Kenny tells FG to be ready for a General Election in 2009

[peader odonnell]

I agree that what Fine Gael needs to do is to work towards getting 72-74 seats and hope Sinn Fein can pull in 10 or so. Then perhaps they can use the 1 or two Greens who will left to govern.

Kenny has to jettison Labour in the national interest and he needs to say as much. Their ties to the unions will create 1982-87 all over again.

What FG need is to be in the 70's, have Fianna Fail in the high 40's to low 50's, Labour under 20 and to govern with fresh parties. While SF are left win, they are not tied to unions and they share FG's belief that the vulnerable and the poor have to be protected first.

Obviously, they would have to be kept away from cabinet posts like Defence, Justice and Foreign Affairs but a Shinner could do a very good job in Social Welfare or the Environment or even Health.

best fg will get is 65 seats tops ,dont get too carried away, labour will be their only option..As for ff being as low as the 50s ,not a hope im afraid ,they will get a minimum of 60 seats in all circumstances.

[wombat]

best fg will get is 65 seats tops ,dont get too carried away, labour will be their only option.

I don't think there's any point in making predictions this far out from an election but of all the combinations in the Dáil, the one I would be most comfortable with is FG/Labour.

[Dillon Country]

A very good speech. He is setting out a vision for Ireland. The details will have to be worked out in greater detail though and that is why I believe the meetings with the people are important. We need to be as inclusive as reasonably possible on this.

The Locals and Euro Elections will be a good test of the electoral situation. Personally, I don't believe a General Election within a year will solve anything.

[Big Bobo]

This place is infested with delusional FGers. When they do enter gvt (in 2009 probably) the majority of their voters will feel betrayed by cutback after cutback.

[Sidewinder]

Eh, have we fallen through a crack in the continuum into a parallel universe or something?

Fine Gael appear to have wholesale adopted the Sidewinder Manifesto, on the economy at least

Don't get me wrong, I'm very pleased that at last somebody in Irish politics is talking a bit of sense. I'm just slightly bemused after a decade of being pilloried as a raving loon, in recent months people are falling all over themselves to adopt positions I've been constantly laughed at for having.

Ah well. Credit where it's due, fair play Enda, good speech, now just demonstrate that you actually understand this stuff and yer not just repeating what some advisor is telling you to say, and we're golden.

[KingKane]

[quote=wombat;1263405]To clean it up. The reason people join FG rather than FF is because they want to change the way the country is being run. /quote]

If all you are interested in is being the one to make the decision and not the least bit in what the actual decision is then you join FF. If you are interested in what the decision actually is and what its impact would be; you join some other party.

[SPN]

Rubbish. There'll be no Tallaght Strategy, and no FF-FG coalition, for the following reasons.

1) Its FF's mess, they can take the blame, and clean it up.

2) Alternatively, if there's an election, FG will govern if given the mandate to do so, and will do the cleaning up, but WILL NOT then be sharing the blame.

3) FG would get no credit for a Tallaght Strategy from the electorate.

4) An FF-FG coalition would lead to mass resignations from the membership, and from a substantial minority of the Parliamentary Party.

We're beyond "blame" at this stage, and the cause of the problem is the collapse of the Global Banking System, not any local mishaps.

FG are very unlikely to be able to Govern without Labour, and they are very unlikely to be able to Govern properly WITH Labour.

If you listen to the recent rhetoric from Labour, they really don't have a clue about the severity of the collapse, and their 19th Century ideological mindset doesn't equip them to be able to deal with the issues effectively.

We've got a bit of a catch 22 therefore.

..
.

[hiding behind a poster]

We're beyond "blame" at this stage, and the cause of the problem is the collapse of the Global Banking System, not any local mishaps.

So you're saying that if it wasn't for that, our unsustainable tax base with 1 Euro in every 7 coming from property and asset-related taxes would have kept on supporting wasteful spending indefinitely?

FG are very unlikely to be able to Govern without Labour, and they are very unlikely to be able to Govern properly WITH Labour.

Tired old cliche. With nothing backing it up.

[Sidewinder]

It's a real shame SPN is so determined to keep chugging back the FF Koolaid, he was a great poster before he sold his soul last year...

[powderfinger]

I'm not so sure. I think you underestimate the (potential) ability of Labour to bring the unions "onside" for cuts that are necessary in the nations interest.

There is a big difference between accepting pay cuts/freezes and redundencies to help secure the economy in the nation's interest, and feeling they're being forced on you because your opponent's wanted to help their freinds, i.e. the bankers and builders (as an aside, seemingly the only groups that aren't protesting the budget!)

I do think Labour (as well as FG) recognise the imensity of what needs to be done. I hope they'll learn how it needs to be done, too. You can see what a haims FF made of things what with seeming to pluck cutbacks out of the air without any foreplanning.

Any alternative government need to reckon whether it's better to have the people with them or against them in the difficult tasks that need to undertaken in sorting out the mess, and they need to think long and hard about the best way to achieve that.
Having a party in power favourable to many of those affected by the economic realities will be an asset, not a liability in that case.

Is 'cuts' a mis-spelling, YbNb?