before hand goes out the window.
If Dessie O'Malley could go in with Charlie after all the things they had said about each other before what Rabbite or Sargent have said about Bertie is small beer and they can always justify themselves by proclaiming the national interest whether that is saving us from SF or the World Bank or whatever.


In fact I would not even rule out a FG/Lab/Green/PD government if the numbers stacked up as FG would love it better have them inside the tent Lab and the Greens could sell it as at least putting FF on the opposition benches and the PDs could at last show themselves as more than an extension of FF.

marco murphy

Deleted User wrote:

I think some people might have a difficulty when they refuse to condemn brutal crime, say like the McCartney murder, wait to see how strong public opinion is, and only then when public disgust is clear let it be known that their fellow travellers could sort the problem out without any need to trouble the police and the courts.

Answer my question perhaps?
You have just branded Sinn Fein as being bigoted. Back it up.

Voipjunkie

singloud wrote:

Potential for running the country, would they be any good in your opinion?


I agree about Ireland could have a better public service. When I first moved the Belgium I was amazed at the health service and transportation, Belgium has huge problems with corruption, everyone hating one another and no common language but I'll miss the health service, thats for sure.

It is hard to know exactly what SF stand for if anything other than being in power. If in power with FF then the government would probably be a little more left leaning than the current Government but I doubt there would be anything revolutionary brought forward. It is hard to pin SF down on anything other than whatever it is they are against it what they are actually for is far less tangible.
They say better public services but how they would achieve that is less than clear.

Elmo

It is hard to know exactly what SF stand for if anything other than being in power.

Don't they all want this?

If in power with FF then the government would probably be a little more left leaning than the current Government but I doubt there would be anything revolutionary brought forward.

No prob not, Vincent Browne wrote a very good article about this. He basically was saying that when it comes down to it Sinn Fein will just fall into the same box as the PDs, FF, FG and Labour. They prob won't fall into the box just yet but wait till they have to go into government.

Villain

singloud wrote:

I really don't know that much about Sinn Fein from living in Belgium for too long.Whenever they were mentioned it was always in the same sentence as the IRA. Do they hold any potential?

Well they are elected as members of a Government on this Island, its just its up North and most people aren't bothered about what happens up North.

Voipjunkie

Elmo wrote:

Don't they all want this?

Yes but sometimes parties have principles and policies so that you have an idea what they intend to do when they attain power of course they do not always live up to those promises but with SF they don't seem to want to tie themselves to policies or principles other than cover themselves in a cloak of "republicanism" and pretend that is a policy or a principle but as we all know republicanism is a broad church which means different things to different people.

Of course with SF they will not be able to be accused of having breached any policy or principle since they never announced what they were in the first place.
With SF its all we are for better schools and better health care and better public transport but no clear plan of how they would achieve these things and of course i have yet to hear of any party that is for worse schools worse public transport and worse healthcare.

marco murphy

Voipjunkie wrote:

Yes but sometimes parties have principles and policies so that you have an idea what they intend to do when they attain power of course they do not always live up to those promises but with SF they don't seem to want to tie themselves to policies or principles other than cover themselves in a cloak of "republicanism" and pretend that is a policy or a principle but as we all know republicanism is a broad church which means different things to different people.

Of course with SF they will not be able to be accused of having breached any policy or principle since they never announced what they were in the first place.
With SF its all we are for better schools and better health care and better public transport but no clear plan of how they would achieve these things and of course i have yet to hear of any party that is for worse schools worse public transport and worse healthcare.

Well if you visit ''thenextsteps.ie'', if iam not mistaken FF claim to work for ''better healthcare'' - They also dont proport how they are going to do this.

SF's line is, for such a rich country why is the healthcare a shambles. SF know its due to money mismanagement among other things. They must know how to sort it out, id reckon so anyway.

Voipjunkie

Poblachtach wrote:

Well if you visit ''thenextsteps.ie'', if iam not mistaken FF claim to work for ''better healthcare'' - They also dont proport how they are going to do this.

