Election time

[Tribesman]

Yep its that time again , the world holds its breath waiting for the Irish election to take place .
A real bad start though , I had money placed on Bertie dissolving the Dail on Monday ,with a smaller bet for the Tuesday .
A sure fired winner , a dead cert that he would do it just in time to stop the planning tribunal raising the question of the £80,000 bribe he alledgedly took .

The damn liberal media screwed it by raising the story of another £30,000 bung to his missus prompting him to go a day early .:furious3:

Oh well , at least I can enjoy the fun the election offers . 3 candidates so far sent off from the doorstep with a tirade of abuse , a fourth got a reasonable discussion about his policies before he ended up going the same way as the others , and one who not only got a reasonable discussion but I even went as far as saying I might consider giving her a vote .
Only 11 more candidates to go through before polling day:2thumbsup:

[drone]

Oh well , at least I can enjoy the fun the election offers . 3 candidates so far sent off from the doorstep with a tirade of abuse , a fourth got a reasonable discussion about his policies before he ended up going the same way as the others , and one who not only got a reasonable discussion but I even went as far as saying I might consider giving her a vote .
Only 11 more candidates to go through before polling day:2thumbsup:
When I lived in the UK, I was surprised to see a candidate come to my door. I thought it was a nice touch, of course I told her I was a Yank and couldn't vote for anyone, but still good to see. You only get campaign flunkies around here doing the house-to-house thing. I can only imagine the abuse you could heap on the poor, unsuspecting candidate that rings you doorbell! :bow:

[Tribesman]

Dissapointing news . There are only 14 candidates
One FF is running as an independant so I counted her twice:oops:


I can only imagine the abuse you could heap on the poor, unsuspecting candidate that rings you doorbell!
:laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: the politicians should have learnt by now , the Jehovahs have . Not that I would subject the JWs to a tirade of abuse , just invite then in for a cuppa and a discusson on scripture :2thumbsup:

[Don Corleone]

I thought your man Ahern went for a long walk after the Aer Lingus scandal back in 2004? What ended up happening after all that, anyway? I'm all for privitization, but not like that... very smelly business if I heard it properly at the time.

[Tribesman]

I thought your man Ahern went for a long walk after the Aer Lingus scandal back in 2004? What ended up happening after all that, anyway? I'm all for privitization, but not like that... very smelly business if I heard it properly at the time.
Such things are a matter for the tribunal , he is not hiding anything and is not refusing to co-operate , but they will not be dealt with until he goes before the tribunal ,which miraculously keeps getting delayed again and again .:furious3: Its amazing how long an investigation can take when the people being investigated appoint judges who are just about to retire to do the job .
Though now they also want his ex-mistress and his mate Paddy the plasterer to answer some important questions about some strange cash ....errrr....gifts ...loans....favours....hmmmmm......actually bribes is the correct word I think .
Whoda thunk it would all grow out of one complaint about corruption and one fellow getting stopped at customs with a suitcase full of cash .

[Tribesman]

Oh well I was looking for wednesdays FF manifesto launch where in 15minutes of questions by one journalist Bertie managed to contradict everything he has ever said about suitcases of cash handed over to him .
But hey this is quite funnyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE5o79AOXAw
Not as funny as the real questions exchanged , but RTE has them on a format I can't access at the moment .
Though two real classics were "Its my money I earned it" relating to monies which were alledgedly corrupt payments to himself that exceeded what he himself had declared as his earnings ....
" its his money , its no ones business what he does with it" relating to money given to him to give to his mistress to refurbish a newly built house that hadn't even been purchased at the time .

Anyway , First of the PD candidates just called at the door while I was writing this:laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: 6 words sent him off , and none was a vulgar word (well , house and garden full of kids so I was restrained in my language):2thumbsup:

[Goofball]

Dissapointing news . There are only 14 candidates
One FF is running as an independant so I counted her twice:oops:


:laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: the politicians should have learnt by now , the Jehovahs have . Not that I would subject the JWs to a tirade of abuse , just invite then in for a cuppa and a discusson on scripture :2thumbsup:

If I know it's a JW at the door, I make sure to answer the door starkers...

[Louis VI the Fat]

The French election thread has 200 replies and 2000 views.... :wink3:

[Don Corleone]

Yeah, but Sarkozy doesn't have all those nifty purple ties Bertie wears all the time.

