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THE THREE COALITION parties are bullishly optimistic at election count centres today with both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael appearing to hold their vote in early tallies.
The Green Party also seems to have performed better than expected, though there are concerns being raised about whether the party will lose an MEP.
Questions are being asked today around whether Sinn Féin ran too many candidates across the country.
Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe told reporters that early indications are “positive” for his party, telling reporters that Fine Gael ran a “high energy” campaign under the new leadership of Simon Harris.
Singling out one local electoral area (LEA), he said Fine Gael believes it is on track to double its vote versus the last local election in Cabra-Glasnevin.
“We’re going to be, I hope, on the verge of winning a second seat in that ward. So early signs are positive,” he said.
Hitting out at Sinn Féin, he said the party is a “one-trick pony”.
“That one trick isn’t working for them at the moment,” said Donohoe.
“But as I look at all of this, the idea that this is a government and a party that’s running out of steam, that narrative has been shattered by the tallies that are coming through,” he said.
“The other narrative that has been shattered is that there’s an inevitability about Sinn Fein going into government,” the minister said.
“He would say that,” Dublin Sinn Féin European election candidate Daithí Doolan retorted.
“There has been nobody elected here today, no votes have been counted, and here we have Fine Gael yet again, grasping at straws. They are not talking about the housing crisis, they are not talking about the asylum-seeking crisis, they are not talking about the climate crisis, they are talking about Sinn Féin again, because they are obsessed with us,” said Doolan.
He went on to state that he would like to think he is still in with a shot to take a seat in Brussels, but said the priority is for Lynn Boylan to be returned to Strasbourg.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Six One News, deputy leader of Sinn Féin Pearse Doherty TD remarked that his party rebounded in the 2020 general election after a rather disappointing local election in 2019.
“I think people are sophisticated enough to know the difference between a local European election and a general election and we’ve been here before. I think we’ve had this conversation five years ago where we had a disappointing election at that time. Yet eight months, nine months later, we were seeing some of our candidates who lost out actually being elected as TDs,” he said.
The Donegal TD emphasised that the results of this election will not slow down Sinn Féin’s push for overhaul in the government.
I think people are very clearly, when we were having the conversations at the door, they’re talking about change, they want change and clearly they want a change of government.
He added: “We had the conversations with people on the doorstep. We need to listen to those, we’ll come back and dust ourselves down no matter what the results are. We know that we’re determined to deliver change in this country.”
Sinn Féin’s Daithí Doolan in response says Paschal Donohoe ‘would say that’.
— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) June 8, 2024
He says Fine Gael are obsessed with Sinn Fein. pic.twitter.com/tXjzF49EBX
Speaking in Cork today, Tánaiste Micheál Martin also seemed cautiously optimistic about Fianna Fáil’s performance.
Fianna Fail is doing “far better” than predicted, he said.
He said the party will gain an MEP seat in the Midlands-North-West constituency for the first time in 15 years.
“The idea that Fianna Fáil would be coming in a distant third is completely disproven,” the Tánaiste said at Cork City Hall today.
“I’ve been looking at opinion polls now for the last three years. This ‘internet panel’ polling having Fianna Fail at 14% and 15% – clearly Fianna Fáil will be well ahead of that and will be over 20% by the time all of these counts are collated and put together.
“We put up a very robust performance and we’re holding our own compared to our performance in the general election of 2020,” said Martin.
He said the focus from this government will now be on producing an “effective budget” in the autumn, that can deal with housing and helping the elderly in particular.
Martin re-committed that the government will “go full term” and batted of suggestions that there could be an early election. He commented that local elections are not always predictors of the general election.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin speaks to reporters here in Cork. @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/L4oxaOaqaE
— Niall O’Connor (@NiallJournal_ie) June 8, 2024
When asked about the success of independent candidates, the Tánaiste said independents that are elected to local authorities across the country “will be varied and diverse”.
“I would say to all independents, not just those to the far-right, you too have an obligation to make sure that city councils run efficiently and effectively,” he added.
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These muppets have already cost the tax payer a fortune and not one of them contribute to the coffers.
these Irish citizens have a right to protest. Would you like a gas terminal built next to your property
I’m sure a whole town isn’t avoiding tax, you’ve no evidence to back your conspiracy theories
Spot on Chris, this motley crew of tree huggers together with the save the whale brigade & other work shy losers should be moved back to where they came from- they have cost our country a fortune!!!
Bet you give out but sit on your as
Exhibit A, the picture accompanying this article.Read the signs.These people’s livelihoods are being damaged by Shell. The Gardaí are impounding fishing vessels because apparently Shell own the sea now too. The people are trying to work as they always have.
I’m sure the whole town isn’t against the pipeline either.
Your right Sandbag. Most of Belmullet has benefited financially. How many 00′s of millions have been spent by shell? Most of the town and surrounding area (up to 1 hours drive) are benefiting from the jobs and investment. Ask the local hard working honest people of the area what they think. I have never seen such a thriving town during our biggest recession since the formation of the state. Go see for yourselves instead of knocking what benefits it is bringing.
