We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
LAST UPDATE | 3 Feb 2020
FIANNA FÁIL LEADER Micheál Martin has again ruled out a coalition with Sinn Féin after the general election, adding that the election is about issues and not opinion polls.
Martin was speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland in Kerry and said his party is “united” behind the position of ruling out Sinn Féin as a coalition partner.
“The Fianna Fáil party will not be going to government with Sinn Féin, it’s not just about the past, I’ve laid of my stall on that but it’s also about the future as well,” Martin said.
“I was in Killarney yesterday, thriving in tourism, the Sinn Féin tax proposals would destroy the enterprise that was so evident yesterday in Killarney and has made Killarney what it is, in terms of employers’ PRSI and all of that. And I just have to say, do not underestimate the strength of will within the Fianna Fáil party.”
Martin was speaking after two opinion polls showed Sinn Féin surging ahead of Saturday’s election, with one showing the party in second place behind Fianna Fáil and another showing it in joint first place with Martin’s party.
Martin, however, said that opinion polls are being given too much focus during the election campaign.
“I think you also need to take a deep breath here, opinion polls seem to be dominating the narrative and the agenda. We’re putting forward, we’re the only party with 84 candidates running that can actually lead an alternative to Fine Gael, that can create real change and a different government, with other like-minded parties,” Martin said.
And you seem to be writing off the Green Party, you seem to be writing off the Labour Party and others just based on opinion polls, we had these opinion polls before the 2016 election.
RTÉ is hosting a number of debates in the final days of the election campaign, with Claire Byrne Live hosting a climate debate tonight and Prime Time hosting another debate tomorrow.
After initially designating the debate as a head-to-head between Martin and Leo Varadkar, RTÉ has this afternoon reversed its stance and said that Mary Lou McDonald would also be invited.
Speaking ahead of RTÉ’s decision today, Martin said he would have “no issue” with McDonald taking part.
“RTÉ decides that,” Martin said. “I actually accepted an invitation to a debate this evening on Today FM with Mary Lou McDonald and Leo Varadkar, both of them couldn’t and didn’t take up that offer.
“But I actually would say, if it’s about who could potentially be in a government, then I think the Greens and Labour Party might have something to say about that as well, because they obviously are in a key position also to be participants in any future government,” he added.
As the campaign enters its final week, Fine Gael have also taken aim at Sinn Féin with Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe saying that the party will “do such harm to workers income, to wages and to their jobs.”
“They have claimed they are going to put forward new ideas for investment involving 15 different tax hikes – tax hikes that would be bad for those at work, tax hikes that would be bad for those looking to create jobs,” Donohoe said.
Extinction rebellion
Meanwhile, activists from the climate action group, Extinction Rebellion, arrived at the headquarters of Fine Gael in Dublin, spraying the path outside and the steps leading up to it with a green dye.
The dye, known as Uranine, is the same dye used to turn the Chicago River green on St Patrick’s Day.
Activists targeted Fine Gael’s office but said other party’s should take it as a “warning” should they be the governing party following this weekend’s election.
“They’ve been in government for the last four years and we’ve scrutinized their actions and any other party that will be in government will be under the same scrutiny,” Claire Brennan said.
“This will be a bit of a warning that we’re onto the politics of it and we want to see real action.”
Conor McCrave / TwitterProtesters chant “Listen Leo, Listen” as paint is sprayed on the steps of the party’s offices. pic.twitter.com/RLVIpNzvMv
— Conor McCrave (@Conor_McCrave) February 3, 2020
Asked if offices of other parties will be targeted this week specifically, Brennan said: “I’m not sure what’s planned but there are actions planned, more action coming up to the election and possibly outside other parties.”
With reporting from Conor McCrave
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
More taxpayer funded bailouts for ffg buddies while Delaney walks away with over 400k and we go to jail for non payment tv licence fee to fund Ryan turbidys €1:50 steak dinners in Rte
@Tom o brien: shane ross calls us tollrats but we are always good for his bailouts thecheek of him
@Tom o brien: We have to take resonsibility also. We are the one who vote td to DAIL . On 8 Feb we will have opp to tell them that we want DAIL back in control of that creaking public fund being propped up now by pensions fund and holding loan fund that they say is for MIN TO SPEND FROM SUBJECT TO THE TERMS OF THE DEAL MADE BY LENIHAN WITH EU AND IMF and the min is going to take money out to FAI.
It is TD who made decison giving control to MIN .
We elect TD
Tme pe reall stat telling td cos u wonder about housing ??
@mr lanister: That’s because Soccer is the dominant sport by a mile in Dublin, where the government are trying hard to hold onto the seats they have. It’s no coincidence that this is announced in the last 9 days of the election.
@Marcus Mac An Bhaird: as in match seats! !
My tax money better not be funding this!!
@Lydia McLoughlin: considering governmet funding is restored your taxes are funding this
@Lydia McLoughlin: or………?