[Banquo's Ghost]

Well, the good people of the Republic look like they prefer the crooks they know to the aspiring crooks.

Fianna Fáil are strengthening in the polls again (http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0520/poll.html), despite Bertie's pecadilloes. Ah well.

Anyone else think Kenny let himself down in the debate? How hard can it be to pin an opponent who is up to his neck in sleaze?

If you're wondering about the odd thread title, one of us was playing with a new toy and chose this thread as a test subject because the overwhelming interest that brough the database to its knees in the early stages of the election had subsided enough that it was safe to experiment on. We'd have chosen the French Election thread, but that was clearly dead as a dodo. ~;p

[KukriKhan]

...one of us was playing with a new toy and chose this thread as a test subject...

My abject irish apall-o-jeez. :bow:

Um, on topic... I have not yet been issued an opinion on the matter. :)

[Grey_Fox]

Well Enda I have to say is an absolute joke as a candidate for Taoiseach. Bertie, for all his personal problems, has done a pretty good job.

FG is at it's best as a good opposition, keeping an eye on the government and making sure it doesn't do anything too daft, however they wouldn't be able to run a small town, never mind an entire country.

[Don Corleone]

Wasn't it FG that got Eire into the EU? Morons for leaders just mean they're as normal as any other political party. So does it look like FF is going to keep their majority seats? Right now, FF doesn't even have to coalition, correct?

Bertie's gotta keep winning. The day FF loses, he might actually have to face that tribunal. :laugh4:

[Grey_Fox]

Enda's not a moron, he's just weak. The wife rules him, and she's FF.

FF got us into the EEC under Jack Lynch.

Bertie's slated to be in front of the tribunal in May.

[Tribesman]

Bertie's slated to be in front of the tribunal in May.
Which year ?
Its why he called the election when he did , and then announced that he was standing down soon .



Right now, FF doesn't even have to coalition, correct?

coilition with PDs at the moment , the PDs are sopposed to be watchdogs on sleaze and corruption , but they just roll over and wag their tail every time they should bite .
Like Fox said Enda Kenny is a muppet .
FF will not gain a majority even if enough of the "independants" who miraculously rejoin the party after the election get in they still won't have enough .
Its gonna be a case of who can get a coilition with who . I just hope the PDs are totally wiped out at the ballot .
Whats gonna be funny is which parties are going to be willing to take Sinn Fein into government , kinda ironic when you consider that insisting Paisley went into government with them in the 6 was one thing all parties insisted on .

[Don Corleone]

I was doing some reading on FF, and it would appear that as much as this may offend some readers here, they're no where near the left-wing, almost socialist populists they were in the early days. Would this be accurate?

I've always felt an affinity toward FG, being that they were your lassiez-faire party. But it would appear from my reading that pretty much from Haughey on, FF has been pretty centrist and pro-business as well.

In light of that, what really separates the two parties these days? Tradition?

Sidenote: I was also stunned to hear that in a nation of approximately 3 million people, FF has the lion's share of party members, at 55,000. That's 0.25% of your population, a shockingly low number. Do most voters declare themselves unaffiliated, in spite of their leanings? Or is it like China, where only those with a vested interest one way or the other actually join a party? The reason I ask is because here in the States, in most jurisdictions, you have to declare a party affiliation (even independent or none) in order to register to vote. I think that encourages the large numbers of members in our two big parties.

[Don Corleone]

Also... is there any hope for an American to ever hear or pronounce accurately the difference between Fianna and Fine? :embarassed: I know to you all, they sound like 'red' and 'green', but frankly, I cannot hear a difference, let alone speak one.

[Don Corleone]

And this one goes out to Europeans in general. England's experiment with "New Labour" aside, what would be the difference between 'Labour' and 'Socialist' as actual parties?

I'm amazed to find that if one looks only at their platforms (I know, a foolishly naive way to pick a political party affiliation) I would most likely be a Progressive Democrat were I an Irish citizen.

I was also floored when I read there are UK citizens as TD (members of the Dail, the lower house of the Irish parliament and the one with the actual legislative authority).

[Tribesman]

I know to you all, they sound like 'red' and 'green', but frankly, I cannot hear a difference, let alone speak one.
fienner -----finna would be close enose Don .


I'm amazed to find that if one looks only at their platforms (I know, a foolishly naive way to pick a political party affiliation) I would most likely be a Progressive Democrat were I an Irish citizen.

