Fianna Fail – Page 8 – Slugger O'Toole

Micheál Martin – opportunism and cynicism of the very worst kind

Eoin O Broin on January 20, 2013, 10:48 am

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The award for opportunist of the week must surely go to Micheál Martin. His hastily written opinion piece in Wednesdays Irish News was a timely reminder of Fianna Fáil’s cynical approach to both the peace process and to politics. For weeks Belfast city centre has been brought to a standstill by illegal loyalist blockades. Night after night the same protestors have returned to their own neighborhoods and engaged in running battles with the PSNI causing real disruption to their own …

Micheál Martin: “If the Executive is not making progress on child poverty, or economic inactivity, or sectarianism”

Mick Fealty on January 16, 2013, 11:59 am

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Okay, so one of the good things about a political crisis in Northern Ireland that it draws a multiplicity views on our general situation (riots will always divide opinion). Not all of that has been bad by any means. Allan Massie in the Scotsman is generally sanguine about Northern Ireland’s future, if not David Cameron’s. But it’s brought the leader of Fianna Fail back on the local news pages too. In an op ed in today’s Irish News Micheál Martin …

Fianna Fail lining up former TDs to run in the next local elections…

Mick Fealty on January 7, 2013, 12:55 pm

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I thought this snippet from the end of last week worth noting… Niall O’Connor reports that Fianna Fail are calling on some of its younger veterans to run in next year’s local elections… Ex-ministers Barry Andrews and Sean Connick are two of the highest-profile names linked with a run at the locals. Former TDs Margaret Conlon and Charlie O’Connor, as well as ex-senators Lisa McDonald and Maria Corrigan are also considering standing. “In areas where there is no Fianna Fail representation, …

Red C Poll: The trend lines between FG and FF softly narrowing…

Mick Fealty on December 3, 2012, 12:33 pm

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The most interesting aspect of yesterday’s Red C poll, was the 80 plus per cent in favour of legislating on the circumstances in which an abortion might be legally reformed in the Republic. That would put some pure green (not to mention socially liberal) water between the north and the south on the matter. Only 10% said No, and a mere 5% Don’t Know. But on the political front, there’s been some interesting shifts in government ratings, with Fine Gael …

Fianna Fail slowly clamber back into the southern game…

Mick Fealty on November 21, 2012, 1:44 pm

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I missed the latest Behaviours and Attitudes poll for the Sunday Times at the weekend, but to compensate, here’s Adrian Cavanagh’s tracking post which shows a clear movement in FF’s poll rating: Fine Gael 30% (down 1%), Labour 12% (down 2%), Fianna Fail 22% (up 6%), Sinn Fein 14% (down 4%), Green Party 3% (up 1%), United Left Alliance, Independents and Others 19% (NC). Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the …

Micheál Martin: “As a Republican I feel an obligation to make my contribution to the debate…”

Mick Fealty on November 9, 2012, 6:29 pm

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Micheál Martin’s interview with Mark Carruthers on The View last night is interesting viewing. Not least at the point (about here) where Carruthers mentions Gerry Adams’ dismissal of the Fianna Fail’s interventions as being driven by a concern for politics in the south. I’ve no doubt that the general thrust of Adams statement is correct. As argued here before, that’s what competitors do do. But the idea that FF and SF are neck and neck in the Republic only really …

Northern powersharing is faring better than the southern version, says Emerson. Can this be right?

Brian Walker on October 28, 2012, 1:02 pm

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In the Sunday Times,(£) Newton Emerson, apparently unabashed at being dropped by the BBC, strikes a counterintuitive note by offering a few words of support to the powersharing Executive at the expense of that other coalition in Dublin. Ignoring the recent Kearney-Robinson dingdong, he bounces his critique off Micheal Martin’s Bodenstown speech deploring the southern coalition’s failure to pay enough attention to the North, and turns it on its head. Stormont is appallingly slow at making decisions, not just on the …

“The peace process was always intended to be about more than an absence of violence…”

Pete Baker on October 22, 2012, 2:16 pm

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Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin’s criticism of the Irish Government’s ‘complacency’ over Northern Ireland echoes that of the Labour Party’s Vernon Coaker in regard to the UK Government. And that was more a disagreement on strategy, rather than a difference of opinion on the problems with the NI administration – as outlined in July by former NI Secretary of State, Owen Paterson. All of which somewhat undermines Louth TD Gerry Adams’ attempted defence of the northern wing of his party. ANYhoo… the Irish …

“…this DUP attempt to shift responsibility to Dublin, is a fiction too far.”

Mick Fealty on September 25, 2012, 8:31 am

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Fascinating OpEd in yesterday’s Irish News from Fianna Fail leader Micheál Martin. It’s the first time since I remember that a senior political leader in the Republic has taken the gloves off with anyone in Northern Ireland, let alone the First and deputy First Minister. So what is it that’s got his goat? Nothing less than the DUP’s motion in the Assembly (hot on the heels of the SDLP using the same mechanism to embarrass both ‘ruling parties’) criticising the …

Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein battle it out for title of leader of the Irish opposition

Mick Fealty on September 19, 2012, 3:53 pm

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So did anyone see the great Micheal V Gerry fight on PrimeTime last night? RTE billed it as the ‘who truly is the leader of the Opposition?‘ gig. But at the end of the day it turned out to be a bit of a damp squib. As Mary Murphy notes in the pre roll from Katie Hannon, Irish politics is generally geared to winning elections rather than making proposals for better government. The lack of support for the re-introduction of …