Went to Thenextsteps.ie to see and this is the message

This account has been suspended.
Either the domain has been overused, or the reseller ran out of resources.

Poblachtach wrote:

SF's line is, for such a rich country why is the healthcare a shambles. SF know its due to money mismanagement among other things. They must know how to sort it out, id reckon so anyway.

I know what the SF line is what I want to know is what they intend to do about it.
If SF know how to sort it out then why don't they tell us why keep it a secret

The truth is that SF do not want to be caught in arguing policy details like how they would finance their plans so to avoid this they say as little as possible other than we want a better Health service Transport whatever.

But the question is better how more nurses more doctors more hospitals ???

Once you get into detail of how you would make it better then the next question is how will you pay for it. Of course it is far easier to be against something or everything and never have to put your own position out their to be probed and tested.

Anyone who saw Adams squirming away from the questions on SF tax policy on primetime will know that SF stands for nothing other than gaining power and they have no real concept of what they will do with power if they ever get it other than rename Merrion Rd or rid us of the imperialist post boxes.

BTW I am not a member of any party so I a not attacking SF with the view to promoting another party.

K-9

Voipjunkie wrote:

Anyone who saw Adams squirming away from the questions on SF tax policy on primetime will know that SF stands for nothing other than gaining power and they have no real concept of what they will do with power if they ever get it other than rename Merrion Rd or rid us of the imperialist post boxes.

BTW I am not a member of any party so I a not attacking SF with the view to promoting another party.

Adams was cringeful on Prime time that time, trying to defend the indefendible.

Made Bertie look like a polished media performer:)

Voipjunkie

Seanies32 wrote:

Adams was cringeful on Prime time that time, trying to defend the indefendible.

Made Bertie look like a polished media performer:)

If he had tried to defend it then I would have some respect for him but he was at pains not to be tied to any policy that may interfere with SF negotiating their way into government.

If someone has a policy and can argue for it then we can make up our mind whether we agree or disagree with that policy but when they refuse to say what their policy is then what are they asking us to vote for ?

I just had a look at the SF website and their Health policy document just to make sure I was not being hard on them and it is full of we are for this and against that but nowhere does it give any specifics about what hospitals they would close open or expand or how they would end the A&E crisis or how many more hospital beds they would create.
Generalities like creating an All Ireland Health service which would probably be a good idea in regards of a small island and duplicating services in two jurisdictions but it gives no specifics of how the service could be improved by doing this.

Chakar

The website is www.thenextsteps.ie

Ulster9

Policy documents never go into great detail at all, they are never specific because circumstances change and parties do not want to be tied down because of what they included in a policy document.
The present government can be judged on their performance over ten years where they have introduced stealth taxes and let the housing market become the driver of the economy.Now we have a situation where salary increases in many cases are below the rate of inflation and Unions now are starting to undermine the Benchmarking process.Young people have to take out crazy mortgages to buy very overpriced houses.The wealth in this country is being transfered from the Young to the Old.It should be the other way round.This is due to poor management of the economy in my view by the government.
I do not believe FG would manage this better and i think man for man,woman for woman FF is a more capable party.I would like to see the PDs out of power and Sinn Fein in power with FF.I have turned against Labour as they have alligned themselves with FG and are more interested in power than making alliances with parties with common ideology like Sinn Fein and the Greens.The PDs want to privatise everything so the government makes a quick buck and is ultimately responsible for less in the future.

ninty9er

Even though Bertie has said no to SF on economic rather than historical issues....many in the party and on the Ardchomhairle will not allow him to form a FF/SF coalition for historical reasons.

As long as Martin Ferris continues to bully votes out of people (I have friends down that way so I'm not talking through my arse) and Mary Lou (who I think is an excellent politician and from fine Fianna Fáil stock too- such a pity she was lost) who carried an IRA coffin, and others with similar stories; remain on the SF benches it's not going to happen!

Remember how Lemass toed the line until he got the power and then changed for the better....one can't help but wonder if SF will go mad in a government.

