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SINN FÉIN LEADER Mary Lou McDonald has posted a video online in which she admitted the party has been “disappointed” by the results of this weekend’s local elections, which are still coming in but show the party has suffered a significant setback in its quest to lead a future government.
“Now we need time to reflect, to learn, to adapt and to come back stronger, and we will,” she said in a sombre message to Sinn Féin supporters.
She thanked all those who campaigned for Sinn Féin as candidates and activists, saying she “couldn’t have asked for more” from them.
“Clearly we’re disappointed that we didn’t get more candidates elected. We have made some modest gains but we haven’t had the day that we had hoped for,” she said.
She said it seems clear that people who oppose the Government cast their votes for independent candidates and smaller parties on this occasion.
“We need to win those votes back,” she said, adding that “a general election isn’t so far away you know”.
“So, rest. Let’s gather ourselves. Let’s talk to each other, listen to each other and then we get back at it because that’s what Sinn Féiners do.”
As the count continues, I wanted you to hear directly from me. pic.twitter.com/sLdIhUrIhF
— Mary Lou McDonald (@MaryLouMcDonald) June 9, 2024
Sinn Féin have suffered a major setback in this weekend’s local elections even though the there are hundreds of seats left to fill.
As of this afternoon, Sinn Féin had secured just 20 Local Election Area seats compared to 112 for Fine Gael, 97 for Fianna Fáil, 87 taken by independents and 23 by Labour.
Not so long ago Sinn Féin was by far the post popular party in Ireland and at one point came close to matching Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil combined in the opinion polls.
As McDonald acknowledged in her video, it appears that many of the votes the party has lost have gone to independent candidates.
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Sure we only love a bit of dishonesty and corruption. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
Considering that my jeep occasionally spews out tons of smoke and failed the NCT, I have trust that emissions are the most important item thing to Irish lawmakers.
No, wait – it turns out it failed because the font was the wrong sans serif, the smoke is grand! Now just have to decide to get new licence plates or put €20 in ash tray.
Apparently in the US VW are going to cough up $500-$750 per customer as compensation for their deception…
Very few people rock up to a dealership and drive out in a new car, they order months in advance, so expect to see a fall of in a few months, particularly 161 regs
I thought that would be logical enough to realise for a journalist!
When you have to force out a new story every 20 minutes standards inevitably drop.
I very much doubt sales will fall. They are a great car generally.
I’d be more inclined to buy a vw now seeing the ingenuity they used to trick the tests
Irish people love German cars. every second car i see nowadays in an Audi, BMW, Merc or VW
I saw you standing out by the M50 there his morning, Luke, Fair play man.
Overpriced, overrated and soulless cars.
Ah but if ya have a tdi, she goes like clappers…
@beachmaster is that Toyota your talking about the home appliance manufacturer,
Toyota…as Jeremy Clarkson once said …”as exciting as a hoover”…
At least they are not hair dryers!
Look, the level of emissions from a car is not going to affect my purchasing decision. Amazing how people over-estimate their own impact on the planet. The fact is China is opening enough coal powered power plants every 18 months to replace all the energy produced by the UK and Ireland in a single year. How does THAT impact the environment. I couldnt care less about this issue, UNLESS they also lied about the performance of the car. But there’s no evidence of that.
Best car in the class and will hold its value.
Indeed, I would go as far as saying they are overpriced. ’11′ 12 and ’13 reg passats are a lot more expensive than a similar spec Mondeo with similar milage. I say that as an ex passat owner.
Nothing we love more than bog standard golfs
I got sick of being asked why I didn’t get a golf when I got a new car last year
There’s no official strategy in place but you can really get a good deal from VW at the moment. They will do most anything to keep their market place, even sell out at little to no profit
If people are going to buy cars with the wrong emission levels. Then they should pay the appropriate car tax level for their new higher level.
It’s nothing to do with co2 levels, they determine the amount of motor tax
The amount of motor tax you pay for a vehicle registered before July 2008 is proportionate to the size of your vehicle’s engine – in other words, the more powerful your vehicle, the higher the cost of your motor tax. For new cars registered since July 2008, motor tax charges are determined on the basis of CO2 emission bands with lower emissions resulting in lower charges.
I always liked vw, why they felt they had to do this Wel never know, has me thinking now, ok I can live with them lying about emissions but what if they’re also lying about there safety results”
Well, there is no software that can change the structural integrity of a car when it’s test driven into a wall at 40 mph!
I’m surprised that toyota didn’t make an appearance…
I’ve never before heard so many ads and offers on VWs as I’ve heard in the past few weeks.
It probably helps when VW are offering car loans at just 1.9%
My new Skoda came with 0% finance. What’s not to like?
Not available on the new superb that’s what’s not to like :(
I wonder how many are pre-registrations??? I have heard they have stock piles of registered 151/152 cars up there.
Might be s good time to buy Volkswagen shares
Looks like Americans are receiving a $1000 in compensation
Yay €900!!!
Pre reg… Pre reg…. Pre reg
Yea yea yea
have your say