2020 Ireland Election FIANNA FÁIL-FINE GAEL-GREEN COALITION

[Bojan KantKick]

Have you ever defended the USA?

Regarding their foreign policy? Probably when I was young and naive but we all go through that stage.

 

[FurTheWin]

Easy for you to say. The IRA are cowards who leave bombs in shopping centres and blow up innocent people as well as their own. They also love executing innocent people when they aren't looking. But keep defending them.

I'd ask you for your thoughts on the behaviour of the British Armed Forces, the RUC, MI5 and Loyalist paramilitaries during the Troubles, but this is a thread about the Irish 2020 Election.
Sinn Fein have distanced themselves from those who still believe in armed conflict in a Republican cause

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar tendered his resignation to President Michael D Higgins last night.

He will however continue in the role in a caretaker capacity.

Mr Varadkar said that no major policy decisions and financial allocations would be made by the Government from this point on.

Leo Varadkar said the government would continue to serve until a new administration is formed.

He once again insisted that the onus was on others to put a new government together.

However, he said his party would stand by the State and talk to other parties if there was no other alternative.

The Fianna Fáil Leader Micheál Martin said a new government must be formed that would prioritise state intervention to improve key services.

Speaking in the Dáil Mr Martin was again highly critical of Sinn Féin.

Mary Lou McDonald responded by saying that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael had run the show for the last century and were not willing to let go.

The Dáil made four attempts to elect a Taoiseach last night with the Sinn Fein leader receiving most votes.

However, the 45 votes secured by Mary Lou McDonald was well short of the required majority to form a government.

The Dáil will meet again in just under a fortnight.

A new government will most likely to take a little longer to emerge though.

Varadkar, Martin agree to meet for exploratory talks

The leaders of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have agreed to meet early next week for exploratory talks.

www.rte.ie

 

[Johnny Bananas]

A new election will happen, can't see any major party making a deal with another at this point.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

A new opinion poll suggests that support for Sinn Féin has increased substantially since the general election earlier this month. The Sunday Times Behaviour and Attitudes poll surveyed more than 900 voters over nine days up to last Tuesday. It has a margin of error of 3.3%.

This poll indicates that Sinn Féin has consolidated its vote over the last few weeks.

Compared to the general election result the party's vote is up ten points to 35%.

Fianna Fáil support has fallen by two points to 20% while there has been a three point drop for Fine Gael with the party now on 18% support.

Independents are also down three and support for non-party candidates is now gauged at 10%.

There's a one percentage point drop in support for both the Greens and Labour with those parties now on 6% and 3% respectively.

The Social Democrats fall by one point to 2% support but Solidarity-PBP are unchanged on 3%.

Aontú drop one to stand at one percent support.

Opinion poll suggests increase in Sinn Féin support

A new Sunday Times Behaviour and Attitudes poll suggests that support for Sinn Féin has increased substantially since the General Election on 8 February.

www.rte.ie

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Rise of Sinn Fein: Irish unity is now mainstream

"There are decades where nothing happens," remarked Vladimir Lenin, "and there are weeks where decades happen." You don't get much chance to quote Lenin approvingly these days, yet Mary-Lou McDonald managed it when she responded to Sinn Fein's remarkable breakthrough in the Irish general election.

It was pretty apt. In her first election as Gerry Adams' successor as Sinn Fein president, McDonald has shattered the cosy cartel running Irish politics - dominated, as it has been for nearly a century, by two decrepit but maddeningly resilient parties of the centre-right – Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.

With 24.5% of the vote in the Irish Republic's election – on a 10.7% swing - Sinn Fein has truly moved centre-stage. It beat Fianna Fail on 22.2% and Fine Gael on 20.9%. Still, this only netted 38 seats in the 160-seat Dáil. The surge in public support caught their own strategists off-guard, with the party only standing 40 candidates to maximise their vote in the complex multi-member system used in Irish elections.

Nevertheless, having won the popular vote and tied with Fianna Fail in terms of seats, Sinn Fein is in the ascendant. This week will see talks intensify about forming a new Irish government between Leo Varadkar's Fine Gael, in power since 2011 and latterly reliant on a confidence and supply arrangement with the other behemoth of Irish political, Fianna Fail, led by former Irish foreign minister, Micheál Martin.

Both parties are trying to freeze-out Sinn Fein as they discuss forming a "grand coalition". Trouble is, they are doing so with all the energy and enthusiasm of mating pandas - and quite possibly with the same outcome. There's a palpable sense that something has changed and for the old parties to try and cook up a deal, when they have been so roundly rejected by voters, feels contrary to the moment.

Indeed, there are voices within Fianna Fail that want to break free from their support of Varadkar and see a tie-up with Sinn Fein as a good fit. If not, then a new poll suggests that if there needs to be a second election, SF would win 35% of the vote and batter both parties.

