Now it's official: "Ireland needs a new right wing party".

I'm in my early 40's, married with 3 children. This is generally my political and societal stance.

1. Generally socially liberal. Voted Yes and encouraged everyone I know to vote for for Abortion, SSM, etc.
2. Believe in a social safety net. We should be judged as a society by how we look after our vulnerable.
3. Believe that every young person should have aspirations to own their own home and be able to do so affordably. Homes should not be permitted to be treated in the same way as other capital investments where billionaire vultures and hedge funds hold a society hostage for profit.
4. Believe that in general our taxation system is fair apart from a few exceptions (tax individualisation punishing single income families).
5. Health care should be a right not a privilege. In saying that I work a job that affords me health insurance and I gladly take it. It doesn't change the fact that economic power shouldn't dictate your health outcomes but it does.
6. Religion has no place in schools. The strangle hold the church still has on education in this country is a disgrace and is nothing but an abdication of responsibility from the state. If you want your child brought up and indoctrinated in the Catholic faith (or any faith for that matter), that is perfectly fine. You can do so out of normal school hours if you feel that strongly.
7. Whilst accepting refugees and asylum seekers is an international obligation, I think we are past the Rubicon as to the current policy. Like it or not, Ireland is seen as a soft touch internationally and we are not dealing with the issue of bogus claims appropriately. Self deportations is the biggest joke of all time and needs to be addressed. What I fully support and encourage is proper controlled immigration. Our society is enhanced by such people and not only that we require immigration. I want more of the type of immigrant that adds to our society. The naive open arms policy might make you feel warm and fizzy inside but it ignored the reality of the situation and the more the virtue signallers vilify anyone who questions this stance, the more the feelings and movement are pushed under grounds which leads to the rise of the so called "far right".
8. Whilst I believe in treating everyone with respect and dignity, there is a ceiling in how far as a society we must bend to the whims of certain groups. Regarding the trans ideology, I believe that if someone wants to identify as a different gender, that is perfectly fine and I will publicly respect that. At the end of the day though it doesn't change basic biology no matter how much you want to believe it does. No, you cannot declare yourself a woman and compete against women in sporting pursuits (anyone who supports this is a loon in my opinion). No, you cannot put a dress on and use a female only space.
9. I believe any service or utility that is in the public interest should be as much as possible publicly owned and controlled (or at the very least heavily regulated). As I stated in my hosing section, I don't support the over commoditisation of basic necessities. By all means commoditise luxury goods like electronics (phones, tvs etc), but not what is required for basic society to function. What I mean by over commoditisation, is that whilst I fully accept that supply and demand impact a market, there should be controls in place to avoid rampant profiteering from such items.
10. I firmly believe that climate change is a major threat. If not directly to our generation but our children's generation.
11. I think a society that attempts to restrict free speech whether it be by some nefarious authoritarian regime like China or in the name of the perpetually offended in the West, is losing/lost the runs of itself.

There is probably more but all I can think of now. My issue is there is really no one that aligns fully with my outlook. I actually believe a large portion of society is on the same wavelength as me. For the most part I lean left, apart from my attitude to gender politics and "some" would say immigration, but as regards immigration I would argue that I am still left leaning and all I want controlled is the uncontrolled immigration we are currently seeing. As I've said I fully support immigration and believe diversifying our population is for the better and enriches us with views from outside of our echo chamber.

What actually annoys me is in some areas of concern for me (tax individualisation etc), the only voice raising that issue is the bloody Iona institute (who I couldn't be further from ideologically) because other mainstream groups won't address this because you will be seen as ani woman if you do. This is despite that fact that I believe anyone that does support it had the wool fully pulled over their eyes by McCreevy in 2000 when it was lauded as a positive step for women. All it achieved is making families more miserable with both apparent having to work full time and having their children raised by strangers.

In the past I have actually voted for the greens, but they have jumped the shark so much I will never vote for them again. All other mainstream parties have (mistakenly in my opinion) embraced the lunatic fringe element of society and have lost touch with what really matters.

As other have said earlier, I don't want a right wing party. I want a common sense party that actually deals with the real issues of the day and not the soundbite issues that has dominated discourse this cycle.

Our economic model is far closer to the latter two than to the European model.

Most people will vote for one of the main stream parties when it comes to a general election.

The main parties will seek to include those voters they have lost for whatever reason in the past few years ..that's what politicians do .

We have already seen FG pivot in their Ard Fheis and other utterances about " getting back to their roots " so expect to see more right of centre policies there .Probably won't save them this time but there's always another GE in 4/5 years .

Indeed it would be a mess if independents outflank the main parties in the next GE. Not least of all for the people of this country. We have endured unworkable results of hung Dáils before .

One topic TDs are ok in isolation but as a group of narrow focussed individuals , like the Left Independent group in the Dáil, they can have very little effect except shouting and waving their fists with the odd Bill that inevitably gets defeated .They are only good for very local issues or local roads or amenities which suits some people but only as long as there is a rational government elected to cater for the actual governance and functioning of the state .

