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GE2024IT’S JUST OVER one week of the election campaign, so how’s it all going?
Well, we’ve had an unexpected controversy involving Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, an argy bargy between coalition colleagues on TV, a war of words between those interested in justice, not to mention the disagreements over VAT and drug policies.
There’s been canvasses galore, up and down the country, with a few heated moments.
And how could we forget, but two new surprise entrants to the race.
One in the form of someone who has walked the halls of Leinster House before, and another who flew into the country to file his papers.
All in all, a busy week.
The week was rounded out by a poll in The Irish Times yesterday which will be welcomed by those in Fine Gael as it shows that the party is on course to be the largest party in the next Dáil, if all goes to plan for them.
The latest Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll has suggested that Simon Harris’s party is on 25%, ahead of Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin who are both on 19%.
Fine Gael has lost support by two percentage points and Sinn Féin is down by one. Fianna Fáil is unchanged.
Interestingly, the wind seems to be at the back of Independents, with the poll seeing a rise in their support.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil seem preoccupied with taking chunks out of each other this week, with Sinn Féin seemingly getting a hall pass by the two government parties for now.
Will they pivot and start upping the criticisms of the largest opposition party next week?
We’ll have to wait and see, but certainly, the two coalition partners will have to kiss and make up sometime if they plan to sell it to voters that they think they should both go back into government together.
Nothing is a certainty, it’s all still to play for with another two weeks to go, that’s for sure.
So how do parties think it is all going and what should we look out for next week?
Sources in Fianna Fáil say Micheál Martin will continue his tour of the constituencies, and will be setting out why people should vote for his party.
They said they’ll also be responding and assessing the other manifestos when published, particularly their costings. This comes after Fine Gael took aim at Fianna Fáil’s costings this week.
“We’ll be looking to see if they include all of what they have promised already,” said one Fianna Fáil source.
The Fine Gael manifesto is being launched tomorrow, the same day as the Labour Party.
Fianna Fáil will also be setting out their stall on housing, climate, childcare and education next week.
One party source said they are having a good campaign on the ground, but said people have not tuned in yet to the election with all the other news of late, so the party is choosing to concentrate on outlining its manifesto plans over the last week.
Fine Gael sources say all the attention is now turned to their manifesto launch tomorrow.
The feeling within the party is the campaign has been going very well, stating that across the country, people can see Fine Gael has a new team to overcome future challenges and issues.
They told The Journal that the Taoiseach has visited 23 constituencies since last Friday.
“We are happy with the team performances. Paschal Donohoe is leading on the economy and finances, Hildegarde Naughton and Helen McEntee have had some strong performances in the last two days on broadcast media and at party policy launches,” they said.
“The candidates are getting the Simon Harris message that while social media is great, to get elected you absolutely have to knock on doors and wear out the shoe leather. Social media doesn’t get you elected. We have internal research that those canvassed in June’s Local and European elections remember being canvassed,” they added.
“The issues on the doors are cost of the living, housing, migration but since the Trump election, the future of our economy, jobs and livelihoods are starting to come strongly into people’s focus.”
And what about Sinn Féin? While the party was embroiled in controversies prior to the election campaign kicking off, those in the party said it is not coming up on the canvasses.
They said feedback on the doorsteps and events has been great, stating that there is a sense that this is a critically important election.
“People are raising housing, rent hikes, childcare, and a range of cost of living issues with us. There is a clear anger with the government and particularly on the waste of government spending examples that have been revealed recently,” said one party source.
Lots more to come, it feels like things are only getting started.
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So democracy in Ireland is now having the same party in power and opposition at the same time.
@james rowan: Independent TDs aren’t the same as Independent Ireland (the party)….. It’s literally in the title. So the same party are not in govt and in the opposition
Opposition should automatically be part of government. No elections needed!
@james rowan: I think you’ll find that the independents are not a party…
@smatrix mantra: I truly hope that the real opposition go to the courts to overturn this undemocratic scenario that has been thrust upon the electorate who have been fooled yet again by Fianna Fail.
I’d love it if the Gardai properly investigated Michael Lowry, because there is evidence out there proving he took a bung from Dobrien. It disgusts me that a crook has so much power over his peers in FF & FG.
