Atheist Ireland Forum

http://sluggerotoole.com/2010/12/03/fin ... e-budgets/

I heard this on the radio in work aswell. He didnt give reasons but Sinn Fein have criticised Labour in the past for being "anti-worker".

Its always seen as the popular move to distance yourself from SF, but if polls are to be believed it will be interesting to see if opinions change if SF get more seats than would be ecpected.

Who voted FF in the poll?

Run:
FF+
= FG

one of the 13% loyalists perhaps ???

Thought I'd bump this up given the current climate!

Joe Higgins is getting my first preference for Dublin West, I think. As Dev said a few pages back, I'm trying to vote for the individual candidate as opposed to the associated party. One reason for this is that, as a first-time voter, I simply do not know enough about politics to make sweeping party statements.

It's actually been quite a process of elimination. Joan Burton's performance on Vincent Browne turned the whole household off of her. My Ma was even considering throwing her a No. 1, because of the whole 'independent woman' idea as much as anything. Not now.
I was underwhelmed by Patrick Nulty's fence-sitter response to AI's 6 questions, but I might throw him my second preference simply because of the alternatives...

I have Lenihan, (no) Cieran Denison (unimpressed), Rodric O'Gorman (possible 3rd pref...), Paul Donnelly (no thanks, SF) and Leo Varadkar. I will most certainly not be voting for him. The other candidates (one independent, another FF) haven't stood out to me either.

I admit that I'm surprised by Higgins' lack of a reply to the 6 questions. However, he seems to be the only genuine candidate in my area. I've actually been trying to find his Achilles' Heel, something to turn me off him, but I haven't succeeded yet.

For the record I don't really think that militant socialism is compatible with human nature, and it didn't even take a reading or two of Utopia to lead me to that conclusion.

I have decided that I'm voting strategically using the transfer process. My no1 is going for the candidate that I would like to win in the forth seat fightout, my second is for the candidate that will prob get in on the first count, so when it comes down to the final seat and if my first pref is then eliminated, the vote will then go to my 3rd pref which I'm choosing more as a vote against who I don't want to get the last seat.

Have you tried http://www.boards.ie/vote/ where you can cast your poll-vote and see live results

Here's how I voted (in Dublin North Central):

(Apologies for the orientation)

No. 1 for the no-hope independent candidate. Despite his total lack of campaigning and near-zero chance of getting elected, I like his politics (Direct Democracy) and think he's worth a mention.
No. 2 for an incumbent independent. He seems to work hard for the community.
No. 3 for the Labour candidate. He seems to really care and I think a strong Labour party is good for the country right now (in that it means a weaker Fine Gael)
No. 4 for the Green candidate. She keeps trying but probably won't get in.
No. 5 for the Fine Gael hopeful. He's not currently a TD and I'd prefer him to get in than his running mate (see below).
No. 6 for the bearded lefty because choices are limited at this stage.
No. 7 for incumbent FG TD (and former deputy leader of the party) Richard Bruton
No. 8 for Sean Haughey, the Fianna Fail candidate and the incompetent son of our most corrupt former leader. Also looks a lot like Hitler.

No vote for the Sinn Fein candidate because of the party's continuing support for terrorism.

My (slightly hopeful) prediction is that Independent Finian McGrath (my No. 2), Labour candidate Aodhan Ó Ríordáin (my No. 3) and one of the Fine Gael candidates will be elected.

Could you elaborate on that please ?

I was speaking of Sinn Fein's deep and ongoing connection with the terrorist organisation known as the Provisional IRA.

emmm you have actually heard of the cease fire,decomissioning , the good friday agreement ,the Stormont assembly etc havent you ?

Of course. And while it's great that (so far at least), the murderous violence of the IRA is a thing of the past, it's still something that Sinn Fein continues to support and glorify.

I was outside the polling station at 7am this morning, unfortunately it was the wrong polling station as they moved me since the last local election
All the schools sound the same anyway, St this or Holy that!

Anyway, I found the right place and voted for Sinn Féin.

Interesting ! How do you feel about FF and FG continuing support for the murderous violence of
the civil war, the war of independance ,the Fenian rebellion ,Emmet's rebellion , the 1798 rebellion ,the 1641 rebellion ,the jacobite rebellion ...etc etc and the The battle of Clontarf ?

I am against the glorification of war and violence in general, but I see a marked difference between celebrating these events and promoting and defending the actions of a group of violent thugs who acted as a private police force and tortured and murdered innocent people, especially when many of the perpetrators are still alive and remain unpunished.