Sadly, Adam I fear he Soldiers of Destiny will be back in the barracks in 2 years time.

The answer to this is that this Government has had to make unpopular and harsh decisions unprecented in this country. People choose to believe that this is unecessary. It is necessary.in two years time this Government will be seen to have the job donewiththis nation borrowing at low cost and the country on the up and up

Rory, keep telling yourself that if it softens the blow to your beloved party. But you’re wrong.

It is not what has to be done that’s causing the problem, (we have a very intelligent electorate) it is the choice of ways of doing it that is causing the problem.
That and the blatant lies and broken promises like Roscommon hospital

FF/Shinners next time around I’d say.

@Kevin, we don’t have an intelligent electorate, they vote for a party they always vote for and for individuals they like every time, no one gets voted in to do a job for the people. We never hold parties or individuals accountable, so, if FF get voted in again it will prove the point. You’d have to to be very stupid to vote them in after they destroyed this country over the last three terms when they were in power. Don’t get me wrong LAB/FG could do better but in fairness they were always going to make very unpopular decisions to try in some way to get Ireland back on its feet. I can handle the tough decisions, just hate some of the double standards and the “looking after themselves” attitude but then all TDs do that :-(

No Rory – what will be seen – and is being seen – is nepotism, cronyism, and the selling out of Irish people for generations to come in order to placate Merkel and German banks. This is the reality.

Bull shit

Same ole rhetoric at every hands turn Rory. The truth of the matter is that people have woken up to the balls of a job FG have made of this county. They promised so much and failed to deliver.

Rory. Rabbitte admitted that Labour lied in the promises that got them elected.
I think it is very obvious to everyone that Labour took advantage of their people when they were very vulnerable after the corruption and incompetence of Fianna Fáil.
It would appear that the promises made were made solely so Politicians with no morals and no conscience could get their turn gorging from the public trough at our expense and at the expense of our families and children.
The Govt has not made any real hard decisions for the benefit of the Irish People. We are being taxed more for less services. The EU hails us as a good little doggie that does what it’s told and Enda had got numerous pats on the head for implementing changes that have hurt the weakest of our society while protecting the wealthy, Bankers, Bondholders and the Political Elite.
It makes me laugh that people are so blind and stupid after everything our Govt had done, all the promises they have u-turned on and their obvious contempt fir the Irish People to defend these Political Opportunists and try to somehow justify their actions.
The Irish Political System is rotten to the core. People are waking up to this and Labour will be decimated on the next election.
I am ashamed to call myself Irish with the low standard of representatives currently in Govt. They have no morals, no loyalty to their people and would sell us all out if it meant making a few Euro. Some would say they have already sold us out.

You know Toby you are so right, our politician’s have no honour what so ever, Tax Tax and more Tax.
They have not stuck to one thing they promised after Enda and his cronies took over the running of this country.

Are you having a F*****g laugh! This government are almost, already ‘AROUND’ that long, and in two years time we’ll be lucky if anybody sticks ‘AROUND’ that long (our young people in anyway)! Plenty of alternatives out there without this government going for the old reliable ‘slash and cut’ and the ‘targeting’ of the usual people, THOSE WHO CAN’T AFFORD IT, NOT THE WEALTHY, BUT THE POOR!

That 32 % will be waiting on state media to tell them who to vote for.

Instead of making sarcastic comments, go get yourself elected and change the system!

Sorry but lying and talking bulls**t is not one of my strong points

Maybe lying is not…

You don’t have to get elected , choose the party you believe can make a change for the better an become an active member.

Michael you are right of course. But y you criticise people for tracking two parties – one allegedly “socialist” who lied to the electorate on the major issue: the treatment of banks and support for them?

I agree. We really are at rock bottom in Irish politics.

FF doing so well because of the pain FG/Lab are inflicting on the people.

Aye but Fianna Fail caused the pain and will be just as bad in power.

FF & FG both support property taxes and water charges and the people still vote for them, lol.

FF are rising because FG are implementing their programme to the letter

FF/FG it doesn’t matter the sooner they become the one party the better

Half of the FF 29% will be dead by next election. FF hardcore are in their 60s plus. Would like to see a breakdown of the poll if the 55+ age group were excluded. That is where future govs will be created.

