DonabatePortrane.net

micropoodle wrote:It's not easy to see what a person is really like based on a wall of text but I've been no problem being compared to RATM!

I'm far from being 'f u I won't....' though. I have many other views that don't align with the left at all.

For example I believe the special criminal court is a necessity. I believe free legal aid should be withdrawn after x number of convictions, with x ideally being less than 10.

I have no problem paying for water but I do have a problem paying for the setting up of a quango that is Irish Water. I have a problem with enda Kenny right now on the debate blatantly choosing not answer questions by answering questions he's not even being asked. What is he afraid of?

5 years ago I believed FG and said they deserved a chance. 5 years on and the mysterious disappearance of the FG 5 point plan amongst other things has convinced me not to vote FG again and to let someone else have a chance.

But unfortunately we don't have enough alternatives. Then again if we keep voting these 4 parties in simply to keep the status quo, things will never change.

In my opinion despite all the fake blustering we are seeing now we will have a FG/FF/Social Dem government by this day next week. Our only hope is that the social dems have a significant influence

Actually, your more like you expect some perfection otherwise you reject it. Your similar with EU.

Here's my view on Irish Water - yes I agree with water tax and yes some cock ups with Irish Water. But this is Ireland. What do you expect? Get it bang on first time. No way. So I am a bit more forgiving with the government's mistakes. Because no matter who in government you get you will get mistakes. Overall, I get what FG / Labour are trying to do. Basically, do whatever IMF / EU says and get the country open for business. That strategy makes sense to me and I don't see a better one.

5 years ago I believed FG and said they deserved a chance.

And it turns out you were right. The turnaround in the country's fortunes has been remarkable. And nobody predicted it. There were a few good pointers like falling oil prices and low interest rates but on the debit side the economy was totally destroyed and the burden of the National Debt was so vast that nobody thought we could overcome it.

But renegotiating the promissory note deal was a masterstroke that freed up money and allowed for investment in job creation. And we haven't looked back.

It looks like we're going to have a right wing coalition with FG as the largest party and FF as the junior partners. FF might possibly stay out and agree to support a minority FG government but that would amount to the same thing. Either way, the most incompetent political party in the country will have a say on government policy. Give it a few months and even people who don't like admitting that there's a genuine recovery happening will be pining for the good old days of the FG/Lab government.

jack white wrote:

5 years ago I believed FG and said they deserved a chance.

Give it a few months and even people who don't like admitting that there's a genuine recovery happening will be pining for the good old days of the FG/Lab government.

I admit theres a recovery. Of course I do. That's plain to see. However to claim that it was unpredictable is foolish.

Recessions are cyclical. There's always a period of recession followed by a period of recovery. Strong chance that within the next 5 to 7 years we will be in another recession. That's how the world economy works.

This recovery would have happened if FF were at the helm for the last 5 years. It would have happened if my teenage kids were at the helm. Do people not see that all FG/Lab did was implement the FF policies that they had introduced to begin the recovery? Granted FF destroyed the place in the first place of course.

The bigger economic recovery was going to happen regardless. Just as much as the recession is going to happen within the next 10 years regardless of who is in charge. We rely on the rest of the worlds economy. Recessions and recoveries are for the most part beyond our control, despite what people think.

So given that the big stuff around economy was going to happen anyway, it's the smaller stuff that I base my judgements on.

I don't want to repeat myself or do Google out of a job, but things like the homelessness crisis at the moment is largely down to the 'smaller' decisions that this government have made. They reduced rent allowance forcing many hundreds/thousands of people and families to become homeless because they could no longer afford their rent. Reducing rent allowance in a rising rental market? Seriously. How short sighted is that? 28 Local authority homes were built (and people housed in them) last year. Joan Burton has claimed on all 3 debates that 1000 social housing units were built last year. She is out by 972. This claim she keeps on making has been proven to be very false. Why the lies?

I could go on and on but I suspect people will say that the homelessness crisis along with every other problem is FF's fault, despite the current government having 5 years to sort things.

Look, I'm no left-winger. I have some 'controversial' opinions such as I don't believe everyone should get a house just because they decided not to go to school/college and get a well paid job.

I also believe Social Welfare payments should be significantly reduced in the majority of cases because there are definately many many people who just expect free money and don't want to work too hard.

But I can't ignore the 'smaller' decisions that this government have made that have caused genuine hardship to hundreds of thousands.

