General Election 2020

[Twist]

I always vote, but feeling deeply disillusioned about this one. There is no-one in my constituency I feel good voting for.

On those political compass tests I'm usually bang in the middle between left & right (maybe with a very slight rightward leaning). But I'm always heavily on the side of libertarianism over authoritarianism. This whole axis is totally uncatered for in Ireland.

I find the two so-called conservative parties to be very 'Big Government', so to speak. They seem to think every problem can only be improved by more regulation, more government involvement, more overreach. At the same time, they allow front-line services to wither. I was checked into a public hospital this time last year, and the poor nurses and doctors were totally rushed off their feet due to understaffing. The amount of paperwork they had to fill in for the most simple treatments was ridiculous. Remember FG were going to abolish the HSE by 2016? The system seems more sclerotic than ever now. And Simon Harris' solution is to kick the church in a tweet every fortnight.

That's just one department, but it's emblematic of a broader philosophical problem. Our planning regulations have resulted in 6 storey stumps appearing all along the docklands while we have a chronic undersupply of housing. Our Department of Defence has grown in number while our Defence Forces have manifested a staffing crisis so severe that our air-ambulance service and naval patrols are now part-time. Our streets are totally underpoliced. I could go on but it'd get boring.

I know being pissed off at the government is the default setting for people the world over, but I see no-one I would want in charge. They all want to increase their role in our lives, while at the same time neglecting major infrastructural projects. Who wants to build Dart Underground? No-one. Who wants to police what we say on twitter? All of them.

Edit; Forgot to add the entire point of this! Is anyone actually feeling enthusiastic this time around?

[Oldschool]

Our electoral system is at the core of our problems.
This leads to short term thinking.
Instant gratification is the order of the day.
The almost total lack of strategic planning is the result.
The politicians and civil servants look after number 1, the current dispute/debate over Pensions is a good example.
Anybody watching Prime Time last night would have seen the discussion about infrastructure.
Some people spend 3 hours a day commuting to work.
The system is there but there aren't enough carriages to go around.
Now why is that, you'd wonder?
The government will spend money on introducing "free" gp services for children up to the age of 13.
This sort of decision means that the carriages won't be bought and that a lot of those children will also spend three hours commuting to work.
Sure it's not as simple as that but that's the choice.
Services now at the cost of the future.
It's a vicious circle.
Then we get decisions like siting the Children's hospital on the St James site. Has to be one of the worst decisions ever made.
If you disagree I'd love to hear your reasoning.
So to break the cycle elect FG.
To not do so is to reward bad behaviour.
As to the"free", it's not free, somebody (the taxpayer) is paying for it. A compromise of paying half the full charge would at least signal that it's not free.
We have a huge supply/demand mismatch.
The political parties are creating more demand with their promises with very little detail in how it's going to be supplied.
The one thing that will keep booming is the bureaucracy.
Number 1 looking after itself.
Take People before Profit.
Slight exaggeration here but the Corporation Tax take more or less paid for last year's Health budget.
IE profit paid for our health service.
Profit shouldn't be a dirty word.
Profit and the wealth that creates that profit comes from people taking risks and working very hard, none of your nine to five. PBP wouldn't have a clue about that, windbags.
Anyway I know who I'm voting for and just as importantly who I'm not.
Good luck.

[Logorrhea]

would anybody be willing to pay more taxes? If a politician said we'd raise taxes would anybody vote for them?

[Dave Cahill]

would anybody be willing to pay more taxes? If a politician said we'd raise taxes would anybody vote for them?

It would depend on what they said they were going to spend it on. But in principle I don't have a problem with a high-tax, high-services system. People already pay for things like private health insurance and private education because they don't seem to be able to see a link between low taxes and poor services.

[Logorrhea]

I agree with you. but I asked if a politician said we'd raise taxes would anybody vote for them?

I'm pretty confident the answer is no. So as an electorate we expect our media to set the agenda with a focus on whats going wrong, the parties to lie about whos to blame and how it can be fixed, and the electorate to end up with a general sense of unease and hopelessness.

[CiaranIrl]

I think benevolent dictatorship is the only form of government that would solve Ireland's problems at this stage. They're too deeply rooted.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Parts of the RTE coverage are appalling.

They don't seem to be clued in to when a tally is going to be announced so keep having to cut people off to go to the announcements and it's just chaotic and rude. I'm a big fan of David McCullagh and Bryan Dobson but Miriam O'Callaghan is all over the place. Of course there's an element of that with every election, but this is off the charts.

They also keep removing graphics from the screen for no good reason. Just leave the original list up and then update the whole thing after the latest vote FFS!

[Oldschool]

Parts of the RTE coverage are appalling.