What they claim to stand for and what they actually do are in no way related .
They were a good idea at their inception , but now:no:


I was also floored when I read there are UK citizens as TD
Why ? there are Irish citizens as MPs .

[Don Corleone]

fienner -----finna would be close enose Don .

So fianna is pronouned 'finnah' and Fine is pronounced "feenah" or do I have them backwards?


What they claim to stand for and what they actually do are in no way related .
They were a good idea at their inception , but now:no:
Yeah, it's the same over here. Politicans may make a good stand on being socially liberal, fiscally conservative, but it's the rare one that can keep from caving to the social conservatives to get the foot soldier volunteers to knock on doors for them. It's a shame. On the other side of the fence, Blue Dog Democrats have a really hard time living up their reputation when their party whip calls them up...



Why ? there are Irish citizens as MPs . I repeat myself, floored as well... In order to be a member of Congress, House or Senate, you must be a US citizen. What's more, I don't think you can even be appointed to any executive offices, even low level ones.

[Tribesman]

do I have them backwards?

yes you do .

[Grey_Fox]

It's not neccesary to declare your affiliation in order to vote what with it being a secret ballot and all.

However, I am a FF member and whats more will be conducting my patriotic duty tommorow - am a polling clerk for the day, working from 7am till 10.30pm.

FG were more of the rich snoobish class at the start - it was why Haughey raised such an uproar when he was seen fox hunting amongst FG as it was seen as a man from a working class background getting above himself. That was related to me by former boss who was FG through and through.

[Banquo's Ghost]

FG were more of the rich snoobish class at the start - it was why Haughey raised such an uproar when he was seen fox hunting amongst FG as it was seen as a man from a working class background getting above himself. That was related to me by former boss who was FG through and through.


Hey, I resemble that remark. :wink: Anyway, I always thought cunning Charlie would have made a great fox to chase - I believe that's why we invited the fellow to hunt in the first place...

Looks like your lot will be back at the trough soon enough. I have to concede though, Ahern has done some good things for the country, and Enda is no Fitzgerald.

Ah well, off to throw my vote away.

(OMG, they killed Kenny!) :bounce:

[InsaneApache]

Nice to see we aint the only one's with an inept government...:sweatdrop:

When Bertie Ahern casts his vote this morning in the Irish Republic’s closest-fought general election for decades, the cameras would do well to focus on his clenched teeth. The Fianna Fail leader and Taoiseach is not happy about having to go into a polling booth with a “stupid old pencil”.

A half-hour drive from his North Dublin constituency the object of Mr Ahern’s ire is under lock and key, stored in a hangar on a coastal military base: thousands of electronic voting machines, purchased at a cost of more than €50 million three years ago.

And the expense is rising. Storage of the 7,500 Dutch-made machinery costs another €1 million (£685,000) a year.

The machines were used as pilots in a number of constituencies in the 2002 general election and in the second Nice referendum that same year.

They were mothballed after the independent Commission on Electronic Voting said, before the 2004 local and European elections, that it did not have confidence in them.

Last year, in another report, the commission raised further questions about the security of the machines.

“Our silly old system is outdated,” Mr Ahern told the Dail, the Irish parliament, recently.

“We have to correct the software, which will cost €500,000, and then try to move forward. Otherwise we will go into the 21st century being the laughing stock with our stupid old pencils.”

The issue reemerged just before Mr Ahern called elections when the Opposition raised the cost as an example of the profligacy of the Fianna Fail-Progressive Democrat coalition Government.

With an economy that has recorded year-on-year growth for the past decade, the Opposition has tried to portray the Government as wasting what may have been the country’s boom years through incompetence.

As traffic jams worsen, hospital waiting lists lengthen and schools burst at the seams, it’s a strategy that seems to strike a chord with harassed voters. Opinion polls have seesawed throughout the campaign, making it too close to call.

The two main political groupings, Mr Ahern’s centre-right coalition and Enda Kenny’s centre-left alliance of Fine Gael and Labour, are running neck-and-neck.

If neither of the big two gets a majority under Ireland’s complex multi-seat constituency, proportional representation system based upon the single transferable vote, smaller parties, such as Sinn Fein, the Greens or independents, could hold the balance of power in the 166-seat lower chamber.

