FF Select 2 Dynasties for By-Elections

Het-Field

As Labour and Fine Gael have put forward 3 credible candidates (Lee, Bacik, and White), and one decnet candidate (Donoghue) for the upcoming by elections.

On the other hand, Fianna Fail have continued to make it a "family affair". Ahead of Senator Maria Corrigan, Shay Brennan (Son of Seamus Brennan(RIP)) has been slected for the Dublin South by-election.

More worryingly, is the selection of 72 Year Old Maurice Ahearn, who shall contest the Dublin Central By Election. If you are not already sure of who he is, he is Bertie's brother. Hence, the Dundrum Mafia will be after a seat vacated by one of Ireland's most loved Independents, Tony Gregory.

Just when you think that party ouldnt get anymore tribal :rolleyes:

thebigcheese22

If any of those FFers get in...I will truly be vindicated in my hatred of Dubliners!

is_that_so

Not too much to be concerned about either way as FF will most likely lose both. Brennan will probably decide the seat in Dublin South but only because of where his transfers will go. George Lee and Alex White are the front runners. The same applies to Maurice Ahern and there are a few strong candidates who will come ahead of him, Donohoe, Bacik and maybe Maureen O'Sullivan.

thebigcheese22

is_that_so wrote: »

Not too much to be concerned about either way as FF will most likely lose both. Brennan will probably decide the seat in Dublin South but only because of where his transfers will go. George Lee and Alex White are the front runners. The same applies to Maurice Ahern and there are a few strong candidates who will come ahead of him, Bacik, Donohoe and maybe Maureen O'Sullivan

It would be a dream if it was a Labour clean sweep but I think it will end up one FG and one Labour seat. I still think Alex White is going to win tho

Pride Fighter

Hopefully Labour win both:):)

slippy wicket

i dont know how anyone could be suprised at the behaviour of ff, their arrogance knows no bounds. berties bro could be a decent enough sort but the fact there is an amoral political machine such as the drumcondra mafia behind him is definate turn off.

is_that_so

I'd say it is more likely to be a FG clean sweep. The George Lee factor will make it an awful lot harder for Alex White. Someone suggested on radio tonight that George would be elected on the first count.

dave-higgz

FG could also win both however I was unimpressed with the Dublin Central debate on Vincent Browne last night. None of the four candidates showed any merit IMO.

ninty9er

.........oh forget it, why bother, you've all made your minds up:rolleyes:

Agent Smith

ninty9er wrote: »

.........oh forget it, why bother, you've all made your minds up:rolleyes:

I think 12 years of Fianna Fáil Mismanagement made them up for us :mad:

ednwireland

just shows how out of touch the party and the local selection commitees are (if they had any choice) i really dont think that is what the people want to see at the moment but my guess is FF werent exactley overun with candidates.
but i will wait for june 5th and if either of these guys get a serious number of votes it will confirm the fact that thats how FF members vote family above everything (happened elswhere often enough the tanaiste my td for one )

Boston

There is no chance of Maurice Ahearn getting elected. I'd say Maureen O'Suillivan is the best bet.

hallelujajordan

Boston wrote: »

There is no chance of Maurice Ahearn getting elected. I'd say Maureen O'Suillivan is the best bet.

Don't underestimate the Dublin Central Bertie factor. . In the last general election Bertie made nearly two quotas on the first count. . with better vote management they would almost certainly have pulled in a 3rd seat for FF. . Bertie will be out on the doorsteps doing his bit for the party !

is_that_so

ninty9er wrote: »

.........oh forget it, why bother, you've all made your minds up:rolleyes:

You see this is the kind of thing that invites people to have a go at you and to class you as a FF apologist. You should take a look at the the various polls on both and add into the mix the fact that they haven't won one as a Govt since the 80s. Unlike the GE everything is against either FF candidate getting elected. Even the "Bold" Bertie has another hue to him now and was keen to have it put back till the autumn to give them some kind of a chance. All things considered it's really just stating the obvious rather than another anti-FF thread.

bmaxi

thebigcheese22 wrote: »

If any of those FFers get in...I will truly be vindicated in my hatred of Dubliners!

I'm sorry, I must have missed something. I didn't realise Dublin was the only place that elected F.F. TDs.

Boston

hallelujajordan wrote: »

Don't underestimate the Dublin Central Bertie factor. . In the last general election Bertie made nearly two quotas on the first count. . with better vote management they would almost certainly have pulled in a 3rd seat for FF. . Bertie will be out on the doorsteps doing his bit for the party !

I live there, I know all about the bertie factor. In the last election Bertie managed to bring in Brady who was virtually an unknown. To most outsiders they'll look at that and said "dub central really love FF" but in reality we voted for bertie and gave his running mate second pref. This time around Maurice will have to get first preference votes himself and I can't see it happening. Maureen seems to logical choice and alot of people will give her frist pref simply out of respect for Gregory.

galwayrush

FF continue with selections that signify everything that is wrong with the party and they obviously can't see it.:rolleyes:

Pines

I reckon it's not so much that they're so out of touch, it's more that only someone who's really prepared to take it up the ass for the party could be persuaded to run for FF right now. The loyal family members have been called on to take one for the team. Putting a 72 year old up is clearly a joke on the people of Dublin Central.

mikemac

I reckon Lee and Senator Donohue will make it a clean sweep for FG

bcirl03

Pines wrote: »

Putting a 72 year old up is clearly a joke on the people of Dublin Central.