When you live a comfortable lifestyle, like I'm fortunate enough to do, it's very easy not to bother thinking about the people who are affected by government decisions. Thats why the vast majority of FG voters are middle income earners.

I stand by my opinion (and the opinion of many economists) that the recovery would have happened anyway. Which is why I'm mainly judging the performance on the 'small' stuff.

Try to keep your political meanderings short and sweet people. The average punter (such as myself) gets a sore head after 100 words.

micropoodle wrote:

jack white wrote:

5 years ago I believed FG and said they deserved a chance.

Give it a few months and even people who don't like admitting that there's a genuine recovery happening will be pining for the good old days of the FG/Lab government.

I admit theres a recovery. Of course I do. That's plain to see. However to claim that it was unpredictable is foolish.

Recessions are cyclical. There's always a period of recession followed by a period of recovery. Strong chance that within the next 5 to 7 years we will be in another recession. That's how the world economy works.

This recovery would have happened if FF were at the helm for the last 5 years. It would have happened if my teenage kids were at the helm. Do people not see that all FG/Lab did was implement the FF policies that they had introduced to begin the recovery? Granted FF destroyed the place in the first place of course.

The bigger economic recovery was going to happen regardless. Just as much as the recession is going to happen within the next 10 years regardless of who is in charge. We rely on the rest of the worlds economy. Recessions and recoveries are for the most part beyond our control, despite what people think.

So given that the big stuff around economy was going to happen anyway, it's the smaller stuff that I base my judgements on.

I don't want to repeat myself or do Google out of a job, but things like the homelessness crisis at the moment is largely down to the 'smaller' decisions that this government have made. They reduced rent allowance forcing many hundreds/thousands of people and families to become homeless because they could no longer afford their rent. Reducing rent allowance in a rising rental market? Seriously. How short sighted is that? 28 Local authority homes were built (and people housed in them) last year. Joan Burton has claimed on all 3 debates that 1000 social housing units were built last year. She is out by 972. This claim she keeps on making has been proven to be very false. Why the lies?

I could go on and on but I suspect people will say that the homelessness crisis along with every other problem is FF's fault, despite the current government having 5 years to sort things.

Look, I'm no left-winger. I have some 'controversial' opinions such as I don't believe everyone should get a house just because they decided not to go to school/college and get a well paid job.

I also believe Social Welfare payments should be significantly reduced in the majority of cases because there are definately many many people who just expect free money and don't want to work too hard.

But I can't ignore the 'smaller' decisions that this government have made that have caused genuine hardship to hundreds of thousands.

When you live a comfortable lifestyle, like I'm fortunate enough to do, it's very easy not to bother thinking about the people who are affected by government decisions. Thats why the vast majority of FG voters are middle income earners.

I stand by my opinion (and the opinion of many economists) that the recovery would have happened anyway. Which is why I'm mainly judging the performance on the 'small' stuff.

First it was F you I won't do what you told me. Now it's the Never ending story.

I'm still undecided as to who I'll vote for. I don't think I've ever been presented with such a poor choice of candidates. None of them have any overriding strong points.

Well, I personally think Alan Farrell is in dire need of a good wedgy, but I'm still going to vote for him as I want to keep continuity in the economy. I think Enda is a prat too, but they have other good members at cabinet level like Leo.

In fairness to Farrell, when I had a serious crime related issue in Donabate, he was the only one out of all the local councillors and TDs that got off his arse and did something about it.
I feel I owe him a vote for that. It's as good as any other reason to vote for a candidate. I know next to nothing about any of the others.
Aside from that, the only other criteria I think worth considering, is which party (not person) to vote for. None really fill me with any confidence, so not sure who will get my second preference.

Undecided here too. Might give digital girl from malahide a vote. If I were going to be selfish would probably give fine gael a vote as their probably the only ones going to play nicely with anyone over a certain wage but conscience is at me about that. God forgive me but might give the greens a vote just to make my vote travel. Adrian Henchy does do a lot for the area but don't think that's enough to make me vote fine fail. Enough to make you dizzy:(

Latest betting from Ladbrokes. I'd put my money on Farrell to take the fifth seat as he would be far more transfer friendly than the Shinner blow-in.

