Irish General Election 2016

I have been moved against my wishes to a brand new constituency.

My constituency is Offaly.
This contains the whole of County Offaly and a large swathe of North Tipperary.

Extraordinarily there is no Labour candidate.

The first seat will go to Barry Cowen ( FF).
He has only a fellow FF candidate in his part of the constituency,he has a free run in East Offaly.

The second seat goes to the unimpressive Marcella Corcoran,she is based in Birr but is the sole FG candidate.

The third seat looks a battle between Renuas John Leahy and Carol Nolan of Sinn Fein.
Both are Birr based,Leahy was an independent and very popular,not sure how the Renua tag will sit.
Carol Nolan is the Sinn Fein candidate and is a honey.
The second FF candidate is from Portarlington which is the far Eastern corner of the constituency,a big minus to me,Barry Cowen won't vote share so that rules him out for me.

John Leahy gets my actual vote and I think he will take the third seat as well.

god of elections please turf out:

Conway (lab) Waterford, coppinger (communists) dwest, keaveney(ff) galway east, perry (fg) sligo,  and most especially o riordain (lab) d bay north. 4 out of 5 will do dear lord if not all 5.

sinn fein: as per manifesto will attack the racing industry and punters: "increase the betting tax to be applied to the customer to 3%".......therefore any racing or sports punter will be attacked by sinn feins plans....all as bad as ff/fg/lab are, they have always supported the industry, the underlying sinn fein feeling towards the industry is contempt.

when your local sinn fein candidate calls quiz him as follows
ask him
(1) what is the party line on immigration/asylum numbers.....they will then give you some spin along the line of near open door policy.

(2) now ask them about the waiting lists in hospitals, the waiting lists for housing....the sinn fein candidate will be armed with all the negative numbers and promise you that sf will reduce these lists.

(3) then you ask the killer questions...... how many immigrants are clogging up these waiting lists? when they refuse to answer you can tell them that between 30-40% of hospitals are clogged up by immigrants and more than 40% of housing lists includes these immigrants......and therefore the entire sinn fein plan of open door is one of the main contributors to these waiting lists.

you will get to ask no more questions as the sinnfein rep will have run away from serious questioning.


a key underlying aspect of this election is that the irish electorate is now divided between 3 masses:
1- the business/ non public sector working section
2- the public/semi state working sector
3- the non working/ benefit reliant sector.

numbers 1 and 2 are supporting 3, and they are not happy about it: most in 1 and 2 would prefer the USC handed back to them instead of being retained by gov to then be spent on group 3.

hence, fg and to a lesser extent as of now ff are fishing out of groups 1 and 2. labour are reliant on group 2 and a liberal element of group 1.

sinn fein and the loony left are concentrating on group 3....the race to the bottom squad.
in the past ff could dip into group 3, the crash has nearly divorced them from it, with sf filling the vacuum.

we will end up with an inconclusive outcome and another election inside 2 years unless ff are so desperate for power that they would enter a coalition as a junior partner.

Great post kl, i'd say only coppinger will probably survive from that list. It will be great to see the back of O'Riordan.

Kerry North and South were 2 3 seater constituencies but have been amalgamated into one 5 seater.

Jimmy Deenihan FG will top the poll. The EU regulation on turf cutting were very unpopular in his local area of Listowel but he should comfortably hold his seat nonetheless.

Martin Ferris SF will take the second seat. He is very active locally, is the sole SF candidate and has a big national profile.

Healy Rae IND will take the 3rd seat. Very active locally also and could well have to support a government next time round.

John Brassil FF will take the 4th. FF always had a seat guaranteed in both north and south but lost them both last time. They will win it back this time.

Last seat is a shoot out between 3 sitting T.D.s. Brendan Griffin FG, Arthur Spring LAB and Tom Fleming IND. I thing Griffin will take the last seat. He gave up half his salary last time to hire an extra teacher in his local national school and is cute @ detaching himself from FG policy. Spring will run him closest but even his uncle never had a very strong vote and there is no great confidence in him since he went into the dail.

Where has Toireasa Ferris gone ?

I too would love to see the back of the sneering jeering Aodhan ORiordain,his main claim to fame for me is wasting police time by reporting the Nass Lord Mayor for incitement to hatred.

