@ Doc Benway,

I have been watching the polls, don’t always believe them, I feel the media put them out to get people angry, talking etc. I feel people, the ordinary folk, working class people, working and on job seekers were always for equality which I feel Labour was all about. But sadly, yes, I feel they are the ‘wannabe’s P.D.’s.

They seem to have lost all their beliefs, and gone with the ‘flow’. Sad to see so many disappointed Labour followers being forgotten by the Labour party. I personally, feel being ‘independent’ is best. Nobody can disappoint one, except oneself, and even then, it’s not disappointment to oneself, it’s one really using yone’s vote the way one should!

Would you consider Enda Kenny “competent”?

As for decades of FF corruption, cronyism and theft and FG protecting the status quo at all cost. Competence is the mortal enemy of those 2 parties.

These 2 parties have set global records for economic collapse and decline, repeatedly.

What a stupid comment.

Robert people forget we as a nation voted for Fianna Fail three times in a row. Plenty of give-away budgets and then plenty of consequences at the end of it.

In a nutshell.

Of course there is plenty of money about. Look at the government. Kenny €200k, 15 ministers @ €169,275, 15 junior ministers @ €130,042. Add on to that what the humble TD earns (€92,672), the extras for chairing committees and unvouched expenses. A brief look in the direction of the Senators sees them getting €65,621k. Believe me there is plenty of money around it’s just being directed in the wrong directions.

Kerry. While I’m all for cuts, how much would cutting all their wages and expenses save? 20 million? So only that remaining 14 billion overspend to sort.

Gary. It’s called leading by example. Did not Kenny say we as a country were living beyond our means at some stage? Kenny and the rest of Leinster House are living beyond Ireland’s means still.

Kerry. They did cut their wages. Might not be enough but it did happen.

Charisma won’t balance the books

mattoid
neither has Enda, or Cowen or Bertie….. I cannot see how Adams could possibly be any worse . I would be willing to give him a try as he has already PROVED his abilities as a negotiator and ststesman.

yes Susie no abiilities as a negotiator and statesmen. Plenty of ability as a criminal and terrorist

You can not ignore the history of the Good Friday agreement and the work and effort , and the encouragement this man and his colleagues ( martin mc guinness) put into PEACE negotiations ,AND succeeded.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.

@Susie
The point is its easy to sit in opposition and tell people exactly what they want to hear, and promise them the sun, moon and stars.
Its much harder to be in power and have to find the money to pay for it all.
Guaranteed if he ever got into power all the talked-up promises would fall by the wayside as reality bit, just as they did for FG/Lab.
Don’t fall for it!!

Get an education people read your history …

They can not be any worse than what we fell for before. I believe they hae Irelands interest at their heart and not the banks and bondholders……
http://bondwatchireland.blogspot.com/

this one is for madeline Adams reputation was born from the troubles up north ,kenny haughey ahern cowen was born from greed and corruption .

i don’t believe it! respondents must have nabbed coming out party hq!!

I’ll dis him but only because he tells porkies all the time. Whatever about people considering their options and voting no to this treaty Sinn Fein have tried to get us to vote no to every treaty with Europe, since 1973. He’s like the boy who cried wolf on steroids.

What happened?

They must be even dumber then, for choosing instead u-turn artists and cowards to run the state instead!

We don’t just want it. We really really need it.

we are always looking for honesty and transparency from politicians. so its nite as simple as leaving the past behind, when gerry Adams admits to full extent of his involvement in the murders and bombings throughout the years then maybe he might be more accepted, although if he did admit to those things he’d id image he’d be locked up!

Actually sean, the polls are showing that there is a lead for the yes side only among people who have decided which way to vote. A third of people are undecided. So, for instance, if you take a poll saying that the yes side are winning 60% to 40% for no, with a third undecided, what that actually translates into is for every 6 people voting yes, theres 4 people voting no and another 5 people who have not chosen yet.

Hardly `inevitable`, is it??

what about mahommad

@kerry can I ask who you voted for at the last election? And is it because of the government your voting no or because it’s the right think to do?

Doesn’t say much for Enda either or any of the others for that matter. Does it?

In fairness he does speak up but I cannot understand a word he says !

Well, he speaks English perfectly fine Monica. Perhaps some English lessons might help?

Better the devil you know. As in Enda.
Ireland does not need a modern day Robin Hood like Gerry Adams.

Better the devil you know ??? That says it all no wonder the country is in the mess it is …..

modern day Robin Hood? more like still living Osama Bin Laden

@Madeline What are you talking about ? would you like to elaborate ? or would you just like to slander someone with no just cause ? I never heard of Gerry Adams being funded by the CIA, having very close family ties to the Bush family or maybe you heard Gerry was hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan when nobody else did ?? To make such an assumption, to me shows that infact you don`t know anything about either of them. If i`m wrong then please tell us all

@jimmy He is no Bin Laden but he has more blood on his hands than I would find acceptable as a leader of the country plus he is a Communist and would spend more time wrecking the education system than fixing the economy if their track record up north is repeated

Thanks

Fear for the future !! Why ?? Look at the job FF/FG/Labour have done systematic destruction of our little country, Corruption at every level but hey maybe that’s ok with you .