Next gov FF /FG

@liam – yes – FF appeard to be utterly corrupt – but the basic cause was our accpetnce of Neo liberal economics – and do u think – once again – that FG would have followed Icelands policy re banks ??.
Now we are paying the price for Civil war – big time – with two virtually identical parties – but does it really matter – when our real masters are in Troika anyway – and there are few if any politicians or voters ??? who want to break that fatal link .
Yes – the people vote – not in their own interests – but for whoever the Stae media – tell them to vote for . The media create the Illisusion that we live in a demcracy – and that there are differences beween parties – well as we have seen – there are none berwen FG/FF / and our ” socialist ‘ labour party.
why dont people take the time to go to sites where there are alternative views – - no – they must watch Big brother or some sh#t rugby match sponsored by a bailed out bank – that took part in criminal activities in city of london -

Nail on the head there.
fg/lab got a massive protest vote that put them where they are.
fg/lab have chosen to lie,cheat and decieve the very people that voted and supported them (or believed their blatent lies).
The people put them there and they had a chance to be in power for many years to come but their lies and sleveen deeds are going to make sure they will be destroyed.
They won’t even make a decent opposition party. They have lost credibility or trust . In fact they are not even welcome in this country any more.
No doubt the hacks will be here to defend them.

Liam that’s it on a nutshell . No alternative to the present shower of gangsters.

@Cormac wrong, recent Red C polls have shown a surge in support for FF in the under 35 age group.

A surge in support? Yep. It’s 4 young people now.

Do you actually know what your talking about! FF do not support a property tax at this time when families are struggling with mortgage arrears and so many in negative equity how can you afford a property tax when u can’t afford to pay mortgage. Stop peddling lies on this page and actually go read the FF budget proposals.

Direct Democracy Ireland – give them a chance.

Olibhear – FF had undertaken to implement this with the Troika. The dogs in the steer know this. So stop peddling your own FF propaganda.

Steer = street

I do remember quite well FF putting down thr framework for introducing the property tax and making an agreement with the Eu or imf to impliment it. So olibear… Get real!

Still peddling the FG party line as always Kevin? There’s a good foot soldier…..

i know why most of us voted in this crowd . we knew the country was in a very bad way after the other shower. i for one voted fine gael;now i tought we were going to get real change but we have got just the same this crowd are creaming off lots for themselves so we have got no real change. senate councils qwango expenses so is it any reason why fina fail are heading back. I rang Andrew Doyles office last week to express my disappointment there i spoke to a girl cant rember her name talk about being far removed well he wont get a vote from me again ever. they seem to be so far removed from the rest of us. SO NO CHANGE THERE AT ALL. AM SURE HE WILL BE CONTACTING ME BEFORE LONG. CANT WAIT

You mean you’d rather have Property taxes and Water charges??? What a stupid viewpoint.

Couldn’t agree more with you Katie. We’re inflicted with a broken down, worthless two horse political system totally unfit for purpose

In every country there are those taxes and charges, it’s unavoidable. This dream that people were living in has long finished, this is the reality.

we should have Sinn Féin/Independant coalition next for the craic, everything else so far has been a joke so lets continue with it… something will have to stick.

Ms. Brzezowski: we are not “every country” — we don’t need to replicate what “other” countries do. We are independent and decide our own taxes. We don’t care what “others” do. Those “other” countries use such taxes to prop-up their spending and socialist programs. Perhaps that’s the reason those countries are now in trouble.

All the taxes in the world won’t even dent a deficit if spending isn’t reduced. More taxes lead to moral hazard, loss of competitiveness and higher spending. We seen the consequences of that many times.

Ireland doesn’t need a property tax or water charges.

What does it need then?? ‘Every’ other country isn’t bankrupt and. Failed state…our taxation system was corrupted by Fianna Fáil during the boom and now we must diversify our tax base while cutting the deficit. There’s NO OTHER WAY out of this mess. Simple as…

Whats this reg we are not other countries???? Then why every week do u compare wages you idiot.???

I was hard pressed at the last election! This is one of the major flaws with parliamentary democracy – you can only choose from a very limited menu, and in the case of Ireland, you can’t remedy your mistake for five years. Now that’s a piece of reform I’d like to see – review every two years.

These taxes are necessary Reg, you know it

What a stupid name

We are not independent anymore ..

