Sinn Fein and how do they form a government dilemma

Ha Long Bay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239178#Comment_122239178

Her every word? She insulted every single voter with a single braindead statement.

Enjoy your Sunday.

astrofool

MLMD does seem to be a bit rabbit in headlights right now, I'm sure party HQ will sort out the narrative before she makes more public statements.

touts

O'Brion is on newstalk explaining why Sinn Fein didn't do as well as expected. It was borderline incoherent but apparently it boils down to something along the lines of people are so angry they were too angry to come out and vote for Sinn Fein this time but that anger means they will come out and vote for Sinn Fein next time.

The more times he speaks in public the more votes they lose.

batman75

Am I alone in thinking that O'Neill and McDonald were chosen by Adams and McGuinness as the party leaders for Sinn Fein or were they elected?

SharkMX

Imagine Mary Lou going on TV and basically telling watchers that they are all stupid and must think SF are in government. I dont think the remaining SF supporters can actually see the glaring issue that Mary Lou is the actual problem.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239122#Comment_122239122

Unfortunately for you everyone else did, front and centre on the 9 o'clock news.

Whatever your views on politics you have to admit that a statement that the electorate are stupid is most likely to be her last utterance as leader of SF. It was beyond belief.

Clo-Clo

Mary Lou is making a show of herself and the entire party

If the content of the interviews is actually signed off by Sinn Fein party then they really are more incompetent than I thought.

If it is Mary Lou doing a solo run then she has to be sacked in the next 24 hours

FrancieBrady

Folks she didn’t say ‘the electorate’ she said ‘many people seem to hold SF accountable for the failings of the government’. I think she was talking about some of you folk.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239532#Comment_122239532

Snide remarks 😂 worked out well for you so far

NIMAN

THis thread title hadn't aged well.

I know it's only the local council elections, but it doesn't bode well for SF.

Bobeagleburger

Mary Lou needs to go.

Maryanne 841

Da peeple hav spoken, Joe. Listen to dem.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239532#Comment_122239532

And she would be right there. All the gombeens falling hook line and sinker for sound bites from the play book of the ultra nationalist groups from the UK funding the far right 'nationalists'.

Raoul Duke III

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239327#Comment_122239327

No, you are correct.

They were, ahem, 'anointed'.

Spanish Eyes

Can someone tell me what MLMD said please? I'm not near a TV and I don't see anything online yet. Something about the electorate mistaking SF for the Government and thus giving SF a kicking. Is that right or have I got it wrong?

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239536#Comment_122239536

nothing snide about it. I don’t think she meant voters but the commentariat who speak more about SF and their immigration policy than the actual policy makers who created the mess.

Raoul Duke III

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239532#Comment_122239532

Isn't that statement by her:

1. Silly
2. Wrong, and
3. Insulting

I get she's probably tired, emotional and upset but that's all the more reason not to be making off the cuff statements.

Falling back on 'the people have spoken, the bastards' would at least have showed a sense of humour. 😀

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122237414#Comment_122237414

Your point of view is reflective of the rameis that has SF getting a third of what it was polling last year.

Like the fellow on about the Govt Dog whistling, and far right this and that.

Stop digging.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239179#Comment_122239179

Looking at the percentages FG and FF are ne k and neck at 22.9% each. If that was replicated in a GE they would be with striking of an overall majority because of the dispirited opposition. 20% Ind 11% SF and the rest are allat or below 5%.

46% could give you an overall majority in that case. If the SD and Labour combined they could overtake SF in the election after next.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239617#Comment_122239617

Look I get the pile on on SF but I don’t think she was talking about the electorate. She said it at lunchtime and I am seeing nobody ourside of this place take issue with it.

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239627#Comment_122239627

No. That Mary Lou interview has no relevance and is already forgotten.

SF need to look at their own mistakes in this.

Dick phelan

Back to the thread title, I don't think they'll have to worry about that. They've collapsed and I don't see it getting better for them.

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239620#Comment_122239620

They have long done better in locals than general elections. Incumbency making such a difference.

That said they also now heavily transfer to each other and should feel confident about an election.

rdwight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239261#Comment_122239261

That's how I heard it too. He took a different approach this morning when he, and I think I've got this right, was essentially claiming g that the 2020 benchmark SF vote was so high because the people who voted SF then really didn't understand what the party stood for.

NIMAN

Been a disaster for them.

The one takeaway from these results for me is that social media is NOT a reliable indicator of the opinion of the population.

We have been hearing non stop about how FFG have failed miserably in housing, immigration, health, crime etc and that their days were numbered. SF at >30% in opinion polls.

Yet they fly through the local elections. It appears that the majority of voters think they are doing a grand job.

For Forks Sake

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239859#Comment_122239859

Agreed, seems to be a lot of salty SF supporters online in their own little echo chambers bitching about everything from turnout to various strands of ageism for their failure.
They seem to have no comprehension that (as it currently stands), 88.13% of voters aren't buying what they're selling.

bUt ChAnGe. or something right? 🙄

squonk

Time for Mary Lou to go. Also time for Eoin O’Broin to go or, if he stays, they have to reel him in and emphasise that he has to actually make sense when he talks about housing.

I’m surprised they slumped so badly. I expected them to be down but this result is a huge disaster for them. It also says that the majority of the electorate know they issues like housing and emigration won’t be solved overnight whoever is in government. They can see things starting to improve somewhat under the current coalition but then SF can’t back up their €300,000 home policy and O’Broin intent on creating second class property that punters still have to pay to buy, it makes sense. All O’Broin has come up with is something similar to the system in the UK where people only own the 4 walls of their property, but not the site. Ironic for a party who won’t sit in Westminster.

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239336#Comment_122239336

There is nothing new in this beyond it being a little bit more blunt that usual. Usually it goes along the lines that if the voters were better informed, they'd have voted a different way. The reality of course is that they have underestimated the sophistication of the voters and got hammered for doing so. Irish voters are used to considering complex issues from different perspectives and you need to address multiple issues if you are going to win over large blocks of Irish voters.

The political IQ of SF is not much higher than the DUP so it would not surprise me at all if they lost any border poll held through a lack of understanding of voters concerns.

markodaly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122236440#Comment_122236440

If SF are going to remain a centre-left/far-left party, they will never the main party in a government. Ireland is a very centrist country, quite conservative in ways.

The flip flopping from SF has hurt them.

The young progressives dont know what they stand for anymore and have become bored by them.

The working class nationalist types have gone to the right and independent. They won't be winning them back at all.

Labour appears to have woken up.

The Greens are holding their own.

So the question is, where are they going to get these votes from if they want to be the biggest party in the next government?

The idea was that SF was going to eat up all smaller left wing parties, but it appears many of them are holding their own.

TLDR

There are not enough voters in Ireland to elect a left-only government without FF or FG. The people are soverign are they not?

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122239920#Comment_122239920

I would have to disagree with you on comparing SF to the DUP.

Politically SF have played the game fantastically over the last few decades. They seen the long game, and knew the military campaign was never going to work and adjusted accordingly.

I just think that they reached their peak in the Republic and they had the potential to become the largest party, but this seems to have nosedived for whatever reasons. Mainly just that too many voters are lifelong FG or FF and will never change, no matter how bad their own party does. Plus there is a huge number who will NEVER vote for SF.

This might change as younger voters come through, but SF has to plan now to appeal to the voters of the future, offer them a genuine alternative.