Sinn Fein? They have gone away, you know.

[Rossfan]

In a nutshell.
As I asked above how many of their "new" 14% also voted for Casey in the Presidential?
Then there were the people in Westmeath who told canvassers of another party that they were voting for the "Sinn Féin man" who was in fact a woman called Sorcha Clarke .

How can anyone answer such a stupid question?

Quite sensible intelligent question but a rhetorical one in practice.

[Ambrose]

She wouldn't lead a horse to water.

But I would feed that pony.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

There was serious unease within sinn féin grassroots about Mary Lou's leadership prior to the last election in the republic. Her record was very poor in previous elections both sides of the border and seemed to be leading the party into a period of decline. Her resurgence is a result of dissatisfaction with FG/FF rather than any endorsement of her.

SF have not performed well in government North of the border, they are excellent in opposition or as absent protesters as seen up here but struggle in any real crisis.

Vardakar/Covemey on the other hand don't seem to perform well in govt but very well in crisis.

[Itchy]

There was serious unease within sinn féin grassroots about Mary Lou's leadership prior to the last election in the republic. Her record was very poor in previous elections both sides of the border and seemed to be leading the party into a period of decline. Her resurgence is a result of dissatisfaction with FG/FF rather than any endorsement of her.

SF have not performed well in government North of the border, they are excellent in opposition or as absent protesters as seen up here but struggle in any real crisis.

Vardakar/Covemey on the other hand don't seem to perform well in govt but very well in crisis.

I will object to this. When Adams left there was certainly a transition period where the party slumped and that has now turned around. To put it all down to some protest vote is total nonsense in my opinion. The election was a cry out for an alternative to the status quo. A wakening of the people that there has to be a better way. In my opinion FF and FG will pay a heavy price for refusing to speak to the party with the largest vote, it smacks of arrogance and certainly is not for the better good of Ireland - its their best stab at protecting themselves. If the greens go in with them they will be obliterated at the next election. In fact, right now I would like to see another election rather than the imbecile Micheal Martin as Taoiseach - the only reason he is going ahead with this amalgamation is so that he is not the only FF leader that was never Taoiseach - arrogance and selfishness.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

There was serious unease within sinn féin grassroots about Mary Lou's leadership prior to the last election in the republic. Her record was very poor in previous elections both sides of the border and seemed to be leading the party into a period of decline. Her resurgence is a result of dissatisfaction with FG/FF rather than any endorsement of her.

SF have not performed well in government North of the border, they are excellent in opposition or as absent protesters as seen up here but struggle in any real crisis.

Vardakar/Covemey on the other hand don't seem to perform well in govt but very well in crisis.

I will object to this. When Adams left there was certainly a transition period where the party slumped and that has now turned around. To put it all down to some protest vote is total nonsense in my opinion. The election was a cry out for an alternative to the status quo. A wakening of the people that there has to be a better way. In my opinion FF and FG will pay a heavy price for refusing to speak to the party with the largest vote, it smacks of arrogance and certainly is not for the better good of Ireland - its their best stab at protecting themselves. If the greens go in with them they will be obliterated at the next election. In fact, right now I would like to see another election rather than the imbecile Micheal Martin as Taoiseach - the only reason he is going ahead with this amalgamation is so that he is not the only FF leader that was never Taoiseach - arrogance and selfishness.

I said dissatisfaction not protest.

If there is another election , SF will run more candidates and ditch those smaller parties on the left which they dont need anymore, including greens. Its a dirty game is politics

[dublin7]

The case for Boycey -
Under Ms McDonald a mere 11 months ago SF lost half their Council seats in the 26 and 2 of their 3 MPs.
SF should have done better in the Westminster election.
She didn't foresee ( nor did anyone else) that their vote would go from 11% to *24% 9 months later.
On a personal level good to see she got over the virus.
However she was back to her worst school mistress preaching where everyone  and everything is wrong .

* How many of those were pissed off anti establishment voters who voted Casey in the Presidential election?

Haha which seats did they not win that they should've?
Well if nor did anyone then that point is invalid.
Itchy is right, out of the current leaders in Ireland, she is by far the best.

One of the SF candidates went on holiday the last week of the election rather than campaign so that tells you what she thought were her chances. She then topped the poll!

SF benefited from not being any of the other main parties such as FG or FF not through any great strides made by Mary Lou.

Thats a great argument except it holds no water. Why didnt the greens, labour, Aontu grow by 10 points?

