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AS FAR AS assignments went, it was probably one of the oddest I’ve received.
My editor asked me to pick a broadband blackspot in Ireland and go work there for a day. Considering the fact that my job revolves around having internet access, it felt like I’d be the exact opposite of productive.
Yet that was her point. Decent internet access has been a major problem for rural Ireland with many relying on unworkable speeds for quite a while, despite promises of high-speed broadband.
With the timeline for the National Broadband Plan being pushed back – it will be 2022 at least before every home has access to high-speed broadband – it was as good a time as any to see just how bad the situation is in rural areas.
My base was Kilclooney in west Donegal, five kilometres north of the small town of Ardara and a picturesque location to boot.
As scenic as my location was, I had to work with speeds that hovered around 2.5Mb/s. On paper, it sounds achievable considering how many homes out there have speeds hovering around the 1MB/s mark, the kind of speeds that would quickly drive you into a rage from trying to load up Google’s homepage alone.
I figured that with the right concessions, I could make a good go of it and get through the day without any major problems.
I was wrong. Very wrong.
Slow starts
It did start out encouragingly. I began my day at 8am by opening up my usual tabs for work. Gmail, Slack (think a cross between email and real-time messaging for teams and you have the right idea) thejournal.ie homepage, Google Docs, Tweetdeck and our dashboard for writing stories.
Each one took a little longer than usual to load up but I expected this to happen as I began reading and answering emails.
And then the Chrome dinosaur made its first appearance of the day as the first outage occurred. I did briefly consider playing the running mini-game it hides but thought better of it and waited for the connection to return.
A minute later and I was back to work, sending emails and making calls to people – one of the few things that went smoothly that day – but after 9am the second outage occurred.
Even if the outages didn’t happen – they only lasted a minute or two at most – the longer than usual time to complete basic actions like loading pages, sending emails or saving drafts began to add up. At that point, I had lost close to an hour and a half of my day to tasks that would normally take up just 30 to 40 minutes.
I decided to counter this by switching Gmail to HTML mode and leaving only it and a draft for one article open. I also had my phone on me so any important Slack messages could go through that instead. It didn’t really help matters as I was still left waiting while pages loaded up when I needed them.
Yet the real kicker was dealing with uploading speeds. All connections have different speeds for download (practically almost every task you complete on the web or app) and uploading (saving or attaching files online). Those speeds hovered around 0.6Mb/s which made uploading anything bigger than 1MB a pain.
To put that into context, the average size of a photo from your smartphone would start at around 2MB and increase depending on the type of camera being used, while an MP3 song that’s three minutes long would likely be 3MB in size.
In one case, uploading a 1.5MB file took about 40 seconds to complete, which began to feel like a lifetime at this point (despite the progress made in the GIF below, it took another seven seconds before it was completed). Saving drafts regularly also took a fair bit of time to complete which didn’t help matters.
The frustration gradually increased but came to a head when one service, which we use for securely accessing accounts like imagery and other files, spent two minutes loading up before timing out. Another two minutes were wasted waiting for it to load up the second time.
And then the connection went out again. At this point, the Chrome dinosaur mini-game felt like an old friend who would make you a cup of tea to make you feel better (it’s not effective but you appreciate the thought).
Although my top score improved, I was tired of seeing messages like the one below appearing regularly.
To say I was relieved when I finished the assignment would be an understatement. During the entire process, I only managed to get one article up and even though a part of my day was spent travelling and interviewing people, I was incredibly frustrated at how little I managed to get done.
When I arrived back in Dublin that night, I was relieved to have broadband that didn’t time out constantly, let alone it being significantly faster.
More than inconvenient
Although it’s obvious in hindsight, probably the most surprising part is how quickly wasted time adds up, even excluding the few outages experienced.
It can be easy to claim that having fast speeds is a luxury and you should just cope with whatever connection you have access to, but that greatly underplays just how pivotal a role the internet plays in our daily lives.
Whether we like it or not, its quality affects us both directly and indirectly from communication, emails and messaging to online shopping. Even just checking out a place first before visiting may be a trivial use of a powerful tool but these small things are important for us.
And when you’re faced with the pressure of a normal day job – it’s probably faster to list the jobs that don’t require you to have internet access – or school work, even the simple tasks become tedious.
