Dublin Bay bye-election; Fine gael runs most fine gael candidate to ever button up a blue shirt.

[Cheetodust]

Recently Dublin Bay South TD, former housing minister, vote of no confidence survivor (on a technicality) and GE quota misser Eoghan Murphy retired to pursue a career in international politics (good luck to the rest of the world). Now we are left with a bye-election to fill his seat.

Dublin Bay South is Ireland's most affluent constituency and a Fine Gael stronghold, although they had a very poor showing last year with the greens and sinn fein being the only two parties to get a candidate elected who actually got enough votes to get elected. SF beating FG is pretty wild in that constituency. This government is not in a great position right now and losing a seat could be a big problem considering some greens do not toe the party line on particular votes. So to ensure they return that seat to FG they have run what I can only assume is a parody of a Fine Gael candidate. To begin with before starting in politics James Geoghegan worked as a lobbyist for Philip Morris (actual tobacco lobbyist running for government, ireland is officially the 51st state). But apart from that he has been blundering headlong into publicity no no's like nobody's business. The first came from posting and then deleting a picture of him canvassing because there was a homeless person in the background. Not a great look for a man campaigning mainly on housing. Then yesterday, on the anniversary of Ireland repealing the 8th amendment by popular vote, allowing women access to abortion in the state, he posted on twitter celebrating how "we" repealed the 8th. This is a man who literally founded a party whose stated goal was to prevent the legalisation of abortion in ireland. Needles to say there has been hundreds of posts calling out his bullshit and not a one that I could find supporting him.

It never ceases to amaze me what a clown show Irish politics has become and I blame America's influence. Before you guys went full sociopath, politicians had to at least lie with some kind of conviction. The lies of politicians these days are just half-arsed now that they know what they can get away with. The Taoiseach stood up in the Dail and said that the banks were never bailed out. Like whiskey, child abuse, car bombs and bailing the banks out are basically what the Irish are known for.

 

[09philj]

It never ceases to amaze me what a clown show Irish politics has become and I blame America's influence.

Also Ireland's spent a very long time pretending that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are meaningfully different from each other and is just starting to lurch towards a more normal left/right situation.

 

[Thaluikhain]

It never ceases to amaze me what a clown show Irish politics has become and I blame America's influence. Before you guys went full sociopath, politicians had to at least lie with some kind of conviction. The lies of politicians these days are just half-arsed now that they know what they can get away with.

Yeah, we hit with that over in Australia as well, and it seems to be the reason for much of the UKs recent shenanigans, Trump et al really redefined normal behaviour even for those on other continents.

 

[Cheetodust]

Also Ireland's spent a very long time pretending that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are meaningfully different from each other and is just starting to lurch towards a more normal left/right situation.

Yeah a century of right wing and full on founded by actual sieg heiling fascists has kind of warped ireland's view of left v right. Sad considering most of the people who died for this place to become a country were very openly socialists. Padraig Pearse and James Connolly would probably eyeing up the GPO right now if they were still alive.

 

[Cheetodust]

Yeah, we hit with that over in Australia as well, and it seems to be the reason for much of the UKs recent shenanigans, Trump et al really redefined normal behaviour even for those on other continents.

I also hate that gaslighting has now come to mean just lying badly. Like, nah they're not gaslighting us they just don't care that we don't believe them. Actually being very unpopular is barely an impediment when most political systems have some guirk that can be exploited to keep power.

 

[Agema]

How do you pronounce Eoghan? Is it like "Yochan" (the ch as in 'loch'), or is it more like the Scottish Euan?

 

[09philj]

How do you pronounce Eoghan? Is it like "Yochan" (the ch as in 'loch'), or is it more like the Scottish Euan?

Owen

 

[Agema]

Owen

Really? Wow. Well, didn't see that one coming. Owen's Welsh, and I'd have assumed the Irish would be closer to Scottish, Goidelic and all that.

 

[Trunkage]

Yeah, we hit with that over in Australia as well, and it seems to be the reason for much of the UKs recent shenanigans, Trump et al really redefined normal behaviour even for those on other continents.

Yean... politics have always been this bad.

