General Irish politics discussion thread

I'm about as far from a Leo supporter as they come, told him as much in person when I lived around the corner from him...but I'm disgusted by the level of discourse that has been on display in some corners of the internet since the announcement broke.

I have absolutely zero doubt that if he wasn't a mixed race, homosexual that three quarters of the bile on display wouldn't exist.

F*ck me, I disagree with the man on a huge amount of his politics, but there is a significant swathe of the population who clearly don't realise they demean themselves more than they do him with their commentary.

+1 to this comment.

However, it reaches a new low in Current Affairs forum when a Boards.ie Moderator joins in with deeply nasty vitriol against politicians. I will not name the Moderator in question. The comment was reported, but, surprise, surprise, absolutely no action was taken.

One despairs at the standard of public discourse all over Boards in 2024.

I think Leo himself leaving will be good just for general political discourse. In my life I've never seen a Taoiseach devalue the office so badly via his twitter addiction.

Social media is profit driven and its profiteers don't care how socially corrosive it is as long as it makes them rich.

It was very obvious last when someone, probably old heads in the party told him to reign in his posting.

Maybe someone in FG can tell us what kind of conversations were circulating over the last year, but he definitely toned down his SF bashing late last year.

The thing is though I don't believe he divides people like Haughey did. I think history will be kind to him for his sober straight talking at the outbreak of the pandemic, I shudder to think how we would have faired in the first wave if Michael Martin had been in charge considering how his "meaningful christmas" no doubt help spread and deepen the second wave.

I don't think it had anything to do with that. If that kind of thing was a central theme then marriage equality and abortion repeal would never have passed by a 2/1 margin.

I think it was more he and his crew basked in the glow of those referendums and their Brexit wins while ignoring healthcare and housing. It's a copout to blame a few loons who live on twitter than accept they dropped the ball on those vital domestic concerns.

Yes, he did really well on the pandemic.

When you look back at it and remember Mary-Lou screaming for the pubs to open down here, while simultaneously Michelle was screaming for the pubs to close in the North (or was it vice versa, that was only one example of several), that you then realise we were very lucky to have the government we did for the pandemic.

You'd be here criticising them no matter what they do.

As for PP members being 'appointed' not elected, there isn't a facepalm gif in the universe big enough for that one

IF we had FPTP, a two party system, 'safe seats' and large chunks of the electorate who will vote red or blue no matter what, there might be some merit in that argument.

We're not talking about the UK though. With FF and FG in particular, the biggest rival to any TD is their party running mate. If a party head office tries to shove in an unappealing candidate, they won't get elected, it's as simple as that.

Don't forget the subtle (or unsubtle) homophobia either.

Remind me which party holds those two ministries again...?

Why would I need to do that?

Are you not capable of assessment without the need to point over there?

Yeah, whatever about the negatives. And I don't want to launch into a diatribe here - just beyond saying that Leo V wouldn't have got my vote for all sorts of reasons and if he had lost his seat in the next GE I wouldn't have been too cut up for him.

But I'd have to say, that despite all that, I would give him credit with how he handled the Brexit negotiations. Maybe he was helped by the fact that he wasn't negotiating with serious people - but still I think he did broadly well there.

And I think, tbf to him, in the immediate white hot chaos of COVID lockdowns - that opening 6-8 weeks - he was pretty good. Maybe it was a case of just sticking to the script, but I felt that was a tough gig for anyone at the time and he did alright.

Maybe it's just me, but I think a lot of discourse here or anywhere is kind of useless without trying to find some balance. Did I like Leo overall as a political figure: well, no. But did he do absolutely every little thing wrong: well, equally, no. I find so much stuff online - I'll use CA on here as the closest example - to be totally unbalanced and one eyed.

I find it interesting, to say the least, that Covid and how unprecedented and totally all encompassing it was is just an aside in so much of the conversation - if it's mentioned at all. It's like it was some minor event: rather than something that totally upended every aspect of everything for the guts of two years. It's had a huge distorting effect for the last four years, particularly in politics and economics. I don't know if it's that easy to pretend that the last few years have been normal - and throw into that the biggest land war and mass movement of people in Europe in 80 years - they've been crazy years. And I think you have to factor all of that into account when assessing any state figures performance over the last 4 years as a whole.

Very likely I'd say. If they are going to win two seats in a constituency, DBA is probably their best shot