Aengus OSnodaigh another I'd like to see lose,this gent has ink covered hands and a charming wife.

Sinn Fein used to stand for an independent Ireland yet they are in favour of the EU who have taken away our independence.
Sinn Fein incredibly now don't believe in borders and favour open door immigration.
Gerry Adams when demanding amnesty for all law breaking illegals who refuse to leave was asked about more asylum seekers uttered these chilling words " I would say to them all Cead Mile Failte "

I love the Irish language but the above gentlemen make it hard to.

You should vote Mincer,your vote could stop a Shinner getting a seat.

Here's two for you to consider.
Paul Bradford ( Renua )
He is principled and the husband of the equally principled Lucinda.
Tom Barry (FG)
Not as principled but deserves to get back in for his non PC actions with drink taken just to annoy the pious humourless political journalists.

By voting number one Bradford and two Barry you effectively get a second vote,Bradford will be eliminated early and his vote transferred to Tom Barry it could be vital in pursuit of the final seat.

Dan, if Bradford has no hope as you say, why would I not just vote for the other chap. Is it not the same thing.

You are showing support for Bradford for a start and then getting a second go with your second preference.

In PR if your first choice is battling for the last seat your other votes don't count,if your first choice is elected early only part of your second choice counts.

If you wanted to maximise your vote,you would vote the least popular from one down,that way your vote would be constantly counted.

Cracked up laughing reading mincers post

waspy you're an awful brown-noser would ya have a bit of self-respect

if a barroom blowhard like mincer can get u all giddy you're very easily amused.

Btw Sinn Fein will take 2 seats in my constituency. probably a first for them in the free state.

Votail #1 Gerry

If you want to take a second seat in Louth you want to stop giving Gerry your number one.

Adams got a phenomenal vote last time out as a sole candidate.
This time ye are looking for a second seat,the best way to do it is reduce Adams vote and increase the second Sinn Fein candidates vote.

Dividing the constituency is the way to do it.

If the second candidate is from Dundalk tell all Sinn Fein voters there to vote for her,similarly if she is from Drogheada.
If the gap is too big between your candidates it won't work.

Is their an immigrant problem in Dundalk ?
If so what do Sinn Fein on the ground think about it.

here's the view on Tipperary from keen leader's first demographic who disdains local politics for its inherent dishonesty of debate:

Unfortunately - and its a blight on the people of North Tipp - over 14,000 of them voted for kleptocracy in 2011 and will do so again in 2016 when voting for the Denis O'Brien/former Ben Dunne stooge. It will be interesting to see if Lowry picks up any votes south of Thurles in the new expanded 5-seater constituency. My fondest hope is that he might be jailed for multiple tax evasions over the course of the next few years. If he's declared bankrupt when he won't pay his Moriarty costs will he be disbarred from the Dail?

I have one thing to say about the present Government and that is the absence of graft and cute-hoorism we came to expect from Fianna Fail and therefore politics for almost 40 years. It's alive and well in some backward drains but at least its something we have that to be thankful for. Ukraine are promoting non-nationals to tidy up their corruption and maybe the old (reformed) guard from the soldiers of destiny will find solace over there in Odessa. The smiley-faced Lenihan guy would be right at home.

My guess is that FF last hope (represented by the best-of-a-bad-lot Martin)are simply hoping the old allegiances will eventually re-surface (not a hope!) but I put their current showing down to the grey vote and the fact that the youf don't seem at all interested in politics, plus ca change, plus ca la meme chose. As its a backwater, conservative constituency they probably get one seat-if they do, hopefully it will be the "honey" Ambrose as she looks good, makes a grand cup of tea, is fragrant and has just the nicest hubby.

I hope Fine Gael get 2 seats as I think the polls will be proven wrong again about the level of both FF and shinner support. I wont be canvassing but I'll denigrate SF every chance I get. Hopefully this is the election that Adams realises he's simply an anachronism and oozes back into the sewer he came from back up north. Tom Hayes is a certainty over Coonan in my book.

Labour will get the seat they traditionally hold thanks to AK.

