If the government called a general election tonight

Sleepy

I can't see any major change in the event of an election... SF will still be screeching from the ditch while FF/FG (who may well need Lab/Greens/SDs or similar to make up the numbers) continue to govern.

In the absence of an overall majority, which they'll never have, SF are always going to be an opposition party. TBH, voting for them is as good as spoiling your ballot, at least if you voted Labour or SD's there's a chance of them being a junior coalition partner and managing to get a few leftist policies into the programme for government,

Strumms

You don’t have just one vote.

i totally get people looking for a FF/FG alternative, i really do… and Labour/Greens are about as useful a premise as throwing fish at a dartboard

considering the outright contempt that SF have consistently shown over decades for democracy, for the law, for life, for the will of the majority of people… a leopard doesn’t change its spots… it just now has a better PR machine and slightly less baggage at the top.

SF get in, they won’t have the back of Irish citizens, their first loyalty is to their narrow stubborn backwater ideals and supporters.

i say this most seriously, IF they get in, do people believe they’ll be satisfied to be beholden to democratic principles and the laws of our country ?

because I don’t believe for a millisecond they will…. They’ve shown nothing but contempt for law, for democracy and by proxy contempt for the citizens of Ireland.

Adrian Crevan Macken, who murdered Garda Tony Golden, actually who shot him in the back and then shot his own girlfriend…. was a member of Sinn Fein, in the IRA too….

SF were not very vociferous in condemning him, killing a Garda and shooting his girlfriend…

says ALL you require to know as to their relationship with democracy.

probably couldn’t vote them out, they’d just not facilitate an election or at least an unrigged one…

skimpydoo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120194877#Comment_120194877

Yes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorraine_Clifford-Lee

Zico

Always beware of the "well things couldn't get any worse" cohort. There were quiet lot of them who voted for Brexit.

Jim_Hodge

I've no affiliation with any particular party. It would depend on a combination of policies and, very importantly, who the candidates are in my constituency.

PR means it's more than a single choice too.

As for those talking about protest or spoiled votes, most of them don't vote anyway.

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120194935#Comment_120194935

Beware of the "sure it'll be worse under Sinn Fein"

Who has been in government for the past 80 years?

Not Sinn Fein.

Haughey, Bertie, Cowen, Inda, Leo, Meehole..

You'd think some isolationist MAGA far right party would get into power from reading boards over the past few years

elperello

Boards posters predictions are just their own opinions.

Predictions are interesting but only that.

This started out as some sort of a poll on who would you vote for.

road_high

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120194917#Comment_120194917

Tbh I think SF would sh1t themselves if put into government- all the self created problems of government are only growing- no wonder they are cosying up to FF for cover. Let SF govern on their own. Their fanatics think they’re so wonderful- I’d give them 12 months tops. Mary Lou doesn’t have the bottle for real government. She is Tanaiste material at a push and she is the “best” of an extremely talentless, dim team

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120194917#Comment_120194917

A strong possibility but the numbers will be very tight. SF/FF in some form looks the likeliest outcome to me

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120195596#Comment_120195596

The Boards polls at election times have usually be very wide of the mark.

road_high

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120194573#Comment_120194573

It’s so interesting how many are now “retiring” at fairly young ages- they are taking the money and running and easing themselves into cushy roles like that prat Brian Hayes where their connections can be cashed in on.

All the heart warming stories about “spending more time with family” are being wheeled out early- anyone with two brain cells to rub together knows the real reason.

Ham_Sandwich

Sinn Fein are the right party for the job, houses, health education we'll be looked after if we sort them out in the election

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120195672#Comment_120195672

It's not the fault of the platform.

It's just what you get with a self selecting group.

ELM327

Vote 1 - FG

Vote 2 - FF

Vote 3-> end, everyone except SF & Greens. Basically using my vote as intended, to ensure that my vote is counted against SF and against the Greens

griffin100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120195228#Comment_120195228

SF have been in government in NI for years now. What positive progressive thing have they done there? True it's not their fault that the current setup is dead, but they did kill the last assembly when it didn't suit them.

It's pretty depressing really for someone like me who will never vote SF, and who would be seen as a traditional FG voter. The current government have been abysmal. Think about it, how bad do you have to be to end up with multiple anti immigration protests on an almost daily basis in a country that has been to date fairly ambivalent about immigration. There is also a concentration on issues that don't really matter to the vast majority of people but are on trend to the detriment of real issues. You then have absolute chancers like Harris, O'Gorman, Ryan and McEntee in government making an absolute balls of their portfolio.