Anyhow, not one person I've spoken to is giving a SF candidate a No.1 so I don't know what all the hype is....they may even lose seats...the Irish electorate are a rare breed and unpredictable at times

Ulster9

As long as Martin Ferris continues to bully votes out of people (I have friends down that way so I'm not talking through my arse) and Mary Lou (who I think is an excellent politician and from fine Fianna Fáil stock too- such a pity she was lost) who carried an IRA coffin, and others with similar stories; remain on the SF benches it's not going to happen!

Having friends down that way proves nothing, are you saying the people in North Kerry are living in fear of Martin Ferris?Thats crap and you know it.Have your friends been bullied into voting for Martin Ferris?Produce evidence of this otherwise it just sounds like propoganda.
Whos coffin did MaryLou carry?and so what if she did.I know plenty of people who will be voting Sinn Fein.They are very strong in some parts of the country.Remember this there combined vote North and South makes them the second largest party in the island of Ireland.Its not their problem that Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are partitionist parties.

Ulster9

If i remember correctly Martin Ferris and some of his election workers where harrassed by Gardai before the last election.Martin Ferris was arrested without charge and he was alledgedly assaulted by Gardai.So who is bullying who i wonder?

SeanW

Ulster9 wrote:

Having friends down that way proves nothing, are you saying the people in North Kerry are living in fear of Martin Ferris?Thats crap and you know it.Have your friends been bullied into voting for Martin Ferris?Produce evidence of this otherwise it just sounds like propoganda.
Whos coffin did MaryLou carry?and so what if she did.I know plenty of people who will be voting Sinn Fein.

ninty9er is a confessed FFer. That explains it.

Voipjunkie

ninty9er wrote:

Even though Bertie has said no to SF on economic rather than historical issues....many in the party and on the Ardchomhairle will not allow him to form a FF/SF coalition for historical reasons.

I am sorry but that is BS if the DUP can go in with SF and if Blaney FF can be brought back into the fold and if FF can co exist with the PDs then they will definitely share power with SF if they can hold on to power that way.

ninty9er wrote:

As long as Martin Ferris continues to bully votes out of people (I have friends down that way so I'm not talking through my arse) and Mary Lou (who I think is an excellent politician and from fine Fianna Fáil stock too- such a pity she was lost) who carried an IRA coffin, and others with similar stories; remain on the SF benches it's not going to happen!


Remember how Lemass toed the line until he got the power and then changed for the better....one can't help but wonder if SF will go mad in a government.

Sorry again BS people vote for SF because they want to the sooner people get their heads around this the better and stop making excuses we were told that it was mass personation so they brought in strict ID rules and the SF vote went up then we were told it was an abuse of the postal vote so they changed the rules on that and the SF vote went up then it was all the dead people voting so they tidied the register and the SF vote went up. People are not being bullied into voting for anyone as all SF or anyone else can tell is that you went to the polling station what you do with your ballot is secret.

As for Mary lou carrying a coffin ahem Lemass was an IRA man as was Dev never mind the coffins they carried

And the SF might go mad in government is what CG was saying about FF in the late 20s early 30s

ninty9er wrote:

Anyhow, not one person I've spoken to is giving a SF candidate a No.1 so I don't know what all the hype is....they may even lose seats...the Irish electorate are a rare breed and unpredictable at times

All electorates are unpredictable at times however I suggest you are living in hope rather than anything else if you think they will not get any votes and lose seats. It is perhaps unsurprising that the people you speak to are not voting SF given you are in FF.
BTW what about the poor bullied souls in North Kerry are they standing up to ferris this time or have you just not spoken to them.

marco murphy

Even though Bertie has said no to SF on economic rather than historical issues....many in the party and on the Ardchomhairle will not allow him to form a FF/SF coalition for historical reasons.

As long as Martin Ferris continues to bully votes out of people (I have friends down that way so I'm not talking through my arse) and Mary Lou (who I think is an excellent politician and from fine Fianna Fáil stock too- such a pity she was lost) who carried an IRA coffin, and others with similar stories; remain on the SF benches it's not going to happen!