+1, in fact putting anyone up from FF is a joke.

Lets hope the people of Dublin Central will not vote for FF.

lostexpectation

seen in dublin south

turgon

Gees Fianna Fail are really getting the rough end of photoshop.

lostexpectation

my pisstake on Matthew McConaughey style posters and deirdre de burca taking herself too seriously with her accusations of plagiarism and her team constantly commentating how good looking she is, ended up in the irish times today when miriam lord noticed it on deirdre's face book.

mikemac

lostexpectation wrote: »

seen in dublin south central

Very funny, only Seamus Brennan ran in Dublin South. Seán Ardagh and Michael Mulcahy are the FF representatives in Dublin south central

ninty9er

hallelujajordan wrote: »

Don't underestimate the Dublin Central Bertie factor. . In the last general election Bertie made nearly two quotas on the first count. . with better vote management they would almost certainly have pulled in a 3rd seat for FF. . Bertie will be out on the doorsteps doing his bit for the party ! his brother

Make no mistake that Bertie has no more interest in Fianna Fáil since he was pushed. His brother on the other hand obviously has a loyalty to the party having served as a councillor and being willing to take to the streets in such a hostile climate.

galwayrush wrote: »

FF continue with selections that signify everything that is wrong with the party and they obviously can't see it.:rolleyes:

Go and talk to each of the 92 delegates who voted at the Goat on Wednesday, ask them why they picked either Shay or Maria. It's not up to a party to vindicate the choice of the people, it's called democracy. It's not perfect, but it's the best we've got. I believe that Shay Brennan and Maria Corrigan are both as qualified, if not more than many of the people on the ticket, and if Shay isn't to win the seat in DS I would sincerely hope that Alex White does, as opposed to George Lee, who arguably knows his economics, but has shown through his commentary over the last decade that he doesn't know the first thing about Leinster House politics.

He may want to shake up the system, but to do that he would first have to KNOW the system.

turgon

How do you mean "know the system"?

Its gas seeing the insults FF are falling back to when targeting Lee. Jealousy at the heart of it.

ninty9er

turgon wrote: »

How do you mean "know the system"?

Its gas seeing the insults FF are falling back to when targeting Lee. Jealousy at the heart of it.

Corrigan and White for example know the system, how things operate, the modus operandi and the people who you can sit and talk with regardless of party, on the other hand there's the virgin TDs, who while wanting change, sit like loners in the Oireachtas Canteen plotting and hatching plans that will never come to fruition as they don't even talk to members of their own party socially in the House never mind members of other parties. Leo Varadkar being the prime example of someone banging his head against a brick wall as we saw on the Late Late lastnight. Ultimately capable but not able to execute his capabilities.

Example:
Look at all the teachers out there who are experts in their field. Especially maths teachers who have a particular flare for for the subject are ultimately incapable of emparting that knowledge to anyone else and the results of the class suffer greatly. Lee is the teacher and the country is the class, he'd be better off practicing rather than convincing others.

The only thing in his favour as a potential TD is his profile, but ultimately given the level of anti-FF feeling out there the seat is Alex White's to lose.

I never rated Lee as a solid economist, he was a journalist, and a good one, but while he sounded good, he never gave any solutions to the problems he was diagnosing.

Berti Vogts

ninty9er wrote: »

The only thing in his favour as a potential TD is his profile, but ultimately given the level of anti-FF feeling out there the seat is Alex White's to lose.

I never rated Lee as a solid economist, he was a journalist, and a good one, but while he sounded good, he never gave any solutions to the problems he was diagnosing.

If the seat is Alex White's to lose, then why is George Lee 1/20 to get elected with Paddy Power?

And it's very easy to just throw a bland statement out there that Lee never gave any solutions to the problems he was diagnosing. At least he diagnosed them, unlike your heroes in FF!

ninty9er

Possibilities wrote: »

If the seat is Alex White's to lose, then why is George Lee 1/20 to get elected with Paddy Power?

What were the odds on Leinster winning the Heineken Cup Semi-Final this time last month.

eoinbn

ninty9er wrote: »

I never rated Lee as a solid economist, he was a journalist, and a good one, but while he sounded good, he never gave any solutions to the problems he was diagnosing.

It's was not his place as a public service broadcaster to give 'solutions' hence why he has left.

Scrunch

. with better vote management they would almost certainly have pulled in a 3rd seat for FF. . Bertie will be out on the doorsteps doing his bit for the party !


I don't think there was any chance of a 3rd seat. He brought Cyprian Brady in with just over 900 1st preferance votes - a record I think! Next up Mary Fitzpatrict did not have a lot more votes (1,700 maybe ?).
Out of Lab, Ind (Tony Gregory) and SF there were two seats, leaving only maximum of 2 for FF.

I guess the main reason they selected Maurice was because that was the only way to get Bertie out and keep his vote in FF. Backlash will be strong but 'Ahern' name will bring in a few thousand votes anyway.