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THE TEMPTATION FOR Simon Harris to cut and run and call an early general election is there with coalition parties doing better at the polls than expected.
Pressure is now on with backbenchers whispering and some others, such as Fine Gael’s Michael Ring, saying rather loudly, that now is the time, or at least in the autumn.
Speaking in Mayo, Ring said:
I think Fine Gael would be well to go the country.
“Go to the country in October, not wait. We had two winter elections and I don’t ever want to see a winter election again.
“After Christmas, bad weather, people in bad form and credit bills coming in in February. Now is the time.”
However, speaking to reporters in the RDS today where the Dublin count is underway, Tánaiste Micheál Martin poured cold water over the suggestion.
“We’ve agreed to go to full term, the Taoiseach, I and Eamon Ryan have agreed that.
However, it is the prerogative of the Taoiseach to set the date.
Harris has insisted he has no plans to bring forward the timetable for an election from spring 2025, but he is likely to face intensifying calls from party colleagues to go earlier.
Fianna Fáil Finance Minister Michael McGrath said yesterday that his party was “not getting carried away” with the election results in Ireland as he made clear he did not want an early general election.
McGrath said Fianna Fáil had defied predictions that it would haemorrhage seats and finish the local elections a distant third.
However, he stressed that a local poll was very different to a general election.
This was something stressed by Martin today also, whereby he said “opinion polls are not elections”. He said for too long the Irish political narrative has relied upon poll results, which he said allows commentators to make “lazy” assumptions based on the polls.
Local elections are different to general elections, he pointed out.
Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also gave such a warning last week, highlighting how Sinn Féin fared badly in the local elections in 2019 and came back with a huge surge in support in the general election in 2020.
The Taoiseach was asked about how going the full term with this government will give the time needed for Sinn Féin to regroup and rebuild support.
He said yesterday that he still plans for the government to last until March 2025.
While he said he accepts the advice and counsel of some members of his party, such as former MEP and Minister Frances Fitzgerald, who suggested that an election by the end of the year would be wise, he is still wants to stick to the plan.
Martin told reporters today that the focus is now on the budget and the summer economic statement, but there is another decision the coming down the line for the Tánasite. Who will be the next EU Commissioner?
The finance minister has been widely tipped for the top job, which is Fianna Fáil’s gift to give, but other names have also been in the mix.
The Journal asked the Tánaiste today if he is minded to put forward a male and female for the role, as was asked for by European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen in previous years.
However, Martin effectively ruled out such a move, stating:
We can, although part of me would say that the fundamental rules in terms of national decision-making should not be unduly undermined…
“That would be a traditional view of mine in terms of it’s a decision for each member state.
“We did do that on the last occasion, although it was done in a way that the outcome still became fairly, you know [clear]. So I think we need to be fair in demarcation lines as to the responsibilities, and in this instance, it’s the responsibility of the national government,” he added.
When asked who should get the job, he said he would “make my own decision in terms of that” and will also consult with members of the party.
“I think there’ll be a wider set of considerations and criteria have to come into play. In relation to that, in particular, in terms of the strategic objectives for the country is more important than any electoral consideration,” he said.
When asked if former Attorney General Paul Gallagher was in the mix, he said it was “news to me” when he read about it in the newspapers, and also added that he was not taking the job as he plans to lead Fianna Fáil into the next general election.
Turning to party politics, the Tánaiste didn’t want to be drawn too much on the performance of Sinn Féin, stating that it was a matter for themselves. However, he did say that he believed they lacked detailed, substantive policies.
He criticised Sinn Féin’s proposal to eliminate the First Home Scheme and Help-to-Buy scheme stating that it would damage younger people’s prospects of buying homes.
“So there’s a been a degree of incoherence and then I think over the last nine months, they’ve been speaking out of both sides of their mouths on most issues,” he added.
Dublin City Council had CCTV of dumping near the Five Lamps in Dublin 1 and they made a poster with photos of dumpers and protected it with a perspex cover. It was a great success and one local demanded it be taken down as neighbours could identify her. Haha public shaming. Last I heard the Data Protection office got involved. Seems a very cheap and effective idea to me. Expand please :)
Some local kids graffitied and had a group photo of their work. They posted it on social media. Someone printed it off and put it by the offending graffiti. Didn’t see any more of that graffiti. Here’s hoping their parents saw their photo. Fair play to whomever did that – it worked.