It’s not Irish football, why do people keep saying this. It’s Irish soccer
@maurice kavanagh: “Unqualified, the word football normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used”
I’d be fine with this if they’d just throw Delaney in jail
Good news, and the only option open to government.
Irelands most participated in sport deserves multiples of this bailout.
In time this past few months will be seen as the best thing to happen Irish football.
@Eamonn Duggan: This is the only sensible comment I’ve seen on this article.
@Eamonn Duggan: Gaelic is the most participated sport and if a Bailout was agreed the former directors and CEO should have been arrested on fraud offences first
@David Garland: All four Gaelic sports combined are marginally more participated in, but association football is the single sport with the highest participation by a distance
@Eamonn Duggan: a new beginning great news for soccer
@David Glynn: all these development coaches and the sessions they run are funded by both the FAI and LDCs (currently totally funded by LDC). LDCs are government funded. People like you seem to ignore this significant funding and all the grants given to local clubs in you arguments in favour of the rotten FAI. The FAI is hardly reformed when it’s president was on the council for 20 years not holding Delaney and co to account
@John Buckley: A.ll of them gone now. I just disagree with you on future funding. Anyway, its going ahead
@David Glynn: they are not all gone. Most of the council is still there and they are meant to be the ones who hold to the board to account. The president lost to the army place on the council but his buddies got him the football for all place so he would be eligible for the election – that stinks. John Earley finally stepped down from the board last month and his buddies gave him a position on the high-performance committee last week – that stinks. It is still a cesspool and needs a proper clear out.
Looks like Delaney’s pension pot is safe
fGFF our out out
This decision should be left until the next government takes power, just in case it involves Electronic voting
You’d nearly think there was an election around the corner
Absolutely disgraceful behaviour by Ross and the government, bailing out a useless corrupt organization using the pretence of keeping the grassroots organisation alive to promote healthy pastimes.
If they were serious about that the money available would be distributed between the Athletic organisations, GAA and Rugby, because anything given to FAI will be squandered or pushed down back pockets.
@Liam Mernagh: In this case it kind of had to happen, what is done is done with the FAI and unfortunately with the law being the way it is, nobody will have to pay the price for it. However I’m at least a little bit hopeful it can be better run going forward.
@Aidan: I hope you’re right Aidan, but I remain to be convinced, the culture of FAI is such that they don’t understand or care about good governance and that also applies to UEFA and FIFA. Cast your mind back to when Ireland was doing well under Jack & the tickets scandal with Nick the Greek and then Blatter and his governance of FIFA, culture it’s all about culture.
So they stop public funding of 2.9m per year because of all the shenanigans going on and then reverse course and not only restore that but double it to €5.8m and give interest free loans of €2.5m per year for the next 3 years.. call it what you want Mr. Ross but it’s high time you were on your bike!! Crisis after crisis in this country unresolved and you put public funds into a rotten organisation that was basically a little boys club with jobs for the lads and massive pay offs! Can’t wait till I get my day in the election!
Tax payers money being squandered
It’s not Government money
Disgraceful waste of public taxpayer s money.
FG not getting anything from me on 8th February.
This isn’t refinancing this is a government bailout for an organisation that has not even begun to make real changes in how its governed.
Complete joke this has happened but what else do you expect from FG
Bailout….
Tax payers money….
Etc, etc, etc…..
How much money have the government (councils) milked from schoolboy and schoolgirl football since they started charging the kids to play football in public parks?
Give me a break with your whinging…..
And the Election is when?????
The mint is going to be the new FAI HQ
Government making sure of a good few votes on February 8th.
“If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck”
This is extract from B Lenihan statement to Dail on AG advises and well intended.
But when PRSI Fund in pipeline to prop up creaking public fund under terms of deal that Taoisach later also decided did not req dail approval
and
TD did not object on behalf of DAIL accountable to us
AND
coming with mandate that promise are when we get into govt ..
time for people to start telling TD that NOT acceptable at all and that DAIL start flexing muscles cos no clarity of promise until it does take back control of that fund and that TD job. Under art 28 4 of constitution the govt is accountable to Dail.
But TD not invoking Dail power they are elected to on our behalf who pay the bill .
You said there was no bail out. Delaney walked away. Redundancy happens! Been there.. Ross you’re a total disgrace..
That will teach them the doubling of funding and interest free loans, no word of course on deloitte the poor auditors who were mislead after 20 years of consulting and auditing!!
If I had a business in Ireland ,or a mortgage and ran into trouble for a few grand, the state and the banks would be all over me like a rash, yet again the government see fit to bail out the rich kids that squandered money. Shameless Delaney and his pals are pissing themselves knowing they will never be accountable as to where all the 62.000.000 euro went. Crooks
Ane the Irish Tiddly-winks Federation can get on with its business entirely without a government subvention.
@Tony Harris: I find that a silly ruling when English FA/ Scottish FA and IFA all members of UEFA. It is like saying a person cant cross the border to work of they are under 18. All football clubs have responsible households veted to take under 18s in digs… it’s not as if they will be fending for themselves.
I hope this is the last we might see of lord Ross
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say