Why rumours of Sinn Fein’s omnipotence may be being greatly exaggerated…

Mick Fealty on June 7, 2012, 9:38 am

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When Tuesday night’s Prime Time feature on Sinn Fein aired on RTE there was nearly a civil war on Twitter. Sinn Fein supporters were punching the air whilst everyone else was grumping that Miriam (of all people) had gone soft on Donegal North East TD Padraig MacLochlainn. One particular party highlight was the view from Donegal born political analyst Sean Donnelly that in the unlikely event that the very highest current poll ratings were replicated in an election it could …

Do the govt need a No vote in #euref…

John Ó Néill on May 30, 2012, 1:06 am

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..and, to provide similar political cover, does the No side need a Yes vote? The only thing that is clear from the lead-up to the referendum on Thursday is that neither the changing political and economic context of the Austerity/Stabilitytreaty nor it’s relatively bland content has really generated much energy, despite the ramifications of ratification. The value of referenda has been disputed on here before. Indeed, Minister of State Leo Varadkar suggested that referenda were not democratic at the start of the campaign, as he: …

#EUREF: Sentiment swings towards a Yes vote (whilst FF and SF consolidate)…

Mick Fealty on May 14, 2012, 1:15 pm

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The only extraordinary thing about yesterday’s Red C poll results for the SBP, was the clear swing towards Yes, by six per cent age points. That’s probably reflective of a poor campaign thus far, and the degree of uncertainty thrown up by the chaos in Greece… And, as Stephen Collins noted on Saturday: …far from undermining the Yes campaign, the arrival of Hollande on the scene with his emphasis on growth should actually be a help to it in the …

Fine Gael need to get themselves a good public sector legacy on reform..

Mick Fealty on April 1, 2012, 7:35 pm

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I’ve heard two angles on the issue of the over neglected issue of political reform… One, Brendan Keenan on Marian Finucane this morning suggested that since Fine Gael shows little appetite for anything other than rescuing the country from economic doom, Fianna Fail might use a rejuvenated reform agenda as a powerful ticket back to power and influence (if not actual government)… Noel Whelan thinks Fine Gael themselves need to pick up the reform ticket before it is too late …

‘Dropping Bertie’ also denudes Fianna Fail of the very best of its recent history…

Mick Fealty on March 25, 2012, 11:53 am

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Even if Bertie Ahern’s resignation offers Micheal Martin a useful tribal head on a plate, Noel Whelan notes that it also robs the party of some of the best of its recent history: Ahern led Fianna Fáil for 14 of the last 17 years. He has defined the party in the modern age and has done so in a positive and popular way for most of the time he was leader and taoiseach. In distancing itself from Ahern, Fianna Fáil …

“But throughout, his government and party turned a blind eye…”

Pete Baker on March 23, 2012, 12:06 pm

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In the Irish Times the peerless Miriam Lord tackles Micheál Martin’s “swift and decisive” response to the Mahon Tribunal report. From the Irish Times article SPARE US your indignation, Micheál Martin. Button your disgust, Fianna Fáil. We don’t want to hear it. You had your chance and you chose to do nothing. So don’t pretend to be shocked now. Just do us that much. We won’t buy it. If the tribunal were to take another 15 years to deliver its …

Learning from the Tories: A road map to recovery for parties in trouble?

Mick Fealty on March 17, 2012, 12:50 pm

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Noel Whelan’s op ed piece is an intelligent structural rip from Tim Bale’s address to the recent Fianna Fail Ard Fheis on lessons to be drawn from the Tory come back after more than 13 years in the political wilderness.. Professor Bale was drawing on his recent study The Conservative Party: From Thatcher to Cameron… As Whelan suggests there are lessons here for all former incumbent parties here, north as well as south… You should really read the whole thing… …

#af12 “No. No interest, feck ’em.”

John Ó Néill on March 5, 2012, 2:56 pm

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It appears that the truth is very slow to dawn on some people. The gates had to be closed as early as 2.25 pm and there were huge queues outside the RDS on the day, but The Examiner gets pretty close to the actual optics of the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis: The queues on Saturday were not for the ard fheis but for the nearby Working Abroad Expo. It goes on to do some vox pops on what those attending …

“One step forward. Two steps back. Very awkward.”

Pete Baker on March 5, 2012, 2:05 pm

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In the Irish Times, the peerless Miriam Lord with a useful corrective to more enthusiastic witnesses of the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis at the weekend. From the Irish Times article. IT WAS all terribly awkward. An excruciating comedy of manners where the anxious principals were petrified they might say the wrong thing and upset the whole country, again, while simultaneously fretting about bumping into embarrassing old acquaintances who would make a show of them. The tense undercurrent made for an odd …

If Carlsberg did weekends

Stephen Kearon on March 4, 2012, 8:20 pm

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What a weekend – a hugely successful Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis coupled with Ireland leaving Paris undefeated. The energy and enthusiasm at the Ard Fheis was palpable, not to mention the great feeling from being surrounded by thousands of real Republicans, without a single balaclava or cartridge in sight. The passing of One Member One Vote (OMOV) was a key outcome, as not only does it give all grassroots members a real involvement with the party, it also ensures the …