The two remaining clowns are sure to amuse: Sinn Fein-lite Seamus Healy represents the working incapables and the H-2-OH militias. The plastic roofing and corrugated iron in the corner gardens of the drug-addled estates was obliterated during Hurricane Hippo but we can expect the twenty-four hour guards back on duty soon to repel the Fine Gael and Labour canvassers. Healy's greatest threat is the airwaves darling Mattie McGrath an opportunist who left the sinking FF ship and is as useless and powerless as any independent outside the Pale as you care to mention. Clonmel is dying commercially yet all we get from this joker is "Liveline" in the Dail.

Lowry (puke), Hayes, Kelly .........FG (hopefully) and McGrath

Tipperary is my county and I'm in temporary exile in Offaly.

Lowry has lost a heap of his voters in the boundary change,he is also venturing to the South Riding for thefirst time,I think his work with Tipperary GAA will be remembered and he will top the poll.

Seamus Healy will clean up in Clonmel and mop that disaffected anti water charge vote,should come in second.

Tom Hayes will murder Noel Coonan and should get the third seat.

Mattie McGrath will get his personal vote and the still slightly ashamed FF vote.

The fifth seat should be between Alan Kelly of Labour and Fianna Fáil.
Kelly has lost a lot of his North Tipperary base,he is high profile but very unpopular.
There was always a Labour seat in South Tipperary but Healy has that vote now.

I think he will lose his seat.
I think FF will get the last seat and based on Geography think it will go to Jackie Cahill.

My list is admittedly wishful thinking.

Thankfully the shinners don't rate and the likes of Davern are history.

It is beyond me how anyone thinks an independent vote is of any benefit other than it ensures the constituency remains a backwater with no influence at cabinet. Could we realistically expect a hodgepodge of independents to last any length in power?

I would still hope the present Government parties buck the recent poll trends. We need another 5 years of stability and maybe there might be credible alternatives by 2021 when the whole country is reasonably affluent again. The country needs to improve the lot of everyone to avoid this unmanageable "me fein" model we have.

It was a great pity that Theresa Ahearn and David Moloney died so young.

I'm giving the independents three seats which must be a record.

I think we will get stability,I think it will be in the form of a joint FG FF government,it will take time to form but its the only viable government.

I would delight in Moan Burton and Kelly losing their seats as well as hoping that Hanafin doesn't regain hers. Harris , Donnelly and Brady absolute certainties in Wicklow , the other two any possible combo of Doyle , Timmins ( FG and FG lite ) and Casey ( FF) with the agriculture vote probably getting Doyle over the line leaving the scrap between the other two.

Wallace will probably top the poll again in my home county as enough fail to see through the fog. It was great to see the judgement against him last week , even better to hear that the subsidiary of cerebus only purchased the loan from Ulster Bank in November , a case of being stung from nudging the hornets nest for the Hairy Messiah !

To answer your earlier question wildman, Toireasa Ferris is still a member of Kerry County Council. She will be the obvious candidate to run for the Dail when her father retires.

I agree that both Burton and Kelly will lose their seats. It will be a bloodbath for Labour. They will go from their best evr result to possibly their worst ever. I hope the farce that was the gay marriage referendum is comfort to them.

I also agree FG/FF will bethe only viable government after the election. Michael Martin will have to swallow his pride and go into government with Fine Gael.

sound advice there wildman. I'm sure Gerry is aware of his own personal popularity in the constituency and will be asking for people to vote #1 for Imelda Munster strategically. the historic Drogheda-Dundalk rivalry is always a factor and is causing tension within Fianna Fail at the moment. if they didnt win a seat here it would be a disaster for them.

Cork North Central

4 seater since 2007.

There was always a Labour vote in North Central, now looks like they will get half the ticket.

The closer they have got to power the more I am dismayed with SF so can't give them my vote.

Kathleen Lynch is a goner IMO.

Think we have good genuine representatives but all lack the gravitas that you would hope for.

I think that was the constituency of Toddy OSullivan.

Kathleen Lynch impressed me any time I saw her,not for her the emotional blackmail,sorry if she loses her seat.

Sinn Fein already have a seat there,who do you think will get that Labour seat ?

Ivan Yates is predicting the constituencies every morning @ 7.50. He said Mick Barry of the AAA was his nap to win a seat in that constituency @ 2/1. He's 11/8 now.

Re : Mick Barry, I would be in the same boat. I think he can get the last seat.

He polled very well 2011 and although I would not agree with his stance on water charges I think he is a man of principal and speaks well.