Umm, yes it does,Water charges if nothing else-why on earth do people feel that water should be exempt from charges? It is a precious commodity and should be treated as such, too many households use too much water, boiling a full kettle for one cup of tea/coffee, leaving the tap running while brushing their teeth-I could go on.Oh and as for voting for Sinn Feinn, I would spoil my vote before voting for Terrorists which is what Gerry, Martin et al are.

Blueshirt

Water in ireland is about as precious as ice is in the north pole.

And soon enough there will be no ice in a North Pole.

Where are the people for the new party going to come from?
Join a party of your choosing and work to improve matters from within.
I am a lifelong FFer. I have met very good decent people in all parties,
Join the party of your choice, you will find a lot of very decent people there, people that will help you to change the way parties do things

Guess why we are where we are, we tried to do it our way.
We ended up where we are because we experimented

The amount is necessary.
How we raise it is a matter of choice for the government

Agreed, as long as the water charges are regulated and subject to improvements in quality
The amount of bad piping, leaks and the poor quality of some of our water is a huge concern.
Targets for improvement must be set, not just targets for meter installations

What Ireland needs is to cut its cloth and stop spending more money than it takes in.

Susan – SF may be terrorists but FG/Lab are economic terrorists. No different in my book.

“Socialist programmes” – last time i checked Sinn Fein were a socialist party….in fact in their own blurb (wont use the word propaganda) at the moment they claim to be the real socialist party that Labour have failed to be. Cant have it both ways.

For what its worth I agree with you on yiur property tax stance in the North, at least there it is paying for local services – down here its just another smash and grab that FG/LAB will be able to claim is not direct taxation and the blind masses will believe them when they say they didnt raise income taxes.

conor the people are not dumb they are brain washed look at the six and nine o clock news every evening they information on there is completely filtered and anything else like prim time is completely garbage .the political class and the banks and the judges have us by the short and curlys , it will have to get ugly in this country if we are to democracy for the many and not the few .

exactly Dermot, its BERTÉ TV that needs to be blown up. Awful propaganda… the news on there is like 10% of the real news.

Let the property tax and water charges bite and maybe then will people wake up. It’s FF & FG who want these introduced — how they still get votes is just unbelievable…. I would never vote for someone who taxes my family home.

Reg, that doesn’t leave much in the way of choice

SF are the only alternative. They are tabling a bill to repeal the property tax. To me, that is very important and people-friendly.

SF are rubbish. Banana politics reminiscent of national socialist policies. You know it Reg

Reg, I hope your joking

@Reg SF are merely tabling a publicity stunt, the councils they control in NI all voted to increase their local charges to an average of €1,000 per household

The charges up north are nothing to do with the property tax down here. It’s comparing apples and oranges. They get actual services like waste, genuine free education without (in)voluntary donations, free healthcare, untolled well kept roads. Nothing like that will be provided by the property (rob households to pay bondholders) tax being imposed by FG/Labour.

Paid for by the UK taxpayer.

29%. Add the extra percentage of snivelling worms who lie about voting FF and you’re well into the 30′s. This after presiding over the most catastrophic Government in the history of the Irish Republic. This country’s electorate should hang its head in shame. It beggars belief, the stupidity.

it’s a toss up between the gombeen men and the big business blueshirts who’ll have is put out on the street..

The present government are following ff policy so nothing has chanced in the last 2 years

Not surprised. This past few months has seen sneaky and vicious cuts affecting mainly the lower / no income people.

The total abandonment of the people who voted for labour explains their demise.

FG appointing cronies like bill o herlihy when there are numerous more qualified and deserving people around. FG will get their payback.

With the most inept opposition in the history of the state, who are now in Government

I think they would say- Wow. Look at the historical symmetry. 100 years ago FG were setting up the country. Now they’re saving it.

@Kevin; while your contention may be correct, which it isn’t in my opinion, politics is about people not economies ; 80% of the Irish nation are not now represented by a group of individuals who they no longer want to represent them! What about democracy?

@dermot- we’re meant to change Government with every opinion poll? Would you not agree that the pursuit of short term gratification of the electorate by FF got us here in the first place? Governments are meant to lead, not follow. As an aside, this Government retains 34% support, not 20%.

