The accelerating fall in Sinn Féin support

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121794709#Comment_121794709

They're in Government across the border and have been on and off since 2007. That gives me enough to know.

They'd have to be in coalition with a party/parties they hate in the Dáil too.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121794169#Comment_121794169

I read the headline and thought, what an utterly stupid thing to say. She is effectively saying the will of the people doesn’t matter. If she wants to rerun the referendum, say it while you are in government, not before.

Another missed step, another statement which will spook the electorate because if the referendum is a no, a considerable number of those no voters are the ones SF would need to be elected to govern.

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121794539#Comment_121794539

They also can't propose hiking corporate tax rates out of spite in a country with no natural resources that relies on the continued good graces of direct foreign investment for its prosperity.

It isn't time to have a close up look at Sinn Fein just because FFG are swines.

This isn't an experiment, sadly we need to continue to deal with FFG if we all want have jobs to get up and go to in the morning.

Independents can't govern, but they're more deserving of protest votes than a party who trade in the type of nonsense Sinn Fein peddle.

walshb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121794465#Comment_121794465

Absolutely bonkers thing to come out with. Same party gave out, and rightly so when Lisbon treaty vote was not respected. Absolute effing joke of a party

Dick phelan

So basically we won't respect the decision of the electorate if they give us the answer we don't want. Brilliant campaign strategy from SF there. Here's a better strategy, we will put into law that a referendum cannot be rerun for 5 years minimum so the will of the people is respected.

newmember2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121789397#Comment_121789397

Record numbers of first-time buyers, record numbers of people employed etc.

There...that's why your original statement is fairly meaningless.

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121795208#Comment_121795208

Utterly bonkers.

tom23

you’d nearly be suspicious that Sinn Fein are doing their level best to stay out of Government.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121795352#Comment_121795352

No, your edit is meaningless, it changes the context of what the other poster said.

Despite a population at pre-Famine levels, there is near full employment, and record levels of first time buyers. That is a tremendous achievement when you consider that we were emerging from deep recession just 10 years ago. The current government is being hammered for a lot of things, but not that.

Francis McM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121795408#Comment_121795408

That is what I was thinking. They have made so many mistakes / are so unimpressive this past few months, do they deliberately want to stay out of government after the next election because they know they will make a b*lls of the economy and everything else?

Floppybits

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121798038#Comment_121798038

Or are they seeing something we are not and are doing it to leave FFG in government to clean up a mess that they made instead of letting off?

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121794169#Comment_121794169

Nope

It's absolute genius. Pick a fence sitting position that appeals to Yes voters and No voters.

buried

If any of ye actually think SF are an opposition to whatever racket is/has been going on the last 10 years, god love you

tom23

They’ll be sitting on the fence come next election because they won’t get voted in.

buried

They will, they'll all go in together, FFG/SF/LPBP like the double speak hypocrite trash that all of them are. The Punch & Judy rainbow unicorn coalition.

road_high

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121804763#Comment_121804763

SF are not on the fence though- as ever, they are full square behind FFG. Few things are more pathetic than this government but SF are certainly one of them

Hawkeye123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121754633#Comment_121754633

Pearce Doherty pointed out today that house prices were now higher than their 2008 peak. What he didn`t mention was this bubble cost 200, 000, 000, 000 .00 euro to re-inflate. Why this ommision? Is it because SF want to keep this bubble growing with even more borrowed money. Not clever. The slightest thing could pop it at any moment.

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2024/0302/1435624-opinion-poll/

27%, they were around 35% not long a go in most polls.

Whilst the immigration issue has hit them I wouldn't say it's the only one.

Also closer to elections people consider more carefully what the options are.

downtheroad

Sinn Fein maths not a strong point

https://www.businesspost.ie/article/gaping-hole-in-sinn-fein-budget-figures-revealed-by-finance-officials/

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844420#Comment_121844420

Pearse Doherty, a two time college dropout, seems to be what some think should be leading the Dept of Finance. You'd have to push to employ him anywhere else.

downtheroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844464#Comment_121844464

Neither of his college courses were in any way related to finance either. But let's hand him the most importance ministry at cabinet.