How the SF vote manage their transfers will be key. It's a new position for them to be in.

clare is fairly predictable     carey and breen of fg   dooley of ff will fly in.   3rd seat between sitting td mcnamara,the doctor guy and mcdonagh former chairman of clare gaa.im calling it mcnamara ensuring no change..

Laois is a new constituency and a three seater.

For a county that prides itself on diversity its TDs couldn't be less diverse.
There are three sitting TDs all are male in their late fifties and all three are from Portlaoise and all pretty useless.

Sadly and incredibly they will all be returned.

Charles Flanagan is a son of Oliver J and gutless.
He is a poor speaker and incredibly got the plum job of Foreign Affairs,you would think he couldn't get into trouble there but he's managed it.
His first reaction is to be all things to all men,the one time he took sides he went wrong,he sided with the Muslim Brotherhood against the Egyptian government.
He should top the poll.

Sean Fleming ( FF)
An accountant who saw nothing wrong with Fianna Fáil finances when fifty Grands were going walkabout on a regular basis.
Should get the second seat.

Brian Stanley ( Sinn Fein )
An anonymous deputy with much to be anonymous about will easily get the third seat.

The Laois constituency will have the unenviable record of returning three of the worst deputies to the Dail.

you are right wildman, 3 pathetic creatures for differing reasons and as sure as night follows days to fill the 3 seats, only death in the next 3 weeks will prevent them, 1.0001 material all 3.
you are completely wrong one element, fleming will 100% top the poll, easily exceeding the quota on the first count, ambassador Charlie might be only 3rd on first preferences.

in fact given the slim field, there is a strong possibility that fleming, more by circumstance than popularity, could be amongst the top 5 first preference takers in the entire country, he could even be a lively outsider to gain the most first preferences in the land. He will get between 1.25 and 1.5 quotas and not too many tds are going to topple that(lowry,healy rae perhaps)

I'd have my life on Barry Cowan getting more votes than Sean Fleming.

The most votes in the General election would be of some interest to me.
Is there a market on it ?
If there is what are the prices ?

Any Dub here with an interest in politics.
Love to get some feed back from Dublin.
How Fianna Fáil do in Dublin is nearly the crux of this election.

Paddy power are doing a market on most first preference votes below. Lowry is fav @ 13/8 and Healy Rae 2nd fav @ 15/8. I'm suprised Healy Rae is that short, I don't think he will top the pole in Kerry. Neither he nor his father have topped a poll in a general election before. I'd say Jimmy Deenihan will get the most first preferances in Kerry.

http://www.paddypower.com/bet/politics/other-politics/irish-politics?ev_oc_grp_ids=2215724

Mick Wallace amongst the favs @ 7/1 in most first preference votes market. Interesting to hear Ivan Yates say that he doesn't think Wallace will do half as well as he did in the last election. He said he should win a seat but he won't top the poll.

How could a man who got 6,600 votes last time garner the most votes in the country.
The extension of his constituency to the whole of Kerry might not suit either
Healy Rae should be double figures at least.

Can someone put up the list for me because I think I have a huge priced contender here.

Wildman you would lose your life on that bet, cowen is one of 3 ffs running in offaly and the wee bit of TN that you are from.

fleming is the only ff in laois....this has always been a ff biased county.....the local elections gives a good guide......the votes in 2014 were as follows........ff 14,000 first prefs, plus another 2,000 for indep ffers...fg 8,500 first prefs, sf 4,100 first prefs, and labour 1600.

on those figures fleming could literally have more votes than the rest put together and unlike cowen has no running mates to split the vote with. I don't know the exact figures for voting population for laois v offaly, I would imagine it will be similar, so fleming should get a minimum of 2 or 3,000 more first preferences than cowen and if you look coldly at this you will now realise your prediction is total nonsense.

I don't have time to analyse all the average turnout in each constituency and there are obviously more votes available in some(5 seaters) as compared to others(3 seaters).
fleming will get 1.25 to 1.5 quotas, that will translate to between 13,500 and 15,500 first preferences....I doubt if more than 5 other tds will top that in Ireland in election 2016.

There is one other Fianna Fáil candidate in Offaly and he is a non entity from the extreme East of the County.