The reason people voted for some unknowns in their constituency is they were Voting No1 for Sinn Fein, not necessarily the person they were voting for, because they wanted change. The reason they voted No 1 Sinn Fein and not those other parties was because of  the message Mary Lou was putting out. Thats why the two boys, the state media, the SINDO and the rest of them let the hounds of hell loose on Mary Lou. That's my take on it, you don't have to agree.

The Green Party had their best ever election result and increased their number of TDs from 3 to 12, proving my point rather than disproving it.

If you don't know why Labour did so poorly in the elections you obviously are too young to remember the last time Labour were in government. Eamonn Gilmore and Joan Burton did their best to destroy the party so they could get Labour into government and a ministerial job for themselves.
Aontu is a one issue party on an issue that was irrelevant in the election.

[Itchy]

The case for Boycey -
Under Ms McDonald a mere 11 months ago SF lost half their Council seats in the 26 and 2 of their 3 MPs.
SF should have done better in the Westminster election.
She didn't foresee ( nor did anyone else) that their vote would go from 11% to *24% 9 months later.
On a personal level good to see she got over the virus.
However she was back to her worst school mistress preaching where everyone  and everything is wrong .

* How many of those were pissed off anti establishment voters who voted Casey in the Presidential election?

Haha which seats did they not win that they should've?
Well if nor did anyone then that point is invalid.
Itchy is right, out of the current leaders in Ireland, she is by far the best.

One of the SF candidates went on holiday the last week of the election rather than campaign so that tells you what she thought were her chances. She then topped the poll!

SF benefited from not being any of the other main parties such as FG or FF not through any great strides made by Mary Lou.

Thats a great argument except it holds no water. Why didnt the greens, labour, Aontu grow by 10 points?

The reason people voted for some unknowns in their constituency is they were Voting No1 for Sinn Fein, not necessarily the person they were voting for, because they wanted change. The reason they voted No 1 Sinn Fein and not those other parties was because of  the message Mary Lou was putting out. Thats why the two boys, the state media, the SINDO and the rest of them let the hounds of hell loose on Mary Lou. That's my take on it, you don't have to agree.

The Green Party had their best ever election result and increased their number of TDs from 3 to 12, proving my point rather than disproving it.

If you don't know why Labour did so poorly in the elections you obviously are too young to remember the last time Labour were in government. Eamonn Gilmore and Joan Burton did their best to destroy the party so they could get Labour into government and a ministerial job for themselves.
Aontu is a one issue party on an issue that was irrelevant in the election.

So people remember Labour but don't remember the Greens. People dont remember FF either it seems as they got 24%. Doesnt hold water.

[dublin7]

The case for Boycey -
Under Ms McDonald a mere 11 months ago SF lost half their Council seats in the 26 and 2 of their 3 MPs.
SF should have done better in the Westminster election.
She didn't foresee ( nor did anyone else) that their vote would go from 11% to *24% 9 months later.
On a personal level good to see she got over the virus.
However she was back to her worst school mistress preaching where everyone  and everything is wrong .

* How many of those were pissed off anti establishment voters who voted Casey in the Presidential election?

Haha which seats did they not win that they should've?
Well if nor did anyone then that point is invalid.
Itchy is right, out of the current leaders in Ireland, she is by far the best.

One of the SF candidates went on holiday the last week of the election rather than campaign so that tells you what she thought were her chances. She then topped the poll!

SF benefited from not being any of the other main parties such as FG or FF not through any great strides made by Mary Lou.

Thats a great argument except it holds no water. Why didnt the greens, labour, Aontu grow by 10 points?

The reason people voted for some unknowns in their constituency is they were Voting No1 for Sinn Fein, not necessarily the person they were voting for, because they wanted change. The reason they voted No 1 Sinn Fein and not those other parties was because of  the message Mary Lou was putting out. Thats why the two boys, the state media, the SINDO and the rest of them let the hounds of hell loose on Mary Lou. That's my take on it, you don't have to agree.

The Green Party had their best ever election result and increased their number of TDs from 3 to 12, proving my point rather than disproving it.

If you don't know why Labour did so poorly in the elections you obviously are too young to remember the last time Labour were in government. Eamonn Gilmore and Joan Burton did their best to destroy the party so they could get Labour into government and a ministerial job for themselves.
Aontu is a one issue party on an issue that was irrelevant in the election.