Fear the future already for the shower of traitors that already is selling Ireland away to Merkel, Germany and the EU!

Lucy Nevins
Our future is already DOOMED in the hands of the traitors in power that we pout there last year . They lied and tricked their way into government. Nothing is as bad as what we have.

Lucy Nevins.
The day Adams becomes Taoiseach will be the day I will purchase a one way ticket to Australia.

Sensationalist reactionary nonsense.

Karl Power
What a load of bullsh1t !
Complete and utter non sense and so sensationalist , Oscar winning dramatics there :)

@ Susie your comment above “Our future is already DOOMED in the hands of the traitors in power . They lied and tricked their way into government. Nothing is as bad as what we have. just about sums up Sinn Fein at the moment.

Ha ha ha ha. What nonsense. Fair enough for people to comment on perceived popularism and political incompetence. But your comment is idiotic.

Congrats Karl – You win the award for the most intellectually devoid comment of the day. Godwin would be proud.

Every party in this island has blood on there hands…sad but true, Karl !

Who exactly nominated you to speak on behalf of “the aspirations, dreams or future of most of the Irish people”.

Bit presumptuous there Karl….

But Ollie, the perpetrators are not in charge in the other parties, they have long gone. With Sinn Fein they’re very much still there.

@Karl

Agreed.

@ Too Trueleft
Nobody nominated Karl or myself. We’re just writing down our feelings and beliefs and also conversations and information I have taken on board which I have lived through since 1961 so maybe people like you, Too Trueleft should go to same bother as I did and speak to the real people of the 6 counties like I did. Try and find the truth from all sides before you make your decision as to whom you think has YOUR best interests at heart.

Who told Adams that he has the right to stay as the leader of Sin Fein? Do its members like M McDonald etc. accept that? That’s like Bertie Aherne telling F Fail he has no intention of resigning for his lies, thieving and faults! No, Adam s is no different.

excellent, well said and in a nutsell.

Sheila: “Who told Adams that he has the right to stay as the leader of Sin Fein? Do its members like M McDonald etc. accept that?”

Sheila, sinn fein have never been more popular and their leader is the most popular leader with the general public. Do you honestly the senior members of sinn fein have any sort of problem with Adams being leader?

@Too trueleft

Correction, it’s not the ‘general’ public, it’s not the majority of the public. In my opinion, I feel, if Sin Fein want more to join them and believe in what they are saying and that they want to move on for the better of all Irish, in my opinion, Adams should step aside.

He has too much ‘mixed’ history that he brings to the party as the leader. You may have more ‘followers’ if this was to happen. Me …… thankfully will always stay independent, independent in life and independent in politics!

Well said Sheila, we can only look to the future when the mistakes of the past have been addressed. Too many skeletons in the Sinn Fein closet to allow the door to be closed !

don’t worry Sheila the shinnerbots may have “voted often and early” in one poll but even if people were stupid enough to trust this monster there are too many reminders of what he reallty is. The Boston tapes, his brothers trial for raping four year olds…
Still its always nice to read your posts. This country needs more people with a moral compass and the courage to express it

For Gods sake Sheila wise up. We don’t have to go north of the border to see suffering.

People in this State have suffered and died as a result of policies implement or not by successive governments.

If you don’t believe me just check out the details re Brendan Howlin/Micheal Noonan in the Hep C cases. Then go back and take a look at the Suzy Long case and the role of FF and the PDs in that. And if thats not enoungh then playback last Thursdays PT and you will see Kathleen Lynch point exactly how high on her list the plight of our elderly is.

Listen that’s your opinion and your welcome to it . But there are two sides to that story and I should know growing up along the border, British troops bullying a10 year old boy pointing rifles into my face , I could go on and on but none of us should live in the past the time is now.

People on all sides suffered during “The Troubles”. For every person “allegedly” suffering because of the IRA, I can show you more who have suffered at the hands of the “Great British Empire”. The ugly side of war is innocent casualties. But we didn’t start the war, we are not the invaders.

People in the south seem to think the 6 counties was some kind of serene utopia until Sinn Féin and their buddies in the IRA “ruined it.” It was a bigoted, sectarian state with not even a semblance of a proper democracy – If you’re going to talk about the past at least have the courtesy to do so in an objective and unbiased manner.

