Fianna Fail - a republican party?

[brio910]

Interesting article in the Irish Daily Mail today by Hermann Kelly. He hammered home a lot of points, showing that FF is not a Republican Party because instead of making the democratic wishes of the Irish people paramount the Dail sovereign, FF has handed over a huge amount of power to the EU.

FF, he says, have prostrated themselves before their EU masters and even allowed the EU to introduce legislation (Brussels II) regulation which allows people to practically circumvent the Divorce legislation passed by the people in the 1995 referendum.
Should FF stop calling itself the Republican Party, until it makes the will of the Irish people sovereign?

As we approach Lisbon, Kelly suggests the new FF anthem should be 'Ireland long a nation, be a province once again.' More honest - What do you think?

[ibis]

It wouldn't be polite for me to say.

[constitutionus]

this is one thing that has been bothering me. how can FF retain their republican credentials and say theyre putting ireland first when theyre giving away its clout and influence in europe while at the same time allowing EU bodies more and more authority and control?

if they WANT to be the equivilant of rhode island in the united states of europe fair enough but dont pretend your on about the soverign will of the people. in fact i wish ALL the pro treaty parties would just come out and say theyre not in favour of an ireland run by the irish and admit they want a federal EU where our dail has the clout of a county councill.

be alot more honest than the claptrap theyre spouting now.

[ibis]

this is one thing that has been bothering me. how can FF retain their republican credentials and say theyre putting ireland first when theyre giving away its clout and influence in europe while at the same time allowing EU bodies more and more authority and control?

if they WANT to be the equivilant of rhode island in the united states of europe fair enough but dont pretend your on about the soverign will of the people. in fact i wish ALL the pro treaty parties would just come out and say theyre not in favour of an ireland run by the irish and admit they want a federal EU where our dail has the clout of a county councill.

be alot more honest than the claptrap theyre spouting now.

Hmm. Fianna Fáil - famous for doing anything to stay in power themselves - apparently want to become a provincial council....

Let's see how this measures up against reality, shall we?

There are nowhere near enough plum jobs in the EU to soak up a fraction of the FF TDs - not even the Ministers and junior Ministers. Not only that, but FF quite clearly use the EU as a dumping ground for the politically awkward.

Do you guys ever actually think this stuff through?

[Defeated Romanticist]

Interesting article in the Irish Daily Mail today by Hermann Kelly. He hammered home a lot of points, showing that FF is not a Republican Party because instead of making the democratic wishes of the Irish people paramount the Dail sovereign, FF has handed over a huge amount of power to the EU.

FF, he says, have prostrated themselves before their EU masters and even allowed the EU to introduce legislation (Brussels II) regulation which allows people to practically circumvent the Divorce legislation passed by the people in the 1995 referendum.
Should FF stop calling itself the Republican Party, until it makes the will of the Irish people sovereign?

As we approach Lisbon, Kelly suggests the new FF anthem should be 'Ireland long a nation, be a province once again.' More honest - What do you think?

Great, Hermann Kelly doesn't like us. Does this give us street cred?

Gays, immigrants, single mothers, we feel your pain.

We should start a campaign to ensure that the oppression of FFers is lessened by giving them a quota of seats in the Dáil to make up for their oppression. I suggest 83 seats.

[odie1kanobe]

Interesting article in the Irish Daily Mail ?

Thats where you the credibility starts to fall to Zero, Anything to do with Daily Mail and its equivalents.

[bradán feasa]

This is a serious issues Defeated Romanticist

Over 50% of our laws currently come from the EU

A further 105 areas are being handed over to Brussels in this referendum and we are loosing our veto on 60 other areas

We are losing a commissioner for 5 out of every 15 years and our voting strength is being reduced from 2% to 0.8%

A major tenant of republicanism is self determination, how can FF call it self a republican party if it is handing over the determination of our future to Brussels wholesale?

[Defeated Romanticist]

This is a serious issue Defeated Romanticist

Over 50% of our laws currently come from the EU

I appreciate that but the No side have yet to suggest a convincing argument. Not one. And I am the type you could see myself voting no(although I lean yes and will probably vote yes)

A further 105 areas are being handed over to Brussels in this referendum and we are loosing our veto on 60 other areas

Every country in the EU will be surrendering sovereignty in these areas. If the EU is to function some level of co-operation and trust is required.

We are losing a commissioner for 5 out of every 15 years and our voting strength is being reduced from 2% to 0.8%

You make that sound like a bad thing. Ireland should get the voting strength its population warrants, and the commision needs to be streamlined.

A major tenant of republicanism is self determination, how can FF call it self a republican party if it is handing over the determination of our future to Brussels wholesale?

We would be relinquishing our sovereignty if we were handing over control of the functions of the state to a body not elected or chosen by the people of Ireland. We are not doing that. Rather than relinquishing sovereingty we are pooling it.

Hermann Kelly deserves all the condescention he gets.

[newbie]

The very idea of the Daily Mail and its writers claiming to know anything about Irish republicanism - don't make me laugh! As to talk of nations and provinces - the Mail is working hard to try make Ireland a province of the old colonial power, starting by bringing Britain's worst journalistic standards over here.

To paraphrase Brian Cowen's put down of Enda Kenny, you are neither qualified nor able to evaluate whether Fianna Fail is a republican party.

[ibis]

This is a serious issues Defeated Romanticist

Over 50% of our laws currently come from the EU

A further 105 areas are being handed over to Brussels in this referendum and we are loosing our veto on 60 other areas

We are losing a commissioner for 5 out of every 15 years and our voting strength is being reduced from 2% to 0.8%

A major tenant of republicanism is self determination, how can FF call it self a republican party if it is handing over the determination of our future to Brussels wholesale?

I'm fascinated. I've seen 60 claimed, and I've seen 105 claimed, but I've never seen anyone claim both simultaneously. I do hope you can actually provide a list of what they are, because as far as I am aware there are 50 new QMV areas (33 articles).