Most of those who work on this pipeline are English and their accommodation is paid for by Shell.
I spoke to a crowd of these people last time they were en masse in Belmullet and found that very few of them were even Irish, a lot of Dutch and Germans.
I refer to the protesters , of course.
Professional picketers. One of them is my neighbour (North Tipperary) never worked a day in her life and spawned 2 more with the same life ethos. Travels Ireland and UK to anti fracking/anti wind farm/anti water metering: anything but work.
Last year she did a tour of the Middle East as her (compensation funded) holiday.
Your not a nice person talking about your neighbours behind their backs
@jack Dexter. Thanks. I tell it like it is.
At least she is doing something worthwhile, I’m sure the lot of a professional picketer is not always easy.
Don’t thing that just because someone is employed that he or she is necessarily doing something worthwhile, take Micheal ‘Fingers’ Fingelton who helped destroy this country and is now living off a very generous pension.
Couldn’t agree more, they should all be lined up and shot. IMO the guards should of smacked them up more.
Nobody likes to see the country being sold off one piece at a time, but we have bills to pay. So everything else is secondary.
Get over it FFS
Sean,
Oh dear, it sounds like you would favour a strong leader…
…now if I know my history, that doesn’t always work out too well.
I think it was in Nurnerburg that certain people on trial said that they were just following orders FFS.
#Godwin’s Law
I’m not sure have any of ye posting here , ever seen the documentary called The pipe , our have ever deemed it necessary to take a stand against corruption . This country is being asset stripped at an alarming rate , and when all is said and done , what will you say you did to stop it . ? Good little sheep that ye are , nothing is the answer !
This lad is an idiot….A waste of skin
Go home you Hippies
They are home you fool, shell to sea is an Irish organization based in the parish of Kilcommon in Erris, County Mayo.
Jack maybe you could educate tony on how many are residents in that area and how many are protestors from elsewhere?
Well said Tony. Crustys living on the dole with medical cards etc . A burden to the state
Whenever someone stands up against the establishment they are automatically branded as layabouts and hippies by the establishment and their mouthpieces. Some may be but most certainly not all are. Many are local residents standing up for what they believe to be right.
God I wish these people would go away.they spin lies about this project constantly.it the only part of the country that had solid work during the last few years.
Can’t stand these idiots getting in the way if progress.
Half of them have english accents. The population dropped about time of dale farm protests in the uk
Shakka, there’s no issue with standing up to the establishment and voicing their opinions. People’s issues are with how they’re draining their taxes without contributing anything.
I they had full time jobs and paid taxes people probably wouldn’t be so irritated with them.
@Jackie , see my post above/
Another inquiry, if they want it let them pay for it
Paying for inquiry’s isn’t the issue it’s the quality of the inquiry’s that have rendered them useless
And the fact that they’re complaining for the sake of publicity and that it’s the current flavour of the month thing to do.
Are the protestors all locals?, if not why are they protesting?, I can’t really see how it’s any of their business.
Only in Ireland would people give out about other people standing up to bullys Shell Gardai private Security firms.Oh by the way Shell and Statoil are making a fortune off yere backs and here getting nada why because the Irish are a soft touch and get offended and insult people that show them up for the subservient good little pixies they are.
It sounds as if your are drinking too much of your own name.
Actually Statoil stopped, it’s just Shell milking ireland
They called for whistleblowers to provide info a few weeks back, did they get anything obviously not!
After what happened to McCabe and Wilson do you honestly think other guards will stand up to this? They picked booze over justice belmullet will tell you that
What better timing…
I was sure that protest had finished along time ago ?
The media coverage of it certainly did.
These clowns lost all credibility years ago. It’s just a shame that they are still getting media time. They’ve cost us, the taxpayers, millions. And we were paying their benefits while they were doing it.
That’s not a fair comment – not all Gardaí are clowns.
Summertime and the crustys are busy. Stop there dole and medical cards and benefits and they soon would give up costing the county money. All the locals see are euro signs
That’s what wrong with Ireland parish pump politics “sure the local TD sister husband owns a hang sandwich shop and sure were making a fortune on sambos, sure why would we be bothered by a cooperation riding roughshod over us the real money is in sandwiches not gas”
Problem is that they have a point. Thugs/Gardaí for hire.But then again what else is new
They’re for hire by all citizens. Say you owned a business. If I decided to block access to your yard and put you out of business what do you think would happen? You’d ring the gardai and they’d arrest me allowing you to do business. It’s that simple.
But would Gardaí be bussed in from other areas to take land from its rightful owners?
The difference is Brenden the Gardai wouldn’t hound you afterwards, like standing next to your property filming your every move and constantly harassing you when you drive down the road.
Yes if it was orgnaised by groups of 20+ and ongoing for years.
Supposing I sent €30,000 of booze around to the Garda station and told them to make sure you didn’t get access to your yard.