Kevin, you sound awfully like Vincent Dolan. He spouts the same drivel.

fair point kevin re opinion polls , but this support has tanked for a reason and furthermore it’s consistent , if there is a poll in another three weeks what will happen, Ulster bank are out of the blocks already with eviction notices, the news in Cyprus has the potential for the “Rich” Irish to do a hari kari on the deposits currently in our banks , at what point do we say stop. I have argued that there has to be a constitutional article that prevents a government any government from doing a solo run in the wrong direction! I understand the way you are looking at it , loyalty to party or system or whatever motivation but the people have abandoned this government and they are not for turning . the word legitimacy springs to mind !
An interesting way of looking at it is that when the roman empire collapsed in Britain many people returned to their old indigenous ways and many retained the old roman traditions despite the fact they were not still ruled by Rome . It’s beginnng to feel like that !
What’s going to happen to the support when pensioners realise that their pensions have to be benchmarked down in line with this Croke park deal ? what will the support be then ?
the best effort this government made to create “jobs” was the 1,000 nurses jobs they got 80 odd applications – that is the ultimate poll for me ! Qualified hard working women who have spent 4 years in college and have clinical experience don’t even want to work for this government !
remember this is not personal to you or the government but my gut tells me they are wrong , I am only looking for the best solution for our nation, are the current government doing same ?
Dissatisfaction leads to stress, stress leads to cancer among other things this is not the type of society I want to live in!

@ryan- yeah- and I’m Richard Rodgers and Batman too. Quite the master of disguise, I am. Speaking of bluff- Im still waiting for you to address my question from the earlier thread. Still no answer? Still just content to spout rhetoric? Thought so.

@ryan- btw: reading your profile it reminded me that you’re “in Ireland but wish elsewhere”…I’ll ask again: what’s stopping you? Are the Ryanair or Aer Lingus websites down? There are ferries too. I’d hate to think you had to endure Ireland for one minute longer than you had to and you’d patently be no loss to the country so it would be a win:win.

By auction politics, which Labour admit to false bidding, and FG blatantly lied about. (Remember his signing the Roscommon hospital pledge) remember the 100000 jobs a year pledge!
The best that could be said about FG is the go to the Auction, bid like hell, take the goods and then don’t pay for the

The bigger picture? The only picture that involves the Rothschilds coming over on some fateful night is a conspiracy theorists wet dream. Irish people did this. We rewarded them with massive pensions. End-of.

Probably bankers and developers

Well Jamie, I think they are doing a good job under very difficult circumstances. Finally a decisive government that will take the hard calls. I know I’m not on my own with this one…

Hard calls or easy targets?

*slowly raises his hand*

@cian- spot on. For some reason people seem to have thought it was going to be a walk in the park fixing the mess Fianna Fáil made. Intoxicated by 15 years of FF quick fix, we’ll buy your vote politics, I suppose. I really had hoped they would have sobered up by now and recognised the progress made. But they seem to lack even that modicum of common sense.

that fact people are willing to actually vote for FF , tells you all you need to know about the utter Balls up of a job the current gov are doing

still no bankers in jail
developers still getting paid handsomely for assisting in wrecking the country , and continuing to get away with the fact they brazenly didn’t bother to make any effort to pay of the massive loans they borrowed ,

yet FG/LAB won’t to rob from our bank accounts , to plug the hole in the county council’s budgets (thanks to the developers ),

kenny and co are like something out of father ted

Kevin the government made far to many promises before last election when they didn’t need to when bottled the hard decisions in first 12 months when the people were with them now that we see the this government are following the last government policy and present ministers appear to have no idea what the average family are going through why anyone is surprised my the last few polls is beyond me

Yes Kevin-
‘they’, the people, totally dumb as fock the lot of them………..isn’t it as well Enda and his cronies know better than to take the general public seriously!

In other news. I see Bertie Ahern, not content with bringing the country to its knees and then bleeding it dry with his obscene pension, has a hand in this sell off of our State forests.

Flocking conts the whole lot of ‘them’ if you ask me.

Probably bankers and developers and FGs business buddies

Yeah, you’re with the one fifth who think the government is doing a good job.
Lets not forget Fine Gael got elected because of a protest vote ( and even then couldn’t get a majority on their own)
And they’ll go down because of a protest vote

Well done David , your loyalty is actually commendable as is your honesty !
I’m in the other 80 % but I am objecting to the system rather than F.F., .F.G., Lab, Green, P.D. or Sinn fein .etc.

