The accelerating fall in Sinn Féin support

So is your solution to increase wages, increasing buying power and leading to a further increase in house prices?

The problem is a lack of supply. And Sinn Fein TDs are hardly helping the situation, objecting as they so often do to any housing developments they can.

I kinda disagree with you there on Mary Lou. She's very sharp and knows what she wants to say and how to phrase it. I wouldn't underestimate her as a politician at all. Nor her ability to connect with people. If you haven't already, take the time to read Shane Ross's biography.

The real question with Mary Lou is just where the rhetoric is coming from, who really defines the party policies and how they should be prosecuted.

There are numerous government and local authority schemes to assist renters and buyers. The major problem is a massive lack of supply of homes.

And you are quite literally the only person I have ever heard in 40+ years repeatedly use the phrase 'dead money' and the only person I have ever heard continually claim that renters are looked down upon in Irish society.

for all we know you are ....

thats one of the many problems with sf , on one really knows who pulls the strings or what their motivations might be

you might think its funny but its just one of the many real and genuine concerns people have about a organized crime gang/ terrorist organization becoming involved in politics

after all they havent gone away have they ....

I believe that's a person called P O'Neill.

Just my 2 cents worth.

I think they will still come out of the next election as the largest party but it won't be the landslide some were predicting even up to a year ago.

Immigration is their Achilles Heel and you can tell whenever its brought up they are uncomfortable talking about it and want to move on to safer topics like housing and health.

The reason they are more vunerable on immigration is because unlike other left leaning parties like the SDs the shinners have to go into more working class areas where a lot of the migrants are being housed and they are going to get it in the neck from the very people they need to get either elected or re elected.

Having said that PBP are probably in even more trouble and Murphy is done at this stage I think.

How do SF get around it go even slightly more centrist or what?

But Labour tried that and look at what happened them, they got slowly obliterated and ironically SF could paint them as another party of the "establishment". Then Labour became fractured and is now lead by an academic turned politician. Not someone who will attract voters.

It will be really interesting to see what SF do, I suppose they could hope the immigrant issue blows over. But the seeds seem to sown among their traditional voter base now.

They've become tiresome and don't seem to have a huge amount of policies or vision as to how they would do things differently.

Their habit of objecting to housing developments left right and centre doesn't go unnoticed.

Their habit of taking legal action against the media doesn't look great.

Political theatre like motions of no confidence that were never going to pass just looks like time wasting.

Their fixation with the middle east when there are lots of problems at home that need addressing.

Pearse Doherty one is a good point, when he started I thought "Oh this fella has a bit about him" then after a while the same record is spun for "effect" and it seems like a pantomime. Which sums up SF

But all that symbolism plays well in NI they love it up there, part of the culture. But in the ROI the politicians actually have to do something, they can't get away with bluffing stuff as easy.

There seems to be a portion of the electorate who switched to SF willing to give them a chance, but the longer SF don't come up with something concrete the quicker that portion of the electorate will think twice, and go elsewhere.

What’s the story with then throwing out some Palestinian protestors from their meeting in Belfast with the PA Ambassador? Wrong sort of Palestinians? There was some of the fat bald types manhandling them out.

immigration aint going to blow over... unless 747's are flying out with failed applicants and then its lights out for Sinn Fein.

People seem to think that our increase in population is due to foreigners. There has been hardly any outward emigration of Irish people over the last 10 years, and a lot of Irish emigrants have returned home during that time due to how well our economy has done under FFG. Also, a lot of Eastern Europeans left during Covid and as a result of the economies in their own countries doing so well.

I’m not aligned to any political party, truth be known, I rarely bother voting, but I do recognise that 10 yrs ago this country is in a dire state, and though they got many things wrong, FFG have guided us to a much better economic position during their tenure. Building just couldn’t keep up from a standing start in 2014.

this has always been the case with SF though. people were asking those same questions about SF a decade ago

SF record at housing is woeful, they took over DCC in 2014 and promised to build houses. They had a big article on website which of course has been deleted.

They got handed nearly 300m to build houses. By the time they got kicked out in 2019 DCC had less units than when they started in 2019.

Plus SF led DCC had built up nearly 40m in rent arrears with 1 tenant removed over that period.

While also during this period rejecting to any project which could of provided housing across Ireland.

Now maybe someone can explain to me why they think SF will resolve the housing crisis? the only benefit you might see is they will stop rejecting every house in Ireland if they are in government.

They also took over housing in Northern Ireland and similar results, actually worse. But that's someone else fault they will tell you

I don’t know if the info clo clo posted is accurate, but if it is, then the local area happens to be the area with the greatest need. If true, then perspective-wise, it is fairly focused.