European Parliament Elections 2009 Candidates

[FutureTaoiseach]

Think of where the Libertas candidates would feature here. I know that the majority voted against Lisbon (this is somewhat irrelevant) but party loyalty may still hold for the European elections. Dublin is reduced to 3, so if that was the case there would be no SF seat from last election. Will voters radically alter their voting patterns as a consequence of the Lisbon treaty. I don't feel they will. If you are to look at who polled last in each constituency you don't see a FF seat being challenged. Of course, it might not work like that but I think that results will be somewhat similar in terms of party representation with the 12 seats on offer.

This is new territory because it's the first Euro election held after a no vote that has not been overturned in a subsequent referendum. That has to count for something. The high turnout suggests people are taking this much more seriously than in the past, and are very concerned about the direction Europe is taking. Likewise I firmly believe that historically, much of the Euro election vote was a personal-vote, and that consequently retirements will improve the chances of other candidates. If de Rossa retires then MLM holds on methinks. Also, I think SF has a realistic shot of a second seat in Northwest, given their strong 2004 performance, but does anyone know if Pearse Doherty will run here again, given he would have to give up his Seanad seat? I believe the anti-Lisbon candidates should agree a pact to avoid too much vote-splitting, and to maximise seat gains (though I don't think that will happen given the left-right divisions between them on social and/or economic issues). I think there's an anti-Lisbon seat in South aswell hopefully Kathy Sinnott will hold on but the EP expenses controversy might hurt her. A lot will depend on the extent to which Irish voters consider Europe to be a big deal in this election. The 2004 election came nearly 2 yrs after Nice II, but this time we are likely to be voting during the 'reflection' period and this surely makes it more likely that Lisbon will be at the back of everyone's mind on this occasion. I see Avril Doyle's seat in East as especially vulnerable (why did I vote for her?) and I resent what I see as her misrepresentation of Nigel Farage on the radio when she implied he was calling the Irish "peasants" when he said that the Eurocrats won't let their peoples have referenda because they didn't want the peasants to have a say - by which he was being sarcastic and meaning that the elites see the ordinary people across Europe as peasants. The elite need to be sent a clear message in these elections that the Irish people will not stand for any attempt to pull a French-Dutch-style fast one on us by parliamentary ratification of treaty provisions we have rejected.

[Umar.Ahmed]

If de Rossa retires then MLM holds on methinks. Also, I think SF has a realistic shot of a second seat in Northwest, given their strong 2004 performance, but does anyone know if Pearse Doherty will run here again, given he would have to give up his Seanad seat? I believe the anti-Lisbon candidates should agree a pact to avoid too much vote-splitting, and to maximise seat gains (though I don't think that will happen given the left-right divisions between them on social and/or economic issues). I think there's an anti-Lisbon seat in South aswell hopefully Kathy Sinnott will hold on but the EP expenses controversy might hurt her. A lot will depend on the extent to which Irish voters consider Europe to be a big deal in this election. The 2004 election came nearly 2 yrs after Nice II, but this time we are likely to be voting during the 'reflection' period and this surely makes it more likely that Lisbon will be at the back of everyone's mind on this occasion. I see Avril Doyle's seat in East as especially vulnerable (why did I vote for her?) and I resent what I see as her misrepresentation of Nigel Farage on the radio when she implied he was calling the Irish "peasants" when he said that the Eurocrats won't let their peoples have referenda because they didn't want the peasants to have a say - by which he was being sarcastic and saying that the elites see the ordinary people across Europe as peasants. The elite need to be sent a clear message in these elections that the Irish people will not stand for any attempt to pull a French-Dutch-style fast one on us by parliamentary ratification of treaty provisions we have rejected.

Libertas seem to have committed to running at least one candidate in each constituency. Their message is not the exact same as that of all others on the anti-Lisbon side. I think that voting pacts would be very difficult for them because when it comes around to the election they will not be able to be just a single-issue group. I am interested to see what kind of policies they will advance. I get the feeling that they are further to the right than the likes of FG and FF and have more in common with the PDs but many people will of course deny this. The problem is that we have not yet seem much of Libertas' thinking/ideology. The anti-Lisbon vote will inevitably be split by many groups as no doubt the People Before Profit Alliance will run a candidate and Patricia McKenna might even run, so in Dublin at least I don't see any anti-Lisbon campaigner bar Mary-Lou in with a shout and I'm not even certain that she will win.

