05.04.07
10 Reasons to vote for Fine Gael
Paul asked for these, so why not? I’ll have a go.
1. If you want a change of government, the only party that can guarantee this is FG. Any other party would do a deal with FF (alright, Labour MAYBE not, but still).
2. You should want a change of government because it is simply bad for a country to have one party in power for so long. Let’s face it, on the macroeconomic scale, no party is going to radically change policy but the concentration of political patronage in one party is bad for a country and appalling in terms of civil service management. FF are house-trained. It’s a disaster. There is NO government in this country. Projects are allowed slide out of control. The unions and bureaucrats cut deals between themselves. I want someone to be in charge that isn’t being bossed around my civil servants. We need new people.
3. I firmly believe that FG will manage the finances better and not waste so much money on stupid projects.
4. FG is proposing to row back on tax individualisation which will help single income families. This is good.
5. I think they will prioritise the environment. We have to get rid of Dick Roche. A FG led government will see bigger emphasis on environmental issues. There is a danger of voting green in if you care about the environment but I don’t trust them not to put FF back in.
6. I think with Health they can apply fresh faces and fresh thinking. Mary Harney might mean well, but lets face it, she has failed. Some new thinking is required. For instance, Finbarr FitzPatrick, CEO of the IHCA, is a Fine Gaeler. MAYBE FG would be in a better position to cut a deal with him. (his priorities are his members of course but who knows…) The nurses were long fingered for the past 10 years. Its time for new ideas.Liam Twomey is a really nice guy with an indepth knowledge of health issues. Its time to give someone else a go.
7. I think being in coalition with Labour will see better emphasis on programmes for the disadvantaged instead of lip service.
8. How about I summarise part of it like this
The Next Government
Enda (a decent and honest man whom I trust) in and Bertie whom I don’t trust out
Dick Roche, Mary Hanafin, Michael McDowell, Tim O’Malley, Mary Coughlan all out
Richard Bruton, Pat Rabbitte, Liz McManus, Liam Twomey, Fergus O’Dowd, Dan Neville in
9. Genuine commitment to free pre-school for all – starting with the disdvantaged
10. oh fuckit, how many more ways are there to say, Fianna Fail are useless. They have looked after a constituency of developers, shamelessly favoured the rich over the poor, criminally over looked the old and the disadvantaged, ignored time bombs like nursing home funding, established financial and planning corruption as a core value, handed money to those who didn’t need it via SSIA’s, flushed money down the toilet on benchmarking and decentralisation. It’s got to stop. The only way to get them out is to put in Fine Gael.
Voting for any other party, Green, PD, SF, or an independent is useless. I’ll still speak to Labour voters afterwards. But that’s it.
sigh.
tomcosgrave said,
May 4, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Will FG support the introduction of legislation to allow women and girls like X, C and now D to have an abortion within Ireland?
tomcosgrave said,
May 4, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Oh, and voting Green is not useless – it is essential. FG and Labour will not be able to do it alone.
(Full disclosure: I am a Labour member)
Sarah said,
May 4, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Hi Tom
On 1. not sure. I would hope so. I don’t blame them for being nervous about it. Tell you what I will ask.
On 2. WELL you can transfer. But I’m not taking any chances. Its FG, Labour, then Green.
CG said,
May 4, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Tom (and Sarah) – this is my biggest concern too. I’ve hunted high and low for ANY statements vis-a-vis abortion policy among all the political parties. None of them say anything, either in support of the status quo or against it.
The more I think about this, the more important I realise it is to me and the more pissed off I become that in the wealthiest country in Europe, we have easily the most arcane abortion laws (among the western countries anyway, and we’re in a very bad way indeed if we count ourselves Poland’s equals).
Though my sixteen-year-old self would be appalled, the more I think about it the more convinced I become that I’m not going to vote at all. The candidates in my constituency are a shower of oul fellas. The only thing that pisses me off more than they do are those rock the vote ads. Women’s rights are one the most important things to me, if I can’t vote for them, why vote at all?
BUT admittedly I did like everything else in the labour manifesto about women. But is it enough? Sarah who in FG is at least personally pro-choice? Is there any possibility they’d have the balls to call a referendum?
Conn said,
May 4, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Sarah,
I’d be interested to hear what you have to say in the hang ‘em and flog ‘em wing of FG, which have been focal over the past year. For example, Enda’s idea that judges should pass down sentences on what ‘the people’ decide, and should explain himself or herself in court if this sentence is at odds with what ‘the people’ want. (He’s never really explained how we are to gauge what ‘the people’ think – perhaps he’s planning to hire Joe Duffy as a FG consultant/special dispenser of a no-nonsense style of justice).
One big reason not to vote FG: because they have shown themselves to be totally shameless in whipping up public hysteria when it comes to crime (’there’s anarchy on the streets of Dublin’, Enda told the Dail).