Oh yeah, hard decisions? Taking vital allowances away from OAPs while having no balls to make meaningful cuts to the excessive pensions for high paid civil servants. And why? Because they want to make sure they reach get fat pensions for a few years work.

Indeed you must be very proud.

Look at what it took for FG to get elected.

Then think about why people are willing to vote FF again.

Personally I think they’re deluded, but you’ve got to admit it’s a stunning indictment of the current lot.

On the contrary, this Government is avoiding the hard calls apart from carrying out the wishes of ECB. They have broken virtually every promise made. They continue to protect the white collar criminal brigade at every turn. They won’t legislate to dramatically cut the €3k per week pensions of Ahern, Harney, Cowen et all. They have failed to tackle the chronic mis-management in HSE and local authorities.They continue with the failed regulatory regime e.g. cartels (artificially high prices) are costing each household €2,400.00 per year, that is €4b per year in white collar crime carried out by big business – friends of FG, FF & Labour. In short, all things considered, this government is the worst in living memory.

Would they be so stupid as to think 20% = one third? That stupid?

Go suck ur mams cock

Ahhhh. Poor baby. Truth hurts?

@ Kevin , you pointed out to me above that this government enjoys 34% support 33.3 (recurring) % is one third , just pointing out ; you should become a politician !
Don’t be offended you know I couldn’t resist !
Truth hurts ? or do you have inside information that opinion polls are rigged and that this government only enjoys 20 % , please tell me this is not true !
again I couldn’t resist !
oh wait the headline suggests by inversion that this government only enjoys 25% support ,
Ah yes: statistics the new latin !

Because the media is the government lackey !

Considering the fact that you wear a habit , you should have nothing to do with those yokes !

Which constituency is the transgender duck running in? I’d definitely vote for him/her.

Every

I am a FF voter and a member.
I feel FF do now accept that we got the country into this mess, and have apologised for it.
The present government parties and most of the opposition wanted us to do more spending Lower taxes further.
FF made the decisions and have apologised for the damage and hurt they caused.
FG and Lab pretending they knew better is being seen for what it is, bulls—!
At least FF admit their mistakes and apologised.

Kevin – seriously?! Apologised? So now it’s OK? Get a gr will you.

Yes FF have completely changed, and are so sorry they have expelled all those involved with the previous corrupt and disastrous group of TDs that are responsible for this mess.

Shame on you and I am entitled to say that because my life has been complete destroyed by the action of your party, I never went mad I did everything right, so any of them arguments won’t work. I lived within my means and my means have been cut drastically to bail out banks

Oh they Pursued the wrong strategy and that’s what got us in this mess, get off it, they were corrupt with brown envelopes, tribunals, Galway tents and the list goes on and on. They did not apologies, should have done what the greens did and disappeared for a while, but to come out shouting and cocky like they had hurt no one, ruined any chance they had with a lot of people.

How many bankers are locked up, how many politicians have we locked up for abuse of power and other corrupt acts. NONE. Michael Martin is still good friends with cowen and Bertie the guys who played a massive part in my present suffering so if you think for one min your party has changed your a fool. I was a FF voter all my life and what they have done to me. They don’t deserve to set foot in gov buildings.

SF have my vote now, I have ignored RTE ( FF voters are the easily brainwashed) they will give me security and hope and that is something a lot of people need. FF/G will mean nailing the coffin on this little island. I will take a chance I have nothing left to give.

FF have been a tumour sucking the life out of Ireland for the last 90 years. Don’t give me the bill they did when the country was flooded with cheap credit.

A rabidly finna fail paper owned by a fine gael supporter

I hate the SINDO as much as anyone but Red C don’t make up polls for anyone. We just have a country of lemmings, incapable of migrating away from FF. Its pathetic. They should be made wear bells and be put in town squares around the country every Saturday morning so that the rest of us can throw rotten fruit at them.

Millward Brown, not Red C

yep, they’re afraid of SF you see cos of the IRA thing which continues to be fed to you by FG/FF/Lab, old news. Whats not old news is the mess we’re in and the mess FF got us in. Let them on, banana town for the clowns.