The likelihood is that tomorrow, when the count begins around the country, the outcome of the election may take days or even weeks to emerge.

With each of the Republic’s 43 constituencies electing four or five TDs (Members of Parliament), manually recounting votes to eliminate candidates took up to six days in some cases during the 2002 election. Today voters must choose by writing ‘1’ against their first choice then ‘2’, ‘3’ and so on against successive candidates with those “stupid” pencils.

“What kind of a country is this?” asked Pat Rabitte, leader of the Labour Party, last month as he rubbed salt into Mr Ahern’s wounds over the e-voting fiasco.

Mr Ahern agreed, saying that he was embarrassed by the speed of France’s presidential election result. He blamed the opposition for raising political objections to the “perfect” voting machines.

He said: “You’re dead right. I must have felt embarrassed when I watched over 80 million people have the result of their highest polls ever – over 85 per cent – in two hours.

“I had to go down to Meath and apologise to the people of Meath for being a technologically advanced country and one of the biggest exporters of software, that we’re going back to the pencils”.

“It’s a disgrace, and any waste of money on the voting system lies at your door,” he told his opposition tormentors.

“With a bit of luck, our election will be finished in about five days, as we go checking the bins to see if a vote blew off the pile. It is an embarrassment, and I hope in the next Dail, that we are able to rid ourselves of the horrendous difficulties we have trying to be a modern country.”

Ballot box

2.9m eligible voters

63% turnout at last election, down from 74% in 1982

166 seats being contested

1918 date of the first election to Dail Eireann, when Ireland was still not officially independent

10 Taoiseachs have held office, including Bertie Ahern

24 years Eamonn de Valera spent in total as leader of the Dail before going on to become President

Sources: ElectionsIreland.org; University College Dublin, The Irish Times

Gotta use stupid pencils (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1832090.ece)

@ Don This registering your intention to vote thingy has always bemused me. Here in the UK (and ROI) we take it as a central plank of the democratic process that the vote cast is secret. Obvious really when you think about it. As for members of the UK being in the Dail, this may appear strange but with the close history between our two peoples it's not as weird as it may look at first glance. Remember that ROI citizens have always been able to vote in UK elections, and now that we are both members of the EU, any citizen of the EU can vote in another EU states elections if they register and reside there.

[Tribesman]

Nice to see we aint the only one's with an inept government...
yep and it should be noted in regards to this bit.....

from the article.......And the expense is rising. Storage of the 7,500 Dutch-made machinery costs another €1 million (£685,000) a year.
...
that happens to be another very questionable issue about Berties government .
Like who was it that got the storage deal , how much over the odds the deal pays , what are the special conditions written into the deal that mean the tax-payer is getting thouroughly fleeced for a long time to come over storing what is effectively a pile of junk .
Still I suppose storage was better option , they had to retain the space in their own completely illegal land-fill dumps for the completely illegal contaminated medical waste to be dumped .

[gaelic cowboy]

I feel that whoever wins its actually an election to lose the economy will be a busted flush in a year or less whoever wins gets the blame. Enda is only viewd as weak cos most people voting have grown up with Bertie Fianna Fail are effectively the face of the state for 20 years with a slight rainbow glitch back in early 90s. The idea Ahearn is an ordinary man when he has friends that can give bundles of cash on loan and never seek it back is a laugh. I am voting FG cos simply its time to call a halt to years of scandal and bribes nuff said.

[Don Corleone]

The idea of registering for party affiliation is to assign you to a primary. In your system, you only get to choose which party you wish to vote for, not who gets the nomination within the party. In our system, we actually vote on who the party intends to nominate as it's candidate for a particular office. At least in theory.

In practice, our ability to select a candidate varies from state to state. Where I currently live, we nominate who's going to be the party candidates in the general election even at the state-wide level. In my former state, you only nominated the presidential candidate, and by the time they held their primaries, the decision had been made anyway (you could if wanted throw your vote away for a guy that could get enough electoral votes anyway).

As for declaring your vote... in reality, it's a generally accepted principal of American politics that the best citizens aren't that partisan and will cross party lines and will make the leap from time to time. The term 'Reagan Democrats' wasn't a fabrication. Likewise, there were enough Republicans angry at Gerald Ford for pardoning Nixon that they voted for Carter.

So, in European parlimentarian systems, do you have any input into who the party nominates as a candidate for various offices if you're not in that party?

