ever is a very long time

Don’t understand how Fianna Fáil can call themselves a true republican party anyway.

Correct statement to make (for himself) but for the wrong reasons.. 1) Martin won’t be running the party by the next election, if they still exist as a party.
2) The notion of Martin as Tánaiste in the next gov. I think we’d rather eat glass!

FF’ers imagine that any party would ever tolerate them in power again. The Hamster is dead but the wheel is still spinning.

the penny still hasn’t dropped with Martin that his party are a bunch of has-beens now, deluded til the end :)

If the history of political statements in this country is anything to go by, I think we can expect a power sharing deal to be announced before the summer!

its actually quiet funny that ff can even think they would get enough votes to get in2 power with any party after the legacy they have jus left us they shud be the people emmigrating and begging every irish citizen for forgiveness bunch of muppets and their supporters are deluded and equally as bad

Sinn Fein still have some way to go to earn the trust of the people. The display of one of their members collecting cop killers from prison recently was very disheartening and hurtful to many people.

The Shinners wouldn’t have them.

Sinn Féin should rule out a coalition with Fianna FAILures!

Who cares ff are a thing of the past

Fianna Fáil are political prostitutes. Fact. Make no mistake about it, if Sinn Féin continue to enjoy support levels above 20%, FF wouldn’t be long about coming knocking. Why don’t they just coalesce with Fine Gael their natural bedfellows? There’s not a cigarette paper between them on policy. Micheal Martin needn’t lose too much sleep worrying about the prospect of a coalition with SF – there’s no way the Shinners would stoop so low.

FF should look up North at what happened to the SDLP. SF took them out, and are now looking to do the same to FF.
If they have any sense they will not give SF an inch and instead try to regain their role as leaders of the opposition down here.

It’s not about whether FF would consider coalition with SF, it’s the other way round!

do u think any of the parties wood join fina fale. not for a very long time after the way u left us in such a state

Which party would take minister for justice? The party full of corruption or the one that supports cop killers?

“I don’t think SF would lower them Self’s by going in to power with the likes of FF?!”

Don’t think FF have the right to be snobby to any party. Should take whatever option comes to them, but delighted to see they’ll never get into power!

Surely Fianna Fáil would be the junior coalition party given the evidence of recent polls? And Micheál Martin doesn’t see Sinn Féin as a “true republican party”? that’s rich, coming from the leader of a 26 county partitionist party that abandoned republicanism years ago.

Anyway, the prospect of an SF/FF government seems more bourgeois nationalist than republican, which for any “true republican” is not in the least bit desirable.

IF SF EVER GET INTO GOVERNMENT I’M EMIGRATING

Well on the good side, if FF had SF next to them they might have to work for the Average industrial wages like SF do. They need someone to show them how the other side live and as much as I dislike SF as a party they are the only party in the Dail that is not rotten to the core. I.E. not like those bent twisted FG & Labour who turned out to be more crooked than FF.

We all have to realise that Irish politics is gona be stagnant and pointless for some time to come, there is no opposition to FG. FF are doomed, SF are a disgrace, Labour are sell outs who will pay at the next election, and the UAL are such idealist fools. We need a new credible political party. Til then its gona be FG all the way.

Either of those parties are equally rotten to the core – which is worse? SF is a party whose members sanctioned killings and sent bombs in the post. FF bankrupt our country with their corruption in planning and softening regulation to facilitate fraud by the banks. Mind you Labour are not much better with the likes of Oisin Quinn granting himself planning permission recently.

Sinn Fein should not be afforded the notion of being a mainstream party without earning it first. Clear out the dead wood, baggage that is Adams & McGuiness, Ellis and anyone else with blood on their hands…

“Leave poor Eamon alone it’s Enda that calls the shots Ooop no it’s the Germans “! 

Sean Beag has hit the nail on the head. Neither party is fit to supply a Minister of Justice…let alone other Ministries.

Never trust those murdering Provo ! !

Firstly Martin Wouldn’t know the definition of an Irish Republican even though he is the leader of a so called republican party, He never showed one Republican trait in all his time as a minister, or did his party, Maybe if they did our country wouldn’t be in the mess it’s in, Anyway the question would be would Sinn Fein go into government with FF ?? Someone needs to wake up & join the real world.

Two equally destructive parties, a match made in hell

Shouldn’t it have been the other way around lol.

Just shows you how unprogressive FF and the rest of Ireland truly are to discriminate against SF. It happens every day in the dail, on tv, the www and radio. They are democratically elected to government by Irish citizens yet people deny them their legal right of representation! All because of a past foes propaganda machine that belittled everything they stand for and muppets still believe.

SF are a progressive party with a solid mandate and structured will to better our island and it’s people. Not for their own gain like other parties but for the people.

People will always associate them to the IRA. Remember where this public association came from, the media in the 70s 80s and early 90s under section 31. A fascist gagging order ensuring there was no voice to refute any political slander from either our own government or foreign one.

Sure SF and the IRA wanted the same thing but by totally different means. This should speak volumes to any educated right thinking person. SF secured the first peace on the North. They went as far to do the impossible and got the IRA to end their armed struggle. But the impossible didn’t end their as they have also been able to forge a government with the unionists.

To more amazement I remember Bertie and Harney saying SF would never be in government. Roll on a few years and now look at what SF have achieved, Gerry A in the dail SF with 15 seats and a growing popularity in the south. All that even with the stigmas still attached of an armalite in one hand and s ballot box in the other. Even though they put an end to the armed struggle years ago and were never actually part of it.

No wonder the likes of FF FG labour and their supporters berate and bash SF publicly, they fear them, they fear any progressive change that threatens their own selfish existence.

Poor old mr gilmore is only being half shown!

Any chance for a third option: “I don’t care.”?

I think it is hilarious that so many people hold onto the terrorist candle against sf. ff were a terrorist group to start with. FG sent militia’s with facist leanings to Spain. FF have constantly hoodwinked the good people of this land. poured austerity on is from above like they were taking a big wee on us all. they are the worst terrorists, condemning us to generations of poverty. all for the benefit of their bankrollers. enjoy your slumber coz when you wake up it’ll be too late.

sinn fein dont support cop killers and never did the above comment was prob either ff or a fg supporter

This is FF’s way of putting out feelers … Gauging SFs reaction, hoping they may be open o the idea …. I for one would never give SF a vote, if i thought for one second that they would share power with either FFg/FF … They are corrupt to the core, with Party first mantra… this is evidenced by the wages they pay themselves. They are the biggest threat to the 26 counties.

Only way they will get into government anyway!

As a Northerner I can tell you that a coalition with Sinn Fein in it isn’t all its cracked up to be

That is not even a question. silly poll

Leaving apart the whole criminality/corruption thing, FF and SF are simply too far apart politically. It’s one thing for a centre-right and a centre-left party to enter coalition together, quite another for one of the most right wing mainstream parties in the EU to join forces with a Communist party. They’d probably go to war within five minutes over which way to crack open a boiled egg.

It’s a bonkers suggestion, and one which shows just how much the fairly meaningless old Civil War/Whose the Most Republican tag continues to deform Irish political debate. In any other country they’d be trying to negotiate a merger with FG by now, an almost identical, redundant, party.