What’s wrong with the Sunday Indo, or shouldn’t I ask

Sinn Fein has lost a lot of ground, I wouldn’t be happy if I supported them. Should be building on the anger towards FF/FG and Lab.

Last few red c have st losing ground to ff

Vote SF/Ind for coalition.

Kevin, SF received 9.7% in GE, polls put the party around 20%? How does that equate to “losing ground”?

Gilmore is finished. He won’t even get elected himself next time.

Until green thumbs count as an official protest it will be very hard to change! I will March with you, give me a time and place but not everyone will even though they’re angry. How can we make it easy to protest for the green thumbers myself included?? We need a new way to protest, show our government and the world we care like they did with the Arab Spring! How about a mass Skype conference call? We can bitch all we want but it won’t change anything. We need new ideas on how to protest, how to change, how to reform. Can The Journal post an article on suggestions for change and get everyone to comment their positive ideas.

If people email all TD’s of FF,FG and
Labour on a given day receiving thousands of emails would get their attention.

Maurice- in a previous thread I asked you substantiate your repeated assertion that FG were criminals. I still await your answer. Proof of institutionalised criminality, please. Not a policy you disagreed with or a decision you didn’t like…an instance viewed as criminal under the law. Put up or shut up.

Judge Helen Perrin is in jail for deception! Deception is therefore a crime ! read the programme for Government or whatever that other rubbish they produced to get elected Kevin and there you have it , in my opinion!
Furthermore Phil Hogan sent the armed response unit to cloonmanny bog in direct violation of landowners constitutional rights , that would be treason, gain in my opinion and both are one I would be more than willing to argue in front of a truly independent and honest judge , until then it will have to remain a personal opinion of mine!

Good man, Dermot

Jesus Kevin you get a hard on defending the ginger cabaret… It’s getting boring. Get over it, your party’s going downnnn n nn :D

Didn’t the FG official party have to make a settlement with the revenue Kevin?

thank you kevin

Probably copyright

Then Leonard you should be ashamed of the party that presided over this country over 12 years. Lab/FG are just righting the errors that FF caused over 3 terms in power. Many allowances, rates and policies that should never have been granted in the first place are now being taken back. Not surprising that FG are seen as bad guys now. FF have absolutely no credibility now. We need to adopt the attitude to austerity that people like the Germans have always espoused now and into the future if we are to recover.

Leonard- at least you’re not as cowardly as your party colleagues…in hiding for the last two years. Your politics, though is shocking in its stupidity.

Kevin i despise the rise also of FF ,the unfairness of the policies of the present government is helping FF’s popularity.Example was the last two budgets,the most regressive in over 10 years.The poorest hit the hardest.
Disabled being targeted on a regular basis.
FG/Lab are architects of their own demise.

It’s troubling to think that you might believe what you are saying Kevin.

kevin , stop
defending FG/LAB and saying they have a good record , its truly laughable , you obviously have in no shape form or fashion been effected by the Gestapo measures,

FG/Gestapo got into gov, via a protest vote against FF , (plus the fact the lied , lied ,lied)
FG will be ousted from gov via a protest vote to the benefit of FF (simply because , some people on this septic isle will not take a chance and vote for someone different ),

I’ve never voted FF and never will, shower of crooks. I didn’t vote FG, but knowing they’d be in govt I hoped at least that they’d perform their usual task of cleaning up the mess left after those gangsters, which, in fairness they may be doing, but they’re breaking a lot of promises.
It’s ridiculous that anyone would vote FF but it’s no less ridiculous to continue to vote for someone when you know full well their promises are a pack of lies.
It’s unfair to say that we haven’t got the fortitude to see through the hard times. As a nation we have braced ourselves and sucked it up, and FG would have got in even if their manifesto proposed a decade of floggings, sackcloth and ashes. They had the chance to make things at least honest, even if there had to be more pain. They blew it. They lied. And once they got comfy they have engaged in the same stroke politics as the last shower, admittedly at a learner’s pace.
Corruption and lies are the reasons people will gravitate back to the civil war politics of tweedle-dum and tweedle-dummer (what is the ideological difference between the two anyway?) because when everyone is a liar, a gangster or both, we have no way to make informed decisions come election time.