Encouraging people to vote in anger or in protest for this type of representation is misleading if they think anything they feel passionate about will be fixed , sorted or pushed through

These independents may or may not form a coherent party or even working /voting group in the Dáil but you can be guaranteed that the issues that they decide are the most important to focus on will be the populist issues of the day which alter as soon as they get reelected or pretty soon after .

Yes, when push comes to shove, most will vote for an established party perhaps.

But if the number of indies continues to rise and the majority electorate frustration with the big 3 parties continues, we could see an extreme number of indies in the Dail this time around.

I dont know if there are more indie candidates preparing to stand vs the numbers we would expect to stand if the election were held today, or even how aligned the candidates themselves would be on core policies.

It does feel as though a co-ordinated approach, from a like minded band of indies, still perhaps 11 months out from a GE, could really develop into a powerful player in the next govt.

Exactly. Because those US economic policies have been shown to have failed sociallyas well just as much as the Communist ideologies in the past .

It is not a question of Capitalism ' beating ' Socialism though . .

I agree with a lot of your posts but not that .

What has evolved from 20th century policies is a system somewhere in the middle as the most ideal .

We have a system which has evolved centre right economically which leans left socially like our European counterparts .

Some seem to want us to lean right socially which is going against the grain for many Irish people who remember what it was like to live here under that sort of government in the past , which was heavily influenced by a conservative Catholic ethos .

I don't think that is what people are looking for, especially given the SSM and Repeal 8th referenda were passed by such a majority but there are some issues like Law and Order and Immigration that have caught the public attention for sure .

But if people think to vote for right wing parties will give them one or two right wing policy but not the rest ...

I would be happy for more law and order , more prison time for offenders , and control of immigration with enforced deportation , but in a fair and humane manner with our European partners .. more affordable and state housing , better public health services and disability services , and while maintaining good social welfare benefits for those that need them , 'encouraging 'return to work and part-time work for those that can and ensuring it pays .to do this

A sensible regard for environmental issues and real attempts at progress towards reaching our emissions targets but not above people's affordability .

But while not above any other priority , equality and freedom for all , to live safely and happily , without discrimination or abuse in this country should be AS important with any representative I would vote for . Otherwise the rest means nothing really .

I think of myself as a slightly left of centre / centrist voter but have been called a lefty and numerous other names, too many and too ridiculous to mention by some on Boards !

Now either that is true and I am totally misconstruing The Silent Majority myself, or the 'very vocal minority' (on social media anyway !) are labelling everybody else incorrectly .

Such as 'Wokerati " .. now that is just imported scvtter.

There used to be only one way for Independents to get speaking rights, which was coalesce with any small parties in to a single, I believe 7+ member, group. This lead to there being a Technical Group in the 2002-2007 Dáil that had the Greens, SF and the Socialist Party in with Jackie Healey-Rae and Mildred Fox etc - full spectrum coverage.

You can now have groups of 5+ (parties get speaking rights at 5), and as many groups as required; and even then they're usually just semi random collections of Independents with nothing linking them other than a desire to get speaking time.

We have a few odd ones, a Regional Group of mostly ex-FF and ex-FG Independents plus Aontu; a Rural group of two of IndI, the Healey Raes, Mattie and Carol Nolan - bit of an odd mix there; and an "Independent Group" which goes from Michael McNamara and the other IndI on the right to Thomas Pringle on the left.

In the 2007-2010 Dáil, there were so few non-Government backing Independents and small party TDs that even SF didn't get speaking rights until Pearse Doherty won a by-election and they could form a left wing technical group!

That's a radical concept these days though and not just in Ireland.

Aontú are centre-left, cut for the SF cloth.

(the only difference is the anti-abortion stance)

Agreed. I am not saying the "rise of the indies' is a good thing.

But it is a trend.

I am sure the govt are watching the polling projections and are concerned.

No doubt the govt are looking to strike the right timing between SF support hitting its low point before the GE, but without leaving things too long for more indie or indie alliamces to form - as well as hoping for a bounce in support for the govt parties themselves.

When it comes to setting an election date, Its a thin tight rope to walk at the moment for the govt :)

Maybe a return to grass roots FG will tick the boxes!

Ah jayze , that's not enough !

They need a few years in the Wilderness of Opposition with Simon first , methinks .

I don't vote as society is a lost cause. I only vote when it comes to big issues like Brexit which I voted for.

We have already seen FG pivot in their Ard Fheis

Have we? Most of it seemed mom & apple pie stuff that hardly anyone across the spectrum would dissent from.

other utterances about " getting back to their roots "

mostly from has-beens like Ring & Flanagan

expect to see more right of centre policies there 

with Harris leading them I wouldn't hold my breath…

I don't think anything will be set in stone but will mollify some of their grass roots .

During a housing crisis, with labour shortages, we should not accept that 36,000 approx building workers are on the Live Register.

These workers should be strongly encouraged to return to the (official) labour market, to help build houses.