Can't argue with your figures but reckon there will be a low turnout in Laois,it will be a lack lustre campaign as they are fighting for nothing.
Fleming also has had some personal troubles.
There is a Protestant vote in Laois and that goes to the current minister of foreign affairs.

Spoilports market for most 1st preference votes   
   
   
Michael Healy-Rae
                6/4                                                                                       
Enda Kenny
                2                                                                                       
Gerry Adams
                9/4                                                                                       
Michael Lowry
                5/2                                                                                       
Pearse Doherty
                4                                                                                       
Mick Wallace
                8                                                                                       
Shane Ross
                14                                                                                       
Clare Daly
                16                                                                                       
Jimmy Deenihan
                28                                                                                       
Caoimhghin O Caolain
                33                                                                                       
Catherine Murphy
                50                                                                                       
Stephen Donnelly
                50

Thanks Newapproach

That betting is crazy and just pure wrong.
We have already dealt with Healy Rae.

Enda Kenny at 2/1 is also berserk,his constituency trimmed to 4 seats and they are engaging in vote management to get Michelle Mulherin reelected.

Gerry Adams in Louth will also sacrifice votes to get his second candidate elected,I think her name is Imelda Munster.

They are betting to a huge margin on the front four in the market,when you consider there are a potential 60 or so extra runners its a bit of rob.
My sneaky selection isint quoted.
Might ramble in to Birr tomorrow and get some quotes.

Michael Lowry
13/8
   
Shane Ross
22/1
   
Jimmy Deenihan
66/1
Michael Healy-Rae
15/8
   
Michael Noonan
40/1
   
Martin Ferris
66/1
Gerry Adams
3/1
   
Clare Daly
40/1
   
Stephen Donnelly
66/1
Enda Kenny
6/1
   
Richard Bruton
50/1
   
Eamon O Cuiv
66/1
Mick Wallace
7/1
   
Caoimhghin O'Caolain
50/1
   
Micheal Martin
100/1
Pearse Doherty
10/1
   
Catherine Murphy
50/1
   
Joan Burton
150/1

5hite prices are all over the gaff sorry

crazy betting alright.

checking the last election, the top vote getters were as follows
1- Kenny 17,500
2- ross  17,100
3- adams 15,100
4- Doherty 14,300
5- lowry  14,100
6- Wallace 13,400

the difficulty working out who will be top vote getter is that Tipp and Donegal are now 5 seaters.
Kenny will probably drop to 14,000 or less, adams with sf trying to get a 2nd into Louth must drop as well by about 2,000.
Shane Ross got the significant Dublin south gale behind him last time, that gale never seems to blow in the same direction in successive elections, so he too may drop.

Doherty is now in a 5 seater in Donegal and again Sf are ambitiously fishing for 3 seats, therefore if he is sharing out the vote he will not have such a pronounced personal share.

Wallace got a good share last time, I would struggle to see him add more than an extra 2,000 especially as FF will now win at least one seat in Wex and sf are also targeting his vote.

lowry is the conundrum...if he got 14,100 in a 3 seater, then with a bigger headcount in the new Tipp 5 seater, god knows how high he could go. healy rae replicates lowry, looking at Kerry from a geographic angle, he may not mop up votes as easily at lowry who is based in the middle of his constituency.

where are the other potential big hitters?
o cuiv or mcguinness ff would be too go it alone ffers who may command a very big personal vote in big 5 seaters.

I will go for lowry as the nationwide number 1 vote getter, as noted previously fleming due to lack of competition will finish high up this vote getters list.

My man not on the Paddy Power list either.

What type of bet would they take in that market ?

Lowry is a big runner alright but he has lost a huge swathe of his voters.

Ross' biggest problem is the electorate dropping from 102k to 87k in his new rathdown constituency.

On the other hand its an astonishingly weak constituency. Id actually expect his % of first preferences to increase

I think part of the reason money has come for Healy Rae is that Tom Fleming, a sitting independent TD, has withdrawn from the race. He got a very similar amount of 1st preference votes as Healy Rae last time.

People are probably thinking that most of these votes will go to Healy Rae as they are both indepedents. I think Fianna Fail will benefit more as Fleming only ran as an independent because Fianna Fail pursued a one candidate strategy and ran John O' Donoghue.