Also, still waiting for an explanation on the difference between Labour, Socialist and Social Democrat? In reading the party planks for these 3 parties, there doesn't appear to be any difference at all. :shrug:

[gaelic cowboy]

Well Don I am off to do my democratic right so no more from me tonight. But your right there is no difference in those just slight change in name.

[InsaneApache]

Thanks for that insight Don:bow:

[Grey_Fox]

In your system, you only get to choose which party you wish to vote for, not who gets the nomination within the party.

That is incorrect.

A person stands as a candidate for the constituency. They declare which party they belong to, such as FG, FF, Labour etc, or else as belonging to no party - being independent.

The elector then votes for the individual candidates in their constituency in order of preference. The party that has the greatest number of candidates elected becomes the government.

And it was a 68% turnout in my polling office. Was a bugger to get up at 6am, though I had fun with the presiding officer who was dead on.

[drone]

What Don is saying, is that in our system, we decide who will be the party's candidate in the primaries (a contest within the party), the winners of the party-specific primaries go to the general election to face the other party winners and independents. What he is asking is: How does FF choose a candidate to run for a particular MP spot? Who makes the decision that Sean Q. O'Public will be the FF candidate? Can 3 guys belonging to FF run for the same spot?

[Grey_Fox]

There are three FF candidates three FG candidates, three PD candidates, one Green candidate, one Labour candidate, three Independent candidates and one SF candidate running in my constituency, Galway West, for a total of five possible seats.

The members of each party in each constituency decide in a convention who will run for the party in the forthcoming election.

Independents can put themselves forward as a candidate so long as thirty people nominate the independent at the county registrar's office.

[Tribesman]

which polling station were you working in Fox ?



three Independent candidates
of which Cox is independant FF and Connoly is independant labour

[Grey_Fox]

I'm just going by what was written on the papers. To be honest my brain is rather slow after 16 hours of duty.

Not to be rude, but if I said which polling station I was you'd only have two people to guess from for who was me, and I like my anonymity. Lets just leave it as north Connemara shall we?

[Tribesman]

Lets just leave it as north Connemara shall we?
So lets guess it was all vote #1 for that bollox O'Cuiv up there:laugh4:

[Grey_Fox]

He's not a bollox...

Funny ting was a local publican rounded up his kids and the drunks and wasters in his pub, gave them strict orders on what to do and marched them up to us.

I tell you, it makes one fairly cynical.

[Don Corleone]

There are three FF candidates three FG candidates, three PD candidates, one Green candidate, one Labour candidate, three Independent candidates and one SF candidate running in my constituency, Galway West, for a total of five possible seats.

The members of each party in each constituency decide in a convention who will run for the party in the forthcoming election.

Independents can put themselves forward as a candidate so long as thirty people nominate the independent at the county registrar's office.

So the three FF candidates were picked by FF. In our system, the party doesn't pick who's going to run as the Democratic candidate or the Republican candidate, we hold a primary election. We might have 10 Republicans seek to be the MP from New Hampshire's 1st disrict, and 15 Democrats. All the Republicans vote on which of the 10 they want and all the Democrats vote for which of the 15. Then the Republican that won her primary and the Democrat who won his, along with any 3rd party candidates and any independents run against each other in our general election. (And our MPs are actually called Representatives).

[Tribesman]

He's not a bollox...
He most certainly is , ever done any work through his department ?
ever been lumbered with having to use his cretinous relatives for the work ?
Look at all the rubbish he tries over road signs and changing town names ?
Ask any Taxi driver or tourist what trouble he causes them by insisting that every development in the city doesn't have an english name ?
And as for the grants your side of the corrib , what a joke ....people can apply and apply and get bugger all because they don't want to spend the allocation , but come the end of the financial year they will throw wads to any lame brained scheme just to show that they needed all the budget and really really need more next year .
Don't even get me started on his pet planning regulations projects :furious3:

He is a walking bollox as were all the politicains in that family since the creation of the Free State.

[Strike For The South]

Go Le Pen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[KukriKhan]

Ignorant American questions:

How much money changes hands in a typical ROI election? I don't mean the mechanical, 'run the election' cash, I mean the influence money. Can a ROI politician get rich as a politician? Can her vote, after being put into office, be bought by those who supported her? How about after her term - can she go to work for her election supporters without hindrence?