Ladbrookes

Clare Daly - United Left 1/33
Darragh O'Brien - Fianna Fáil 1/16
James Reilly - Fine Gael 1/6
Brendan Ryan - Labour Party 1/5
Louise O'Reilly - Sinn Féin 4/7
Alan Farrell - Fine Gael 4/6
Barry Martin - AAA–PBP 4/1
Tony Murphy - Independent 5/1
Joe O'Brien - Green Party 7/1
Lorraine Clifford-Lee - Fianna Fáil 7/1
Terry Kelleher - AAA–PBP 9/1
Gerry Molloy - Renua Ireland 25/1
Roslyn Fuller - Independent 50/1
Marcus de Brun - Independent 50/1
Enda D.Reynolds - United People 100/1

There's only five seats and yet six candidates are odds on to get elected?

This is why bookmakers always seem to be loaded.

That's a ridiculous number of candidates too. I've never heard of some of them. And why are parties like FF and AAAPBP running two candidates? Splitting the vote when you know you've got absolutely no chance of getting two candidates elected could be electoral suicide. Why are Clare Daly and Barry Martin on the same poster when they're running for different parties? crazy stuff.

Sad too, I think, that we might elect a Fianna Fail candidate in this constituency. Will we be facing the prospect of being the only Dublin constituency to elect a FF TD? They're not just an incompetent party, they're an incompetent rural party.

I have to disagree with "Jack White" about Fianna Fail being incompetent. From my memory of their recent times in power at whatever level, they have always seem to have proven track record of being competent in taking brown envelopes, listening to vested interests and looking the other way (if the newspapers were to be believed).

You make a great point Gremlin. These were/are not stupid and incompetent people, quite the opposite.
If Darragh O'Brien discovered the cure for cancer in the morning you still should not give him your vote - it is a vote for Fine Fail.

Don't forget O'Brien Hails from the G.V. Wright stable. Plenty of old FF pedigree there.

Having said that, I'd be more worried about us electing a SF TD than one from FF. Remember this woman doesn't live in the constituency and publically wouldn't condemn the murder of Garda Jerry McCabe.

How do ye vote in this? Is the poll closed?

how do you vote ? I am reluctant to reply to that. this must me one of Fergal O'Connells supporters.

Looks like it may not go to script. Reilly looking in trouble.

With 39 per cent of the boxes open and 10 per cent of the tallies done, Clare Daly is on 17 per cent 2 per cent ahead of O’Brien. Ryan is on 12 per cent and Dr O’Reilly is some way off the pace on 7 per cent.

Thought Reilly would get in ahead of Farrell.

Ken wrote:Looks like it may not go to script. Reilly looking in trouble.

With 39 per cent of the boxes open and 10 per cent of the tallies done, Clare Daly is on 17 per cent 2 per cent ahead of O’Brien. Ryan is on 12 per cent and Dr O’Reilly is some way off the pace on 7 per cent.

Indeed it hasn't gone to script. Bottler Reilly is not looking good at all. Surprise that Daly didn't top the poll and Darragh O'Brien did. Equally, I though Farrell was going to be dumped by virtue of his ultra low profile in the last Dáil. Crazy stuff.

I wonder what kind of a patchwork quilt we're going to end up with after this....

It's official, Reilly is gone. O'Brien, Daly, Farrell, Ryan and O'Reilly elected.

Reilly is rooting out his stethoscope as I type.

Well he's not coming anywhere near me or mine with it!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, surely he will get one of the 'jobs for the boys' sorry I mean a seat in the Seanad!!!!!

Donabate Hatter wrote:Anyway, surely he will get one of the 'jobs for the boys' sorry I mean a seat in the Seanad!!!!!

I'm sure he will. His ministerial pension will also soften the blow. I can't see him selling the Big Issue outside SV any time soon.

Ken wrote:

Donabate Hatter wrote:Anyway, surely he will get one of the 'jobs for the boys' sorry I mean a seat in the Seanad!!!!!

I'm sure he will. His ministerial pension will also soften the blow. I can't see him selling the Big Issue outside SV any time soon.

Or needing a medical card.

I certainly would have expected Reilly to finish ahead of Farrell.

He wasn't a good Minister but he had a high profile and that usually swings it when two individuals from the same party are up against each other. It would be interesting to see how Fine Gael voters were thinking. Perhaps many of them were hoping to keep both seats and gave Farrell their number 1 because they thought he might need the votes more.

Interesting that a constituency that is more rural than most of the Dublin constituencies has elected three left of centre TDs.