Fianna Fail – Page 6 – Slugger O'Toole

Griffin on engagement with Unionism and finding common ground

Soapbox on December 2, 2014, 5:03 pm

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Recently one of the Vice President’s of Fianna Fáil, Arthur Griffin, spoke to the youth wing of the Ulster Unionists. Writing for Slugger he recalls his experience and what he took from it. The jokes about going into the “Lion’s Den” were obvious in advance of the meeting. I was travelling with three friends from Dublin, fellow Fianna Fáil members. We were travelling to East Belfast to meet with members of the Young Unionists, the UUP’s youth wing. At 28 …

Could Micheal Martin can be the next Jack Lynch?

Derek Mooney on November 12, 2014, 1:15 pm

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On Sunday night last I accepted Slugger’s invitation to wrote a piece on why Michael Martin can be the next Jack Lynch. The task seemed quite straightforward and timely. November 10 was the anniversary of Lynch’s first election (in 1966) as Taoiseach, what better opportunity to compare the two Corkmen and reflect on their similarities. Yet, almost two days after accepting the request, I was still finding it difficult to write the piece. So why the problem? Without a doubt …

Sinn Fein top of the polls: Rumours of their demise greatly exaggerated?

David McCann on November 1, 2014, 8:44 pm

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Latest polls in the South will be giving Sinn Fein reason to raise a glass tonight as they have suffered one of the biggest crises since 2004. Here is the latest Millward/Brown Poll which will appear in tomorrows Sunday Independent Fine Gael -22% Fianna Fáil – 20% Sinn Féin -26% Labour-7pc, Independent-23% I will pose this question to the Sluggerverse what is the secret of their succcess? David McCannDavid McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University of Ulster. You …

Latest SBP/REDC poll in the South-Sinn Fein still second

David McCann on October 26, 2014, 12:08 am

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The first opinion poll taken in the South since the BBC Spotlight programme was conducted on Monday-Wednesday of the past week. Here are the results Fine Gael-26% (-2) Sinn Fein-20% (-3%) Fianna Fail-18% (nc) Labour-8% (nc) Inds/Oths-28% (+5) Overall, Sinn Fein will be happy with this poll as in other bad times for the party such as the Northern Bank robbery and the McCartney murder, the party’s support halved in just 9 weeks. This 3% drop is more stable and …

Martin criticises Nesbitt and Kenny over talks and role of Irish government

David McCann on October 20, 2014, 9:27 am

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Interesting report in today’s Irish News about comments from the Fianna Fail leader, Micheal Martin and the UUP leader, Mike Nesbitt. The paper reports comments from Nesbitt last week saying he was provided with assurances that the Irish government “would respect the principle of the three-stranded approach”. “However, the other two strands involve north-south and east-west relations and clearly you cannot consider those matters without input from the Irish government,” the UUP leader said. However, speaking at the Fianna Fail commemoration …

Fianna Fáil: Doomsday is not here

The Bog Man on October 16, 2014, 10:30 pm

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Michael Martin is a capable, hardworking politician. Martin is not a complacent politician. He knew despite May’s good local election results that a significant job of work was still to be done. He has not risen to such lofty political heights because he is a man prone to fits of panic. His party’s members are. Throughout Saturday morning scores of Fianna Fáil party activists and workers phones received a similar message ‘Roscommon SL -we are f**cked- no future?!’. Indeed, anyone …

So, if there is a border poll, what might a Yes Ireland campaign look like?

David McCann on September 28, 2014, 5:06 pm

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On this morning’s Sunday Politics, the Bel Tel Political Editor, Liam Clarke said that a poll will appear in tomorrow’s newspaper stating that a majority of those surveyed would like to see a border poll. Clarke did not go into who would win such a poll if it is held, but I thought I would pen some thoughts I have been developing over the past few months. Last week I was in Scotland to live blog the referendum as the …

Fianna Fáil, firmly embedded in the history of the Irish state, now need to articulate its future

Mick Fealty on September 18, 2014, 4:56 pm

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Oh yes, Irish Politics… This is worth noting in passing. Fianna Fail are suffering something of the same hangover that befuddled first the Tory party and latterly the British Labour Party. Being in power for so long that you lose your direction and purpose. Gary Murphy puts some bones on that in the Examiner.. Martin’s jibe that Fine Gael are too right-wing was not just some throwaway remark but had its roots in Fianna Fáil’s long history. Fianna Fáil always viewed …

Micheal Martin’s strength is his early adaption to FF’s changed circumstances

Mick Fealty on June 25, 2014, 3:04 pm

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So, Brian Crowley has gone his own way. Choosing a political grouping that contained the British Conservative party was eccentric and perhaps eccentric enough to mute any widespread criticism of Micheal Martin within the wider party. In the Irish Times Mary Minihan makes a brief assay of where the party is. She makes an important point here: Unlike some of his egotistical lieutenants, Mr Martin was an early-adaptor, absorbing the scale and shock of seat losses incurred in 2011 and understanding …

Fianna Fail’s only MEP Brian Crowley jumps EP political groups…

Mick Fealty on June 23, 2014, 11:36 am

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Oh, and here’s some more bad news for Micheal Martin (this time it is actually real bad news)… BREAKING: Fianna Fail MEP Brian Crowley is to leave ALDE + join the ECR, home of the British Tory MEPs, Danish Peoples’ Party + True Finns — Tony Connelly (@tconnellyRTE) June 23, 2014 So, his only MEP has gone rogue and swung back to the right [with the British Tories? – Ed] to join the ECR group and leaving the much diminished …

In a post #IndyRef Scotland will ‘form’ trump ideological ‘content’?