A lot of people voted Fleming in the last election as a protest vote against O'Donoghue because of his expenses scandals. I think a lot of these voters will go back to Fianna Fail. It may give them a shout at a second seat but I doubt it.

It was staggering for Fianna Fail to win no seat in Kerry in the last election. They held 4 of the 6 seats at times in the past. This election will be a big stepping stone to building back up their vote in the county.

Dublin South–West (Dáil Éireann constituency)   The constituency is noted for its volatility: in the past three general elections, the poll topper from the previous election lost his seat, Brian Hayes in 2002, Seán Crowe in 2007 and Conor Lenihan in 2011.,,Pat Rabbitte has been   Put out to pasture ,Eamonn Maloney T.D is running on the Independent ticket,[ He is the only TD in Ireland who claims no expenses]        i voted for Paul Murphy in the 2014  by-election after haveing a long chat with him ; i wont be doing the same after the treatment of Joan Burton by him and his entourage last year .      I will most likely vote  for the present government as they were handed a  poison chalice by the last lot,

I hope Mincer and his ilk will see there way to voteing for some candidate , Theres 8 different Parties plus 5 Independents running in Dublin South–West, sure there something for everyone.

P.S. theres an extra seat in Dublin South–West [5 in total]      Erin go bragh

The highest vote getter market is a crazy one to bet in with the margins but as I have ragged the first three in the market there might be something for us.

Kildare North.
Catherine Murphy is 50/1.
I don't like this lady's politics but she is now incredibly popular.
She is not in the racing part of the constituency,her support is immense in that commuter belt bordering Dublin.
Bernard Durkan and Emmet Stagg are both older than me and are passed their sell by date.
She will get a huge personal vote will undoubtedly top the poll.
50/1 is too big.

Dublin North.
Clare Daly is 40/1
Again not my politics but she is principled.
Her Dail speech about the fawning over the Obamas was one of the best I ever heard.
She has hardly been out of the news since elected,that speech got her an international profile,the Shannon Airport saga,for the more prurient her liaison with Mick Wallace,her stance on abortion.
These all go down well with a Dublin electorate that are fickle,also with the young.
Like Kildare North Dalys opponents are on their way down,James Reilly surely a figure of the past.

This is kind of like those golf bets where you have more than one selection,
I should put up some kind of stake but these are more novelty bets.

I have one other I fancy in this market that's 200/1 but feel I might need some help in this one as the mathematics in it are frazzling my brain.

It would be no harm lads if you put up the bookie thats giving the price your quoting, just to go across the pond i think the Democratic Nominee will be the next Presedent ; Bernie Sanders is the only danger to Hillary Clinton winning  Democratic Nominee [theres a fair bit of muck  being spread about Hillary at min on you tube] so Bernie at 11/1 here is not a bad bet.

I prefer the 4/1 Sanders to win the Democratic nomination Frank

can you do accums?as in five 1/5 shots with ten or so 1 1/10 shots?   seem to remember last time there was a bit of controvercey over that?

now that gender quotas are in place, rte are peddling ethnic minority quotas

Crazy stuff.

They can't even run their own countries, who in their right mind would vote for them to let them run ours.

newapproach  Bernie 5.8 to win  Democratic nomination here if your interested.

danny healy rae added to the ticket in kerry

Some Kerry voters thick as elephant dung....didn't realise that Local elections and European parliament elections are ...how can one put this ?...not the same, different ,separate ?

is this what FG/ENDA mean when they say "we need another term to get everything done" or do they mean, we need another term to take the country from the Irish and hand it over to the EUROPEANS/MERKAL.

http://www.businesspost.ie/kenny-backs-sharia-council-for-ireland/


This will lose a good few votes for FG.

http://cdn.thejournal.ie/embeds/twitter/db24536eab2fd71d290f56bdf5fdadd3.png


Good auld Labour eh

The hits keep coming is right

I don't know why they wanted to wait until February for the election. Surely it would have been better for their own sanity to get it out if the way in November and try to enjoy Christmas.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/angela-merkel-targets-march-10-refu...

Angela Merkel made a huge mistake based on a photograph.

She now wants others to bail her out,have no doubt she will offload the bogeys to us.
Remember this is the lady that put the boot in during our banking crisis.