Remember how Lemass toed the line until he got the power and then changed for the better....one can't help but wonder if SF will go mad in a government.

Anyhow, not one person I've spoken to is giving a SF candidate a No.1 so I don't know what all the hype is....they may even lose seats...the Irish electorate are a rare breed and unpredictable at times

Thats some allegation you have made there. How does Martin Ferris bully votes out of people?

I know what the SF line is what I want to know is what they intend to do about it.
If SF know how to sort it out then why don't they tell us why keep it a secret

The truth is that SF do not want to be caught in arguing policy details like how they would finance their plans so to avoid this they say as little as possible other than we want a better Health service Transport whatever.

But the question is better how more nurses more doctors more hospitals ???

Once you get into detail of how you would make it better then the next question is how will you pay for it. Of course it is far easier to be against something or everything and never have to put your own position out their to be probed and tested.

Anyone who saw Adams squirming away from the questions on SF tax policy on primetime will know that SF stands for nothing other than gaining power and they have no real concept of what they will do with power if they ever get it other than rename Merrion Rd or rid us of the imperialist post boxes.

BTW I am not a member of any party so I a not attacking SF with the view to promoting another party.

I trust that SF know what they are doing, therefore they have my vote. Funnily enough FF claim to have the ability to sort out the health service, how? who knows.

From thenextsteps.ie

Introduce a Personal Health Check entitlement for all, to include screening and allow for prevention and early action
• Create Primary Care Teams in all communities
• Build Local Injury Clinics to take pressure off A&Es and allow faster treatment of less urgent conditions

Of course we don't see how this is going to be done. You'll find no party, not just SF, explain HOW they are going to finance this and that.

SF are the only party in my area that gets things done. Local issues etc. And I won't be the only person to say that.
A FF Cllr. visited my house telling me how he personally was going to deliver broadband to my community. Never happened, a year later I approached candidate Joe Reilly (SF), 4 months I had broadband.
He did'nt need to explain how it was done. But it was done.

Adams was cringeful on Prime time that time, trying to defend the indefendible.

Made Bertie look like a polished media performer

I did'nt see that. However, put yourself in Gerry Adams shoes, well, even if you did you could'nt possibly feel the pressure he was at the time of that programme.
If you have any queries of SF economic policy make a thread about it. I'll answer as much as I can.

Voipjunkie

Poblachtach wrote:

I trust that SF know what they are doing, therefore they have my vote. Funnily enough FF claim to have the ability to sort out the health service, how? who knows.

From thenextsteps.ie



Of course we don't see how this is going to be done. You'll find no party, not just SF, explain HOW they are going to finance this and that.

SF are the only party in my area that gets things done. Local issues etc. And I won't be the only person to say that.
A FF Cllr. visited my house telling me how he personally was going to deliver broadband to my community. Never happened, a year later I approached candidate Joe Reilly (SF), 4 months I had broadband.
He did'nt need to explain how it was done. But it was done.

Well for example if you head over to the Labour party website they have 5 clear commitments that they are promising
like 2300 extra hospital beds
2000 extra Gardai
Free preschool
etc
The Labour party have costed these and said how they intend to pay for them.

My point is that i can clearly see what the Labour parties priorities are and I can agree or disagree and IF I voted for them in 5 years time I could see if they lived up to their commitments.
On the other hand I see nothing like this from SF they say they want better healthcare ,transport etc but not a word on what they would do if they hand their hands on the levers of power as such I have no idea whether I agree with how they intend improving things nor can I see if they lived up to their commitment

Poblachtach wrote:

I did'nt see that. However, put yourself in Gerry Adams shoes, well, even if you did you could'nt possibly feel the pressure he was at the time of that programme.
If you have any queries of SF economic policy make a thread about it. I'll answer as much as I can.

Sorry he is the leader of one of the main political parties on this island if an RTE interviewer can put him off so much that he can not even offer a rational argument for his parties tax policies god help the Nationalist people of the North who he has been negotiating on behalf of for the last 10 years.