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844511#Comment_121844511

He is only the tip of the iceberg with SF - look across the others. Incompetence doesn't even scratch the surface in their personal lives ffs. It's frightening we have so many thinking "they can't be any worse"...oh they can.

Rigor Mortis

Not an Sf voter, but one of our best finance Ministers, Ray McSharry, failed his inter cert. Plenty of custodians of that post have had no formal financial training.

To be frank, If i was looking for alarm about SF and finances, i'd be more concerned that about last weeks announcement that despite the huge hole in nI finances they were only increasing the regional rate by 4%. I'd be genuinely concerned at their willingness to make unpopular decisions if they are needed.

Finty Lemon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844464#Comment_121844464

I wouldn't let Pearse drive a forklift, never mind the economy.

Mary Lou McDonald has now become an electoral liability for SF, I think voters have seen through her act. She was appointed by Anderstown to soften the party image in the south but that fiddle has now lost its tune.

Also, she doesn't have the true SF DNA and all it brings. Next Taoiseach? No, more like gone within 15 months it now seems.

Start checking under your car every morning Mary Lou, in a metaphorical sense of course.

Idbatterim

a few reasons I can think of. One they object as much as the rest of them to any new development. Secondly, I am concerned infrastructure gets built, if this government gets another term, its likely that the big ticket stuff will be underway, less chance of a problem then if SF do get into government the following term... Immigration people say, but FFG are the same on that front, so where are the SF votes going?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844568#Comment_121844568

Michelle O’Neill is now significantly more popular than Mary Lou, I bet that hurts.

https://archive.ph/ktxtC

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844464#Comment_121844464

Simon Harris is a college dropout and a competent Minister.

Finty Lemon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844671#Comment_121844671

It must, primarily because it brings into focus the fact that MLMD is not, nor ever was, truly SF.

She is an opportunist appointed (not elected) as a tactical move to change the image of SF in the south. She could just as easily be Ieading the labour party, or FF where she truly belongs.

I don't think she has the stomach to go where SF are prepared to go in pursuit of power.

O'Neil on the other hand is SF to the bone. Whatever it takes she will do.

Bobson Dugnutt

Mary Lou is toast. The party knows it.

Peter Flynt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844464#Comment_121844464

He comes across as an intelligent man to me. Referring to people as "college drop outs" reflects badly on you and it is no sign of intelligence whether someone did or did not attend or complete college. Would you refer to the Minister for Higher Education, Simon Harris, as a first year college drop out?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844775#Comment_121844775

Fair points, what do you think of Doherty claiming to have educational qualifications he hadn’t achieved?

Bobson Dugnutt

Doherty is all shouting, paper waving, finger pointing, fake outrage. Was very effective back in the Facebook era for the clips, but I think that has run its course now. He wouldn’t be great on the detail.

Finty Lemon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844775#Comment_121844775

Compare Doherty to Michael McGrath, not Harris.

Game over then.

KaneToad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844791#Comment_121844791

Bertie Aherne used to do similar - claimed to be an accountant when he was a book keeper.

Inflation of qualifications is very common. Personally know a fella who calls himself an architect but he's an architectural technician. And another who calls themselves a physiotherapist but is a physical therapist.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844844#Comment_121844844

I wouldn’t have any of those as minister for finance either.

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844511#Comment_121844511

I'm not an SF supporter by any stretch of the imagination, be it does not matter in the slightest, if fact it could be a great advantage, since ignorance might ensure he won't want to go "fixing things" or overruling civil servants who actually know what they are doing. The last thing the economy needs is a politician lacking in actual financial experience with a degree in commerce, finance or economics thinking he knows what he is doing.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844951#Comment_121844951

I don’t get the sense that PD thinks he is Ignorant on financial matters, I would argue that it is more dangerous to put an ignorant person who thinks he is knowledgable, in a position where his decisions could have significant detrimental effects.

