Will you vote for Fianna Fail?

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

You get the feeling Fianna Fail will not be gone for long.

They have left the next governmnet a few landmines in the shape of the banks, pensions which need to be cut and the Croke Park deal.

Needless to say they are planning to be back for the 1916 centenary.

They know they need to clear out a few of the heads that are associated with the current mess but they will be back.

It's hard to see how the likes of Willie the Weasel O'Dea gets such a big majority or Cooper Flynn was continually re-elected but thats democracy for you.

People have short memories, Obama came to power two years ago here in the States and people were talking about the Democrats been in power for the next 12 years ago due to how badly thing had gotten during the Bush administration. Fast forward two years and the Republicans are back with a bang with huge wins in the mid terms last month. FF will do badly in the next election but will be back with a bang by the time the next election comes around.

You say that like it was a good thing!!! I really do hope that those f**kers never trample an Irish doorstep or stain an Irish voting card ever again. They are the scum of the Earth.

No what I said is people have short memories, they will forget who got us into this mess in the first place and return to their old voting patterns very quickly. The next government will be very unpopular with all  the cuts they will need to make, FF will feed of this resentment.

If the Irish people forgive these trecherous scum we deserve to be a province of the U.K., E.U., U.S.A., China or Zimbabwe.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

I think members of Fianna Fail should do the honourable thing, give up their jobs to emmigrants to bring them back and then f**k of to Mars for the rest of their lives.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

the use of Shannon lads is nothing compared to actually having soldiers in Afghanistan serving along side the Brits. these shower should be charged with offences against the state the evidence is there and they should be closely followed in to jail by their banker buddy's. of course it will never happen because the next crowd are equally as bad its just their turn to look after their mates for a few years

The use of Shannon for rendition flights is much worse than having the troops in Afghanistan.

I think there are 7 Irish troops in Afghanistan and they are doing good work. They are not a part of the invading troops and are there due to their expertise to protect innocent Afghans.

I have no time for a stupid Neutrality policy but I do think we need to act in line with the constitution until a time that it is changed. The troops in Afghanistan is not unconstitutional. The troops that Willie O'Dea sent to Chad on the otherhand.....

Wow Zap whats the issue with the Chad troops, I always supported them lads, thinking they are doing a good job. Are they there in conflict with Bunreach na hEireann or other Irish law?

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Just wondering if Micheal Martin becomes leader of Fianna Fail, will he support a government (whatever the parties) in the best interests of Ireland in a type of Tallaght Strategy? He is on record of saying he would do so. I wonder will his constituents ask him and all that represent him on the doorsteps that very question.

[lawnseed]

i hear fianna fail are setting up a tent at next years munich beer festival

[seafoid]

It looks desperate for FF, the poor neoliberal craythurs


http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0112/1224287328110.html

The Irish Times - Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Now indelibly linked to Anglo, Fianna Fáil faces even worse fate

STEPHEN COLLINS
ANALYSIS: The relationship between the party and the toxic bank has been cemented in the public mind on the eve of a general election
THE FINAL session of the 30th Dáil will begin today with further indignity being piled on the head of a dying Government as Taoiseach Brian Cowen comes under pressure to explain his relationship with the former boss of Anglo Irish Bank Seán FitzPatrick.
The toxic Anglo Irish Bank has destroyed the reputation of Fianna Fáil over the past two years and, more importantly, has almost bankrupted the country and left taxpayers with debts of tens of billions of euro.
The disclosure that FitzPatrick had an important phone conversation with Cowen at a crucial stage on the bank's road to perdition and spent a day playing golf with the newly installed Taoiseach in the summer of 2008 has made a dire situation even worse for the Government, if that is possible.
Whether there was anything inappropriate in the contacts between the two men is almost irrelevant at this stage. What the disclosure has done is to cement the relationship between Fianna Fáil and Anglo in the public mind on the eve of the election campaign.
What was already shaping up to be the worst result in Fianna Fáil's history could now become a rout on a scale that might even call into question the future existence of the party. The manner in which the party continues to shamble towards the election without direction and seemingly without hope is ominous.
The striking thing about Fianna Fáil at this stage is the mood of fatalism that has gripped its TDs. The fact that a number of senior Ministers in their 50s have decided not even to contest the election tells its own story. The party which has known far better than any of its rivals how to win and hold on to power for the past 80 years seems to have thrown in the towel before the election campaign proper has even begun.
It is astonishing that no serious challenger has emerged to take on a leader who has not simply lost the confidence of the public, through a combination of bad luck and bad judgment, but has generated a level of antipathy rarely seen in politics.
If Fianna Fáil had a chance of retaining power by changing the leader it would have happened by now. The fact that no serious moves have been made is an indication of just how bad things are. Morale within the Cabinet and the parliamentary party is now at an all-time low with the only question being how bad the election defeat is going to be.
The doomsday forecast of Cork East TD Ned O'Keeffe that Fianna Fáil could be reduced to 12 seats is almost certainly an exaggeration but the fact that Fianna Fáil was only getting the same level of support as Sinn Féin in a number of recent polls shows just how potentially bad the beating could be.
Fianna Fáil's Coalition partners the Greens have also been bewildered about what to do in response to the succession of hammer blows suffered by the Government. The latest revelations have presented them with a dilemma not unlike that faced by the Progressive Democrats at the start of the 2007 general election campaign.
At that stage Michael McDowell was persuaded that it was better to stay on rather than pull the plug on Bertie Ahern. The PDs suffered extinction as a consequence. This time around the Greens appear to be following the same route as the PDs, with the argument for hanging on to the bitter end prevailing over the political imperative of getting off the sinking ship as quickly as possible.
The Greens do have good reasons for prolonging the life of the Coalition just a little bit longer, in order to get cherished policies on issues such as climate change adopted, but the refusal to break the knot with Fianna Fáil makes extinction in the election even more likely. There is still an element of wait and see about the Green position with the party saying that it has been unable to find any evidence of "inappropriate behaviour" in the contacts between Cowen and FitzPatrick. The implication is that in the unlikely event that such evidence does emerge they may take a different attitude.
John Gormley said he would see how Cowen responded to Opposition questions in the Dáil today but the Taoiseach is unlikely to come up with a different response to the one he has already provided to explain his contacts with FitzPatrick.
Gormley said yesterday it was regrettable that at every Green Party think-in a policy-driven party like his was forced to talk about other issues, such as "golfgate", or "garglegate", but that is just a foretaste of what he will have to talk about during the election campaign.
The Opposition parties will take up today where they left off before Christmas hammering away at Cowen in the Dáil. The FitzPatrick story has given Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin the ideal platform going into the final few weeks of the Dáil and the election campaign to come