If in power, there is a serious danger that they will resort of a form of penal populism, based on the Paul Williams school of criminology (why, for example, have they been in favour of the law as regards reasonable defence in the home, which works absolutely fine – they keep saying it’s in case a homeowner defending himself won’t get sued by a burglar, even though this has never actually happened, and any cases that have come in relation to this have always been found in favour of the homeowner.)
FG has also shown that when it comes to crime, they have a totally simplistic view of it as being a ‘good’ versus ‘evil’ situation. It’s a little more complex than that, but stressing the complexities of crime isn’t going to win you votes – much easier to tell people to be very afraid, and then try to present yourself as a kind of solution to their fears.
As much as I dislike Fianna Fail, Fine Gael’s histrionics when it comes to crime really disgust me.
Conn said,
May 4, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Sorry just realised a typo that means a sentence I wrote totally doesn’t make any sense: ‘why, for example, have they been in favour of the law as regards reasonable defence in the home,’ should read, ‘why, for example, have they been in favour of changing the law as regards reasonable defence in the home.’ Apologies!
Sarah said,
May 4, 2007 at 7:21 pm
oh I forgot -mental health. I think FG will prioritise mental health and suicide prevention services. (Dan Neville being the country’s leading advocate for suicide prevention).
Sarah said,
May 4, 2007 at 7:30 pm
The abortion thing is a total disaster I agree. And I promise, I will start tracking down pro-choice people in FG. The only thing is, I really do understand their hesistancy to say anything definitive at election time. Be realistic. They can do nothing unless they get elected. If the hornets nest of abortion gets stirred up they’ll get murdered and not get in. And then what? FF get back in and let’s face no one could be worse than them when it comes to pro-choice.
My hope is that FG say nothing, get in and after a year or two, see if they can tackle it in a calm way. And hopefully FF won’t oppose it and whip up a pro-life row.
You can not vote, but what’s that going to achieve? Anyway, too many people died for the right to vote for you not to vote. You have to find the least offensive candidate and give them a vote. And then vote the whole way down the card and watch your vote transfer count afer count. I love PR!
Con, to be honest, I think the FG position on crime is all very woolly. But fuckit,nothing they propose is worse than the Criminal Justice Bill which just got through.
You haven’t said about anything about the importance of changing the government in order to rid us of FF patronage and better management of public finances. To me this is the crux of it.
ben said,
May 4, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Reasons to vote for FG, summarized:
Em, we’re not FF. And, look, we have Labour with us! And aren’t Labour great?!
CG said,
May 4, 2007 at 9:14 pm
But would they get murdered though? Is this D case not a good opportunity to fly a cautiously pro-choice kite? I mean, a sizeable number of Irish people are pro choice, and surely there’s a gap in the market there for a party to fill? Why won’t even a few individuals come out and even just say, this case is wrong, we need to take a look at the law and the constitution. Nothing more than that. I honestly don’t think that would hurt a party.
(do I just think that because I’m young female and from Dublin? am I living in a bubble? I don’t think I am…)
And, you’re right in one sense about picking the least offensive candidate, but that only goes so far. My candidates are just desperate. All men, and the only one under 40 (who also seems to be the most socially liberal, based on the oh-so-informative (if only) mycandidate.ie) is a feckin PD. So I can’t vote for him. So what’s open to me but abstaining? They’re useless, absolutely useless.
PS – ‘I love PR’ – you big election nerd!
simon said,
May 5, 2007 at 9:47 am
Will FG introduce Drug testing for children, boot camps and drunk tanks.
Cynic said,
May 5, 2007 at 4:21 pm
I’d love to see FF out- for the reasons you’ve mentioned. But are FG any different?
I liked Enda’s considered and thinking approach to immigration but then that FG eejit in west dublin saying saying local schools which are over chrowded should emit catholic children only. Talk about stirring racist elements. Was there any rejection of this from head office ????
Instead of just talking about more beds, more guards why not talk about more efficiency in the public sector. Look at the bitter pill blog to see what’s going on.
What about implementing some of the reports to restrict developer super profits on lands ?
I don’t see any real commitment to tackling the issues you yourself have raised- just more of the same
Clare Herbert said,
May 5, 2007 at 4:51 pm
CG,
RTV are working to remove the apathy which comes with politics for many young people, and I think they should be applauded for it. Why are they annoying you? (Disclosure: I am one of their bloggers on http://www.rockthevote.ie) Women’s rights are HUGELY important to me too though, and I share your concern at their non-existence on the agenda. Sarah might be able to inform us of the FG direction on this?
CG said,
May 5, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Hi Clare,
Well, there are three main reasons why rtv is annoying me.