Three things happened in this Irish election. The first and most obvious is that Sinn Fein went mainstream – and in a big way. So long on the margins of southern Irish politics, the Shinners have assiduously positioned themselves as the centre-left alternative to an old pals network where two centre-right parties, albeit presiding over a booming economy – have done little to spread the benefits fairly.

Housing, healthcare and homelessness dominatedthe election. As a result, Sinn Fein's opposition to any increase in the state retirement age and emphasis on the spiralling costs of rents and childcare struck a chord, particularly with frazzled younger voters.

In the south, the party of Irish unity is also the party of reducing economic inequality. The Irish Labour Party – like the British Lib Dems – is still blamed for the crushing austerity measures they drove through as junior coalition partners to Fine Gael a decade ago and is now effectively moribund.

The second is that Sinn Fein has a popular and resonant leader. As the new face leading Ireland's oldest party, McDonald is a class act. The 48 year-old Dubliner is poised, fluent and likeable, with a classless appeal. A poll over the weekend showed her satisfaction rating is now 22 points ahead of Martin, her nearest rival. It has increased 13% since the election. Sinn Fein's campaigning – particularly on social media – is streets ahead of the other parties.

The third is that Varadkar's diplomatic 'victory' over the UK in the Brexit negotiations didn't translate through into sustainable domestic popularity for either him or Fine Gael. There is something tin-eared about Varadkar. The warning signs in terms of domestic disquiet about widening inequality were ignored for too long. Tip O'Neill’s aphorism that "all politics is local" serves as a perennial reminder that the electorate is always primarily concerned with standard of living issues.

Something structural is changing, though, to Sinn Fein’s longer-term advantage. There was a co-ordinated attempt between their opponents and the panjandrums of the Irish media class to rake-up a brutal murder from 2007 – carried out, it is alleged, by former IRA members – it barely affected their popularity. The cordon sanitaire that Dublin's media and political classes have erected around Sinn Fein no longer has any effect. For many southern voters, the past is becoming the past. Although Ireland's age profile is actually rising, a third of the population remains under 25. Memories of the Troubles are mainly vicarious for anyone under 40.

But this election was also about something prosaic. It's another incremental step both in normalising Sinn Fein and forcing a bigger realignment in Irish politics. For McDonald, it was part of a strategy about locking-in three-party politics and then, over time, forcing Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to cannibalise each other's support, allowing a more familiar right-left model to emerge.

What does it all mean for Northern Ireland? The southern political establishment, so long reluctant to engage meaningfully with the prospect of Irish unity, will now find the subject impossible to ignore. Either Sinn Fein ends up as a coalition partner in government and actively promotes it, or it influences the political weather as the main opposition party.

The ancien regime wouldn't be the ancien regime unless it tried to cling onto power. But if a deal between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael falters and opens the door to Sinn Fein entering government instead, then it will see British ministers dealing with Mary-Lou McDonald either as foreign minister and Tánaiste (deputy PM) or even, perhaps, as Taoiseach.

If Boris Johnson thought his dealings with Varadkar were difficult, he's not seen anything yet.

Rise of Sinn Fein: Irish unity is now mainstream

Whatever happens now, the issue of Irish unity is firmly on the table.

politics.co.uk

 

[FurTheWin]

Okay, this next bit could take a while
Meantime the current FG aren't the absolute worst you could have had in charge
But SF must be kicking themselves not to have fielded more candidates

 

[Bomberboyokay]

 

[FurTheWin]

Tsh
An old couple with no great love for each other going around for one more dance
And what do the Greens hope to get out of this

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Bittersweet moments as Greens debate coalition deal

It has been billed as a battle for the soul of the party. Green Party membership has swollen over the past two years and now, perhaps unexpectedly, it is on the cusp of power and the chance to realise its policies.

www.rte.ie

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Micheál Martin becomes Irish taoiseach in historic coalition

Fianna Fáil leader forms government with Fine Gael and Greens vowing end to ‘civil war politics’

www.theguardian.com

It's happened, FF and FG have managed to form a coalition with the Greens. If this government proves unpopular I can see the Greens bearing the brunt of the criticism much like the Lib Dems did in the UK.

 

[Bradesmaen]

FF might as well, but by the time the next election comes they have 2.5 years to wash their hands of anything with Leo in charge.

 

[The Passenger]

Could the new guy look any more like a politician?

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Could the new guy look any more like a politician?

View attachment 902292

Yeah, he could look like Scummo.

 

[FurTheWin]

Could the new guy look any more like a politician?

View attachment 902292

He's a great speaker tho

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Could the new guy look any more like a politician?

View attachment 902292

Looks like store brand Roose Bolton