It’s time for producers of products to make all packaging recyclable. And/or bring back return money for bottles and cans.
@Michael McLoughlin: was just thinking that naming and shaming would be a suitable way to deter littering. Another solution could be to educate the nation of the benefits of recycling their rubbish with a view to generating energy. Incineration is good for this but requires a constant supply of rubbish so it’s unsustainable so I recommend a bill to reduce the use of non biodegradable packaging and plastics.
I would love to see how many people received a fine last year
The place is filthy and people have neither manners nor respect for their surroundings. If they were fined heavily and made do 500 hours of ditch clearing, litter picking, and graffiti cleaning each, that should help.
The roads sides are littered with coffee cups and plastic bottles and fast food packageing thrown from cars every major road and back lane u see them. We filled 14 bags of them last year durning the Kerry county clean up on one 2 mile stretch of road.
A major problem, particularly in Dublin, is the lack of bins — and particularly bins that are not overflowing and/or damaged. You can walk huge parts of Dublin and either not see a bin, or find one that is stuffed to the gills with rubbish. It’s 8am on Sunday so why am I commenting on The Journal? Long story.
@can’t even: That’s a cop out. You know what they do in singapore? They bring their rubbish home.
It’s ridiculous expecting a bin everywhere you turn. Take responsibility for your own waste.
A disturbing trend of people when out in public feel the need to eat and drink when at the smallest event like going to the supermarket. This “Comfort ” eating always leads to the problem of what to do with the wrapper or container when finished. It’s not always someone else’s fault for not having bins.
Those pesky comfort eaters. Always trying to get away with something.
@can’t even: and David Convoy unfortunately some people will never take their own rubbish home with them or take responsibility so provision of enough bins especially in busy areas will help with the problem. It won’t stop it but it would help.
You have to ask yourself Do the people that throw rubbish on the streets, roads, etc do the same thing in their homes. They obviously have no respect for themselves never mind where they live. I’ve a dog & walk her daily. I se so many people walking dogs & leaving dog poo ehere ever their dog did a poop. I once offered a bag to an owner to clean up afther their dog. Was told to fuxk off with myself & if I wanted it cleaned up to go do it myself. You wonder what their back garden is like.
@bings: I viewed a house in a Dublin suburb last year, there were a pair of dogs barking in the neighbors garden.
When I got upstairs I could see they had paved the whole garden and it was littered all over with dog faeces.
Needless to say it was a reason to look elsewhere.
Litterbugs are as filthy at home as they are in public.
It’s a mentality in some places. Dublin North inner city where I grew up is terrible for it. I see kids all the time just fling stuff out of their hands, adults leave bags on corners to avoid bin charges and the council has removed bins because people put household waste in and around them again to avoid charges. The only way to catch them is to do what Joan did for social welfare fraud, reward those who tell tales on the naughties.
@Phil Swan: yeah there’s a certain distance from the corner shop where the crisp packets are discarded, no amount of bins or unapplied fines will fix that.
Probably the only thing that would work is to name & shame using community cctv as was done for fly tipping.
Bar them from the shop then.
Another avenue is to accept clips from cyclists and car dash cams.
I saw a passenger throw a McDonald’s coffee cup out the window of a car, it wasn’t legible in the video but they are improving in leaps and bounds. The authorities should be able to fine the car owner as responsible party.
There is a wider issue here with people taking responsibility for their own surroundings. The more the council cleans up after people, the more they continue to think it’s OK to litter! Bring back deposits for cans, bottles, tins and jars. Get very very strict on dog owners not cleaning after their dogs & disposing of it correctly!
I agree with getting strict on dog owners who don’t clean up but how about more bins. I complained to the council about bagged dog poop in Balmayne park as it was beyond belief the amount and where they place a bin the problem is gone. More bins, stricter fines and collection of them and a better education of our children on this matter
Definately. It also really gets on my nerves when leaving the cinema – the mess people leave behind them for staff to clear up. Accudentally spilling ur popcorn/drink is one thing but is it so hard to just collect your wrappers, drink or popcorn box and put it in the bin on the way out the door!