@Steve McGarrett: That’s right they are FFG Proxies
@james rowan: Independents isn’t a political party. It’s literally in the name. They are independent TDs and not affiliated!….. So if the INDEPENDENT TDs aren’t part of a political party how are the same parties in govt and the opposition!?!?!?
@Frank Cauldhame: It is in the rules. They are rat cute and they won’t have made an error like that.
Fine Gael only came 3rd in the General Election
@Kevin O Brien: Cool. Thanks.
@Kevin O Brien: So what? SF came 2nd. The majority of voted ABSF so no government places for SF.
@Kevin O Brien: your point?
@Vincent Alexander: Complete claptrap.. by that logic the majority voted ABFF and ABFG .. or every other political party in the country. Mind your back ya auld codger.. you’ll do damage with all that contorting you’re doing.
@Kevin O Brien: And?
Get in extra vaseline and lube folks, cos the next 5 years are gonna be as painful for many as the last was, only this time with a severe chance of a recession hanging over the country head, only this time we cant tell people to leave cos they are a burden etc due to ya know the whole immigration for profit scam thats been happening. Gonna be fun to watch FFG and the independents trying to get along when things go wrong or off script
@Patrick Newell: never try and predict anything, especially the future. Know all.
@Patrick Newell: country doing fantastic. I was on a plane to Lanzarote, one of five yesterday, packed with old age pensioners and families off for a holiday, out last night, only accents you hear are Irish
@Dave f Doe: he also ran for president. Ha ha. How did that work out.
What drives me crazy is the people who say “ahhhhh why don’t you get out and vote if you want change”
What a load of bollox.
i did vote
Nothing has changed.
@reg morrisey: don’t vote again. It’s simple.
Every one of them including Fianna Fail & the Independents, are money grabbing parasites, only interested in what they can get from the public purse. Public Service in this country is no longer about serving the people and is more about feathering their own nests.
@The Firestarter: increasing their super inflated wages , appointing their friends and family members to the made up positions and posts to waste hard earned tax payers money without a single though of making peoples lifes easier.
Parasites is indeed a term you should describe them.
@The Firestarter: leave so if you actually believe your own BS
FFG with their combined pluracy telling the country that that they own the place and they always have. The reality is that they’ve built a Titanic and all they’ve done is left Cobh.
@Louis Jacob: *plurality even… lol.
Puke party
@N D K: sinn fein?
@Philip Kennedy: sinn fein never squandered our money or caused our youth to immigrate by the thousands because of the cost of them trying to begin there lives here, sinn fein never agreed to give an own door house to the world upon arrival here, plus a million more reasons I could give you, but you know yourself already
Knife found in kitchen drawer
Another week and more of this “Programme For Government” nonsense, our politicians and media love this “Programme For Government” thingy after every election as if it means something or for that matter implemented, another favourite word of theirs and the media is “Context” neither can compete a sentence without including it a least once or twice.
Dirty deeds and they’re done dirt cheap.
Oh great! But did the other side of their arse not already agree to that? More of the same…… chancers!
Good to see there will be stable Government for the next five years.
@Johnny Wilson: won’t last 6 months
@Johnny Wilson: FFG and the independents sticking it out for 5 years?? Ya ill take ur stable bet and say if this lasts 18 months before something big happens and the independents turn on FFG or vice versa id be shocked.
@Alan Moloney: another soothsayer.
So many here were doing cartwheels celebrating when the Greens lost, now they’re complaining bitterly that their favourite facist party aren’t in charge. Clear indication that the right think the only votes that count are theirs
@FoxyBoiiYT: Muh fascism… YAWN!
@Chop Chop: Yep. Fascists are truly tiresome.
Of course they did. Hardly going to turn down all the pay rises.
Well of course they were going to. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are identical parties with identical policies and they might as well merge at this point. It’s so annoying that no good options ever pop up for the Irish people in the general elections that are held and the cosmopolitan progressive establishment takes change once again for the next five years. I’m so disappointed in our country that we keep enabling the same failed tax and spend policies that continually fail and drive up our national debt every year.
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