Are there rules in place about that sort of thing? How much TV/radio air time any individual candidate is allowed? How do they campaign? Door-knocking? Mailers? TV ads? Radio? Newspaper ads?

I don't mean to imply that there's anything amiss in the Republic's election process. Our own US system seems to find a correlation of cash = electoral victory, and I seek other country's ways to soften that 'rich fatcat' factor in our process.

Note: tried out the Thread-Labelling options. Seems to work. -Kukri

[Duke of Gloucester]

.....and now that we are both members of the EU, any citizen of the EU can vote in another EU states elections if they register and reside there.

I used to think this was true too, but EU citizens who are not British or Irish can only vote in local elections in the UK (not sure about elections to the European Parliament).

[Banquo's Ghost]

Early exit polls (http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0525/election1.html) seem to indicate FF in a strong position.

Election 2007: Exit poll good news for FF

Friday, 25 May 2007 08:18

An RTÉ exit poll suggests that Fianna Fáil will win almost exactly the same share of the vote as in 2002, but that Fine Gael will increase its vote by around 4%.

The poll, carried out by Lansdowne Market Research, shows decreases in support for Labour and the PDs, while the Greens and Sinn Féin will be disappointed not to have made a major breakthrough.

While the current coalition parties have a lead over the alternative, the final result is likely to be close and to be determined by transfers.

On this morning's Morning Ireland programme, RTÉ Political Correspondent David McCullagh said just after they voted yesterday, 3,000 people at 166 polling stations in every constituency in the country were asked how they voted.

The poll has a margin of error of 2.5%, but after the last election, the RTÉ/Lansdowne Market Research exit poll proved to be extremely accurate.

It got the national first preference totals correct to within around one percentage point.

The experts have been crunching the numbers all night, and the results are as follows:

Fianna Fáil is on 41.6% - marginally above what it won in the last election

Fine Gael is on 26.3%, almost 4% ahead of its 2002 result

Potential coalition partner Labour has slipped 1% from the last time, down to 9.9%

The PDs look to be in serious trouble, down to 2.6%, a 1 1/2% drop from 2002

The Greens are up 1%, but will be disappointed to be at just 4.8%

There appears to be no big breakthrough for Sinn Féin, also up just under 1% to 7.3%

Independents and others are down nearly 3% at 7.5%

Of course, the first preference vote does not give a cast-iron indication of how many seats will be won.

Fianna Fáil got a huge seat bonus in the last election and the shape of the next Government may still be determined by transfers.



How much money changes hands in a typical ROI election? I don't mean the mechanical, 'run the election' cash, I mean the influence money. Can a ROI politician get rich as a politician? Can her vote, after being put into office, be bought by those who supported her? How about after her term - can she go to work for her election supporters without hindrence?

Sorry Kukri, but I have to give in to a temptation to a Tribesman moment:

:laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4:

Ahem. We have some of the most corrupt politicians in the Western world with their little fiefdoms. I'm sure someone can tell you the approximate sums, but I'd be willing to bet much of the US problem is down to heritage from Irish and Italians immigrants bringing their methods to politics over the pond.

And no-one seems to care - witness Mr Ahern on his way back. :shrug:

[Grey_Fox]

EU citizens in Ireland can only vote in local and European elections, not Dáil elections.

In fairness to Bertie, there's very few politicians who don't accept money in the country. If you vote against him because of what came to light you'll just be voting for somebody who hasn't been exposed in the media for taking money.

I'm happy that the PD's are on the way out, and especially that Fiona O'Malley is taking it up the rear. Just a pity her fraud investigation didn't hit the papers before the election.

[Tribesman]

I'm happy that the PD's are on the way out:2thumbsup:
Pity Harney got in , but at least Mcdowell has gone for good .
The PDs are getting thouroughly stuffed , but it looks like Grealish is going to get in :dizzy2: amazing isn't it , screw up on the by-pass so everyone takes the long route down the worst roads possible , but hey put a roundabout at Grealishs pub and stick up a sign saying "I built this to help you ain't I good" and people buy it and vote for the muppet:furious3:
Looks like staus quo in Galway west , still there is always the hope that the snidey little racist crook Fahy will upset his russian "business" friends and end up having an ....errr....what is it again ?..oh yeah an unfortunate accident .~;)

[Grey_Fox]

I dislike Fahy, bugger came out west stealing votes from Crowe instead of taking Grealish's. Moron.

