Just Signed ePetition on Home Tax ……. targeted at Labour TDs and Senators at:-

http://www.HomeTaxPetition.net

I applaud politicians who stand for the people but I only have one word for those who voted for any of the budget measures and sadly the journal could possibly remove the comment, so I will restrain myself.

I was sure they would vote in favour of it. Sure it’s no big deal to them on fat salaries. Don’t fool your self into thinking they actually care how you feel. There job is to fix the country and the people are just the collateral damage to the plan to impress Europe.

Enda, Gilmore , Noonan and the rest of the suits on large salaries have absolutely no understanding of how you all live and looking at their pensions, they never will. They don’t wonder where they will get 20 euro for petrol and lunch for work today because they don’t have to pay it. They don’t know what it’s like to say no to your child when they need 20 euro for a school tour as for property tax, 500 euro is a drop in the ocean on a large salary to them. To the majority of the hard working tax paying public it will be the straw that breaks the camels back.

The country is beautiful, the people are wonderful (for the most part ) but sadly we leave in a dictatorship not a democracy and its a Kip !!!!!

“Put an Irishman on the spit and you can always get another Irishman to turn him”
Shaw, George Bernard

Substitute “Irishman” with human.

Will the Government face the same Fate as Maggie Thatcher, after the poll tax was introduced in England? Tune in for the next episode, Labour Implodes!

A bunch of useless tw*ts they are altogether! : )

I bet it was the 41, that would have or will lose their seat. If they had voted, specially selected members voted for it and from areas where they’d get hurt least in an election!

Couldn’t agree with u more! Disgrace they are meant to representing their constituents! Not even bothering to vote Shame on them

The present (short term) government don’t care for national interests or the people of Ireland but their own euro interests…choo choo

kenny said to cowen you hold the people of this country with contempt ,what a load of hot air he is exactly the same as bertie and cowen

John you clearly will vote for an alternative but Fine Gael will almost certainly get back in based on the opinion poll/ approval rating trends. I’m afraid the sentiment on this site isn’t an accurate barometer of where the public are overall.

Alan, I am curious as to why you suggest sentiment on this site would not be representative of public opinion. I would suggest it may actually be a better barometer than opinion polls that are held in selected areas where the demographic may be a bit more skewed. The journal is a site with the ability to give a nationwide opinion and I would be confident that it is viewed by a wider consensus of people than your average opinion poll.

That’s a fair point Elizabeth but I do disagree. This website is fantastic and I’m a fan but in fairness it’s penetration isn’t always great e.g. this article has had about 2,600 reads at this stage and there’s about 30 comments. Politics related articles often have a higher comment to read ratio. People with strong opinions are more likely to post, and often the same users post regularly. If the sentiment in the comments on this site is taken to represent the public mood one could be forgiven for thinking nobody has paid household charge, the government are universally despised, the catholic church has been completely abandoned etc. We all know that these simply aren’t correct. The comments often do tally with my own opinions but I’m fully aware that they’re to be treated with caution as a comprehensive indication of public opinion.

Alan, I agree with all the points you make in relation to regular contributors and the strength of their convictions, and I, like you, am a fan of the site. I have made contributions to other articles, although they tend to side more on the light hearted side of things, this is, I believe, my first written contribution to a political article. My suggestion about the site possibly giving a more accurate view opinions however is not solely based on the written word but a look at the thumbs up/down which enable people to show sentiment without getting involved in the often heated and, may I say, sometimes childish arguments that go on here (it sometimes reads like a dial debate on here). Perhaps the journal would run an opinion poll (again) on the subject. I would be interested in seeing how it turns out.

As regards to your point on penetration, yes 2,500 is a small number from a population of over 4,000,000 but your average reported opinion poll would usually take in a lesser number than that.

They won’t see office again I bet you…. Cutting social, the carers, child benefit, introducing property tax, higher rates of PRSI, closing repossession loopholes to secure the banks rights, kissing their ass all the while pissing in their electorate, I call the executioner for high treason…

Transfer of wealth… There’s not jack of money and wealth it’s just shifting fom the poor to the rich, as happens in every organised depression….

I’ll be there with you. Have to take a stand at some stage and this looks like this it.

They’re growing in number Patrick. DDI members ;-). It’ll be like a silent tsunami. Can’t wait see the ashen look on Endas face when he looks across at Taoiseach Gilroy from the opposition benches

couldn’t agree more

I’d run if I was nominated (& could afford it).

I’m opinionated & pissed off with the current & previous administrations.

I’m not connected to any party & have no political experience. But I want to make a change & am prepared to make sacrifices to do it.

let’s hope they ain’t talking bull Sinn Fein We fell for labour and fg lies all ready

Here’s one way to test it: what are SF doing in government in the North?

Oh.

Emily, FFG/Labour and FF often use the North as an instrument to beat SF up with. The truth of the matter is that SF have extremely limited powers in terms of budget control in the North. The British parliament in Westminster set the budget for the North of Ireland. The 3 parties in the South know that fully, but they use propaganda and down-right lies to paint a picture of SF making budget decisions. It is pure sickening.
They also know that SF voted against the budget measures in the North this year and last, but this doesn’t’ suit FFG/Labour/FF’s propaganda (or the right wing media) so it doesn’t get reported.

5 years ago, if someone said FF would not have a single seat in Dublin and the independents would be more numerous – well let’s face it – you’d have been sent to the funny farm.

The last election was the beginning of a seismic shift in Irish voting patterns. For the first time ever FF were not the largest party in the Dáil.

What FG cannot see is that the same fate awaits them. Enda suffers from the delusion that he is somehow “loved”. This is a direct product of the 37 years he has spent in the asylum. He has spent 3/5 of his adult life cocooned but he’s no butterfly – unfortunately. I’d love more than anything for Enda to be the person he believes he is but alas, it ain’t so.

People were genuinely shocked at the FF melt down. They were thinking how is this possible? Eventually it dawns. “Well I didn’t vote for them, but I was sure HE did and SHE” but the reality is all 3 deserted.

We now know we can topple kings with a pencil. This next election promises to be a rubicon in Irish politics where we finally bid adieu to the civil war parties which have for so long dominated.

There is a new Ireland emerging and I look forward to seeing it

They don’t care so long as their pensions are safe. I’ll be asking anyone who calls to my door what they plan to do about those pensions.

That’s if they even bother knocking at your door.