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Getting a greater grasp of Irish politics.

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  • 19-10-2007 1:05am
    #1
    estebancambias
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,103 ✭✭✭


    I really want to enhance my understading of Irish politics, what is the best way of going about this?

    I am in support of the Christian Solidarity Party and the Progressive Democrat(their views opposing gay marriage)

    I am extremely against the Liberal parties for a variety of reasons, with abortion being my major gripe against them.


    Can someone tell me what parties opposed the introduction of Capital Punishment, and who was for it.

    Is it just me, or is the Irish political scene dominated by Liberals, and why is this?


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    #2
    Dirk Gently
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,784 ✭✭✭Dirk Gently


    PDs seem a strange choice for you considering your opposition to abortion and gay marriage. I'm not saying they're in favour of either but they are a party based on economic free market policy and not strong one way or another on social issues you mention. I would imagine the PDs stance on such issues would be more to do with avoiding sensitive subjects rather than any out right opposition to them. The PDs are essentially a liberal party regarding divorce, contraception and so on so they would be in conflict with a lot of traditional Christian type politics. They would nearly have more in common with left wing parties on these issues, (if the Minister will forgive the comparison :p ).

    FG might be more to your liking than the PD's.


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    #3
    leninbenjamin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,983 ✭✭✭leninbenjamin


    estebancambias wrote: »
    Is it just me, or is the Irish political scene dominated by Liberals, and why is this?

    because they are representing the general populace who have an active interest in politics perhaps?


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    #4
    djpbarry
    Registered Users Posts: 13,104 ✭✭✭✭djpbarry


    leninbenjamin wrote: »
    because they are representing the general populace who have an active interest in politics perhaps?
    I would agree with this assessment. The population of Ireland is relatively liberal (young people anyway) and the stance of political parties reflects this for the most part.


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    #5
    estebancambias
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,103 ✭✭✭estebancambias


    Yeah, it's hypocricy at it's worst and shows my lack of understanding of Irish politics in general.

    Who are the Conservatives?


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    #6
    bonkey
    Registered Users Posts: 15,443 ✭✭✭✭bonkey


    estebancambias wrote: »
    Yeah, it's hypocricy at it's worst
    You seem to be making this comment in response to the notion that political parties reflect the wishes of the electorate...

    If I'm misunderstanding you, could you explain what you are saying is hypocritical.
    If I'm not misundestanding you, could you explain how it is hypocritical?
    and shows my lack of understanding of Irish politics in general.

    Who are the Conservatives?

    I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but my guess is that one of the main reasons you lack understanding of Irish politics is because you are trying to draw parallels with someone else's political system...most probably the Americans'.

    Concepts like "the Conservatives" and "the Liberals" don't really apply to Irish politics. If you're looking to map the Irish system to the American one, my guess is that at the end fo it all your understanding won't be much improved.


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    #7
    Dave!
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,857 ✭✭✭✭Dave!


    Exactly.

    Esteban, you've expressed your longing to be American before, but I think you need to snap out of it. In America "liberal" is a dirty word. It's not over here, so you can stop pretending that you hate them, especially since you don't have a clue about Irish politics.


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    #8
    Thomas_S_Hunterson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,151 ✭✭✭Thomas_S_Hunterson


    estebancambias wrote: »
    I really want to enhance my understading of Irish politics, what is the best way of going about this?
    Have a flick through the Pheonix or something


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    #9
    moe_sizlak
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 883 ✭✭✭moe_sizlak


    conservativsm or liberalism are not clearly defined in ireland like they are in the usa for example , most partys here are so of the centre , there a white line in the middle of a road as ive said before , this is probabley due to the fact that the irish people are by and large a very moderate kind of people , were see things much more grey than americans do who tend to see things in terms of black and white
    i for one see a lot of good in this
    one place however where you will see conservatism or liberalism most apparent is in our media but then again most journalists represent no ones opinion but there own which is why i often tell foreigners that while most irish people are not as left wing as the irish times or village magasine , by the same token most irish people are not as right wing as the sunday independant


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