“OSSL’s allegations come in the wake of a recent report by a special rapporteur for the United Nations which found “excessive and disproportionate use of force against protesters” peacefully opposing the pipeline.
Rapporteur Margaret Sekaggya said that she “received credible reports and evidence … indicating the existence of a pattern of intimidation, harassment, surveillance and criminalisation of those peacefully opposing the Corrib gas project … Moreover,” she reported, “there have been serious concerns about the lawfulness of certain actions of the private security firm employed by Shell.”
The rapporteur “expresses her concern at … shortcomings in official investigations, particularly those relating to the use of excessive force and abusive behaviour by the police”.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/10/shell-pipeline-protests-county-mayo
This story was reported around the world last year. It makes the film ‘The Guard’ look like a documentary and Ireland like the banana republic that it has become.
So you would like to close down the Corrib gas project and then do just leave it lying under the seabed,the people of the country need this secure gas supply so i propose that if it makes them all happy in Mayo, close it down and transfer the whole shebang down to Cork where they have far more experence in handling offshore gas for nearly 40 years without none of the hysteria associated with Corrib,and the countrys taxpayers would save millions in policing and security being stood down.
The point that most people seem to forget is that these protesters don’t necessarily want the company to shut down, pack up and leave. shell to sea concerned about the health impacts to the community. In fact they have no problem with the company exploiting the country, all they want is that the gas is processed offshore and not pumped ashore and for very good reasons. Raw, unprocessed gas would be carried at extremely high pressure, directly from under the sea-bed, through a pipeline in an unstable bog where landslides are common. The proposed pipeline for Rossport is nothing like the gas pipelines people live close to in other parts of Ireland:
• the pressure would be 144 bar, and possibly higher, compared to a maximum 5 bar in a domestic pipeline;
• the gas would still contain chemical impurities that corrode pipes and are highly explosive – these are removed at the refinery;
• it would not contain the odour that alerts residents to a leak – this is added at the refinery.
Since 2000, local people have been demanding that the gas is processed at sea, before it reaches residential areas, as is standard practice worldwide. They have never objected to gas being piped ashore in the normal way
Dept of social welfare should carry out inspections amongst them and those protesting who are receiving jobs seekers allowance should be cut off immediately.
Some of these protesters are professional in so much as they are great at avoiding work.
Investigation should be mandatory for any welfare recipient who is arrested
Hmmm.
Go on… Explain how you can link the right to welfare with an arrest. I mean we could do that anywhere, I’m just not sure how it would work. I mean, are you saying that welfare recipients are not entitled to protest (like the pensioner revolt a few years back) or are you saying that all Shell to Sea should be arrested…
It’s not really clear where you stand on issues of law and governance. Should we continue having elections?
At least these guys try and do ye have anywhere you can sign a peition ‘re this cause I’d certainly sign it
I put this on every now and then after a tough day. It’ never fails to pick me up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6N5Fk6xaKo
I must put that in my favourites. Shame they did not record the reason the Garda lost the plot. I’m sure lots of lip, threats and other anti Garda and personal insults plus loads of sh+te was the real reason. The camera man should get a good editing job in hollywood. OOpps silly me the country of the great Satan.
Should be an enquiry into the thuggish behaviour and law breaking of many of the protesters
Their lunatic opposition to necessary infrastructure has cost the tax payer millions
The Gardai have exercised extreme restraint despite have endured much provocation. In many other countries these protesters would have been dealt with far more robustly
Check his twitter link.
Former govt. “Special Advisor” and proud of it.
Also seemingly unaware that FF are not out of the woods yet.
Reading the comments now I know fully why the government have succeeded in screwing the people of Ireland.
Dumbass crustys costing the state millions! You would have received more respect if your protests were peaceful at the beginning! The Guards use video cameras as back up to the lies and rubbish that was spun by the idiot rent a crowd moaners! Nobody trusts or backs ye so just get a life and feic off costing the state!!!
Frightening today Russia’s action to cut off gas which Europe is dependent on and we stop gas coming ashore which would protect our fragile economy. I just don’t get what all the fuss is about. The major cities in Ireland have gas pipes running throughout the city and no major risk uncovered.
Agreed johnny, plus shell are under no obligation to sell our own gas to us
Are you serious???
Thing is local guards doung well out of it some second houses I believe. Not that I begrudge them. Perfectly entitled to it working overtime. Mayo been the golden goose for years
General election soon start lob binging for best deal
Won’t work this is Enda’s constituency
As a member of the general public I have no confidence in Shell to Sea and call for an inquiry into their behavior, into the fact that they have delayed an infrastructure project unduly, they have interfered with the public’s right to go unhindered, that the have cost the exchequer millions in pay, for An Garda Siochana,
She’ll to sea has cos the taxpayer enough money! Feck off with another inquiry
Have a quick look at this and see what u think! Very intresting
Im sure Boyd Barrett will have something to say on this
Nother like a bit of 1950′s priest justice for the protesters….you’ve been a bad boy!!!!
The Garda got a huge amount of drink to turn a blind eye and even at times participate in abuses
have your say