And yet this is the situation many people have to deal with. It may not seem like the worst problem to have, but with the number of WiFi-enabled devices in a household increasing, and data-heavy services like livestreaming becoming more prominent, things are only going to get worse before they get better.
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Bring it on. The economic damage to Ireland in the short term will be worth it in the long term. It will ensure millennials & others who don’t know what real hardship is receive their moment of clarity. This will help them in future years not to repeat the same mistake.
@Greg Daniel: Mistake what mistake. The right thatcherite politics of the trickle down economy dont work for the people just the rich.
The country has been right or centre right its entire history and that needs to change.
The one thing this election has done ois a wake up call to ALL of the parties.
Most of them needed a good blast of reality and most of the needed to join the 21st century in different ways.
This was shown by candidates comments before and after the election.
Time for a lot of them to leave their parish pump politics behind and own their mistakes.
@Greg Daniel: Millennials and others who don’t know what real hardship is????
the vast vast majority are LIVING it right now, FF and FG have decimated the country, and sent our young people to the 4 corners of the globe,….over 240,000 left because of FF’s financial wrecking ball they drove through the nation….and don’t forget ( as many people seem to have ) they were cheered on from the sidelines by FG, who WANTED MORE SPENDING,…people tend to forget that little nugget.
The Duopoly has been broken, now comes the time to keep it that way, it’s not going to happen overnight, there is 100 years of habit to break, and thousands of people tot convince that there is a better model of life here, the vested interests of the Duopoly will do EVERYTHING to stop it.
@Gary Kearney: It would be foolish to assume this vote is a massive public endorsement of Sinn Fein and the left. It isn’t. Most people who voted Sinn Fein, especially for the first time, couldn’t tell you anything about their candidates or their manifesto. One candidate put up 20 election posters and got elected? Sinn Fein received so many votes, not because they are popular or the public believes in them. They just didn’t want to vote for Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil. In so doing, they have no idea what they have voted for and what type of government to expect. Sinn Fein are making promises on housing and health that are pure fantasy. The country doesn’t have the money or resources for this quick fix everyone wants. This isn’t a vote for change, it’s a vote of public frustration.
@mcdb06: social media is way way more influential than the tired old posters nowadays, Sinn Féin harnessed social media brilliantly, they didn’t need hundreds of posters…the 2 established parties are way down the track when it comes to change, hence thousands of posters of Leo’s mug all over the country…
FFG are dinosaurs in the digital age
@Greg Daniel: Thats about as clueless as comments gets, millennials know exactly what hardship is like it those who were stood on for the last 10years to help the richer side of society…They didnt vote left for a laugh, you just have no idea what life is like for those
@Noely Kelly: Agreed. A lot of groups on Facebook in lead up to election became all about banging the Sinn Fein drum without any talk about the actual proper manifesto details. Almost a peer pressure vibe in one group to vote for Sinn Fein
@Noely Kelly: the duopoly will be broken but back in business as soon as Sinn Fein are found out which probably won’t take too long.
@Greg Daniel: is record homelessness and waiting lists for hospitals and young women dying from treatable illnesses not hardship?
@mcdb06: Try dressing it up how you like, it was a vote for change, and unless FF/FG don’t link, its change that people will get!
@J: If I was desperate like you/ff/fg I’d probably say the same thing.
There are probably thousands of Novena’s being said over the last few days by the enemy’s of SF that they will lead the next administration in the hope they will fail, and so the establishment FG/FF can ride back into town on their white horses to save the day.
But in that blind hatred, they probably haven’t even considered that SF might succeed in making the lives of all those who voted for change more bearable.
@mcdb06: you can always scroll past on Facebook, you’re not forced to join a group or indeed read what others are posting, same goes for Twitter.
Scroll on by
@mcdb06: No need to be patronising with your assumptions about new SF voters.!
Exit poll showed that 58% of voters could see the failures to adequately tackle the ongoing National emergencies in homelessness, housing and health& were the most important reasons given for voting the way they did.So it’s not just SF voters,left parties,that covers FF voters too!
Also Exit poll showed that 63% of voters did not personally feel they had benefited from improvement in economy.In fact 77% of SF voters said the same as did 68% of FF voters while 41% of FG voters said the same.