At least Galway will be getting a light rail system soon enough though, bout bloody time too.

[Tribesman]

He didn't steal those votes, it was his daughter , and he can get hold of all the paperwork to prove it , once he can get someone to write it for him .:laugh4:
At least on the bright side the little :daisy: doesn't come into the pub as often as he used to .


At least Galway will be getting a light rail system soon enough though, bout bloody time too.

Yeah scheduled for completion in 2156 , just after the build the new bridge and give us back the tap water .

[Grey_Fox]

Meh. I thought you were a builder? BURN IN HELL YOU VACILLATING FOOL!!!11!

[Tribesman]

I thought you were a builder?
yep .
light rail is on hold and it wouldn't fit anyway ,the bridge has had the money withdrawn . plus the areas where the link would have come out on the coast road have all either been built on already or just been granted planning permission, same with the land that was supposed to be for the moycullen by-pass .
Anyhow with 2156 I was just going on the scale of the projects , after all that new sewage plant ....hold on ...what do I mean new ...THE sewage plant was supposed to be built in 1967 .:yes:
Claregalway bypass was supposed to start in '97 , that was a condition for allowing the starting of all the huge housing estates out there , now the people on those estates can wait for up to 1/2 an hour just to get onto the N17 , then spend up to an hour going the few miles into town .:thumbsdown:

[Grey_Fox]

Bloody city councilors.

Who were the daft buggers that closed the rail network back in the 60's and 70's? Especially the lad that said that a civilised nation didn't need trains...

[Tribesman]

Bloody city councilors.

You don't have much dealings with the planning dept. do you:no:
Its one of the main reasons why I say O'Cuiv is a bollox .

[InsaneApache]

I propose this be moved to the 'Speak your own Irish' thread.

Any seconders?

:laugh4:

[Tribesman]

I propose this be moved to the 'Speak your own Irish' thread.

Go to hell ... or, barring that as uneconomical, go to less expensive Connaught; same thing. :laugh4:

[Tribesman]

Kukri your altertions to that post have made it seem more insulting rather than funny as it was intended, altering the play on a historical statement has trashed it , naughty mod:whip:
Anyhow with prices over here hell might be the cheaper option.

[KukriKhan]

Yeah, I,ve only half the wit of our native Irishers. I just wanted to make clear to our english-as-a-2nd-language crowd that you weren't actually consigning IA to the nether regions.

So, our Eire bretheren are satisfied with the election?

[Tribesman]

So, our Eire bretheren are satisfied with the election?
Safisfied that the PDs are stuffed completely .
Micheal D just this minute got elected on the 10th count:2thumbsup:
FF will probably get 78 seats , so its coilition time again , they might try and rely on ex-FF independants , but Cooper-Flynn is coming up on fraud corruption and tax evasion hearings so she should be gone soon :balloon2: , they might try with the greens or Labour , but that won't last , so it looks like there is a good chance that there will have to be another election very soon .
And since Bertie has said its his last election as leader maybe he will be gone , Bertie is a bit like Bush , some people seem to like him no matter what he does .
I suppose they could try a coilition with SF :laugh4:

[Grey_Fox]

Very happy. An FF government and a strong (at least in terms of numbers - I still reckon Kenny is too weak to be Taoiseach) opposition is what this country needs.

[Tribesman]

Fox , the problem remians though , FF havn't the numbers , who they gonna partner up with to form a government , and what price will the potential partners demand

[Banquo's Ghost]

I expect a Rabbitte in Bertie's future...

I can't say I'm satisfied, but reasonably content. FG made enough gains to be a strong opposition - as Grey_Fox noted, a good thing - and the PDs fell badly as did SF.

I do suspect we'll be doing this again quite soon though.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot. If anyone outside is bored enough to want to look at the detailed results, RTÉ have a decent round-up (http://www.rte.ie/news/elections2007/index.html) with most of the constituency info.

[Kralizec]

A minority government, then?


And this one goes out to Europeans in general. England's experiment with "New Labour" aside, what would be the difference between 'Labour' and 'Socialist' as actual parties?

In the Netherlands at least, the labour party has for the most part embraced the free market as an economical model. Our socialist party is much more archaic ideologically (kinda like the French PS or the old Labour of the UK, I suppose) and besides is much more a watchdog then a party with real ambitions of government.