So people remember Labour but don't remember the Greens. People dont remember FF either it seems as they got 24%. Doesnt hold water.

It hold's water perfectly well(whatever your water analogy is supposed to mean) Labour broke so many many promises after entering government it ruined the party. Everyone remembers the "every little hurts" ad campaign as they  broke every single promise once elected. Big difference between them and the Greens. If you're to young to remember, google it. Also Ireland was well on the road to economic ruin before the Greens entered government.

Finally if you think 24% of the vote was an impressive election for FF you really don't understand Irish politics. They are down to their core vote at this stage which is about 20% They would have been used to getting at least 40% of the vote each election up to the crash.

Last year SF under Mary Lou lost one third of their seats in the local elections and lost European seats as well. Perhaps you can tell us what she did that inspired such a dramatic shift in popularity for the party for the General Election?

If she was that confident of SF performing so well in the elections why did they not run additional candidates in each constituency? She wasn't even confident enough to run a 2nd SF candidate in her own constituency.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

The case for Boycey -
Under Ms McDonald a mere 11 months ago SF lost half their Council seats in the 26 and 2 of their 3 MPs.
SF should have done better in the Westminster election.
She didn't foresee ( nor did anyone else) that their vote would go from 11% to *24% 9 months later.
On a personal level good to see she got over the virus.
However she was back to her worst school mistress preaching where everyone  and everything is wrong .

* How many of those were pissed off anti establishment voters who voted Casey in the Presidential election?

Haha which seats did they not win that they should've?
Well if nor did anyone then that point is invalid.
Itchy is right, out of the current leaders in Ireland, she is by far the best.

One of the SF candidates went on holiday the last week of the election rather than campaign so that tells you what she thought were her chances. She then topped the poll!

SF benefited from not being any of the other main parties such as FG or FF not through any great strides made by Mary Lou.

Thats a great argument except it holds no water. Why didnt the greens, labour, Aontu grow by 10 points?

The reason people voted for some unknowns in their constituency is they were Voting No1 for Sinn Fein, not necessarily the person they were voting for, because they wanted change. The reason they voted No 1 Sinn Fein and not those other parties was because of  the message Mary Lou was putting out. Thats why the two boys, the state media, the SINDO and the rest of them let the hounds of hell loose on Mary Lou. That's my take on it, you don't have to agree.

The Green Party had their best ever election result and increased their number of TDs from 3 to 12, proving my point rather than disproving it.

If you don't know why Labour did so poorly in the elections you obviously are too young to remember the last time Labour were in government. Eamonn Gilmore and Joan Burton did their best to destroy the party so they could get Labour into government and a ministerial job for themselves.
Aontu is a one issue party on an issue that was irrelevant in the election.

So people remember Labour but don't remember the Greens. People dont remember FF either it seems as they got 24%. Doesnt hold water.

It hold's water perfectly well(whatever your water analogy is supposed to mean) Labour broke so many many promises after entering government it ruined the party. Everyone remembers the "every little hurts" ad campaign as they  broke every single promise once elected. Big difference between them and the Greens. If you're to young to remember, google it. Also Ireland was well on the road to economic ruin before the Greens entered government.

Finally if you think 24% of the vote was an impressive election for FF you really don't understand Irish politics. They are down to their core vote at this stage which is about 20% They would have been used to getting at least 40% of the vote each election up to the crash.

Last year SF under Mary Lou lost one third of their seats in the local elections and lost European seats as well. Perhaps you can tell us what she did that inspired such a dramatic shift in popularity for the party for the General Election?

If she was that confident of SF performing so well in the elections why did they not run additional candidates in each constituency? She wasn't even confident enough to run a 2nd SF candidate in her own constituency.

Maith thú. Good post. And one of the candidates even went on holidays

[general_lee]

Video going about twitter of Sean Kelly wielding an iron bar ready to batter someone 

[Rossfan]

Sinn Féin HQ?

[dec]

https://twitter.com/Dave84961160/status/1256988267414683657

[Jeepers Creepers]

That's an iron bar? Underwhelming.

Maybe he was trying to give it back to the young man.

[HiMucker]

Anybody see Varadkars rant yesterday? Embarrassing, badly let himself down, completely lost his cool.

[RedHand88]

Anybody see Varadkars rant yesterday? Embarrassing, badly let himself down, completely lost his cool.

He was also wrong. Minimum wage and the furlough payment are not devolved and have nothing to do with SF. Its not SFs fault the minimum wage is crap in the North.