[KingKane]

Ivana for Europe, are ye mad? Have a think for a moment will ya? She currently has her work in TCD and can literally pop out and over to the Seanad as and when necessary, and ye think that she'd trade all that convenience of being able to combine an academic career with some occasional activity in the law library with the national platform a seat in the Seanad gives you (if RTe like you) for the joy for flying back and forth to Europe where most of the Irish media will forget she exists.

Some of ye might be mad enough to think she'd do that, but I very strongly doubt she's nuts.

[Umar.Ahmed]

Ivana for Europe, are ye mad? Have a think for a moment will ya? She currently has her work in TCD and can literally pop out and over to the Seanad as and when necessary, and ye think that she'd trade all that convenience of being able to combine an academic career with some occasional activity in the law library with the national platform a seat in the Seanad gives you (if RTe like you) for the joy for flying back and forth to Europe where most of the Irish media will forget she exists.

Some of ye might be mad enough to think she'd do that, but I very strongly doubt she's nuts.

Admittedly, she's got a cosy number at the moment but stranger things have happened. In the absence of Ivana and de Rossa who would the likely Labour candidate be?

[fatcat]

[quote=John.Worthing][quote="toxic avenger":1fe8c3u3]

Considering the time that the government is having at the moment with the economy, Lisbon, and all its other woes, do people feel that they will be adversely effected come June 2009? They currently hold 4 out of 13 seats so would need to get less than this for any change. Dublin is set to be reduced to 3 seats from the current 4 MEPs, meaning Ireland will have 12 MEPs in total.

I have seen rumours floating around this site that Gay Mitchell and Prionsios de Rossa could be hanging up their boots so who is going to control Dublin? Will Mary Lou's seat be put in jeopardy if a Libertas candidate runs or can Dublin host 2 anti-Lisbon campaigners? Personally, I don't think so but I could certainly be wrong. Who are the likely candidates for next year's European Elections?

Can we expect Libertas to succeed nationally and what of the independent candidates in the country? European elections have proved that the chances for an independent candidate to gain election are high. Will this trend continue?

Surely Dublin is Fiona-Fail O'Malley's for the taking, as is Connacht for Cannon? The resurrection starts here...[/quote:1fe8c3u3]

I'll take it that is sarcasm

I imagine that Eoin Ryan should run again and will be likely to hold his seat. But given that it is set to be a 3 seat constituency and with sentiment the way it is would FF really hold on to their seat. Also, will Bacik run for Labour. She seems the likely successor to de Rossa. I think a 3 seat Dublin definitely will serve to mix things up a bit.[/quote:1fe8c3u3]
Left leg in, left leg out, in, out, in, out

[rose tatoo]

with dublin dropping,to a three seater ,labour have to run either quinn or rabbitte to hold.
eoin ryan is a cert ,gay mitchell the likely fg man .that leaves mary loo,joe higgins ,richie boyd barrett , the far right church groupes the neo liberal buissness groups[yes the one's with lots of money] libertas,could be interesring.dont think bacik would stand a chance of getting through a convension differant people to deal with this time.

[unaligned]

[quote=CookieMonster]

While I'm thinking about it, will Kathy Sinnott hold onto her seat after her antics or will a Libertas-type seem somewhat more sensible in their Euro-cautious approach?

I don't think Kathy did herself any favours with who she surrounded herself with. I think it's only a matter of time before somebody takes the seat from her.

Nationally, probably not. But locally she's well liked still.[/quote:3ilf53ul]

I don't know about that Cookie. Many people didn't realise quite what they were getting when they voted for her. I'm not referring to her eurosceptic tendancies, but rather the fact that she is quite mental. I suspect, or at least hope that the penny has dropped with the good people of Ireland south.

[drjimryan]

dublin is a funny one.....if gay runs hes one......rabbitte may want to go also....if not the labour seat is vunerable......ff really need to do something decisive now......ryan has been very 'low key' and bringing his former td colleauges on trips to europe wont save him...ff really need a second 'balance' candidate.....would jim glennon run?...i wonder!

[Leveller on the Liffey]

Ivana for Europe, are ye mad? Have a think for a moment will ya? She currently has her work in TCD and can literally pop out and over to the Seanad as and when necessary, and ye think that she'd trade all that convenience of being able to combine an academic career with some occasional activity in the law library with the national platform a seat in the Seanad gives you (if RTe like you) for the joy for flying back and forth to Europe where most of the Irish media will forget she exists.

Some of ye might be mad enough to think she'd do that, but I very strongly doubt she's nuts.

Methinks Kane has a point here.

[Leveller on the Liffey]

BTW: Re Ivana, isn't Joe Costello angling for the Labour Euro run in Dublin?