The onus is not just SF to take heed of these reasons but FF as well.The people have spoken including their voters and they shouldn’t ignore the call for change.Their refusal to contemplate Government with SF has been disgraceful and an insult to their own voters who voted for change also,so much for respecting democracy!
@Noely Kelly: I do scroll on by. It was an observation
@Nuala Mc Namara: interesting- statistically the rich got richer and the poor got poorer since the crash so it makes sense FG voters are by and large benefitting.
@Greg Daniel: ur obnoxious. Your bitterness knows no bounds.
@mcdb06: love how u know why “most people” voted for SF, speak to them all did u? Your assumption that “most people” who voted SF are stupid says alot about u. Go away and stew ur sour grapes. People like u are cowards, soooooo afraid of change, well it’s happened, so deal with it. ” most people ” have.
He’s no interest in going into government. Much easier on the sidelines giving out stink.
@Davy Evans: hes no interest in wasting the voters time by being torpedoed by strong parties fg ff they have over 35 tds each, fffg would block sol pbp sf afforable housing build drive and health service funding until the government collapse all the while shout ra ra capitalism.
@Davy Evans: He is simply stating reality. To pass the 81 seats mark SF would need the support of the greens, the other small parties and most of the independents. A quick internet search shows that about nine of these are former members of FFG. To get them all on board you,d have to promise the earth moon and stars. Some of these independents also have controversial opinions on everything from immigration and drink driving to climate change.
@Davy Evans:
Streal it out and keep collecting a cheque.
@Davy Evans: I think that’s harsh. I would think SFs actions since election are making him nervous. I can’t imagine all this ‘up the ra’ BS went down well with him or the greens or SDs.
@Marcus Mac An Bhaird: Are you suggesting that TD’s with “controversial” opinions should be ignored? Not sure where that leaves PBP. etc.
@Jane: Exactly Jane. RBB is a very decent guy. He wants to serve his community in the best way he can. I don’t agree with some of his policies but he absolutely stands with the people. I think he would be appalled by David Cullinanes behaviour as would a large number of people.
@Sé Byrne: no I think he’s trying to be polite. I think what he wants to say is the Healy-raes are bat ….. crazy and are ok with drinking and driving and think our lord god controls the weather. It may be difficult for someone sane to work with them.
@Matthew O’Kane: “ra ra capitalism”? Up the ra ra capitalism!
@Davy Evans: Would you ever stop with the tired old smears. It’s bloody frustrating. As someone who has taken part in a grassroots election campaign for this party. We were hoping to double, triple, quadruple our seat numbers and form a coalition with SF almost single handedly.
Everyone in PBP strongly believes in our programme for government and the whole reason anyone is in the party is because they want to affect change for the working class. Anyone who sees it any other way isn’t seeing the reality of the situation.
We ‘give out’ from the sidelines because we believe in sticking up for people once given the platform and the mandate.
The media often paint that as ‘we won’t work with anyone and just like giving out’ but that’s because the millionaire owned media know we mean it when we say we’ll stand up for workers rights and they don’t like that, you’ve seen how they went after SF, and we’re more pro worker than even them.
So sad and honestly annoying to see a comment like this when we’ve just put our heart and souls into running 38 candidates across the country for this election, hundreds of dedicated activists who care deeply about the future of Ireland knocking on doors in all sorts of weather, a small party with practically no resources running 38 when we only had a handful elected and weren’t polling well?
A party that doesn’t care or has no intention to govern doesn’t do that when they’re still polling bad, and this is still the attitude from the general public? Stop listening to Richard Branson’s Ivan Yeats for christ
@Seamus O Shea: ….sake
@Seamus O Shea: Just so people know, this comment was originally aimed at Boyd Barrett who was in the headline.
The Journal has now changed the subject of this article to be about the Greens.
Now all the comments giving out about “him” look like they refer to Ryan instead of Boyd Barrett.
@Jane: Get a grip, its the fecking last thing last thing on his mind I would feel. they are not all children in the Dail ya know!