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

It really is a sad reflection on the Irish people that Bertie Ahern came 3'rd in a recent survey as preferred choice for our next President.

These people really are unpatriotic or simpletons.

[lawnseed]

depends on who came 1st and second, hitler and mr bean

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

depends on who came 1st and second, hitler and mr bean

David Norris came first, Mairead McGuinness came in second.

[ross4life]

Michael D.Higgins is the Current favourite for next President, looking at the list Micheal O'Muircheartaigh would be good choice but never take it & how about Shane McGowan new teeth & all?

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Michael D.Higgins is the Current favourite for next President, looking at the list Micheal O'Muircheartaigh would be good choice but never take it & how about Shane McGowan new teeth & all?

For me Michael D. Higgins would be a good choice, I would like to see Micheal D. Higgins, David Norris, Mairead McGuinness, John Hume, Sean Kelly. They would be good choices.

A few other people that came to my mind where Proinsias De Rossa, David Trimble, Micheal O'Muircheartaigh, Christine Noble, Micheal O'Leary, Adi Roche.


We could raise our profile by asking Irish diaspora members like Barack Obama (U.S.A.) to run after they kick him out in the states, Kevin Rudd (Australia), Paul Keating (Australia), Vicente Fox Quesada (Mexico), Bill Clinton (U.S.A.)

I know alot of those where tongue in cheek, but all 1,000 times better than Bertie Ahern.

[Hardy]

It really is a sad reflection on the Irish people that Bertie Ahern came 3'rd in a recent survey as preferred choice for our next President.

These people really are unpatriotic or simpletons.

What survey was this, mayogodhelpus? I know Joe Duffy did a phone-in elimination-type survey with a field of ten candidates. Bertie was the first eliminated.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

It really is a sad reflection on the Irish people that Bertie Ahern came 3'rd in a recent survey as preferred choice for our next President.

These people really are unpatriotic or simpletons.

What survey was this, mayogodhelpus? I know Joe Duffy did a phone-in elimination-type survey with a field of ten candidates. Bertie was the first eliminated.

Hardy I am taking this information from page 6 of the Irish Times, 11-01-2011.

Red C Poll produced by Paddy Power, Senator Norris 27%, Maireád McGuinness 13%, Bertie Ahern 12%, FF (MEP) Brian Crowley 10%, Micheal D.Higgins 10%, Fergus Finlay (Bernardos CEO) 10%.

[Hardy]

Obviously a properly constituted survey then, unlike Joe Duffy's phone-in. It'd dislocate your brain to contemplate the idea that one in eight adults in this country think that buffoonish crook would make a suitable president.

[mylestheslasher]

Michael D.Higgins is the Current favourite for next President, looking at the list Micheal O'Muircheartaigh would be good choice but never take it & how about Shane McGowan new teeth & all?

For me Michael D. Higgins would be a good choice, I would like to see Micheal D. Higgins, David Norris, Mairead McGuinness, John Hume, Sean Kelly. They would be good choices.

A few other people that came to my mind where Proinsias De Rossa, David Trimble, Micheal O'Muircheartaigh, Christine Noble, Micheal O'Leary, Adi Roche.


We could raise our profile by asking Irish diaspora members like Barack Obama (U.S.A.) to run after they kick him out in the states, Kevin Rudd (Australia), Paul Keating (Australia), Vicente Fox Quesada (Mexico), Bill Clinton (U.S.A.)

I know alot of those where tongue in cheek, but all 1,000 times better than Bertie Ahern.

Michael D would be my choice there. No way I'd vote Micheal O'Muircheartaigh, to many FF conections. There again we fall for the old celebrity no matter how much we claim not to. I'd like to see someone like Justin Kilcullen. Someone who will challenge Ireland to improve our imput into international affairs and demand the same of others. At the minute the President represents Ireland abroad by looking nice and being polite. I'd rather see someone who would tell Israel to sod off or tell Uganda to stop buying guns and build some schools rather than look good and be polite. Michael D would be the best of the bunch so far.

I could be wrong but I don't think the remit of the president allows them to make such statements to Israel or Uganda. I like Norris. He's a nice guy and I think he'd be a good embassador for Ireland. He might not be too welcome in the middle east mind you...