It was not pressure it was an unwillingness to tie himself to anything that may interfere with possible negotiations for Government after the election what he was basically saying was that SF have no principles that could stand in the way of a deal.

ninty9er

Ulster9 wrote:

Having friends down that way proves nothing, are you saying the people in North Kerry are living in fear of Martin Ferris?Thats crap and you know it.Have your friends been bullied into voting for Martin Ferris?.

No but some of their parents have voted for Ferris because in an instance I'm aware of :
*An item of building machinery was stolen-> proceeded to seek help from Ferris ->Ferris visits a particular suspect ->machinery miraculuously re-appears.

He's behind a vigilante operation, although it has *sometimes* positive results, should not be tolerated in this state.

It's akin to the schoolyard, but more sinister: "if I bully A to get B what (s)he wants, then B will vote for me"

E92

Na Léinte Gorma for me. Theres 3 in Cork South Central, my constituncy, Jerry Butimer, a Councillor and Career Guidance teacher in a Bishopstown secondary school, Simon Coveney the MEP and the former Lord Mayor of Cork, and front bench spokesman in the prevois Dáil Cllr. Deirdre Clune. Hoping for 2 FG seats here, which should be easily attainable considering that Cllr. Clune only lost her seat by a very small margin, though Cllr. Jerry Buttimer is polling well apparantly; he made a good speech in the FG Ard Fheis recently, and impressed me very much when he went looking for my vote recently. Havent been canvassed by Simon or Deirdre yet, so havent made up my mind which of those 3 gets my first, second and third preferences yet, but I think it will be Cllr. Jerry Buttimer getting No1.
Labours Ciarán Lynch will be getting my 4th preference, Labour are lucky they're doing that well from me, if it was that muppet Sen Brendan Ryan they wouldnt get anything from me.

Of course the fact that FG are in a pre election pact with Labour is quite significant, and contributes to Labour getting a vote from me. I think Pat Rabbite is an excellent politician too, and their policies on things like the age of consent are better IMO than FGs.

I really cant believe I'm saying this, because even a couple of months ago I'd have said that I wouldnt touch them with a bargepole, but I'm even going to extend my charity to the Greens too. My main reason for disliking them is that they want to stop building roads(and build a Luas here, which if you know anything about Cork is simply not doable because motside of the Cuty Centre the roads to the main subarbs with the exception of Bishopstown/Ballincollig are extremely narrow, not even wide enough to have Bus Lanes), which I think would be disastourous. But if they're going to be in a Fine Gael/Labour rainbow, they wont have a lot of power methinks, what with FG and Labour promising to have joined up policies on most things(some of which has already been published;the economy, health, education which are extremely important issues).
Plus I think that we do need to act on the enviornment(I hope we'll hear more from FG and Labour on this too), and I believe that they will hold the balance of power in June. Either way, its highly unlikely that they(Labour) will have a seat in this constituncy.

We're spared of the communists(they're members of the GUE in Europe which is and I quote 'a socialist and communist political grouping within the European Parliament ' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_United_Left_-_Nordic_Green_Left if you dont believe me;) )commonly known as the Shinners or even Sinn Fein, but rest assured that if they had any hope at all of getting a seat in my constituncy, I would vote FF next, followed by the PDs and whatever independents were running, and that would be it. I could go on all night about reasons why not to vote for the Shinners, but I won't because I know well the more I criticise them, the more they get votes,[but them wanting to exit the EU is a pretty good reason, imperfect and all as the EU is, along with the fact that SF will not condone the activities of the IRA(to be fair the IRAs decision to disband was very welcome, but Id also say that there was no need for them in the first place, bad and all as the Brits were)(saying 'it was wrong but not a crime' as Mitchel Mc Laughlin said on Q&A the time they were talking about Jean Mc Convile is not what I and I think many others would consider to be a sufficient condenmation of a murder btw for the considerable number of people who are Sinn Feinists on this board) cannot and should not be taken seriously IMO], hence why secretly I'd imagine they love Michael McDowell, because of the way he was so good for criticising them, btw I think hes the best asset FG, Labour and the Greens have(has anyone noticed that while the Ranelagh Rotweiler as I sometimes call him loves to criticise the 'slump coalition', he never criticises FG on their own, apart from their correct decision to say that they'd choose the Greenies over the PDs, yet he willfully criticises Labour and the Greens), because everyone hates him outside of the PDs, and I think that theres a certain element of the electorate that will vote for whoever he criticises just to annoy him.