Beechwoodspark

SF are more interested in catering to the whims of every class of outsider migrant who rocks up to Dublin airport than actually looking after the Irish.

Hopefully more and more ppl cotton on to this.

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844775#Comment_121844775

I personally know 3 people who either dropped out of college and one who never went who were millionaires in their 40s and started with nothing.

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844835#Comment_121844835

Michael McGrath is harmless ffs. He is a councillor level operator who got a break.

Nothing against the man personally but he isn't a heavyweight politically, just that he stands out in FF and in a Dáil where talent is remarkably rare.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845006#Comment_121845006

Bet you know a lot more who aren’t though.

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845023#Comment_121845023

A few but they live normal lives and do well enough I guess.

It was just a point about the absurdity of college drop outs etc as if it was relevant.

spillit67

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844541#Comment_121844541

Paul Keating is one of the great Australian Treasurers and Prime Ministers and left school at 14.

That said, those were different times. He went straight into a clerking job and went about education in other ways, rising quickly up the ranks.

I am a bit more dubious of modern politicians who grew up in the “free” (or certainly very cheap) era of education & repeatedly dropped out in their 20s. It’s a sign of very poor personal discipline. I can appreciate the “finding yourself” schtick but if it’s the same thing (basically) it just strikes you down as lazy. I’d personally prefer someone who didn’t bother with college but grafted early on and runs a business, someone who therefore “gets it”.

There is a discipline in keeping with politics though. I wouldn’t have Harris or Doherty in a Finance ministry but they are capable politicians with a decade plus to evidence that.

spillit67

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845014#Comment_121845014

He’s not Taoiseach material but is very well suited to Finance and Public Expenditure as a Chartered Accountant and his approach.

He is very good at talking to business, civil servants and international politicians which is part and parcel of the role.

The general perception of people I know in various industry bodies is that they find O’Broin far more convincing than Doherty. O’Broin is actually far more radical though when you strip away the shouty shouty approach of Doherty, ironically enough.

downtheroad

Compare the calm and controlled Michael McGrath or Paschal Donohoe to shouty and angry Pearse Doherty. McGrath and Donohoe are far more competent Ministers for Finance than Doherty ever would be. Not a chance Doherty would be elected president of the Eurogroup or have his name touted as the Head of the IMF.

This is a man who doesn't even know that there is no VAT charged on milk ffs

https://www.finegael.ie/sinn-feins-vat-on-milk-cartons-leaves-a-sour-taste-lombard/

gym_imposter

I don't believe SF will make things any better or worse should they lead the next government, they are no longer any sort of radicals

Big money certainly isn't concerned about the likelihood of a SF led government and those guys have a pretty good nose for political disruption

Water John

Interesting if people could put together a competent full cabinet of SF TDs? O'Brion is probably the best, but he has also been caught out on the housing issue.

Jack Daw

The downturn in their support seems to have coincided with people beginning to realise they want free for all immigration and therefore are no different than all other major parties.

You'd think a party who's name means "ourselves alone" would live up to that name and be opposed to free for all immigration and have some sort of plan to control it and control our population .You'd think the party that has traditionally been nationalistic would put Irish people's concerns and only Irish people's concerns at the top of their list of priorities. However they've just proven to be every bit as untrustworthy as FF/FG and quite happy to do what the EU and other international bodies and NGO's want from them so why vote for a new party for government when they are basically the same as the shower we have already.

downtheroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121846091#Comment_121846091

Calling Eoin O'Broin competent sums up how woeful SF are as a party.

In what way do you see him as competent? When he debated Darragh O'Brien on RTE a couple of years ago he got soundly beaten (in my opinion)

L1011

O Broin was on Newstalk getting a soft soap interview recently, talking about his band and their performances in 1988.

When you're trying to promote your party as the fresh new thing, you absolutely do not go and remind people that you were already old enough to consider record deals three and a half decades ago.

There was a specific reference to supporting Rory Gallagher, who is well known to have passed away young nearly 30 years ago

What seemed like a cool young lineup in 2016 or even 2020 is now old men and women.