Is Ireland a mainly left wing or right wing country?

fr336

In terms of politics is Ireland a mainly left or right wing country, would you say? Interested as an observer from the UK.

Legs.Eleven

Bingo wings.

Rory Gallagher

Defiantly Right wing.
Very business oriented though we are a mixed economy
Ever since the Celtic Tiger snobbery is extremely common aswell.

Bingo wings

Chicken wings.

kneemos

Middle.

Turtwig

Left wing/ socialist by a long way.

Nodin

fr336 wrote: »

In terms of politics is Ireland a mainly left or right wing country, would you say?

Maybe, maybe not.

Maid of the Mist

Since the Unions run the country, I'm going to say left-wing.

losthorizon

very right wing

The Backwards Man

Too conservative on the things I like, too liberal on the things I don't.

Rory Gallagher

Turtwig wrote: »

Left wing/ socialist by a long way.

Yeah, sure we're practically the next USSR.

wp_rathead

Pro-treaty or anti-treaty

Aidric

Centre right.

P_1

Well the two main parties (Fianna Fail and Fine Gael) are pretty much center right and arguably have the exact same policies save for one side fought the other in the Civil War. The two main left parties are Labour (generally center left but generally tend up playing the role the Lib Dems are currently playing with the Tories to one of the aforementioned main parties) and Sinn Fein (marxist I think and with some very uncomfortable historical skeletons). On balance you'd have to conclude that Ireland would be more right than left wing politically

wazky

Full of Nazi Communists.

Jonny Blaze

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

Bingo wings.

Rory Gallagher wrote: »

Chicken wings.

Do buffalo's have wings?

Turtwig

Turtwig wrote: »

Left wing/ socialist by a long way.

Yep

Duckworth_Luas

There are many shades of political opinion in Ireland, with Fianna Fáil being the shadiest!

ToddyDoody

Right wing I'd say... 12.5% corporate tax rate.

RayM

It's right-wing, with little bits of socialism sprinkled in, just to prevent those who don't/can't benefit from capitalism from starving, rioting, etc. No sensible, moderate person could ever describe Ireland as a Socialist country.

Amirani

Economically left, socially right.

They're very generalised classifications though.

fr336

RayM wrote: »

It's right-wing, with little bits of socialism sprinkled in, just to prevent those who don't/can't benefit from capitalism from starving, rioting, etc. No sensible, moderate person could ever describe Ireland as a Socialist country.

Apart from the right wingers who want even more cracking down on the little people?? Sounds like how it is in the UK :P

fr336

Diego Simeone wrote: »

Economically left, socially right.

They're very generalised classifications though.

Socialist towards the rich, hardnosed towards the poor? :pac:

kneemos

Total consensus.

dotsman

When I see the same threads started over and over and the same nonsense being spouted, all I can do is copy and paste my replies to the last thread...

The fact that so many people think we are right wing and seeing Fianna Fáil (a party who glows in centre-left economic policies) described as centre-right just shows how deep our left-wing tendencies go. It's just like a typical debate/argument between extreme left wing groups who always accuse each other of being "Fascists" because they perceive their opponents as not being as uber-left-wing as themselves.

Ireland has traditionally been centre-left wing (flirting with left wing) regarding most policies (especially economic). Only on social and religious grounds has it ever gone to the centre-right (some times the actual right).

As at today, I would say that Ireland is centre left in most things (especially economics), centre on a few (including some social policies) and still centre-right on religious policies.

Unfortunately, one could right a book about this and still only scratch the surface, so a post in after hours is hardly going to be in-depth, however, I will give it a try. I will assume people are referring to economic policies (we can discuss others if you want) so let's take a very high level look at them:

Category|Extreme Left|Left|Centre-left|Centre|Centre-right|Right|Extreme Right

Minimum Wage:|The only wage (Everybody earns the same low wage regardless of their economic output)|Very high|High|Moderate|Low (more notional than anything)|None|Slavery (being forced to work for nothing)