FF would go in to government with the cat as far as I'm concerned. If the numbers add up for Labour that will do for them. If the numbers add up for the Greens that will be fine for them too. If the needed Sinn fein to get them in thay'd do that too. If the numbers added up for FF+Greens+SF+Independants+Joe Higgins they would do it, I firmly believe they would. They would do anything for power, no matter what the costs are, I believe.

In Short vote for the party which(I'm 99% sure of this:D ) has the largest youth wing in the country(YFG has more members than any other youth party in the country I think:) ),the largest number of EU parliament representatives in the country, the party that has more seats than the 'old enemy'(FF) in the same parliament, the party that is in Europes largest political bloc, the party that combined with Labour have more than 100 more seats than FF in local Authorities, they party whose leader put his neck on the line by saying that if he didnt do what he intended doing in Government that he would even seek reelection as Taoiseach, (Fine Gael) , Labour, and Greens to build this better Ireland that we've all been waiting too long for.

Oh, btw I'm not (presently) an FG member, but will be in a few months, hence why not everything I've said is entirely representative of what FG say, before people pull me up on things I've said that are not consistant with the views of the Fine Gael or Labour party.

E92

I should add that I've heard about how Martin Ferris get things 'done' for his constituents, its along the lines of what ninty9er said. So its safe to say that ninty9er is 100% right to have his doubts about Mr Ferris,who apparantly needed a medical card for part of the time hes been in the Dáil(this was a few years back addmittedly), in spite of earning the generous sums that TDs earn.

K-9

Ulster9 wrote:

The PDs want to privatise everything so the government makes a quick buck and is ultimately responsible for less in the future.

What exactly have the PD's privatised? And I'm not a PD supporter:)

Poblachtach wrote:

A FF Cllr. visited my house telling me how he personally was going to deliver broadband to my community. Never happened, a year later I approached candidate Joe Reilly (SF), 4 months I had broadband.
He did'nt need to explain how it was done. But it was done.

So it was SF who got broadband for your community. The SF candidate didn't explain how he got it but yet you believe he got it

Did you consider it might have been the FF Cllr. but it took 16 months as sometimes these things do. The FF candidate didn't explain it either yet You don't feel he got it. Maybe Eircom actually where planning to provide broadband to your community and it has nothing to do with any party

Poblachtach wrote:

I did'nt see that. However, put yourself in Gerry Adams shoes, well, even if you did you could'nt possibly feel the pressure he was at the time of that programme.
If you have any queries of SF economic policy make a thread about it. I'll answer as much as I can.

Every party has to explain their policies on Prime time to some extent. They're all under pressure. Why make excuses for Gerry when he has plenty of media experience compared to say Trevor Sargent.

There now follows a party political broadcast for FG

E92 wrote:

In Short vote for the party which(I'm 99% sure of this ) has the largest youth wing in the country(YFG has more members than any other youth party in the country I think:) ),the largest number of EU parliament representatives in the country, the party that has more seats than the 'old enemy'(FF) in the same parliament, the party that is in Europes largest political bloc, the party that combined with Labour have more than 100 more seats than FF in local Authorities, they party whose leader put his neck on the line by saying that if he didnt do what he intended doing in Government that he would even seek reelection as Taoiseach, (Fine Gael) , Labour, and Greens to build this better Ireland that we've all been waiting too long for.

