Will Leo be the shortest serving taoiseach in history?

A Little Pony

https://twitter.com/faisalislam/status/939135264752046082

Deal already dead (potentially)... EU loony wants UK to keep FOM.

McMurphy

markodaly wrote: »

A good week for the government. I think people will like the look of a Coveney,Leo partnership at the top going forward. Looks a very strong proposition for any forthcoming election with those two at the helm as a safe pair of hands. In January, many people will be getting increases in pay from the budget through tax reductions and increases OAP, social welfare benefits.

The only thing FG have to do is remain on low to mid 30's in term of polling and they will be in government again. My Dad, old school FF commented recently how well Simon Coveney has been doing the past week or two. Previously he would never give FG a good comment and dare I say it himself going on 90, may give them a vote for the first time in his life!

There is also a generational thing. Leo, Simon Coveney, Noel Rock, Simon Harris, Helen McAntee, Pascal Donoghue, Eoin Murphy, Regina Doherty, all FG Ministers, all 46 or under. I am amazed the press has not picked up on it. This might be the youngest cabinet ever? Would be an interesting stat. The likes of Michael Ring and Shane Ross would push it up though.

It is up Sinn Fein and particularly FF to show that they are capable of being in government. Perhaps FF won the battle on Frances Fitzgerald but it may have been a pyrrhic victory and thus lose the war. Apart from Michael Martin and Michael McGrath, I see no one else in FF who is talented to take up the reigns of government.

Do you think the Fitzgerald debacle is over

Wasn't it revealed the other day that the email trawls didn't even touch on Fitzgeralds or any of the other key players email accounts?

Wallace, Kelly and Shorthall (among others) are calling for those key accounts and phones to be trawled.

Long way from being out of the woods yet for FG

Doltanian

donegaLroad wrote: »

I think that civil war politics in Ireland is coming to an end.

It will never end while Fianna Fail still exist they are a treasonous cancer of corruption on the Irish people. Best thing that could happen is for Sinn Fein to replace Fianna Fail as the Republican alternative and have true proper left right politics.

_Kaiser_

Doltanian wrote: »

It will never end while Fianna Fail still exist they are a treasonous cancer of corruption on the Irish people. Best thing that could happen is for Sinn Fein to replace Fianna Fail as the Republican alternative and have true proper left right politics.

SF or FG.. not exactly great alternatives either though.

Besides, as the recent Budget - and Leo's ramping up of spin - shows, FG are just as populist and left-leaning as they think necessary to keep themselves in power.

FF and FG are only marginally different - we just don't see FG's corruption as much because they're only ever voted in as a protest vote (but when they are we get things like the Irish Water mess and the Esat licensing "issues", as well as lots of "lower level" stuff like nepotism, breaking of salary caps, lies and scandal after scandal).

The two are just different sides of the same coin.. the illusion of choice for a similarly greedy and me-feiner electorate. The only real difference is FF realise you can't just keep screwing over that same electorate indefinitely so throw the occasional scraps to them, whereas FG arrogance is always their own undoing.

What we REALLY need is not a party that would make things even worse (SF), but a REAL alternative to the duopoly that has plagued this country for decades.

markodaly

Rick Shaw wrote: »

Do you think the Fitzgerald debacle is over

Wasn't it revealed the other day that the email trawls didn't even touch on Fitzgeralds or any of the other key players email accounts?

Wallace, Kelly and Shorthall (among others) are calling for those key accounts and phones to be trawled.

Long way from being out of the woods yet for FG

Well, what do the public think? Look at the last poll, it barely mattered. What matters to most people is the money in their back pocket by and large. Brexit obviously matters as well.

The McCabe, Fitzgerald, DOJ issue is a bigger issue than FG. It is a systamtic issue of the Gardai and the Civil Service. Most people recognise that they are both a bit of a mess, the root cause not the fault of Leo and that it will take the entire political class to sort out. Firing a minister every 2nd year wont change that.

FG have put in provisions to reform the Gardai and I hope that they also start reforming the DOJ via the Toland report. FF support will be important for that.

Lets put it this way. FG and to some extent FF are there governing the country. They may not be always right, or do everything correctly. However, as we have seen the past week, they will always stand up for the State and do what they can to better the outcome for us. In other words, people can trust them by and large to run things.

I am not sure yet that trust is back to FF especially over the economy. Also, FF can no longer do what they wanted with a Budget as Ireland is under new fiscal rules, so the need for FF to dish out the goodies is kinda over. That age is gone.

Meanwhile SF have basically disappeared from the Brexit issue, even though they are the only party to have members in the EU, Dail, Stormont and Westminister. They have been literally invisible which shows to a lot of people that all they got going for them is to go on the airwaves and give out, while the big boys and girls are out there making decisions and putting their necks on the line.

In other words, come election time, Brexit will be a much bigger issue than McCabe.

chatticusfinch

Goycott wrote: »

Reject those that seek to undermine your people. Ever think it's odd that our leader is half-caste Indian homosexual?

You're obviously trolling and not even clever in your racism.

Tiresome.

dxhound2005

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

SF or FG.. not exactly great alternatives either though.

Besides, as the recent Budget - and Leo's ramping up of spin - shows, FG are just as populist and left-leaning as they think necessary to keep themselves in power.

FF and FG are only marginally different - we just don't see FG's corruption as much because they're only ever voted in as a protest vote (but when they are we get things like the Irish Water mess and the Esat licensing "issues", as well as lots of "lower level" stuff like nepotism, breaking of salary caps, lies and scandal after scandal).

The two are just different sides of the same coin.. the illusion of choice for a similarly greedy and me-feiner electorate. The only real difference is FF realise you can't just keep screwing over that same electorate indefinitely so throw the occasional scraps to them, whereas FG arrogance is always their own undoing.

What we REALLY need is not a party that would make things even worse (SF), but a REAL alternative to the duopoly that has plagued this country for decades.

What we REALLY don't need is people telling us we are only capable of electing candidates whose only aim in life is to screw us over if they get in.

FrancieBrady

Not such good news here for Leo and he still has to finish negotiating his way through the tribunal and mess.



https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/voters-believe-martin-handled-fitzgerald-controversy-better-than-varadkar-1.3322340

George Sunsnow

I suppose it would have been rude not to answer a question

The poll last week of course answered the much more important question of who would you vote for to be at the helm