Badly need a new Political Party

I can’t remember which poster said it but they were correct in saying that a new political party would just be a “rebrand” of choices that are already there.

But the truth is politics is largely about optics. Sinn Fein has attempted to make itself look a bit softer than the old stereotypes of moustaches, beards, biceps and tattoos. By bringing in more lipstick and dresses.

30 years ago who would have thought that Sinn Fein would be led from a woman from a “leafy suburb” of Dublin? Yet this same SF and PBP (lead by the very middle class Boyd-Barrett managed to tar the working class Joan Burton as the out of touch “establishment” a political hatchet job. One that the electorate fell for. All based on optics.

For someone to form a new political party, they have to seem fresh and have drive. Also having one policy that really connects with the electorate that can be explained simply, but is populist.

After that it is all political optics to draw in the middle ground, they have to sound different from the status quo, and look the part.

The problem with the old left party like Labour when they go into government with FG/FF they get branded as “establishment” and get minced in the later elections.

A new political party would not have that old baggage. A new party has to be seen as statesman like but with a slight edge. Different optics.

PBP were/are supposed to be be the new political party, just under 20 years old now.But they are just a party of “protest” a great crowd to have at marches, but how would they ever get in government?

PBP are in a lot of ways the party the OP talks of. SF without the overt Republicanism. The only slight difference is PBP are like a SF prior to the rebrand who would not appeal to the slightly more centrist electorate.

From wiki PBP are described by others as Trotskyist. But they prefer eco-socialist. The major difference between SF and PBP seem to be on Europe. PBP was pro-Brexit, and even the ROI leaving the EU . But it is not lost on me that SF used to be very anti-Europe about 30 years ago.

Unless PBP rebrands slightly taking some of their “hard edges” off they will never get the numbers from the electorate. And will forever be that novelty party who makes a lot of noise.

It just ends up as 4 seats wasted for “the left” as PBP will need a SF near majority to get in power.

Labour are heading towards 7 seats wasted on the left category. Because most in the electorate don’t really know what Labour stands for anymore. They are terrible at optics, they have no vibrancy.

The Social Democrats have a vibrancy that Labour lost. But is there any real difference between the two parties? Should Labour concede defeat and merge under the more appealing “optical rebrand” of the Social Democrats?

Could it be as simple as that? Maybe rope in a few “independents for change” while they are at it?

I have never voted for SF in my life.

See the abuse McEntee gets since the day she entered the Dail and majority is because she is a woman

When she had a child on boards they even had a thread for all the men to go onto it and abuse her for having a child, then claim it was t because she was having a child

Luas was costed at €288 million in 1997 by the time it was completed in 2003 it had increased to €675million.

THE final bill for the country's most expensive piece of infrastructure has come in at a staggering €804m -- 50pc more than expected. Four years after the Dublin Port Tunnel opened, new figures show that the project ran €269m over budget from the original €535m price tag.

Mo money, mo problems.

Why not an increasing top level of tax?? Keep the 23% bracket as it is and then say after 50k, an extra 0.5-1% on every 10k over than up to 100k, another 2% on every 10k over that up to say 500k, and 5% on every 50k over that up to say a top rate of 41%??

Or something similar, I’ve just plucked these numbers off the top of my head. Why just a rigid 3 bands??

My mistake, I confused the 23% vat rate with the 20% income tax rate.

Now that’s corrected, anything constructive to add? Why do we only have 3 rigid tax bands? Surely the more you earn the more tax you pay on a sliding scale, without getting completely ripped off, would be better for everyone??

So the more you earn the more tax you pay, is that not what we already have in place?

Do we not have two tax bands? what is the 3rd?

You could, never heard of anyone who has :-)

A good summary, but all these parties are in the crowded left.

Its a centre right party that a lot of people are looking for.

A party that is tougher on crime, stronger on asylum immigration controls, more rewarding to people who work and earn average salaries etc.

As I stated, I pulled the figures out of the sky to make my point. They can be changed to higher figures if needed, and gaps can be plugged by not wasting vast amounts of money. €1bn foreign aid a year, put that back in the kitty. Plenty of other black holes.

If you want to reduce immigration, cutting foreign aid which reduces the need for people to emigrate isn't that clever.

Nobody on mean earnings should face the top marginal income tax rate.

Control the borders - no travel documents = immediate removal

Stop the introduction of bonkers LGBT material into primary schools

remove barriers to building more houses

equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome

Abandon hate speech bill.

don't get sidetracked by a tiny minority obsessed by the "woke" agenda, ignore this vocal minority, and work for the silent majority

So how much have we been giving to Algeria, Somalia, Eritrea, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Georgia, Albania ?

BTW according to dept of foreign affairs the countries we work with are: Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi, Liberia, Palestine, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Small Island Developing States comprise 39 States and 18 Associate Members. They are spread across the globe in the Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and the South China Sea.

We really will have to up the old aid to Georgia.😉

Oh we work with Irish civil society organisations (CSOs), which really is another name for NGOs.

You know the chugging ones with the reasonably high paid executives like Concern, Trocaire, GOAL, Oxfam Ireland, etc.

The one big thing I remember is we gave aid to Uganda and they were busy buying military jets.

Wasn't old Michael Martin involved in that controversy ?

Sure maybe we could use that 1 billion to complete your beloved childrens hospital that you are always defending 🙄

Sounds a bit naïve really. The 6 TDs in Soc Dems are politicians.

All the information you're looking for is available on the Irish Aid website. Knock yourself out if you want a sensible discussion, which of course you don't.

So in other words ignore everyone else who doesn't agree with you 😂

If anybody earns more than 42k, they face a MARGINAL income tax rate of 48.5%.

It is bonkers to charge people earning less than median earnings, a MARGINAL income tax rate of close to 50%

Fun fact: We're not the worst. Net personal marginal tax rate for a Belgian worker on median wage is 57%; for a German worker, 50%.

And, even though the marginal rates are close, the Irish worker is overall much better off than their Belgian and German median rate counterparts (and many others) because the average personal tax rate of a median wage worker in Ireland (21%) is is dramatically lower than than in Belgium (39%) or Germany (38%).

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