John Howard and Tampa? Pretending to cry... don't believe a word. Home buyers grant will help people buy houses.... hahanaha. Helping out East Timor? I did fall for that one. You got me Johnny. That naughty pollution thing is not real? [Tng facepalm gif]. Liberals know how to budget? Bill Shorten or Tony Abbot could have had a balanced budget with those taxes you got. Liberals good for the economy? You lucked out on a resources boom and did nothing to improve the rest of the economy, meaning that we've been struggling ever since it finished

There was so many bad lies and misreading of the truth, its was ridiculous

 

[Gergar12]

In the current political zeitgeist, we keep talking about how this country in the global south is a moocher state, depends on foreign aid, or depends on remittances from other countries.

Ireland is literally the biggest moocher state, but because they are western, and or white no one cares about European, British, or American tax havens. When Ireland steals American jobs so much so that even Trump put in provisions in the Tax bill that forced 2 US companies to come back to the US against the double Irish it hurts everyone in the US and other countries. And yes I am about to offend lots of people, but I criticize everyone left, right, center, rich, and poor, and also the middle class.

Why don't the Irish government produce goods or services like almost everyone else. Their population is highly educated and has huge potential to be more efficient, and productive. Because there is a cost to them stealing US jobs. It's not me, or a wealthy person, or a the office worker, or various other groups unaffected by tax haven who suffers. it's people in the working class who lose out on tax revenue to fund social services and the global south who miss out on foreign aid.

And no I don't think Irish people are lazy, or violent, or any of the old history stereotypes, quite the opposite. I think the voting bloc who voted for this government is craven, as well as their government. And yes there are papers that write how the US is the biggest beneficiary, and user of tax havens, but I don't agree with the tax havens in Delaware either.

If everyone acted this way, we would be screwed as s civilization, but nope if your Ireland, you can get away with it.

 

[Gordon_4]

Yean... politics have always been this bad.

John Howard and Tampa? Pretending to cry... don't believe a word. Home buyers grant will help people buy houses.... hahanaha. Helping out East Timor? I did fall for that one. You got me Johnny. That naughty pollution thing is not real? [Tng facepalm gif]. Liberals know how to budget? Bill Shorten or Tony Abbot could have had a balanced budget with those taxes you got. Liberals good for the economy? You lucked out on a resources boom and did nothing to improve the rest of the economy, meaning that we've been struggling ever since it finished

There was so many bad lies and misreading of the truth, its was ridiculous

Fucking Tampa, we are still feeling the after effects of that one. I remember when it happened, my uncle rang my grandfather and said “Labour have lost the election”. And he was right; and it’s never sat well with me that the SAS were used for that operation; it should have been done by the Customs Service. It wasn’t a warship and the people aboard it were not combatants.

 

[Cheetodust]

Really? Wow. Well, didn't see that one coming. Owen's Welsh, and I'd have assumed the Irish would be closer to Scottish, Goidelic and all that.

The Irish spelling of Evan is Eimheann.

In the current political zeitgeist, we keep talking about how this country in the global south is a moocher state, depends on foreign aid, or depends on remittances from other countries.

Ireland is literally the biggest moocher state, but because they are western, and or white no one cares about European, British, or American tax havens. When Ireland steals American jobs so much so that even Trump put in provisions in the Tax bill that forced 2 US companies to come back to the US against the double Irish it hurts everyone in the US and other countries. And yes I am about to offend lots of people, but I criticize everyone left, right, center, rich, and poor, and also the middle class.

Why don't the Irish government produce goods or services like almost everyone else. Their population is highly educated and has huge potential to be more efficient, and productive. Because there is a cost to them stealing US jobs. It's not me, or a wealthy person, or a the office worker, or various other groups unaffected by tax haven who suffers. it's people in the working class who lose out on tax revenue to fund social services and the global south who miss out on foreign aid.

And no I don't think Irish people are lazy, or violent, or any of the old history stereotypes, quite the opposite. I think the voting bloc who voted for this government is craven, as well as their government. And yes there are papers that write how the US is the biggest beneficiary, and user of tax havens, but I don't agree with the tax havens in Delaware either.

If everyone acted this way, we would be screwed as s civilization, but nope if your Ireland, you can get away with it.

It also harms ireland. Most people with any sense know ireland should be building it's own industry but prefer to allow massive multinational corporations do it instead. And it has fucked us. One of the things that became clear during the pandemic is that Dublin is fucked, so many businesses have to close forever because nobody actually lives in the city. Except for the homeless. Henry Street has become a tent city. And the wild thing is there's a unit in Temple Bar that used to be a Costa. The rent for it is 12,000k a month. Local businesses can't actually afford to open in this city because landlords own every inch of it.

