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THERE IS NO time to lose in the less than three weeks run-up to the general election. Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour know it so they were quick out of the blocks on Wednesday, 2 February, with campaign launches and manifestos. The following morning, it was the turn of the Green Party. People Before Profit presented their nine candidates on Friday last, 4 February – and yesterday, Sinn Fein launched theirs at the National Gallery.
Here’s what you need to know about what the parties promised at their launches – and how they said it:
Where: Speech by Micheal Martin at party HQ on Lower Mount Street.
The Slogan: Real Plan. Better Future.
The Plan:
The Rivalry: On Enda Kenny – “The man who claims he’s ready to be Taoiseach in five weeks’ time is refusing to debate in any forum where we can have a serious discussion about vital issues.”
On Labour and Fine Gael – “The fundamental problem with the plans that Fine Gael spoke of yesterday is that the Labour Party, their prospective partner, is opposed to so many of them. Ireland cannot afford a tug of war government.”
Buzzwords: “New politics”; “debate”; “reform”.
Where: Speech by Enda Kenny unveiling their Five Point Plan at the party election HQ near Leeson Street Bridge.
The Slogan: Get Ireland Working.
The Plan:
The Rivalry: The party’s Phil Hogan and James Reilly put the boxing gloves on to criticise the political system and the HSE, respectively. Richard Bruton also said the public backed them in the wish for “reform”. The main argument Fine Gael had this morning was with journalists, rather than other political parties. The press conference started late and Kenny and his colleagues left before some journalists managed to ask a question.
Buzzwords: “Credible”; “reform”; “back on its feet”; “cost-effective”.
Where: Eamon Gilmore in front a glass-plated window at the Gravity Bar level in the Guinness Storehouse.
The Slogan: One Ireland: Jobs, Reform, Fairness.
The Plan:
The Rivalry: Gilmore maintains that the general election is “a three-way contest, between Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour”. However, as he discounts Fiann Fail for “failing” the country and Fine Gael from “learning nothing from those mistakes”, he insists that it is Labour that is the “party of jobs, the party of reform, the party of fairness”.
Buzzwords: “One Ireland”; “change”; ”democracy”; “le cheile”; “jobs, reform…” – you get the idea.
Where: John Gormley in the The Sugar Club nightclub on Lower Leeson Street.
The Slogan: Renewing Ireland
The Plan:
The Rivalry: The Greens were in fighting mode today. Gormley accused Labour of adopting a “three monkeys” approach to the economy to “pretend that the crisis does not exist” and to say that they can renegotiate the IMF deal. Dan Boyle said Fine Gael would not be able to cut the 30,000 public jobs they want to without impacting on services and that Labour was making a “misleading” claim about being able to restore public finances without hitting middle and lower income earners. Somehow Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein got away without taking a direct hit from the Greens.
Buzzwords: “Resilient”; “change and reform”; “honest”; “held to account”.
Where: Gerry Adams in the National Gallery, Dublin.
The Slogan: Sinn Fein – The only real alternative.
The Plan:
The Rivalry: As a party putting itself forward as a “real alternative”, SF naturally aligns itself as a “stronger voice for citizens”, ie, for the little guy versus the “elites”. Gerry Adams wrote off pretty much every other party by saying it was “the only party to spell out clearly that it would reverse the cuts to public services and social welfare introduced in Budget 2011″.
Buzzwords: “Real change”; “Republican principles”; “working families”; “unemployed”; “corrupt elite”.
Where: All nine candidates of the PBP group – which is part of the United Left Alliance (that umbrella group also includes the likes of Socialist Party MEP Joe Higgins) - in Dublin on Friday, February 4.
The Slogan: People Power
The Plan:
The Rivalry: All the “mainstream parties” – for that read FF, FG and Labour – got burned by the PBP candidates who say that those larger parties are “all committed to the same policies of cutbacks and austerity”. Boyd Barrett said that a Fine Gael-Labour government was not actually an alternative as they will support the IMF deal which PBP says is “not only unjust but it is economic madness”. Collins, last previously seen telling Bertie Ahern he was a disgrace on his last day of the Dail, had a pop at the Greens and Fianna Fail and the “golden circle of developers and bankers”.
Buzzwords: “Jobs, housing, health, education”; “economic madness”; “mainstream politics”; “elites”; “crony-type politics”.
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If only customs could put as much effort into stopping unvetted illegal migrants, it would be a great country
@Brian Molloy: my thoughts exactly but might be asking too much for that to happen.