The first, the biggest one, is the condescending presumption that young people don’t vote because it’s not cool, or they don’t think politics is cool. So it is the mission of rtv to make participation in the political process cool. This is bullshit. A) Duh, politics is not cool. Look at the candidates. You cannot make them Barack Obama sexy. B) Coolness does not matter. Politics is IMPORTANT. That is enough. C) Young people are not stupid, or slaves to peer pressure. They (especially those over 18) are well equipped to recognise that politics is important. D) Because of the aforementioned not-stupidity, they don’t need to be told how cool voting is. They know it’s not cool. They don’t care about it being cool.
The second one, is the presumption that plenty of young people want to vote, but god love them, registering and actually getting down to their polling stations is SO COMPLICATED. The poor things. They need it spelled out for them, over and over again.
Now, I know the voter register CAN be tough to manage and if you’re a college student or whatever you need to put effort in to make sure you’re on it in the right place. BUT it’s complicated for EVERYONE and so if its needed it should be either simplifed, or there should be a general campaign for everyone (like, you know, the one the govt ran). RTV basically says young people, we know you can’t handle all the difficult bits like the grown ups can, but here, we’ll spell it out for you, poor things.
There are other smaller things that bother me – like the fact all the bloggers they got are students. Oh, great, because all young voters are students, and students in particular are such a high risk group for lacking political awareness. And the fact that 8 out the 9 main jobs they have are held by men. This is as bad as 8 out of 9 being over 30. If they want to appeal to a demographic, they have to represent it. Luckily there’s three pretty girls in the ‘assistants’ category though, you know, to hold signs and look pretty in photos. And, finally, there’s the really, really patronising idea that a young person is more likely to vote because a minor celebrity tells them its important. That’ll sway them all right.
The apathy that comes with politics is due to reasons like the ones I outlined above – the fact that all my candidates are beefy oul fellas who list things like ‘roads’ as their number one priorities. You know what most people (especially young people) want? They want politics founded on principles, not the bread and butter stuff that ALL our politicians specialise in. They want abortion rights, gay marriage, racism, the Iraq war (like Shannon planes) – stuff they can CARE about. When all politicians are cowards about taking this stuff on though, why bother to vote? (Anothr rtv peeve – not voting IS a legitimate option when we have no ‘none of the above’ choice)
The one thing I do like, that was a good idea, is mycandidate.ie. But if you want to really appeal to young people, it needs to be expanded so you can search by points of view. You know, headers like ‘gay marriage’, ‘public transport’ and then listing candidates or parties by what they believe. That, would be useful.
Sarah said,
May 5, 2007 at 9:09 pm
I think RTV is trying so hard to be cool, it’s patronising. Triona’s right. If parties want to attract de young people’s votes then develop policies they like. F’rinstance I know all those existentially challenged 18 year old despise local politics but probably care lots about global issues. How about some views on what major parties would do for developing countries?
Now, more pertitently, I’be been studying FG’s policy document http://www.finegael.ie/uploads/docs/Policy%20Briefing%20April%202007.doc
there is NUTTIN, quelle surprise, on abortion, though my big gay friend, with whom I had brunch today, should study page 16. They are in favour of civil partnership for same sex couples giving them important entitlements. So that’s cool.
We’ll have to make a direct enquiry about legislation for X.
Em, it does behove me to point out to the feminists reading that Sinn Fein launched a “women’s manifesto” today http://www.sinnfeingeneralelection.com/en/press-centre/entry/222
I agree with everything in it.
eeek.
Apparently Gerry Adams is a great feminist. He insisted that women be allowed join the IRA rather than Cumman na Ban (sorry irish spellings getting me again). Sigh.
Sarah said,
May 5, 2007 at 9:14 pm
btw, nothing on SF’s site about Miss D. I’ve sent an email asking them for the story. I’ll send one to FG now.
Sarah said,
May 5, 2007 at 9:19 pm
oh one more thing, I know that FG is committed to legislation for IVF so that’s good. There is nothing about IVF and FF deliberately long fingered this. Don’t want to be gettting caught up in messy rows about embryos…
Tom said,
May 6, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Very good points Sarah….getting a lot of angry feedback from FF work colleagues, but they created this mess. FG are the only alternative, but more importantly a better alternative. FG – essentially good. FF – endemically corrupt and those not proven to be corrupt are corruptable.
Full confession (for benefit of other Tom): I am a FG member, getting superb reaction on the doorsteps to our candidate. If repeated throughout the country, it will be just us and you. Try to keep a handle on the ctrazy socialist side of your party.
Paddy said,
May 6, 2007 at 8:54 pm
To end the patronage we’ll need to keep FF out of government for two terms.
FG have the policies, and more importantly the bottle, to make Ireland a better place to live. Fine Gael have a more long term vision of where they want Ireland to go.
