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THE TEMPTATION FOR Simon Harris to cut and run and call an early general election is there with coalition parties doing better at the polls than expected.
Pressure is now on with backbenchers whispering and some others, such as Fine Gael’s Michael Ring, saying rather loudly, that now is the time, or at least in the autumn.
Speaking in Mayo, Ring said:
I think Fine Gael would be well to go the country.
“Go to the country in October, not wait. We had two winter elections and I don’t ever want to see a winter election again.
“After Christmas, bad weather, people in bad form and credit bills coming in in February. Now is the time.”
However, speaking to reporters in the RDS today where the Dublin count is underway, Tánaiste Micheál Martin poured cold water over the suggestion.
“We’ve agreed to go to full term, the Taoiseach, I and Eamon Ryan have agreed that.
However, it is the prerogative of the Taoiseach to set the date.
Harris has insisted he has no plans to bring forward the timetable for an election from spring 2025, but he is likely to face intensifying calls from party colleagues to go earlier.
Fianna Fáil Finance Minister Michael McGrath said yesterday that his party was “not getting carried away” with the election results in Ireland as he made clear he did not want an early general election.
McGrath said Fianna Fáil had defied predictions that it would haemorrhage seats and finish the local elections a distant third.
However, he stressed that a local poll was very different to a general election.
This was something stressed by Martin today also, whereby he said “opinion polls are not elections”. He said for too long the Irish political narrative has relied upon poll results, which he said allows commentators to make “lazy” assumptions based on the polls.
Local elections are different to general elections, he pointed out.
Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also gave such a warning last week, highlighting how Sinn Féin fared badly in the local elections in 2019 and came back with a huge surge in support in the general election in 2020.
The Taoiseach was asked about how going the full term with this government will give the time needed for Sinn Féin to regroup and rebuild support.
He said yesterday that he still plans for the government to last until March 2025.
While he said he accepts the advice and counsel of some members of his party, such as former MEP and Minister Frances Fitzgerald, who suggested that an election by the end of the year would be wise, he is still wants to stick to the plan.
Martin told reporters today that the focus is now on the budget and the summer economic statement, but there is another decision the coming down the line for the Tánasite. Who will be the next EU Commissioner?
The finance minister has been widely tipped for the top job, which is Fianna Fáil’s gift to give, but other names have also been in the mix.
The Journal asked the Tánaiste today if he is minded to put forward a male and female for the role, as was asked for by European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen in previous years.
However, Martin effectively ruled out such a move, stating:
We can, although part of me would say that the fundamental rules in terms of national decision-making should not be unduly undermined…
“That would be a traditional view of mine in terms of it’s a decision for each member state.
“We did do that on the last occasion, although it was done in a way that the outcome still became fairly, you know [clear]. So I think we need to be fair in demarcation lines as to the responsibilities, and in this instance, it’s the responsibility of the national government,” he added.
When asked who should get the job, he said he would “make my own decision in terms of that” and will also consult with members of the party.
“I think there’ll be a wider set of considerations and criteria have to come into play. In relation to that, in particular, in terms of the strategic objectives for the country is more important than any electoral consideration,” he said.
When asked if former Attorney General Paul Gallagher was in the mix, he said it was “news to me” when he read about it in the newspapers, and also added that he was not taking the job as he plans to lead Fianna Fáil into the next general election.
Turning to party politics, the Tánaiste didn’t want to be drawn too much on the performance of Sinn Féin, stating that it was a matter for themselves. However, he did say that he believed they lacked detailed, substantive policies.
He criticised Sinn Féin’s proposal to eliminate the First Home Scheme and Help-to-Buy scheme stating that it would damage younger people’s prospects of buying homes.
“So there’s a been a degree of incoherence and then I think over the last nine months, they’ve been speaking out of both sides of their mouths on most issues,” he added.
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So they did well at local and European elections, but that doesn’t be the same for general election. The arrogance grows strong as Yoda would say.
@John John: 62 days and he is still counting
@Mick McGuinness: winners are entitled to be arrogant, Shinners however, lol
@Mick McGuinness: Just like in 2019, FF/FG won 52% of the seats in the local elections, in the general election that followed FF and FG lost so much ground from the previous years local elections that they had to form a coalition for thge first time in their history, sworn enemies, so on that basis you definitely cannot take anything for granted in politics.
People should not waste their votes, the turnout at these elections was abysmal.
@Duffman: winners? FG and FF had a poorer showing in these local elections compared to 2019. Whereas SF increased their seats compared to 2019.
@Ian: Yes, Mary Lou was absolutely delighted with the result yesterday – “It has not been our day but we will have our day … we clearly have lessons to learn”. You need to compare this result with expectation, not with the abysmal showing of SF back in 2019.
@SYaxJ2Ts: There’s an easy metric: did David Cullinane shout ‘Up the Ra!’ at any point?
If not, SF’s showing was poor.
@Ian: still more than SF, granted numbers are not the Shinners strong point lol
This will come back to bite them, they should take advantage now of the voter apathy.
Patriots on here gone EXTREMELY quiet who kept repeating how they and everyone were going to vote for Ireland First / Führer Party / white Nationalism party / Irish people because something got to do with their failed referendums and migration. Well “mass immigration” FFG will romp home at the GE. The far-right no-seats parties have gone VERY quiet on their socials as they didn’t win a seat.
@9QRixo8H: You could almost hear a pin drop they’re gone that quiet. Meanwhile, over on the cesspit that is The Gript, the comments sections are hilarious! They’re crying foul and rigged elections hahahaha those people are utterly deluded.
@Ian: the ethnoNational party in total got 0.3%. The Führer party got 0.5%. Ireland First got 0.2%. Imagine that! Yet going by the comments on here they were due to get 110%. So much for the “openborders” the “unvetted” and “mass immigration” blah blah blah. The führer is dead.
@9QRixo8H: Well they did win a few seats and, more importantly, ate into SF support. All but guaranteeing two things. Another FF/FG led government and and the continued rise of the far right. FF/FG have willingly allowed the far right to grow to keep themselves in power and undermine SF. Just another example of irreparable damage they’ve done to this country.
@Gareth: ‘FF/FG have willingly allowed the far right to grow’???? How could they stop haters and racists from being haters and racists?
If the far right have taken votes from SF, it just goes to show that SF wasn’t really the left-wing party it claimed to be: it was far too reliant on the easy pleasures and prejudices of nationalism.
@Gareth: the top performing Far Right party got 0.5%. Hardly ate into SF or FFG’s support.
@9QRixo8H: brilliant piece of work by Simon Harris removing asylum seekers from ipo and canal area then sending 50 of them back to ni then cutting their money everyone fell for it his far right stance won the day
How come 26 EU countries, most of which held elections after us on Friday have their results done and dusted?
What is the hold up with Irish results?
Simon has the bit in his mouth now lol.
I really hope they do, could be the biggest blindside ever
We won’t go into power with fg we won’t call an early election
have your say