Country roads around mallow are filthy littered with old furniture mattresses. plastic bags and people’s waste..its not being picked up so it’s getting much worse.. its disgusting
All these light sentences handed out by our all knowing judges could be made less annoying to the public if they attached something like a one hour a day litter removal for a length of time in their local area.
Ban cheeing gum
Walk through any Town around 6am before the street cleaners start their routine & the main streets are filthy with used take away & the stench of urine does be terrible. Make you wonder how these peoples Caves look?
Not to be making excuses but the amount of human waste might have something to do with the lack of public toilets. Take Dublin city centre for example. I cannot Be 100% sure but it use to be a case that there was no public toilets. If you need to use the bathroom you had to go into a pub or restaurant etc who are not always welcoming to someone that’s not a customer. The problem gets worst after chucking out time on any given night.
Litter fines are a cash cow to London councils where about 100,000 fines are issued each year, at £75 a time. The can only be appealed through the courts – and the finest are issued by private firms who are incentivised.
Who’s going to vote no in fairness??
I was going to, because the article goes through all the existing laws and fines that exist, mentions the need for better enforcement and then, in perfect symmetry with every government and local authority in Ireland, the poll asks whether we should increase the fines, with no question of whether we should increase the enforcement levels. That’s Ireland to a tee: make a law, don’t enforce it, react to the public outcry by making a new law with draconian fines, but still don’t enforce it, repeat until no one wants the law enforced because consequences are unfair (eg: 5 points for no NCT).
I did, because if people won’t pay the current fine amounts there’s no possibility of anyone paying more. Keep the fines smaller , manageable for most people with rigourous enforcement.
@Type17: The poll didn’t ask if we agreed with increasing fines. It asks: “So would you support stricter fines for littering?”
The fines we have are adequate. It’s strictly enforcing them that’s the issue.
Litter went down significantly a few years ago with the “Litter is disgusting / so are those responsible” ad campaign. We had a little forward thinking for a change and then regressed to not giving a crap.
Though the last one isn’t quite true as some people are literally leaving their crap on the streets and in playgrounds.
Stop government support for selfish stupid humans who exist only to create more selfish stupid humans, we seem to reward those who behave the most irresponsible in this country. They grow up with no moral compass and massive sense of entitlement, and it’s always those areas that have biggest problem. Get to the source of problem instead of treating the symptoms.
Our education system is sadly lacking…
Show your Bin Tags or Bin collection payments each year when you
pay tour Property Tax or collect any Soc. wellfare payment like Dole etc.
match the PRT to The Bin Collection Companies Invoices etc
Our resource people need to be doing a full 8 hour shift….
Litter wardens in every town with a 10-20 euro on the spot fine or a day in court and 1000 euro fines, the revenue generated goes to pay the wages of the wardens.
Job creation at no expense to the public coffers and cleaner streets, excess revenue goes to providing more public bins so there is no excuse for littering.
Dog muck and fag butts alone would raise a small fortune.
I think the problem is enforcement and if people were made do community litter clean up service or face a really hefty fine , they might think twice about it . Education , plastic packaging reduction ,can returns at shops ,bottle returns , there are many solutions but little action on the part of the governments to solve it. Many community groups are doing their bit but government and councils aren’t
at bundesliga games they all drink their cans and bottles outside the ground and then the homeless people collect them as they get money bag for recycling it
Blimey. I knew Buckfast was sold in Ireland but I didn’t realise it had acquired the same association with yobbery/trashiness it has in Scotland.
If everything was made biodegradable it wouldn’t really be a problem
Get the people on the dole and the people who are doing community service to do this!
@Linda Hughes: people on the dole are already doing this through CE schemes . It still does nothing to catch the culprits who are from many walks of life until this addressed nothing will ever be solved..
I just posted a video yesterday of black bags of litter dumped in a country picnic area close to me. As far as I know no one has ever been prosecuted for this.
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