I'm not a SF voter, but I honestly thought they would gain big time from the anti government backlash. However, this does not appear to have happened in Dublin in particular. I heard just now that Daithi Doolan has lost his seat, not too long ago he was fancied to get a Dail seat.
Could anyone give insight as to what the cause was, without resorting to SF bashing ?
Their open backing of Mass immigration has cost them huge levels of support in the Capital no doubt about it.Originally Posted by patronsaint
Europa Conventus Delenda Est
The left did gain in Dublin but SF did not get that swing, not able to put my finger on it but i have my thoughts but i'm fooked if i am going to discuss them here mate. And neither should any other SF people at that.
Change the ******************************g record mate.
Its the economy stupid... until the party gets a handle on that.. they're stuck
Its full of bright young politicians.. but they're never given a chance to shine
They are outflanked left by the SP and PBPA and to the right by labour so they are just getting squeezed. Plus a lot of negative propaganda from the Evening Herald doesn't help.
Well I am a Sinn Féin member and I didn't patronsaint. Sinn Féin in my opinion needs to start seriously asking why people don't generally transfer to us. I think that we actually need to do a lot of work with people from other parties and non-aligned people asking them what would make us more transfer friendly. In some ways and I hate to admit this we have lost our relevance to people in parts of the ROI even when we did have relevance before.
It is obvious that Labour had a great campaign and they absolutely deserve credit for this and also the fact that people had to choose between MLM and Higgins for euros meant that voters had to rethink their voting strategy. MLM has not been given an easy time in the media,some of it deserved but a lot very unfair and quite sexist. This anti-MLM agenda had the effect of making people reconsider their loyalty to Sinn Féin. I also believe that Sinn Féin is being seen as being too soft on immigration and this may have had a negative effect on our vote in Dublin. We need to consider this in any review of the election.
Garrett Fitzgerald's appeal to transfer to Ryan played a part. It meant that Mitchell and De Rossa leached on more transfers from eliminations that would otherwise have gone to MLM. But I also agree with Tiernanator that the party must resolve its problem on immigration. I know all our parties are liberal on this issue, but SF seems to be off the scale even by their standards. They are always opposing every single deportation and this alienates working-class voters who, unlike the middle-class professionals, are competing with migrant labour for low-skilled work. And no - I'm not scapegoating immigrants, but I am not wrapping them up in cotton-wool either. On Sky News just now the decline of the Left across Europe in the euro elections is being attributed to immigration and the sense that the Left have gone too far in closing down debate on the issue.
The other big problem is the one I have repeatedly alluded to - the Northern-dominated SF leadership is seen as out of touch with the concerns of Southern voters. This is a legacy of the disasterous Adams leadership debate in 2007 where, despite failing to avert the meltdown of his party, Michael McDowell deftly exposed Adams' perceived illiteracy on the Southern economy. I would recommend a policy of "Southernisation" of the SF leadership, with a far higher profile for Southern TDs, Senators and councillors at the expense of 6 county politicians. Leaders will only have credibility with the Southern electorate if they are seen as having a personal stake in the Southern society. Adams doesn't. One important point: do not abandon your traditional scepticism on Europe. It is crucial to your party's separate identity in the eyes of the voters and you will lose a large part of your party's appeal to the working-class and young people if you are tempted down this road. The Greens have been wiped out since embracing the Eurofederalist consensus. The success of Higgins and Sinnott and the near miss of Ferris in South underline that Euroscepticism still holds weight with many voters.
Last edited by FutureTaoiseach; 7th June 2009 at 10:14 PM.
So is that why FF still got 24% of the vote in the Country?
Can you explain the big rise in support for PBP who would share the SF line on emigration and the 50,000 who voted for Joe higgins.The only candidate supporting your view Pat Talbot got a massive 600 vote in Dublin Central.
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