They don't seem to be clued in to when a tally is going to be announced so keep having to cut people off to go to the announcements and it's just chaotic and rude. I'm a big fan of David McCullagh and Bryan Dobson but Miriam O'Callaghan is all over the place. Of course there's an element of that with every election, but this is off the charts.

They also keep removing graphics from the screen for no good reason. Just leave the original list up and then update the whole thing after the latest vote FFS!

Agree completely and then to add insult to injury they tell us this what they are spending our TV licence money on.
One of the biggest problem this country faces is the wasteful use of the taxpayer's money by public entities.
RTE is just one example.

[ronk]

What is the point of sending someone to a count centre and then doing a live report over the count.

Madness

[mfjoc]

Scary times when our future minister for Justice shouts "UP THE RA" at his victory celebration.

[Logorrhea]

He was apparently tired so its totally alright. Just a distraction. Nothing to see here................. just don't ask him to work late or get excited and it wont happen again.

[FLIP]

Scary times when our future minister for Justice shouts "UP THE RA" at his victory celebration.

Looking forward to being told "Go home brit" next time I'm over based on my voice... despite the fact I'm an Irish citizen.

[Laighin Break]

Scary times when our future minister for Justice shouts "UP THE RA" at his victory celebration.

Looking forward to being told "Go home brit" next time I'm over based on my voice... despite the fact I'm an Irish citizen.

Why would you assume that would happen?

[blockhead]

Scary times when our future minister for Justice shouts "UP THE RA" at his victory celebration.

Looking forward to being told "Go home brit" next time I'm over based on my voice... despite the fact I'm an Irish citizen.

Why would you assume that would happen?

No more "Irelands Call"?
Tis the least we can expect, no?

[paddyor]

Scary times when our future minister for Justice shouts "UP THE RA" at his victory celebration.

Looking forward to being told "Go home brit" next time I'm over based on my voice... despite the fact I'm an Irish citizen.

Why would you assume that would happen?

Because they’re gauche nationalists and they’re goal will be to normalise that kind of rhetoric and the past of the IRA.

[Twist]

Its sorta funny watching Mary Lou pretend to be disappointed in him.

Its about 18 months since she was shouting “Up the rebels and tiocfaidh ár lá” at her coronation following a very normal changeover of leadership.

[CiaranIrl]

I don't know what the pulse of this site is, but for a variety of reasons, nearly all of the moral, I have no time whatsoever for the shinners. I'm not a massive social media user, but what little I look at sees to be overwhelmed by their "online volunteer supporters".

I'm amazed there hasn't been more focus on the way they use these people: https://www.sinnfein.ie/get-involved

... To overwhelm Reddit, Twitter, Facebook et al.

[blockhead]

I'd say most people on here are left leaning shinners, especially Oldschool.

[Oldschool]

I'd say most people on here are left leaning shinners, especially Oldschool.

My tuppence halfpenny worth.
Sinn Fein are organized more like an army than a political party.
This makes them more efficient, better organized and less Me Fein than your average politician or political party.
Even the rhetoric is "Do as we say", not just from SF tbf.
"FG and FF should support a SF government" (That's their interpretation of their 25% of the populous vote, a long way short of The Donald's share of the populous vote) - I've yet to hear a cogent reason as to why?.
Those minister's jobs pay well, why would anyone turn their noses up at them.
If SF get into power they will boom and bust this country just like FF only worse. The Irish construction industry for example is close to full capacity already, a look back to our fairly recent history will tell how bad things could get if the economy is stoked anymore.
As for a United Ireland - No thanks.
The only way that would work would be a federal Ireland of two states a bit like Flanders and Wallonia who both have their own governments and budgets and then you have the Belgium government.
Loads of jobs for politicians, what's not to like unless, of course, you're the taxpayer picking up the tab.
The parallels with Belgium are uncanny, protestant Flanders and catholic Wallonia - jaysus now that I think about it, it might just work.
So just to add a bit of humour to what is a very serious issue.
Setanta would be a good name for the protestant state and Lemass might be apt for Ireland, he's about the best Taoiseach we ever had (Bertie, I'm sure would disagree).
As an aside a lot of people are saying that landlords are selling up and yet big developers are building to rent because it's not profitable to build to sell.
This implys an upward trend in rents.
At the core of a lot of our problems is our banking system and SF show no sign that they even understand what the problem is.
Their solution to tax our banks is just mind boggling. Our banks are only profitable if they are charging double the average interest rates available in the EU.
Go figure and to be clear, I despise the banks and NAMA too.
Dublin is too big is a big part of the problem (That and a total lack of any kind of STRATEGIC THINKING at Government level), solutions on the back of a postage stamp please, you can get it for a €1 at present but in about a months time it'll cost you €1.1 so get your suggestions in quickly.
F^ck the Begrudgers!

[domhnallj]

Senatorial literature has started poking through my letterbox. If there is no government formed and we have another election do we have to go around with the Senate also?