Tomás Ó Flatharta

Looking at Things from the Left

Archive for the ‘Green Party’ Category

Elections Over – Fianna Fáil Still Toxic, A Government Starting to Slide

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A Fianna Fáil Resurrection in Dublin West

- or A Fine Gael  Gift?

Ed Moloney in his always stimulating Broken Elbow Blog concentrates on the Sinn Féin performance and suggests in passing:

Fianna Fail did what no-one expected and put on a convincing impression of Lazarus. The FF result in the West Dublin by-election, the creditable performance of Sean Gallagher, the ersatz Fianna Failer – despite the late-breaking brown envelope scandal.

http://thebrokenelbow.com/2011/10/31/why-provo-lies-about-the-past-are-so-dumb/#comments

I disagreed, and posted a an explanatory reply.  This article expands on the topic.

The Fianna Fáil Dublin West by-election result must be analysed in tandem with the dire Fine Gael result achieved by a very weak candidate, Eithne Loftus.

http://www.electionsireland.org/changes.cfm?election=2011B&cons=112

http://www.rte.ie/news/vote2011/dublin-west.html Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

November 1, 2011 at 11:27 pm

Posted in Dublin West By-Election, Fianna Fáil, Financial Crisis (September 2008 onwards), Fine Gael, General Election 2011, Green Party, Ireland, Labour Party, October 27 2011, Opinion Polls, Referendums, Sinn Féin, Socialist Party, United Left Alliance

Nobody is denying US torpedoed plan to save the Irish State €20bn — Only Gene Kerrigan is asking

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We are paying Gene Kerrigan the compliment of reproducing his entire article in today’s Sunday Independent (June 19 2011).

We covered this ground during the recent general election campaign.

http://tomasoflatharta.com/2011/02/05/make-a-bonfire-of-irish-banking-vanities/

No apologies for the action replay.

We also recommend the following articles from Vanity Fair and the British Guardian – very relevant to Gene’s article.

Let us hope the United Left Alliance TD’s run with this ball

http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/03/michael-lewis-ireland-201103

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/ireland-business-blog-with-lisa-ocarroll/2011/feb/02/ireland-merrill-lynch-research-note-irish-banks

We’re shamed by conspiracy of silence

Nobody is denying US torpedoed plan to save the State €20bn — but no one’s asking either, writes Gene Kerrigan Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

June 19, 2011 at 4:26 pm

Posted in Fianna Fáil, Financial Crisis (September 2008 onwards), Fine Gael, General Election 2011, Green Party, International Political Analysis, Ireland, Labour Party, United Left Alliance, USA

United Left Alliance “A Work in Progress” – Steps Towards a New Party

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The Irish election returned five TDs for the United Left Alliance, with 2.8 per cent of the first preference votes. But this victory for the Left is only part of a bigger picture of political change, writes Brendan Young, in an article commissioned by Scottish Left Review. Republished here with kind permission of the author and SLR.

This article is also published on the Irish Left Review Site  :

United Left Alliance A Work In Progress – Steps Towards a New Party

Joe Higgins TD - Socialist Party and the United Left Alliance

Described as a sea change by commentators, the biggest shock of Ireland’s recent general election was the collapse of the vote of Fianna Fáil (FF), the State’s largest party; from 41.5 per cent in 2007 to just 17.4 per cent this time. FF has governed in Ireland for 61 out of the 79 years since it was formed in 1932 and has won 14 out of the 19 general elections. Yet it now has only one TD (member of parliament) in Dublin – down from 13. Its first preference vote in Dublin was only 12.5 per cent, whereas the United Left Alliance, on its first outing, got 7.1 per cent. What stands out is the loss of support for FF among working class voters – confirming what has already been happening in local elections. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

May 20, 2011 at 6:26 pm

Posted in Fianna Fáil, Financial Crisis (September 2008 onwards), Fine Gael, General Election 2011, Green Party, Ireland, Labour Party, People Before Profit, Sinn Féin, Socialist Party, Trade Unions, United Left Alliance

Labour Voters – How Cool Are They About Coalition With the Right?

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John Meehan has put together a statistical analysis of Labour Party lower preferences, where no other Labour candidate is in the contest (these are known as terminal transfers), and candidates from both the left and right are still in the race.

The table is at the end of this article.

=======================================

Healthy debate is developing on this blog and other Irish sites on the composition of the Labour Party’s electoral base.  The February 2011 General Election broke new ground in many ways, and we can learn a lot from detailed study of the numbers.

An interesting question is : how keen are Labour voters on coalition with the right?  How sympathetic are they to the arguments of left rivals that helping to elect Enda Kenny as taoiseach is a very bad idea? Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

March 15, 2011 at 10:18 pm

Posted in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, General Election 2011, Green Party, Ireland, Labour Party, People Before Profit, Sinn Féin, Socialist Party, United Left Alliance

The February 25 General Election changed something in Ireland

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The article below  – by John Meehan -

has been  published in the British Magazine Socialist Resistance :

http://socialistresistance.org/1775/70-votes-for-socialism

 

Writing in the North American online magazine Counterpunch Harry Browne zoned in on two key features on the Irish February 25 2011 General Election Result

 

 

Same Old at the Top – but Irish Election Makes Room for the Left

Same Old, Same Old at the Top, But – Irish Election Makes Room for the Left

The same old :

A Fine Gael / Labour coalition takes over the government after 14 years of Fianna Fáil rule. Since 1932, Fianna Fáil have been the governing party for 61 out of 79 years.  They have won 19 out of 25 General Elections. On the rare occasions Fine Gael dominated coalitions have come to power the smaller right-wing party never held on longer than one term in office.

