Are Fine Gael Doomed

mountainyman

I was driving out to Tallaght today and I saw the cherubic Brian Hayes grinning down at me.

On my way home Alan Shatter minimised his glower.

Now these guys are losers. They lost last time around. So why haven't Fine Gael thrown them away.

Every party depends on relationships but maybe Fine Gael just aren't ruthless enough to win.


MM

Badabing

I live in Tallaght and i cant stand Hayes, he lost out last time because he wasnt doing the work on the ground and i find him very smug.

gandalf

Dunno about Hayes but Shatter is a very capable politician and was a serious loss to the Dail last time especially when you look at the two FF politicians Brennen and Kitt who are both useless and the PD's O'Donnell who disappeared totally up until Harney stepped down as leader and suddenly reappeared on the scene.

RalphCifaretto

Badabing wrote:

I live in Tallaght and i cant stand Hayes, he lost out last time because he wasnt doing the work on the ground and i find him very smug.

Everyone fancies Hayes this time around, even FF fear he will take one of their seats. I don't see how myself, smug is exactly the word to describe him.

ballooba

FG Doomed? Things haven't been going so well for a long time.

Shatter is a star. I can't comment on Hayes as I am unfamiliar with him or his constituency.

gandalf

Is Harney based in Tallaght as well? If so what do you reckon her chances are?

Badabing

She's Dublin mid west and i think lives in Newcastle.

yomchi

yeh she's mid west.

Southwest sitting TD's - well sitting until saturday gone - are Sean Crowe, Charlie O'Connor, Conor Lenihan and Pat Rabbitte.

delta_bravo

Jon wrote:

yeh she's mid west.

Southwest sitting TD's - well sitting until saturday gone - are Sean Crowe, Charlie O'Connor, Conor Lenihan and Pat Rabbitte.

I think Conor Lenihan will be in danger of losing his seat. Crowe will storm the poll and Hayes seems to be gaining momentum

RalphCifaretto

Seems FF are worried about Lenihans seat. Paddy Power seem to think it's O Connor that's in trouble.

yomchi

delta_bravo wrote:

I think Conor Lenihan will be in danger of losing his seat. Crowe will storm the poll and Hayes seems to be gaining momentum

Yeh I was Crowes DOE in 2002. Pretty good machine they have out there!

delta_bravo

Jon wrote:

Yeh I was Crowes DOE in 2002. Pretty good machine they have out there!

He does well in large pockets of Tallaght and Bohernabreena but he gets little out near Templeogue and i hear he isnt popular in Kingswood. He will top the poll though

yomchi

we did ok in Kingswood and took just over 1000 out of Templeogue as far as I can remember. But yeh his bread and butter was jobstown, fettercairn, springfield etc.

Badabing

Lenihan and o'connor both got roughly 7000 first prefrences last time which was very good vote management so if they get their own vote out again its possible to keep hayes out again.

yomchi

i'd rather see Hayes out. O'Connor was a sound fella on the canvass. Lenihan was a smarmy ass no all who was as shallow as a puddle

delta_bravo

Jon wrote:

i'd rather see Hayes out. O'Connor was a sound fella on the canvass. Lenihan was a smarmy ass no all who was as shallow as a puddle

Yeh O'Connor seems to be a decent guy. Even though he is known as "Mr. Tallaght" I've seen him around my area a good few times. The thing I dont like about Hayes is that he is looking for the young votes on the basis that " the other candidates are old", ive heard him saying this to young voters. This seems pretty weak to me. Hayes might lose votes from Rabbite and this new candidate Davidson

yomchi

And remember Rabitte trailed home last time round, with his new found fame as Labour leader he should poll pretty well. I reckon Hayes is a no hoper, although I haven't been out there since 2002 so I don't know the lie of the land too well

I'm still wondering whether Shatter would actually be any good since he sent around his crappy 'Shatter has the X-Factor' pamphlet. Seriously. I've seen better in SU elections.

LostinBlanch

Well I'd love to see Lenihan out. I lost any (lingering) respect when I heard him pissed as a fart snoring just before an interview with RTE while he was on an FF pissup in the Slieve Russell in Cavan a couple of years ago.

tHE vAGGABOND

Shatter is an actual barrister, and has years and years of legal training and real world experience. Who bleedin cares what he looks like on a poster. Its people like him we need in the dail, writing and amending laws. People who have a clue about what is going on in the legal world..

I'm in Dublin South, but I did not vote for Shatter last time, for no real reason tbh. But he will be getting a 1 or 2 from me this time, as I think you need smart blokes like him in the dail to counter the Jackie Healy rae's of this world

mountainyman

Shatter is a solicitor. He is the country's main family law expert. But what I mean is if you lose you should be out.

brian hayes isn't my constituency.

MM

ballooba

mountainyman wrote:

Shatter is a solicitor. He is the country's main family law expert. But what I mean is if you lose you should be out.

TBH that's total cráp. People need a spell in the sin bins. The PDs will get one this time out.

Shatter didn't deserve one the last time IMO but he bore the brunt of people giving FG a kick up the hole.

ballooba

ballooba wrote:

TBH that's total cráp. People need a spell in the sin bins. The PDs will get one this time out.

You're saying Liz O'Donnell won't get in, or are you talking in a national sense?

tHE vAGGABOND

tHE vAGGABOND wrote:

Shatter is an actual barrister, and has years and years of legal training and real world experience.

Shatter is a Solicitor. Not sure that he is the 'main expert' on family law, but he has writen a textbook that is quite popular. Fine Gael have never entrusted him with a Ministerial post when in office.

Brian Lenihan, Michael McDowell and Barry Andrews are all Barristers. They'd be delighted with your ringing endorsement of the legal profession.

ballooba

Myth wrote:

You're saying Liz O'Donnell won't get in, or are you talking in a national sense?

National sense and with any luck the DSE sense.

ballooba

Deleted User wrote:

Fine Gael have never entrusted him with a Ministerial post when in office.

That is because he broke the party line on hunting. Which shows a bit of backbone. I would expect he will be on the front bench this time round.

ballooba

ballooba wrote:

That is because he broke the party line on hunting.

I'm geting that deja vu feeling. Have we had this argument before?

He wasn't appointed to Justice in the Fitzgerald administration. Noonan got it, even though he didn't have any seniority and no experience in law either.

ballooba

Deleted User wrote:

Noonan got it, even though he didn't have any seniority and no experience in law either.

Shatter was thirty one. He wasn't as well known in the legal profession as he is now. He had only just been elected for the first time one year previously.

Noonan was thirty nine. He had been a Fine Gael councillor for 8 years.

ballooba

ballooba wrote:

He had been a Fine Gael councillor for 8 years.

True, doubt that gives one a better insight into the legal profession than actually being a Solicitor. Both were elected to the Dail in 1981, Shatter had been a Solicitor for 5 years at that stage, 4 as a partner in his firm.

jdivision

Are FG doomed? Certainly not. Hayes is a bit smug but capable, Shatter a good politician and a sharp brain. Lenihan is a muppet, pure and simple. How he was made a minister before his brother is beyond me. I think he'll be out, fingers crossed.

ballooba

I take it you'll be supporting Lucinda Creighton for justice this time round then.