The more I think about it the more I think surely it can't get any worse with SF in power, and then I remember that that type of thinking gave rise to Brexit and Trump in power. The one hope is that SF don't get a majority at the next GE, otherwise we really are fcuked. I even think a FF/SF coalition might be ok, but that's really a reflection of how bad the current set up is. Let's face it, would you really want David Cullinane as Minister for Health and intellectual heavyweights like Kathleen Funchion in the cabinet? TBH if I wasn't so old I'd seriously consider if I wanted to stay in this country.

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120195784#Comment_120195784

SF have been in government in NI for years now.

You could have put 30 of the greatest politicians and political minds from the past 100 years up there and it wouldn't met a jot of difference, it's just several bigoted brick walls.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120195643#Comment_120195643

It's not to do with cover, they just have no choice.

SF are cosying up to FF because they have realised that they have absolutely no path to government that does not include FF. They have no chance of governing on their own, they will definitely not get enough votes for that. The last time Ireland had a single party government was what, FF in the 70s?

SF + FF is the only workable, stable solution for them.

HalloweenJack

Considering that FF and FG have run the country since independence, the long-term infrastructure issues (housing, healthcare, transport) can be entirely blamed on them, either directly or indirectly.

I have no time for SF but I would be glad to see someone else have a go at running the country. I don't see SF being able to undo all this mess and I don't trust them to do anything terribly innovative but we have definitely reached the time for an alternative. The last few years have confirmed what many already knew: that FF and FG are essentially the same thing.

Give someone else a go. I was originally a Labour voter but they've also descended into a mess. I'd probably vote SD or Green if I could (I don't live in Ireland).

I wouldn't be particularly happy about SF leading the government and I wouldn't have much expectations for them but I'd glaldly take a government that had no FF or FG involvement for once.

knucklehead6

Unfortunately i have no doubt that SF will get in at the next election. The only reason they're not in there now is that they didn't run enough candidates at the last one.

They will probably last the full term too, because they will be blaming everything on the last government and there will be enough people with the attitude of "give them a chance" like they're letting their kids take the family car out for a drive....

griffin100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120196000#Comment_120196000

SF's only real objective is a 32 United Ireland. Leaving side the hows and whys, this will take precedence over everything else.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120194918#Comment_120194918

You don’t have just one vote.

On a point of information, you do just have one vote.

The version of proportional representation we have is by means of a “single transferable vote” (PR-STV). You may cast that vote with a preference ranking, but it’s only ever counted against one candidate. If or how it’s transferred down your preferences depends on the surplus or elimination of your preferences from 1 down.

Glebee

Swore id never vote for Sinn Fein but next election ill be

SF- Nr1

SF-Nr2

SF-Nr3

Sleepy

As much as I hate FF, I'm not naïve enough to think they don't have any intelligent members. They've been masters of vote management and electioneering for decades. They're simply not stupid enough to join SF in government. It would be suicide for the party and, as we all know about FF, party comes before country.

Manach

As a traditional conservative, and looking at the parties only, I'd say none of the above.

maccored

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120194935#Comment_120194935

beware of those that believe everything the papers tell them - quite a lot of those kind voted for Brexit.

The idea of re-voting in the plebs we have had for the past 100 years is the definition of insanity is it not? (Doing the same thing and hoping for a different outcome)

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120195910#Comment_120195910

The Greens are addressing the infrastructure deficit through the prioritising of capital investment in Metrolink, Dart Plus and BusConnects.

There is a real danger that if SF get into government, all those projects will be cancelled on Day 1 and the money used to raise social welfare and pay out on compensation schemes.

Getting back to the thread question, the answer is who cares? Why? Because there isn't going to be a general election anytime soon.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120196144#Comment_120196144

It would be suicide for the party

That may well be but if SF + FF is the only possible government it will have to happen. Martin is no longer ruling it out.

It's comparable to the run-up to the 2007 GE, when FF + Lab looked like it would be the only option for a government. Pat Rabbite absolutely lamasted FF in that campaign, saying they should be put out of office for a generation etc., but he never quite ruled out coalescing with them because he knew circumstances could very well dictate it.

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120196352#Comment_120196352

I tend to agree with you. However, it requires FG + FF + Greens to fall short of a majority. The parties in government have generally worked well together, and I think that Labour or Social Democrats would ask for too many changes to join that coalition. That then opens the door to FF/SF.

Sleepy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120196361#Comment_120196361

Labour certainly - they've completely lost their minds making Bacik party leader and with her track record, no-one could trust her as a coalition partner. Even on their worst day I genuinely can't see FF/FG falling far enough short of a majority that they couldn't get over the line with a few of the usual independents (Healy Raes, Lowry etc) and/or the Greens / Social Democrats.