Mick Fealty on June 11, 2014, 3:02 pm

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Interesting piece from Torcuil Crichton who is a Westminster lobby correspondent for the Scottish Daily Record, courtesy of Bella Caledonia.. There have been 29 general elections to the Dàil, Ireland’s parliament, since independence. Ireland’s Labour Party have won precisely none. When socialism goes up against nationalism in a country where all civic politics is about the nation, then Labour doesn’t stand a chance. What happened in Ireland – in fact Irish leader Eamon de Valera’s specific strategy – was to …

After the election… Fianna Fail…

Mick Fealty on May 29, 2014, 7:57 pm

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After Sinn Fein, Fianna Fail is the longest continuously operating party in the Republic. Their long ongoing argument with big rival Fine Gael is often characterised as a continuation of civil war politics. Yet such reasoning is largely academic. These historic if unresolved issues have barely featured in southern political life in thirty years. Class is probably a more significant factor, with Fianna Fail traditionally drawing more support from the lower end of Ireland’s social scale. Yet even that is …

Oh yes, and Fianna Fail is now the actual largest party in the Republic…

Mick Fealty on May 26, 2014, 2:08 pm

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That’s a detail you might miss in all the fun and games. Fianna Fail have edged ahead of Fine Gael in the local councils across the country and now sit on 25% of the vote. That’s a seven per cent rise on the General Election at a time when when there has never been more competition to mainstreams. As noted about the Sinn Fein surge in Dublin this will mean more FF TDs in parliament. Despite losing the Dublin Euro …

“It is a hoary old cliché, but anger is not a policy…”

Mick Fealty on May 22, 2014, 7:43 am

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John Walsh in the Irish Examiner warns not so about the rise and rise of populism, but the consequence of the adoption of opportunist tactics by the Irish opposition parties. Interestingly he begins with the populism of early 80s Britain when busting trade unions and a populist sell off of public housing stock he reckons set of a long slow timer for many of the difficulties besetting the UK today… Despite the claims of Gerry Adams and co that they …

Derek Mooney-Fianna Fáil and the long road to recovery.

Soapbox on May 19, 2014, 12:30 pm

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Continuing on our series of articles of elections in the South, former Fianna Fail advisor Derek Mooney writes about the current campaign, Fianna Fail’s recovery and what it has to do next. While there are worse jobs in the world: the worst job in politics is certainly leader of the opposition. If he didn’t already know this, it is certain that Fianna Fáil’s leader Micheal Martin will know this in just over a week. The 2014 European and Local Election …

Women candidates and Political Parties in the 2014 Republic of Ireland local elections by Claire McGing

Soapbox on April 23, 2014, 8:11 am

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Claire McGing currently lectures political geography at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. She has published research nationally and internationally on gender in Irish politics, north and south. She can be contacted at [email protected]. Local elections are due to be held in the Republic of Ireland on Friday, May 23rd. Compared to the last contest in 2009 the electoral landscape is rather different: 774 town and borough council positions have been abolished and the number of county/city councillors has risen …

Face it – Anna Lo and the Alliance Party are the only show in town

Brian Walker on March 22, 2014, 3:51 pm

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Anna Lo’s remarks show how Alliance can still impale themselves on the old cleft stick. Anna tilted in the right direction but overbalanced, provoking a bit of electoral frothing at the mouth by the usual suspects. Never mind. She must be doing something right to attract 240 Slugger comments even if many of them are private chats as usual. Personally I welcome a bit of overbalancing in a progressive direction for a change. Who doesn’t like Anna for heavens’ sake! The party’s best bet is …

Fianna Fail sets 2019 as a target date for running in NI elections

Mick Fealty on March 22, 2014, 7:08 am

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And so it seems that Fianna Fail is to put its money where its attention has been for some time: Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has confirmed his party’s intention to stand for election in Northern Ireland in 2019. “I’ve set that as a target to field candidates,” he said. The party passed a motion from Donegal North East and Dublin Bay South delegates without debate – it called for active and serious participating and engagement in the political process …

Fine Gael to consider contesting elections in the North #fgaf14

David McCann on March 1, 2014, 1:03 pm

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Interesting development from the Fine Gael Ard Fheis this weekend as the party’s delegates have passed a motion to set up a working group to consider the possibility of contesting elections in the North. The motion that was passed only states contesting elections at Local, European and Assembly elections but it will be interesting to see if this group has legs and goes somewhere. To be honest, I wasn’t even aware that this issue was on the radar for the …

Fianna Fail in Northern Ireland: “We have to be very incremental: it isn’t going to be a big bang.”

Mick Fealty on February 18, 2014, 12:57 pm

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Alex Kane has done a fascinating interview with Micheal Martin for the News Letter. He covers a lot more Northern Irish bases than he has before and makes it clear that his past interventions on policy are part of long slow iterative engagement with Northern Irish politics, which he hopes will grow into a separate challenge to the business as usual of the current status quo. Here’s some of the highlights: MM: What I would like to have seen is …