The Irish Politics Thread

Polling almost finished, good reports of turn-out in places.
Advance polls showing a real possibility of a swing towards left parties.

It’s the hope that kills you but fingers crossed for some genuine change.

4 Likes

even typing ‘swing towards left parties’ seems so, so weird.

1 Like

Keeping my fingers crossed for you guys :heart:

15 Likes

Are Sinn Fein the main GBoL party? What’s the “likeliest” outcome?

I should definitely know way more about this than I do…

I have some reservations about Sinn Fein personally, not because of the ‘derp terrorists’ stuff but i think there’s some areas where their manifesto is way too vague (they are very weak** on animal welfare, which is a serious problem in Ireland). But I’d still be delighted to see them be the main success story of the election as anything is better than the status quo. The main GBOL for me are the Social Democrats, terrible name but really, seriously impressive manifesto with lots of practical ideas. Unfortunately they have a relatively small candidate pool, mainly in urban areas so hopefully they can keep building.

**scratch very weak, they’re actually appalling on this issue

I don’t even want to speculate on likeliest outcome, I’m really hoping that it’s not SF/Fianna Fail coalition but there is a fair chance of that.

2 Likes

Ignoramus question: what is the government currently? Sorry, I should probably just read a Wikipedia entry, but yeah - in general all I know is that FG and FF are proper third-way, John Jackson / Jack Johnson parties who love low taxes.

1 Like

Fine Gael, who are by some degrees the worst of all - just a horrible, borderline Thatcherite party with a leader that lacks any empathy for the most vulnerable in society. That doesn’t really come across to the international media, who see him as a Trudeau-esque figure.

Whatever happens, Varadkar is almost certainly gone from the Taoiseach position and I will take deep, deep pleasure in that.

5 Likes

He definitely comes across like Trudeau, but not in a good way.

2 Likes

Three-way dead heat, fucking hell :open_mouth:

5 Likes

Real shame SF weren’t prepared for this surge and didn’t field enough candidates to form a government

9 Likes

Second,third/etc preferences could really play into this, there was lots of emphasis on voting left throughout your preferences, just hope people acted on it.

Who are the 15% of 18-24 yr olds voting Fine Gael lol :boot: :tongue:

1 Like

WhTs the deal with the candidates thing? I see even FF/FG only stand in about 2/3rds of the seats…

Let’s all move to Ireland/Scotland/Iowa

4 Likes

RTE player is working for me 90 seconds at a time, great thanks

1 Like

Website not loading at all for me.
Lefties across the world jamming the site.

oh no it doesn’t work at the best of times

4 Likes

Worth pointing out that the left is very, very fractured in Ireland. SF still seen as a pariah by many, so it’s difficult to see how they form a coalition.

1 Like

young people rule.

4 Likes