They've had to alter how they calculate wealth in ireland because GDP is totally meaningless when so much of the wealth produced in the country doesn't stay in the country.

Then there is the Apple tax debacle. People are waking up to it though. It created the illusion of progress so people thought it was a good thing. But now we're paying the price for it. There are places in Dublin, outside of the city center where a one bedroom house costs half a million. We have the 5th largest number of billionaires per population in the world, wealth inequality is out of control. We're run by people who don't care if we become an impoverished, exploited country like the global South, as long as they're in charge. Our leaders will pay lip service to being proud to be Irish but everything they say and do disparage the actual actions and philosophies that brought us here because they're not really against a ruling class and a serf class, they just wanted to be the ruling class themselves.

But you have to remember, the current government is made up of 3 parties, 2 of which openly said they refused to work with the most popular party in the country. And this isn't a "silent majority" thing. Fianna Fail's approval numbers are currently similar to the smaller parties who are lucky to get 5-10 seats in an election now because they went in with FG. The greens who had managed to scrape back some support after their last stint in government did literally the exact same thing they did last time and lost the support of the under 30's who likely don't remember them in 2011. Fine Gael... Are untouchable unfortunately. They are our furthest right mainstream party and will always control that vote. I'm 30 now, getting more involved in local politics but honestly in 5 years or so I'll probably be out of here if I don't see change on the horizon. I have friends my age going into debt for the rest of their lives buying not great houses in not great locations that they can barely afford because it's ALL they can afford. Most other countries in Europe have much more affordable homes. I'm not going to saddle myself with an "it'll do" house that won't even really be mine until I'm nearly dead.

 

[Trunkage]

The Irish spelling of Evan is Eimheann.

Go home Ireland. You're drunk

 

[Cheetodust]

Go home Ireland. You're drunk

Go home?! That's where they make the good whiskey!

 

[Agema]

The Irish spelling of Evan is Eimheann.

I can totally believe that given "Niamh" is pronounced "Neeve".

I can feel a little similarly with Dutch. The spoken word can be obvious to an English speaker, but it's a damn sight less clear written because the conventions of how to pronounce various letter comvinations can be so different between the two.

Go home?! That's where they make the good whiskey!

I prefer Scotch. With plenty of peat (so Islay FTW).

 

[Cheetodust]

I can totally believe that given "Niamh" is pronounced "Neeve".

I can feel a little similarly with Dutch. The spoken word can be obvious to an English speaker, but it's a damn sight less clear written because the conventions of how to pronounce various letter comvinations can be so different between the two.



I prefer Scotch. With plenty of peat (so Islay FTW).

If I'm being honest I'm more of a bourbon man. Followed by scotch. Irish whiskey is third on the list really.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

The Americanisation of European politics and the media around it is no happy random coincidence, make no mistake: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...rope-populist-nationalism-trump-a8557156.html

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Steve Bannon is an ugly suit that gained sapience and possessed the corpse of a vagrant in hopes of one day being worn by someone who calls himself "Generalissimo".

 

[Trunkage]

The Americanisation of European politics and the media around it is no happy random coincidence, make no mistake: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...rope-populist-nationalism-trump-a8557156.html

I'd remind everyone of Manafort led coups in Africa, Europe and Asia.... which got him on the Trump team. This is not new

 

[Cheetodust]

The Americanisation of European politics and the media around it is no happy random coincidence, make no mistake: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...rope-populist-nationalism-trump-a8557156.html

The sad thing about it is that ireland is a country built on social policies that have been stripped away. And now older generations act like they pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and younger people should do the same.

Even though there's a 40% chance a boomer was raised in public housing, had a greater likelihood of having free access to healthcare and from 93 onwards people had free third level education and incredibly generous grants. When I was 18, I paid no college fees and got a 6k a year grant which helped pay my rent and bills and yeah i still worked part time. Ireland is one of the greatest nations for people pulling the ladder up behind them. Even our right wing parties knew the necessity of housing, healthcare and education but now Irish people have become fiercely individualistic and use the same fear mongering around socialism you see in american media, using communist, socialist and Marxist as scare words interchangeably, even though every Easter we honour a group of socialists who sacrificed themselves fighting for independence.