Merkel has the Western disease of self loathing.
Snarling and uncompromising with Ireland,even harsher with the Greeks but when the religion of peace members come calling she's all a quiver.

Ireland should take no refugees,the more you take the more they will offload.
You will be importing an angry group of young men who hate you,who hate our society.

You will also be importing a host of queue jumpers as these gents will be housed immediately,there health needs will be given priority and they will be many.

Angela Merkel made a huge mistake based on a photograph.

I supposed I should have said iconic photograph.

Its a fact though she changed her mind when she saw that photograph.
We now know the photograph was staged.
We also know he wasn't a refugee,that his father was piloting the boat that sank,that the same father was heading for Paris to get his teeth done.

Cameron similarly started to change tack because the photograph caused all the emotional types to clamour for open borders.
Its not unreasonable for us to expect our leaders to lead and not be moved by pure emotionalism

i was reading about that photograph etc   the staging of it the father etc.its incredible it wasnt as publicised as the photograph

Not sure many could have been fooled by that Photo in all honesty.

Like to see a bit of a protest vote overall myself, sick of the usual false promises,cronyism and the rest of the cess pit that is Irish politics.

163 women Candidates;twice as many as the last election. how times have change over the last 20years of elections.

I seen the hag on the news you know who i'm talking about. Hot whiskeys for a cold then drives, anyone?

http://cf.broadsheet.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/CbiPIUwUAAEauR-.jpg

They should just go full hog and name the monk as the new leader of the labour party.

Im sure Aodhain (Minister of state for drugs strategy) didnt know who he was

Its a good idea to maximise your vote.
You can effectively have more than one No 1 vote.

I'm voting No 1 Kate Bopp,I know she can't win and will be eliminated early,this will make my No 2 vote now a No I.
I want and think John Leahy will get the third seat.

Anyone in Cork North Central should consider giving Peter OLoughlin their No 1,he will sadly be eliminated early so its not a wasted vote.
Give him your number one and then give your original preference your number two.

Proportional representation is a wonderful thing Wildman.

joe carey td in clare started off at 1/20    .there was a poll carried out by ul i think.he done bad in it.he went out unbelievable to 7/1 for a while yesterday.hes back into 9/4 with boils.what you would get on with that rancid crowd is another thing but its still an unreal price

It sure makes it exciting.

I don't agree with these gender quotas,Lucinda Creighton didnt need them.
Its unfair to any woman who came through the right way.

The best examples I can give is Olwyn Enright and Louise Mensch.

Olwyn Enright suceeded her father into the Dail and became a poll topper in Offaly.
She was promoted by Fine Gael solely because she was a woman.
They invested plenty in her,she meets another TD gets married has a family and leaves politics.

Louise Mensch was a Tory that was imposed on a safe seat,she promised she would stay in the constituency.
She eest a record producer and went to live in New York after two years.

State funding to political parties is based on the amount of first preferance votes parties get at the previous election. These funds would be very important for a small, upcoming party like Renua. There are some noble single issue independant candidates in my constituency also but I'll be giving my first preferance to Renua as this funding will be vital in the future when taking on the bigger parties in the next election.

Ruth Coppinger has the welcome mat out for hordes of immigrants, hates Christianity and loves Islam. I'd say she is Ozy's favourite politician. the poor woman is very offended by the St Brigids cross, would u believe?

Catherine Noone impressed me in last nights debate, being attacked from all sides yet kept her composure. Looks well on the posters too.

Got a call from Red C research earlier.

Lot of straight forward Q's re : election 2016.

5 Q's on abortion. Unborn child never mentioned in any question.

Who design's these surveys?

Abortion simply isn't an election issue. It won't affect 99% of people. Only people interested in it are student union types and the Irish Times.

Its some laugh to hear Sinn Fein and Coppinger criticising job losses at Tescos. Coppinger on VB the other night called them a massively profitable company (6.4 billion loss in Britain last year)

I'd love Red C to conduct IQ tests on your average Coppinger voter

Glad to hear my loopy cousin catherine noone is doing well, pity i cant vote for her

Impressive performance from Mattie McGrath. Seems to have gotten big reward for being the only person to campaign against gay marriage.

Well done to the people of Kerry, hopefully it rains there for 5 years without stopping.

If it does Mincer you could open a Cap shop in the Kingdom; you would make a fortune.