@jenny- these cuts were coming no matter what. You’re incredibly naive if you believed otherwise. They were inevitable after the FF catastrophe. You focus on some if the harsher cuts and forget that social welfare and income tax have been ring fenced. You neglect to give credit for massively reduced interest rates, extensions to loans, our impending return to the money markets and the restoration of our economic sovereignty. You seemingly don’t recognise unemployment has stabilised, the country’s reputation has been restored and as a country our country looks secure again and the rebuild is starting. The whole world recognises a remarkable turnaround. Everyone but the Irish electorate. And you. So as I say- you’re part of the problem.

Kevin there was choices they targeted the sections of society they thought was the source of least resistence.They attacked the most vunerable and that will not be forgotten.Just because i have a different outlook to you please do not accuse me of being “naive”.

Sean- I don’t believe I will stop, no. You’re a case in point. Off you go now and do a comparison of the state of the Irish Republic when FG/Lab vs now. If you can come back to me with a compelling argument that the country is worse off, I’ll retract what I said. But you won’t. Because Ireland’s much better off. Not that the likes of you notice. You’re too busy spewing anti-Government rhetoric, prefer to knock down than build. As I say- the likes of you are part of the problem. Gestapo- do you ever listen to yourself?

@paul- I know what you’re saying. But there’s nothing in Irish electoral history to suggest that the Irish electorate rewards 100% honesty. Ask Alan Dukes how the Tallaght Strategy worked for him. This poll proves my point. The crimes of FF are being rewarded as they lie bare faced about it being better under them. I had only three expectations from this Government- 1). Stop things getting worse. 2). Reduce our debts ability and 3). Get the Troika out of Dublin. I knew it was going to be ugly getting there. But they’ve made huge progress on all three. And that deserves to be recognised.

Lastly Kevin let me offer you some advice i have seen you offer others,if your fellow countrymen disgust you so much please don’t feel compelled to stay.Plenty of various types of transport to convey you to whichever part of the globe you would like to reside in.
It seems your party shares the same contempt for the Irish people as you do.

“The whole world recognises a remarkable turnaround. Everyone but the Irish electorate”
Nail on the head Kevin

The whole world are reading the government lead media stories (remember the saying , don’t let facts get in the way of a good story) ,

The irish electorate are living , breathing and suffering evr thanks to FG/LAB policy of look after the rich at the expense of the poor

Kevin you are losing it
fine gael/labour are themselves to blame
they are failing because they are doing it like fianna fail,
they had a good plan but they chose to throw it in the bin

If someone doesn’t break this cycle of FF coming in and splashing the cash, breaking the bank and then FG coming in to balance the books again, then we are destined to repeat the same cycle again and again. A bit of honesty at the outset and we’d have held our noses and voted for it anyway. This was the chance to begin to treat the electorate with some respect but it was squandered. Now we have FG and Labour as the doctors who promised it wouldn’t hurt, but it hurts so much we’ve started to hate them more than the thugs who put us in hospital in the first place. The cycle will repeat and nobody will learn from it.

@jenny- Actually, I remind people where the airport is when they insult the country. No locks on the door of this Republic. My criticism here is of those who would do this country damage by reintroducing the cancer that is Fianna Fáil to the body politic. I’m going nowhere. Unlike others on here I want to be part of the rebuild and stand with those who have serious, sustainable plans for fixing the country. If that means sharing the country with people like you, we’ll every silver lining has a cloud.

Sean- yes. Absolutely. We’re still one of the most affluent countries in Europe but you’re right. The reality on the ground is that its like Calcutta here. Please! Every day there are signs that things are getting better & the worst is over with. Two years ago there were questions about the actual viability of the Irish State- whether we could survive. Now, we’re one of the few countries with growth and there’s genuine potential that we can return to prosperity in the short-medium term. So spare me the poor mouth. It’s been rough. But it could have been a whole lot rougher if this Government hasn’t been in place. I remember the 1980’s. Do you? Or are you suffering from Celtic Cubitis?

It’s ok Kevin i have a strong stomach,i’ll tolerate people like you here aswell.Bye now.