Personal Taxation:|100% or 0% whichever way you look at it (Basically, it can be viewed that everybody gets the same low wage tax free, or everybody surrenders their entire wage and gets a token welfare payment in return to live on)|High, punitive on high incomes|High (progressive taxation)|Medium (little difference between low and high incomes)|Low (typically constant rate)|Token|None

Welfare:|Very high/None (as per above, it all depends on how you view the state payment you receive|Very high|High|Medium (often with term-lenghts)|Low, for short terms (state welfare is low, people are expected to have private savings/insurance to cover illness/unemployment to subside)|Only in exceptional cases (born with disabilities etc - people are supposed to have private savings/insurance to cover the bad times)|None (anyone not able to fend for themselves should rely on family/charity or tough $hit)

Public Sector:|Everybody is public sector!|Very high (most services are provided by the state)|High (typically bloated and inefficient)|Moderate (some inefficiencies)|Small and efficient (strong reliance on private sector to provide many services)|Minimal (pretty much consists of overseeing private companies who provide the services)|Token(virtually all services are provide by private companies)

Trade Unions:|Only 1 allowed (the trade union that runs the state! All others ruthlessly oppressed)|Very strong (most adults are members. Controls much of government decisions across the board)|Strong (High membership in certain sectors such as manufacturing and public sectors. Strongly influences government decisions relating to the economy)|Moderate (strong membership in some sectors, non in others. No real national power, but would be flirted with by politicians)|Low (typically only some companies would have members. No national strength and more inclined to negotiate on behalf of employees on specific matters relating to a specific company)|Minor presence (no legal recognition, banned in certain, notably public, sectors and mainly used to represent/assist employees in negotiations/disciplinary hearings etc|Banned

State Ownership:|The state owns everything (including the people!)|Very high (Some small businesses allowed, but most industries state owned)|High (Private companies allowed in most sectors, but some large state monopolies still protected/subsidised)|Low (State bodies typically only exist in strategic industries where no suitable private alternative is available)|Little to none (a specific industry may be state controlled on a temporary basis for strategic purposes, but always looking for private sector to take over)|None|The corporation owns everything (including the people!)

Entrepreneurship:|Forbidden|Extremely difficult|Allowed, but not encouraged|Some state assistance|Actively Encouraged/Supported|Successful entrepreneurs are the A-list celebrities|Everyone is an entrepreneur!



Where is Ireland on the above table? Well, one can debate certain points but, with regard Economic policies, I think most people would agree on the following high level classifications:

Minimum Wage:|Centre-left (possibly Left).
Personal Taxation:|Again, Ireland is Centre-left
Welfare:|Somewhere between Left and Centre-left
Public Sector:|Again, Centre-left
Trade Unions:|Again, Centre-left
State Ownership:|Thankfully moving towards the centre (was traditionally Centre-left).
Entrepreneurship:|Hard to say. Different start-ups will tell you different things. Probably in the Centre


So, overall, I would regard Ireland as being Centre left in economic terms. Funnily, when you ask most people on their ideals, most give centre-right answers, but given that most lobbyists and those with political influence (such as trade unions/media etc represent Left and Centre-left views, we never quite get the policies we want)

mickydoomsux

Right leaning leftists or was it left leaning rightists?

I can never remember. .......

fr336

dotsman wrote: »

x

OP here - thanks so much for this.

Bubbaclaus

Economically we are left wing, as dotsman post so brilliantly put above.

Iwannahurl

Bat wing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8WlEBfpQcg

Shakespeare's Sister

Maid of the Mist wrote: »

Since the Unions run the country, I'm going to say left-wing.

Lol, wtf?!!
Move on from the '70s/'80s, love.

But yeh, it's kinda funny seeing "Very left-wing", then "Very right-wing" on this thread. How do they come up with this stuff?!
A strong indication that it is blatantly neither.
The "commie-nazis" answer was one of the most sensible replies.

Ireland is clearly in the centre.

crockholm

Honestly,I Believe that if you were to have a discussion with the members of the national parliament,very few could actually articulate what is Left/Right,political theory,they would be ignorant of Kant,Von Hayek,Burke,Proust.
Many of our politicians are teachers,publicans on spawn of previous dail members-doubt they could articulate much

diomed

If others have money we are left wing.
If we have money we are right wing.

fr336

diomed wrote: »

If others have money we are left wing.
If we have money we are right wing.

