Hi all...... read this quote from an un-named member of the 'dissadents' and tought....my oh my............

Having read the accounts by Finley and Duignan of the Albert years...it was strongly suggested that prior to the '92 'shambles' for FF that a large loss and coalition with Labour was inevitable...........

BUT its 2006, 2007 election....15 years on and it seems (likely) that the present cabinet are ok with the prospect of and resigned to the fact of a 15 seat loss.............but as long as they keep the mercs, well....theyre happy.....ABSURD....and shows why a lot of problems have beset the party................

So....what do ye think????

Oh yes...I nearly forgot....where were Mulcahy, Oconnor, Brady, Haughey, Callely, Curran last week?????did they decline an invite or were they not invited into the new club????

I'll say it again, I think FF are quite happy to go into opposition after the next election.

They can get a new leader and re-engerize their organsation, and Im sure they are hoping that the property bubble will burst when FG are in power so FF can blame the ensuing economic disaster on Fine Gael.

For God's sake, no one 'hopes' the property bubble will burst.

Personally I cant see any way of FF regaining the 6 or 7 percentage points they would need to consolidate.

Since the kicking in LE 2004, they experienced small kick backs from perceived socially inclusive budgets (and childcare concessions etc) but those gains have lasted merely weeks.

The problem for me (with an obvious bias) is stemming from PD run ministries. Rightly or wrongly, the public perception of McDowell and Harney is very poor. During the winter/early spring A&E crisis, Harney was seen as 'sitting on her arse' while referring every Health issue to the HSE and Mr Drumm. McDowell's is perceived as being arrogant and dismissive of those who dont sing from his hymn sheet. The public perceive his attitude as being bullish and handling of the child protection crisis merely emphasised this. They are not interested in how many pieces of legislation he has added or amended. They want the headline solutions to headline problems.

Thats not to say that FF are immune to this type of perception. Cullen has suffered simirarily and unfortunately, for him, I cannot see anyway he can shed the baggage of e-voting and the slow reponse to the road safety problem.

Any failing is attributed to the Government and to the main players - FF.

Which is the opposite of what happened when the Governments satisfaction ratings were growing.

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"Modern cynics and skeptics ... see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing."

Maybe if they replace Bertie as leader they might still be in with a shot.

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Changing the face does not change the policies.

But it can radically alter political fortunes as with Cameron and the Tories in the UK. Cmon FF get rid of Bertie. Wake up! You're on 31%-35%! You have scored the worst local-election results in nearly 80 years! If that is not bad enough to replace a leader then what is? Choose a woman this time to symbolise the modern Ireland.

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Every one of those TDs supported the government in it's thundering incompitance over the last few years they are as much to blame as Bertie is.

You’re starting to sound like a FG’er, FFS take a pill and calm down. If you ever say “with every fibre of my being”, I’m not going to read you anymore.

FF do not have any obvious next leader and as a result there is no reason why FF should continue so dominant after Ahern stands down. The Tories needed a very long period out of office and it is still unclear they will fully recover.

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RIRA/CIRA not in my name "They are traitors to the island of Ireland” Martin McGuinness

"All people are entitled to full cultural and social equality" Mary Lou McDonald

"Republicans recognise that we have a journey to travel in developing our own understanding of unionism." Gerry Adams

Choose Mary Hanafin or Brian Lenihan.

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