@Brian Molloy: They can’t be ‘illegal’ until they’re vetted. They can’t be vetted until they’re here. Deportations were up in 2024 on the previous year. Laws and compassion are not always mutually exclusive.
@Brian Molloy: You lot had your chance during the election. “People are waking up”, we were told. “People have had enough”, we were told. “We speak for the silent majority”, we were told. In the end, the only people that were actually told anything were those spreading hate – they were told where to go.
@Maire Hicks: Unfortunately, these unvetted migrants (85% destroyed docunentation before arriving at Dublin Airport in 2023) will keep flooding in when we have our multi billion euro taxpayer funded woke NGOs like the Irish Refugee Council with stuff like this on their website:
”You can collect your PPS Number 4 working days after you applied for asylum at the IPO.
When you collect your PPSN, you can apply for a weekly payment of 113 euro.
You should also be able to apply for an additional needs payment of 100 euro”
3 months later after processing, when they are granted refugee status or leave to remain, they’re entitled to council housing/HAP and family reunification to bring the rest of the family, all paid for from start to finish by the Irish taxpayer.
@Staker Wallace: Ah, that good old ‘destroy documentation’ myth!! Their names, addresses, passport details, etc. are all on passenger manifest.
@Brian Molloy: There are 10s of 1000s of ‘unvetted’ Irish people living and working all over the EU. Is there a problem with this?
@Me Me: notice the working bit in your sentence. Well the ones coming here are not working , that’s the difference.
@tony hilton: They are all trying to work- unlike a lot of “natives”
@tony hilton: So then people should drop the ‘unvetted’ bit. Irrelevant?
@Sean Hayes: are you having a laugh? All trying to work my eye. We are a dumping ground in Ireland
Now that revenue from cigarettes has fallen sharply, we need to find a way to recoup that money. Slap tax and excise duty fees on vapes and E-liquid and make sure the only vapes and E-liquid sold in the state are the ones we get a massive cut out of. Never mind the health benefits for smokers who switch to vapes, we need to spin this as vapes that do not include warnings “as gaeilge” are dangerous and only sold by crime gangs.
@Paul Bannon: Exactly. Imagine trying to get the off cancer sticks, and you’re now being told you’re as good as dead anyway. With no science to back it up. Mad Ted..
@Harry Paisley: Work today Harry?
@James T.Kirk: didn’t you know he’s out skiing…told us that yesterday lol
Meanwhile, a million tonnes of cigarettes have gotten through …
@Paul Gorry: Not to mention all the hard drugs getting in to the country but then what does one expect from a country that puts the Irish version of a navy out to sea to patrol our waters with their guns not working.
@Leonard Barry: Who are you expecting them to shoot?
@Jason Memail: It’s hard to believe that you’ve managed to survive for so long without a brain!
@Jason Memail: you with any luck!
@Jason Memail: What a ridiculous response!
Undercover vape investigation by The Journal… LOL!
@Daniel Skelton: yeah, they dressed up as sherlock to blend in
@Daniel Skelton: went to the shop, bought vape, smoked it, took picture, case closed.
@Tory Soprano: Can’t wait to see the Netflix documentary on that.
All vapes should be illegal, nicotine producers are laughing all the way to the bank while a new generation of addicts gets bigger and bigger.
@Harry Paisley: No profit for you in vapes so. They don’t contain tobacco.
@normally go through toll twice a day (M50), that will stop!!: the producers of ineffective nicotine patches and gums certainly are. HSE wastes a ton of tax payer money on them.
The Journal’s manic anti vape campaign continues. Inadvertently keeping smokers smoking. Shameful. (PS to sub Ed- you can’t “smoke an “e cigarette” but you probably know that already.) Vaping saves lives. Anyone involved in this campaign should be ashamed.
Just ban all vapes
@Thomas Brophy: ya I’ll just go back on cigarettes and end my life and bank account quicker
Ban all everything, put your hand up if you want to leave the house.
If they stopped that amount of vapes it usually means twice that amount got true
I’m not a huge fan of vapes myself but these boneheaded regulations are only going to make the situation worse. Multiple studies have shown that vaping 95% safer than smoking. Strict regulations make it harder for smokers to switch, keeping more people addicted to combustible cigarettes, which are far more harmful. Countries with relaxed vaping laws have seen declines in smoking rates, while places with bans or heavy restrictions have seen increases in cigarette sales. When legal products are banned or overregulated, black markets thrive. Bootleg vapes and unregulated e-liquids are more dangerous than legal, quality-controlled products. Adults should have the right to choose less harmful alternatives to smoking without excessive government interference. Let’s lift these restrictions now.
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