That said, the scale of the 2011 Fianna Fáil defeat is without precedent Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

March 10, 2011 at 7:30 pm

Posted in Fianna Fáil, Financial Crisis (September 2008 onwards), Fine Gael, General Election 2011, Green Party, Ireland, Labour Party, Opinion Polls, People Before Profit, Sinn Féin, Socialist Party, United Left Alliance

Why Does The Irish Labour Party Seek Fine Gael’s Kiss-of-Death?

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In the last days of the 2011 Irish General Election Campaign Labour Party leaders and spinners are warning that the voters might choose a Fine Gael single party government. Their alternative? : Coalition – Fine Gael’s Enda Kenny for Taoiseach, Labour’s Eamon Gilmore the Tánaiste – that’s the message.

SIPTU leader Jack O’Connor, for example, claims “that a coalition government would be far preferable as the country imposes spending cuts as part of its EU and IMF bailout.

“If you look at the lessons of history, they (Fine Gael) haven’t been in government on their own since 1927 when their predecessor Cumann na nGaedheal was in government,”….

“They pursued policy which resulted in economic stagnation for 60 years. And that’s the kind of policy that’s being advocated by both of the centre-right parties at the present time.”

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/02/15/ireland-politics-union-idUKLDE71E2C620

First – is a single-party Fine Gael government possible or likely?

We will know for sure on Saturday February 26 – at the time of writing, if the polls are right, a single party Fine Gael government is possible but unlikely.

http://politicalreform.ie/2011/02/22/seat-estimates-for-irish-independent-millward-brown-lansdowne-opinion-poll-23rd-february/#more-2337

A second factor is political – many Fine Gael backers, for example the former party leader Garret FitzGerald, argue that coalition with Labour is a better tactical option for this right-wing party. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

February 23, 2011 at 12:32 pm

Posted in Fianna Fáil, Financial Crisis (September 2008 onwards), Fine Gael, General Election 2011, Green Party, Ireland, Labour Party, Opinion Polls, People Before Profit, Sinn Féin, SIPTU, Socialist Party, Trade Unions, UNITE, United Left Alliance

Joan Collins to Offer Radical Alternative – RTE’s Frontline Programme, Monday February 21

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Message from the Joan Collins Site :

“I have agreed to go on panel on Frontline on Monday evening. It’s on after the  9pm news. Also last Friday I had a BBC Panorama crew with me for the afternoon in Drimnagh. They are doing an election special on Ireland, also on Monday evening.”

http://joan-collins.org/2011/02/19/appearing-on-panel-on-frontlines-rte-monday-night/

Joan’s campaign was featured in the Irish Times, Thursday February 17 :

Collins aims to offer radical alternative

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0217/1224290025041.html

Joan Collins Flyer :

http://irishelectionliterature.wordpress.com/2011/02/09/flyer-from-joan-collins-people-before-profit-united-left-alliance-dublin-south-central/

500 Words from Joan Collins :

http://www.drimnaghisgood.com/2011/02/16/500-words-from-joan-collins-people-before-profit-canidate-for-dublin-south-central/

United Left Alliance Prospects? Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

February 20, 2011 at 3:42 pm

Posted in European Union, Fianna Fáil, Financial Crisis (September 2008 onwards), Fine Gael, General Election 2011, Green Party, Ireland, Labour Party, Opinion Polls, People Before Profit, Sinn Féin, Socialist Party, United Left Alliance

Kill the Finance Bill – Burn the Bondholders!

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See discussion here :

http://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/so-what-happens-next/

Line of Action :
Kill the Finance Bill
Dissolve the Dáil and announce a new General Election date before March 11

The Green Party/Fianna Fáil policy – apparently supported by Fine Gael – of passing the Finance bill this week should be rejected out of hand.

Call the bluff of the right-wing – do not tolerate hypocrites pretending to oppose the government, but in fact hoping the austerity package is passed – and after a General Election Fine Gael and their Labour coalition colleagues will say they are in “a straitjacket”, their “hands are tied”, and so on.

Kill the Finance Bill – Burn the Bondholders! Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

January 23, 2011 at 7:57 pm

Posted in Fianna Fáil, Financial Crisis (September 2008 onwards), Fine Gael, General Election 2011, Green Party, Ireland, Labour Party, Sinn Féin

Brian Martin, Éamonn Cowen, Mícheál Kenny, Enda Gilmore – Who Cares?

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Brian Martin, Éamonn Cowen, Mícheál Kenny, Enda Gilmore – Who Cares?

If the new government is a Fine Gael-Labour Coalition after the imminent 2011 General Election, Kenny-Gilmore will quickly be just as unpopular as Cowen-Gormley today -

since such a government will pursue the same policies as the outgoing discredited Greena Fáil coalition.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mícheál Martin is voting no confidence in his leader the Taoiseach Brian Cowen next Tuesday -

enjoy this video instead of going through the entrails :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD2Vr7lb-D4

Written by tomasoflatharta

January 16, 2011 at 8:49 pm

Posted in Fianna Fáil, Financial Crisis (September 2008 onwards), Fine Gael, General Election 2011, Green Party, Ireland, Labour Party

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