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About LinkBacksIm not a public rep. and I have no intention of running for public office.Originally Posted by Swingingdoor
Let the public reps answer this, thats what their been paid for.
Im not a public rep. and I have no intention of running for public office.
Let the public reps answer this, thats what their been paid for.
Perhaps some people get mixed up between local and national politics.
Local councillors can't influence,
[LIST][*]Unemployment [*]National finance.[*]The Health system[*]The food chain.[*]And goodness knows Green house gases.
Members represent citizens interest at local level ,
So having views on national issues isn't worth a toss.
"stick to the knitting" or loose your seat.
With the high level of mention which Sinn Fein is receiving in this thread, some realism must be applied.
As things stand, I predict the following;
- Stephen Lynch will get onto Mountmellick Town Council.
- Brian Stanley will get re-elected to Portlaoise Town & Laois Co. Council.
- Aidan Mullins will poll reasonably well in the Emo/Port area, but is unlikely to get elected unless a huge chasm opens and the majority of Emo and Stradbally get sucked into it.
Fianna Fail are set to suffer locally because of the latent effects of the economic crisis and absolutely bungled budget.
Fine Gael seem to be in the best position to prosper from this election.
In theory that's how it should be, but in truth Councillors, through Local Authorities and their party, do have an influence on national issues such as finance, the environment & waste management, and the health system. Why else do organisations urge you to pressure Councillors as well as Parliamentarians? Because Councillors have a say at grass roots level and can lobby through their Local Authories by means of motions, etc. It's debatable how effective it is, but it can be done.
For instance, if Laois Co. Council voted to sell or close Kyletalasha Landfill at their next Area meeting, that would effect the environment and waste management nationally. Or if members of Laois Co. Council vote to oppose the closing/opening of a unit in the Midland Regional Hospital.
Last edited by PoliticalRealist; 12th December 2008 at 09:36 PM.
[QUOTE=PoliticalRealist;1321015]With the high level of mention which Sinn Fein is receiving in this thread, some realism must be applied.
As things stand, I predict the following;
- Stephen Lynch will get onto Mountmellick Town Council.
- Brian Stanley will get re-elected to Portlaoise Town & Laois Co. Council.
- Aidan Mullins will poll reasonably well in the Emo/Port area, but is unlikely to get elected unless a huge chasm opens and the majority of Emo and Stradbally get sucked into it.
Fianna Fail are set to suffer locally because of the latent effects of the economic crisis and absolutely bungled budget.
Fine Gael seem to be in the best position to prosper from this election.
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Good post and welcome. I will say this though, FF could take a hit but we have to be carefull. The local FF cumann will also be aware of this and will be planning behind the scenes.
As i have found out some of the FF people can determine the outcome.
The laptops in the count centre are,nt for show, They collect every scrap of data.
That way they avoid canvassing areas where turnout is low etc, or where people are,nt registered or fg supporters.
from the look of things FG are confident in Laois at the moment and will have a good election next year, the fight for the scraps will be good though.
Republican, Socialist, Feminist, Internationalist, Environmentalist, Anti racist,.
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[quote=hill walker;1321240]Fine Gael will be the party which will make gains in the county this year, and rightly so. Charlie Flanagan's election in 2007 has been a benchmark for Fine Gael's future gains in Laois/Offaly.
Stanley polled well in the General Election and also in the last Local Elections, which are much more relevant. I was surprised that a second candidate was not put on the ballot in Portlaoise Town as Stanley's Town vote could be split to allow a second candidate if Sinn Fein managed their votes.
Re Fianna Fail
A lot has been said and written about the imminent collapse of the Fianna Fail vote. History has shown us that no party is better than the soldiers of destiny at getting out their supporters on poll date. Don,t rule out Fianna Fail returning the exact same numbers next time round in the Laois Local elections. Betting against Fianna Fail canidates is a fools paradise. Demographics tell us that the highest grouping of voters is in the 60 plus age bracket , for many of them the civil war is alive and well and being fought every day of the week.
Of course the Fianna Fail vote won't collapse totally, that would be ridiculous to suggest. However, Fine Gael are going to gain across the country due to recent Fianna Fail failures, the polls have shown this in the previous month and now they've close to a 5 point gap. However, this might simply suggest that last month's sample were more FF friendly.
The largest population group however is the 25-29 age group, so I'd be interested to see the source of your assertion that the highest group of voters is aged 60+? The younger generation tend to be more aligned to Fine Gael (at least in my experience), although among some the Fianna Fail tradition of parents continues.
I specifically meant the group with the highest Percentage of FF voters. my scource is :
TDs feel heat over medical cards: ThePost.ie
Ps just heard that Brian Lenihan our esteemed Minister for Finance just "noticed the downturn in the month of July 2008 " this surely means that his detachment from everyday life , is more than just a cause for concern.
I agree with your asessment of SF chances,except I think they could pull in another town councillor in Portlaoise. They will run one and it will be interesting to see how they manage their vote there.
Interesting also that FF are not discussed more here,no matter what you think of them they are still a potent force in Laois politics.
I heard they will blitz Portlaoise with candiates for the town council, 8 in total.
They will be a bit more targeted with their county council race.
I also heard they approached two local portlaoise sports personalities to run in that town.
One declined outright, the other did not and this could be worrying for everyone in the running in Portlaoise town and county.
If he runs he would walk on to the town council and probably take the 7th county council seat.But I just cant believe it. He would be a great catch for FF but has no experience of politics, no real party affiliation and would'nt be great on policy.
Says alot of what they think of Jack Nolans chances,they know he will struggle to retain his town council seat let alone take a county council one.
If Sinn Fein achieve the gains you suggest well then it will be a major break through indeed. Our campaign is well and truly up and running and this has been noted by the other parties. Expect to see the sinn fein vote increase in every area contested and that is our goal this time round, building political strenght in order to give leadership as only republicans can.
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