Haha brilliant!

Vito Corleone

Economically - left wing
Socially - right wing.

henryporter

It's a bit of a turkey - half left wing, half right wing

Agricola

We're on the same wing as whatever fella last fixed the road.

MRnotlob606

They tend to move in any direction depending on where the votes are ,the Labour Party adopted policies that are Thatcherite and Fine Gael supporting the emergency abortion bill which is something they would not normally support

Frank Lee Midere

Vito Corleone wrote: »

Economically - left wing
Socially - right wing.

The latter is not really true anymore.

Frank Lee Midere

RayM wrote: »

It's right-wing, with little bits of socialism sprinkled in, just to prevent those who don't/can't benefit from capitalism from starving, rioting, etc. No sensible, moderate person could ever describe Ireland as a Socialist country.

A tax take of 52% on people earning over 32k would beg to differ. That said we don't really tax the very rich but who does?

Idbatterim

well we have one centrist party, the rest range from left wing to radical left wing nuts... So I would have to say left wing...

It's right-wing, with little bits of socialism sprinkled in, just to prevent those who don't/can't benefit from capitalism from starving, rioting, etc. No sensible, moderate person could ever describe Ireland as a Socialist country.

please elaborate on this as nowhere else on this earth do you get everything more handed to you on a plate, free or as good as primary secondary and third level education (third level as good as free is your qualify for the grants etc) more discrimination against low to middle income earners like my parents who had to shell out for everything, for the benefit of others kids but not their own.

Rory Gallagher

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

The latter is not really true anymore.

Yes it is.

Coillte_Bhoy

Idbatterim wrote: »

well we have one centrist party, the rest range from left wing to radical left wing nuts... So I would have to say left wing...

please elaborate on this as nowhere else on this earth do you get everything more handed to you on a plate, free or as good as primary secondary and third level education (third level as good as free is your qualify for the grants etc) more discrimination against low to middle income earners like my parents who had to shell out for everything, for the benefit of others kids but not their own.

where to even start? let's try with our nearest neighbours eh and work fro there?

Idbatterim

in relation to the above, are you aware of their welfare cap? the welfare rates compared to here for starters?

CrazyRabbit

Incompetent-Corrupt-Short Sighted Wing.

SaveOurLyric

Ireland has no wings.

It echews politics, but enjoys the reality TV show type entertainment of electing media personalities, the relations of people it has already elected, Sinn Feiners, the corrupt, champion funeral attenders, career politicians whose only goal is to keep getting elected, and 'characters' in flat caps, mad shirts, or with novelty facial hair, or just throwing their vote away on some local issue candidate.

The consequences of this quaint indulgence are easy to see, but most of the Irish still wonder why the country is run so poorly.

RayM

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

A tax take of 52% on people earning over 32k would beg to differ. That said we don't really tax the very rich but who does?

To call a country with a corporation tax level of just 12.5% 'Socialist' is completely ludicrous.

Gbear

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

Incompetent-Corrupt-Short Sighted Wing.

Also known as human-wing.

pragmatic1

Vito Corleone wrote: »

Economically - left wing
Socially - right wing.

Spot on.

Frank Lee Midere

Rory Gallagher wrote: »

Yes it is.

No it isn't. For instance 60-70% of people support gay marriage. As much as a section of the modern new atheist community would like to believe this is a theocracy, it ain't.

Frank Lee Midere

RayM wrote: »

To call a country with a corporation tax level of just 12.5% 'Socialist' is completely ludicrous.

Is that the only criteria? What about the highest tax take in the world at the lowest income?

Reindeer

As a Texan, let me just say, you can talk to me about being right wing when Ireland allow you to have machine-guns, and then allow you to use them on trespassers for no more reason than they acted suspicious.

Shakespeare's Sister

Ireland is maybe right of centre in some people's opinion, but right-wing?
Abortion and church influence on state institutions I guess?