Enda Kenny is a charismatic figure who people can trust. It was brave of him to put his reputation on the line and I think he’ll do a fine job if elected Taoiseach.
As for the PDs, it is remarkable to watch their sudden disintigration. Once a party of principle they now stand for nothing and are led by a man incapable of showing leadership or courage.
tomcosgrave said,
May 6, 2007 at 10:41 pm
Try to keep a handle on the ctrazy socialist side of your party.
My view would be that Socialists aren’t crazy (but I would say that!). But while I’m on, can I ask you to ensure that the hang ‘em and flog ‘em wing (the boot camps wing?) of FG are kept in check?
I disagree, I think the Greens are going to be required and that it’s to be welcomed- I can’t see a Labour/FG coalition happening myself and would like to see the Greens get a shot at governing, as I think they’re worth having on board.
student said,
May 8, 2007 at 9:39 am
Are you seriously suggesting that someone should vote FG because the head of the IHCA is in FG? This is crazy – and people accuse FF of cosy arrangements. What about the nurses and teachers? Should we vote Labour if they go on strike, in the hope that a deal can be done?
Further, the ‘too-long-in-power’ argument, while attractive, does not stand up. Yes, it would be nice to have a change after 10 years, but this alone is not a reason to vote FF out. After all, they have done a very good job over all.
I don’t like Labour but I am not worried by the prospect of them in government. FG (and Enda in particular) are not credible. Remember that most of the excellent, experienced members of FG would not be joining them in government (e.g. Gay Mitchell; Ivan Yates [who should be leader]; Alan Shatter may/may not get his seat back).
(P.s. I’m not a member of any political party, or particularly a supporter of any of them).
blankpaige said,
May 8, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Sarah,
Although you’ve long since moved on, on this post. It did set me thinking and cuased me to blog more politics stuff. Damn you, evil woman and your enticing fantastic web that makes politics interesting. (Ever though running for leader of FG?)
Paige
Sarah said,
May 8, 2007 at 8:58 pm
hee hee, thanks Paige. Sure its all mad really. I was going to give up blogging last month and here I am
There are so many threads going this week I can’t keep up. It’s all stream of consciousness.
Ben’s comment, which I really only read now made me laugh too “Em, we’re not FF. And, look, we have Labour with us! And aren’t Labour great?!”
I can’t hide can I?
Sarah said,
May 8, 2007 at 9:00 pm
oh and HA HA Student….not a supporter of any political party but FF have done a good job. We wear our party colours on our sleeves on this blog:-)
which reminds me, Clare Herbert, I see you’re in the Sunday Times undecided focus group. I thought you were a PD? Where’d I get that idea from?
student said,
May 8, 2007 at 10:23 pm
I don’t see what the problem is – can I not think they’ve done some good things without considering myself a FFer? I am considering voting for them this time but don’t consider myself a FF supporter (long term).
You certainly wear your party colours on your sleeve.
Jimbo said,
May 13, 2007 at 8:54 am
cg,
you made a point about mycandidate.ie not being expanded to search by points of view. Try http://www.pickyourparty.ie
It’s not the greatest site (I don’t like the way they lump the abortion and homosexuality issues together) but it does try to allow a user to search by points of view in some way..
Irish electorate said,
May 22, 2007 at 3:20 pm
oooh bertie and co. that’s a big instrument you are rogering me with.
in fact eh, we’re charging you for it and you just don’t know it
oooh i love it anyway !
Clare Herbert said,
July 17, 2007 at 2:12 am
Sarah,
I’m raging! Only seeing your comments re: my politics now. A little late in the day, but I am where you would have gotton that idea?! I don’t suppose you’re going to enlighten me?
RUAIDHRI said,
June 12, 2008 at 8:01 pm
HI MY NAME IS RUAIDHRI
I JUST WANT TO SAY ENDA KENNY EVERY BEST OF LUCK I HOPE YOU WELL WIN THIS REFERDRUIM IAM VOTEING FOR ENDA FOR A YES VOTE AND I CAN BELVCIE THAT HE WELL WIN AND DO THE BUSSENESS FOR FANE GALE THAT I CAN HE WELL WIN BUT IF ENDA KENNY THE MAN HIM SELF I HOPE HE GETS THR HIGH POINT SCORE BUT IAM VOTEING FOR ENDA KENNY AND I HOPE HE WELL DO WELL GAVE ENDA KENNY EVERY HIGH POINT OF HIS LIFE I WESH HIM THE EVERY BEST IAM VOTEING FOR ENDA AND IAM SAYING
YES GO ENDA
GUBU » Quoted in the Sunday Business Post said,
November 9, 2008 at 11:42 pm
[...] s the BP and old post [...]
Flower Delivery Dublin said,
July 13, 2010 at 7:34 am
Yeah, I hope FG win the next election we definitely need it