Tomás Ó Flatharta

Looking at Things from the Left

Archive for the ‘Fianna Fáil’ Category

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

with 2 comments

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 »

Build the ULA

with 5 comments

Guest post

In advance of the ULA Forum a statement on Building the ULA from Joan Collins TD, Eddie Conlon Steering Committee Member ULA and PBP and Dermot Connolly, Steering Committee Member PBP.

The Main Job Now is to Build the ULA

The ULA has been a success. It has brought together a variety of left and socialist forces and provided a framework whereby they can work together. It has led to a focus on what the left agrees on rather than what divides us.  It has shown that by working together we can have success and develop genuine and  radical political representation for working people.  With the election of 5 TDs the ULA has established a national profile and provided a pole of attraction for those who want to resist the attacks on workers, the unemployed and oppressed.

The key issue now is how we develop the ULA beyond being an alliance into a political force which can draw in new layers of activists and build commitment to a radical reorganisation of society.  The shift from an alliance to a new political formation will take time and cannot be rushed. But if the ULA is not seen to be moving beyond its current configuration, essentially an alliance of the Socialist Party, People Before Profit and the Tipperary Workers and Unemployed Action Group, its growth could be stifled.  Those attracted to it may only see at as a tool of the constituent groups. They will feel they cannot have a real say in what happens  without joining one of the groups. Read the rest of this entry »

ULA: What kind of party do we need? 4

with one comment

ULA: What kind of party do we need? 4

Guest post

1. Publish and be damned.

At a People Before Profit Alliance Activists Meeting in May Kieran Allen of the SWP responded to Brendan Young’s call for a ULA publication – not a PBPA publication – by firmly ruling it out. His argument was that to have a publication you need to have agreement on what to say in it and the ULA was a diverse formation and therefore was not in a position to produce a publication. If that were the only obstacle it would be easily overcome by acknowledging that the publication should, in any case, carry debate within the overall context of the agreed message.

On this site Mark P of the Socialist Party took issue with Brendan in response to his article ‘United Left Alliance “A Work in Progress” -Steps Towards a New Party’:

https://tomasoflatharta.com/2011/05/20/united-left-alliance-a-work-in-progress-steps-towards-a-new-party/#more-404

Brendan had asserted that “the production of an independent publication for the ULA – to give expression to our views and an independent identity to the organisation – remains an argument to be won”. Mark P did not agree and commented: Read the rest of this entry »

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

leave a comment »

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.

https://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 »

Resistance to the Cuts : News from the Irish Times and RTÉ’s Liveline Radio Show

with one comment

The Irish Times of Wednesday June 15 was very unusual  –

it carried two useful news reports about campaigns against Government-inspired cutbacks.

Dublin Bus is cutting services.

While the newspaper story headline is a bland

Dublin Bus plans further route changes

the story offers a different perspective from :

Save Our Bus Services, which says the changes are in fact cuts to services, which will hurt the old, the disabled and schoolchildren most. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

Jun 17, 2011 at 8:26 am

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

with 7 comments

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 »

Garret FitzGerald – “a Politician Often Judged on his Intentions Rather than his Actions”

leave a comment »

The former Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Garret FitzGerald has died aged 85 years of age – a very sad event for people who were close to him.    Many credible testimonies are recorded showing he was a kind and courteous man in his personal relations.  His public political career stretched from 1965, when he was elected to the Seanad (Senate) on the Fine Gael ticket up to a couple of weeks ago – he wrote a regular Saturday column in the Irish Times which was often interesting.

Many media professionals liked FitzGerald (no harm in that), but very few were willing to face him down on key issues of public policy (dangerously harmful).

Most of today’s broadcasters fall into that trap, with one small telling exception : Vincent Browne, presenter of TV3’s late night week day current affairs programme :

Tonight With Vincent Browne – TV3 Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

May 19, 2011 at 11:16 pm

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

with 2 comments

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 »

The February 25 General Election changed something in Ireland

with 3 comments

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 »

Why is Fianna Fáil Losing?

with one comment

Vincent Browne – played by the inimitable Mario Rosenstock – tries to get answers from Willie O’Dea and Micheál Martin – essential viewing! :

http://www.tv3.ie/videos.php?video=32673&locID=1.65.596&date=2011-02-19&date_mode&page=1&show_cal&newspanel&showspanel&web_only&full_episodes

And then go mad as hell :

http://www.tv3.ie/shows.php?request=tonightwithvincentbrowne&tv3_preview=&video=32827

 

 

Written by tomasoflatharta

Feb 24, 2011 at 7:39 am

Posted in Fianna Fáil, Humour