“Ruling by fooling is a great British art – with great Irish fools to practice on”

Sheila, I am really disappointed in your analysis and your opinion on SF. You use emotive terms to put forward your opinion, yet the facts show very very clearly that the vast majority of the Nationalists in the North support SF. You speak about having visited families. I am from the North, i grew up in the troubles, i lived it. The fact that the vast majority of the Nationalists in the North support SF, goes against every argument and suggestion you are making. You sort of suggest that SF and the PIRA are still going around shooting people, and yet the PSNI are warning SF members in the North on a weekly basis that their lives are in danger because the dissidents want to murder SF members for going into Government with the Unionists. Its unfounded allegations like yours that fuels hatred and violence. It is a simple that that the IRA came back into existence with the support it got from a terrorized Nationalist people, as a result of the Irish Governments failure to support that population during its civil rights marches in the 1960’s.
You can pretend to understand what the people in the North feel, but in reality, you don’t have a clue. You visit one or two families who suffered as a result of the troubles. I came from an entire community that support SF because of their delivery on equal rights for an entire population.
Its with your rhetoric, that people will not see the financial terrorism that is being perpetrated on the lower class people in the South right now. 3000 people die unnecessarily every year as a result of pure incompetent management in our health service. We have had a 3 fold increase in the number of suicides in our country in the last 5 years. You can continue your hate filled vitriol against SF, while ignoring the reality on the ground, but your actions and words have long term impacts on the state of our country. Your words leave people with no choice but to support the current political established parties (FF/FFg/Labour) to continue their campaign of destroying the welfare and well being of the people in the 26 counties. I hope you are proud of yourself.

If you are aligning groups such as RAAD to Sinn Féin then you need to think again! I’m from Derry, an area where almost every fortnight there is a punishment beating by these so called ‘republicans’! The dogs on the street know who these people are and yet they seem to be given a free hand!
It is Sinn Féin and too a lesser extent the SDLP who leading the opposition to these people and for that deserve credit!

@Yvonne Byrne (no relation)

Why do you bring ‘God’ into this? What makes you think and feel that means something to all people? I beg to differ Yvonne, “you wise up”! How many young chaps, girls have been beaten and kneecapped within inches of their lives in the Republic? As I said above, speak to all sides in the North as I did! Then give an educational opinion on the subject. I am quite well aware of the difficulties and heartbreak of sufferers of Hep C and how the elderly have been ignored and screwed for many years here. I am quite well aware of how they also suffer in ‘some’ nursing homes. Been there, saw it, went to the funerals!

For Christs sake Sheila, are you going to start lecturing people on religion as well? Let me guess, you spoke to God as well when you were doing your rounds of ‘chatting’ to folks. If you don’t know enough about a subject matter, dont feign being an expert and putting other people down for their own opinions and use of phrases.
You are still using phrases like knee-capping etc, even though commentators on here from the North have clearly and unambiguously told you, that the people carrying out these beatings etc hate SF. They want to murder SF members. But you are still proceeding to draw links etc to SF.
That is very similar to the type of ‘suggestive’ rhetoric that was used against your preference candidate during the presidential campaign. You complained so much about how the media were deliberately suggesting things about Senator Norris, but here you are doing even worse.
Please cop on, and take a long hard look at the type on insinuations you are making and the impact they could have on people. Listen to people who live in the North, or actually come from the North. The vast majority of whom support SF

@Cal

When you’re finished on your soapbox …. I am merely giving my opinion and my knowledge. The one thing I’d like from others on this page is to discuss and give their own opinions. That is all I’m giving. You can’t shout me down and assume that you have more right to speak and assume that what you say, just because you lived/live in the North.

If you don’t like my posts, don’t read them. I read yours with interest as I do with others, whether I agree with them or not. It’s great to see so many posts on one article because it shows the people really do care about themselves, politics, life.

Please don’t throw back into my face whom I supported during the Presidential election. I took a long time to decide on whom I was voting for and looked into their past and like you, made my decision as to whom I’d be voting for and whom I felt was best to represent us here and abroad. I merely posted here what I received in conversation from people in the 6 counties. I did that because I wanted to educate myself on the matter a bit better than I would have been living in the Republic since 1961. It was heartbreaking to hear their stories.

Whether you believe it/him or not that is my opinion on Adams, McGuinness, Sin Fein. I don’t agree or believe many of others here and in the North either, but I must be well versed and have enough knowledge on all before I use my vote. My vote is very precious to me and I have used it since I was 18 years old.

I’m sorry you feel the way you do about what I have said, but that is my opinion Cal… you have yours.

Sheila, it is not nor was it my intention to attack you on a personal level.

My reference to God was frankly more a figure of speech than anything else.

Look I don’t know you or anything about you other than the oppinions expressed in your comments. Which I think are uneducated and ill informed. Both you and could do a heck of a lot worse than to take on Cal’s points. His comments are excellent and go right to the heart of the matter.

Someone had to fight for the civil/human rights of Northern Cathlolics because we didn’t do much to help them.

Sheila, I appreciate everyone’s input, and on most occasions, you speak sense. But your linking of SF to the current dissident groupings in the North is clearly wrong, and i only hope you are not doing it intentionally. You are as entitled to dismiss Adams and SF as anyone. But please don’t peddle deliberate inaccurate insinuations. You have read comments from people all over the North on this site who have repeated many many times that SF have no linkage to the dissidents etc. Again, i will say to you, SF members are working under threat of death from these dissidents for engaging with Unionists in the North. If you listened to Adams speech the other night, he was very clearly against these dissident groups, calling them all sorts of lunatics. How you have repeated your equation to the punishment beatings etc that are taking place at the moment to SF is bewildering at best and cynical at worst.

Why Moyross? genuinely interested.