End of Political Broadcast. It's funny how you have to add the Labour seats to get more than FF

Good point about Ferris. Why should a TD have a medical card! I suppose they want them for everybody!

ninty9er

E92 wrote:

In Short vote for the party which(I'm 99% sure of this:D ) has the largest youth wing in the country(YFG has more members than any other youth party in the country I think:) )

There's no definitive figure for either Ógra FF or YFG, (both about 5500-6000) Accounting for the fact tha YFG consider someone who's 30 to be a young person, compared to 26 for Ógra FF and also allow members in at 15 rather than the Ógra 16 (which is under review)...it'd be a bit lame if YFG didn't have higher numbers. Hell 26 is even considered a bit old for Ógra;)

Ulster9

should add that I've heard about how Martin Ferris get things 'done' for his constituents, its along the lines of what ninty9er said. So its safe to say that ninty9er is 100% right to have his doubts about Mr Ferris,who apparantly needed a medical card for part of the time hes been in the Dáil(this was a few years back addmittedly), in spite of earning the generous sums that TDs earn.

All Sinn Fein representatives direct their salaries to the party and in return receive a allowance from the party.Therefore they receive significantly less pay than FF/FG/LB/PD TDs.Therefore i m sure Martin Ferris was entitled to his medical card.Funny that is a story that emerged from the tabloids, is this your source for all your misinformation.A lot of people here using heresay like my friends told me this they must know because they live there.
Its not the way things work in the real world.

Ulster9

In Short vote for the party which(I'm 99% sure of this ) has the largest youth wing in the country(YFG has more members than any other youth party in the country I think ),the largest number of EU parliament representatives in the country, the party that has more seats than the 'old enemy'(FF) in the same parliament, the party that is in Europes largest political bloc, the party that combined with Labour have more than 100 more seats than FF in local Authorities, they party whose leader put his neck on the line by saying that if he didnt do what he intended doing in Government that he would even seek reelection as Taoiseach, (Fine Gael) , Labour, and Greens to build this better Ireland that we've all been waiting too long for.

The party that hasnt a hope in the election.I m not a huge FF supporter but they are far more capable than Enda and Rabbite.I think of John Brutons reign as Taoiseach in 1997 and hope never to see a FG party in government again.He was an embarrasment and Kenny wont be much better.

Ulster9

Shinners or even Sinn Fein, but rest assured that if they had any hope at all of getting a seat in my constituncy, I would vote FF next, followed by the PDs and whatever independents were running, and that would be it. I could go on all night about reasons why not to vote for the Shinners, but I won't because I know well the more I criticise them, the more they get votes,[but them wanting to exit the EU is a pretty good reason, imperfect and all as the EU is, along with the fact that SF will not condone the activities of the IRA(to be fair the IRAs decision to disband was very welcome, but Id also say that there was no need for them in the first place, bad and all as the Brits were)(saying 'it was wrong but not a crime' as Mitchel Mc Laughlin said on Q&A the time they were talking about Jean Mc Convile is not what I and I think many others would consider to be a sufficient condenmation of a murder btw for the considerable number of people who are Sinn Feinists on this board)

That question relating to Jean McConville is a real example of political opportunism.Everyone in Sinn Fein knows that the murder of Jean McConville was a criminal act, and in a war situation would constitute as a war crime but there was an attempt being made in media quarters to score political points with Sinn Fein and criminalise the IRAs campaign.If Sinn Fein was to turn round and say yes these were crimes just like any commom murder then IRA volunteers would be outraged with Adams and McGuinness and would tell them were to stick their peace process.A lot of southerners are completely ignorant to what Belfast was like in the early seventies at the time of this unfortunate mothers death.

K-9

Ulster9 wrote:

That question relating to Jean McConville is a real example of political opportunism.Everyone in Sinn Fein knows that the murder of Jean McConville was a criminal act, and in a war situation would constitute as a war crime but there was an attempt being made in media quarters to score political points with Sinn Fein and criminalise the IRAs campaign.If Sinn Fein was to turn round and say yes these were crimes just like any commom murder then IRA volunteers would be outraged with Adams and McGuinness and would tell them were to stick their peace process.A lot of southerners are completely ignorant to what Belfast was like in the early seventies at the time of this unfortunate mothers death.

But its not a war situation any more and its not the seventies either.

Political pointscoring - more convicting criminals for criminal acts.