“spare me the poor mouth”
Ah yes kevin ……..a truly typical blueshirt comment ,
.
.
your a politicans wet dream

@paul- it’s easy to forget FG were trailing Labour by a considerable margin 12 months before the last election. I’d like to share your belief that our electorate would maturely listen to a sober message warning of what was to come and vote FG in appreciating their honesty. But there’s nothing to suggest they would have. But you’re right- they did produce a stick to beat themselves with, for sure.

Very well said Paul. I agree 100%

@ryan- surprising to hear you agreeing about FG being brought in to balance the books. Three words: you are welcome.

the interesting statistic in this poll is that 50% would like to see a new political party and thats the future, my god we still vote along the lines of who your grandad fought for in the civil war…how backward is that…its completely imbred politics and the sooner we realise it the better

Yes it is easy to forget the opinion polls before the election, but it is equally easy to forget that the was never any way Lab were going to be the dominant party in coalition with FG, they’ve never had a strong enough party machine to bring in multiple TDs per constituency like FG and FF can. The make-up of the government was never in any doubt, just how many seats the individual parties got. FG/Lab put party before country by lying, whatever their motives. FG got spooked by Lab’s lies and they outdid each other in handing bigger and thornier sticks to FF to make their comeback. The govt, not the recession or the exhausted electorate or even FF, are the architects of their own unpopularity and FF’s shocking rise from the ashes.
I’ve always voted whenever I’ve been living in Ireland and I can honestly say I now have nobody to vote for. FF -never; FG -could have held my nose if I’d thought it was necessary but I voted to dilute them; Lab -once bitten…; SF -eh yeah right; I could even have tried to vote green but after doing the research my candidate was so completely stupid I couldn’t do it.
There’s no contract between government and governed, no honesty, no trust. It didn’t have to be so. And there’s no point berating the government’s critics for it, they fashioned their own stick and what are we to do with it? And FF true to form…but what would you expect from a pig but a grunt? They’ll be back and we’ll be disgusted but we’ll know whose fault it is

Half of voters want a brand new political party.
Point them in the direction of the Direct Democracy Ireland!
http://directdemocracyireland.ie/

See the “hacks” are out with all new identities

You appear to ignore the fact we have choices, one is to look for a contribution from Bertie, Brian, John, Albert, Liam, Garret and all the ministers drawing pensions.
Going after those that can least afford it is wrong wrong wrong wrong and a wrong choice

That reads a lot like “be reasonable, do it my way” or “f off”

What they see is Ireland taking responsibilities for the euro banking failure, and paying for it!
No wonder they think we are great!
Don’t forget, they thought we were great up to 2007 as well, 2007 to 2010 they were worried about us, but Brian Lenihan changed all that with the bank guarantee, which was renewed a number of times by Michael Noonan.
We should have gone the Lehman Brothers route.
If Europe needed the banks saved, they should have paid got saving them.

We had growth two years ago as well.
The growth levels we have will not sustain our debts.
We have to take another 6 billion outjof the economy in the next two years, at an accelerated rate. (Our budget is in October)
What we now have is over 8 billion a year interest over 40 to 50 years instead of over 10 years.
I had hoped banks had deleted all references to sub prime loans from their operations.
Too much money in it for the bank top brass I suspect.

When Independents and undecided voters are taken into account, FF haven’t enough votes to win.
Real solutions? You forgot to mention property tax, water charges and higher taxes which FF would possibly implement if elected. Be careful what you wish for.

FG were not voted in to attack the weakest in our society.A task they see to take great pleasure in. You are aware of the cuts i trust?no need for me to tell you.

Change the record, Jenny

Why because it’s true and you find it uncomfortable.
If my posts offend you Kevin don’t read or respond.

I love reading the FG tripe on here. Party die hards defending their master till the last breath……I also remember the last shower of corrupt muppets being do self sure and patronising.

We voted FF OUT.

We will vote FG OUT.

They’re both the same any way.

Where’s abadaeyyyoooooo? This will brighten his pale completion :)

I agree Irish people are stupid. This Government continues to hit the poor , the low
Paid and middle incomes. They should be hounded daily until they make the rich
Pay more. Has the Minister of health settled the debt he was brought to court for.
How often in the last six months has he been queried about it.

One question. Are you Irish? If so, then why should I read further than your first sentence.

Very true Simon. People can’t seem to comprehend that though.

Just because they are unpopular does not mean they are doing what is necessary….

go home