@A2 Poster: psml ryan is no socialist water charges carbon tax property tax bank bailout oh wait thats corporate socailism ryans a corporate socialist
@Matthew O’Kane: Eamonn Ryan is a complete waffler his ideas for a greener Ireland all affect the middle working family and its all taxes. This fella thinks cycling 5 miles to a communal carpark in the dark of winter to fight over a car to go to work with 10 other lads is a great idea
@Michael McGrath: That is one bleak and hilarious picture you’ve painted there :D
@A2 Poster: but true
Well that’s a cop out for him. He’d prefer to complain from opposition than be part of the solution. No backbone. He should want an alliance and have a full term agenda.(not that I want it)
@Martin McFly: sf helped sol pbp with transfers sol pbp would love to be in effective left government but fffg labour would unite and vote down everything sol pbp put forward we dont want no change for left voter left voter derserve real change
@Martin McFly: SF in collation with the Greens.
New name for our Government is “Gun’s and Roses?”
@Dom Layzell: Its Labour that have roses as their emblem not the greens. Wrong country again Dom
1 in 3 voted left. Get a grip.
So young people whom are challenged getting a home voted against FF FG. Not surprising.
That’s not a shift left but a call to action.
SF taxing IP and increasing tax will drive Pharma & IT to India.
@Rúraíocht: it was 1 in 5.
@Peter Cavey: Try again, I in 5 is 20%, 1 in 3 is 33.3 %
@Peter Cavey: you bother me
@Rúraíocht: and how many people DIDN’T vote at all? Hardly a majority voted left. Seems to me a coalition of FG/FF/SF would do them all good.
@Rúraíocht: The problem with SF is that most of the prominent members of the party are remarkably stupid, to the extent of it being embarrassing when they try to talk economics. However, if in government the civil service will give them a crash course on why almost all of their ideas won’t work.
For example, make corporations pay for everything. Foreign direct investment is worth more in Ireland than the entire banking sector bailout, it is given tax incentives because it creates hundreds of thousands of jobs, hundreds of thousands of people not on welfare and hundreds of millions in income tax. If we increase corporation tax indirectly it costs us money, not creates it. If google left Ireland in the morning, our anchor tenant, we would be in serious trouble. The ra won’t pay your rent.
@Sean Fahey: very true , we’d be a backwater without that and the fact we are in the eu
@Lapsy Pa: I work with a couple of foreign companies and a lot of the jobs are crap. I think people would be embarrassed if people outside their work knew how menial those jobs were. It seems prestigious to work for a big firm but it really isn’t. Employee retention is terrible. In one company I never deal with the same person because of turnover.
Gotta tax the low earners on carbon to make up for that cheap housing.
@Caoimhín O Neill: na carbon tax goes to prop up irish water its still the dispite what ff promised
@Matthew O’Kane: there
Good ! Bring it on will great fun watching this having to see how well they get on together …
@Bobby wilson: sf and sol pbp would work well together we beat fffg labour greens on water charge and forced them to change to pro choice. You underestimate the leff voter we want change
@Matthew O’Kane: like they way pbp get on with SF in west Belfast good luck with that
@Bobby wilson: youd be surprised how fara leftie would go to help the voter
@Matthew O’Kane: You do realise that SF ABSTAINED in Claire Daly’s 2015 abortion vote. They only became Pro choice when they saw the wind changing in June 2018. You need to read up of this ‘left wing party’ you so blindly follow.
@Sos: no room for the truth here, you’re lucky it’s early most of their supporters aren’t up yet
@Sos: and were initially in favour of water charges
.
@Sos: yes im willing to for my politicans to work with parties that move left that is how you get something for yourself from government sf has moved left ill trust them on their recent record till they show otherwise like the majority did this last election. I want a country more fair to workers and our climate i havent had that from ff fg lavour or greens they have made election promises and then did the opposite in government
@Matthew O’Kane: Sinn Fein brought down the Northern Assembly in order not to have to bring in abortion and gay marriage in the North, so much for their social agenda https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-50128860
@padr4: No they didn’t silly boy.
@padr4: What utter nonsense you talk. SF were the main campaigners among political parties in favour of equal marriage in the north to bring it in line with the south where, again, they had been big campaigners in favour of a yes vote in our referendum.
@padr4: that is an out and out lie, but hardly surprising coming from a west brit. The dupers, their cash4ash & their troglodyte backwards facing systemic discriminatory stance is what brought down the assembly.
People like you need to be called out for all the lies & scaremongering ye lot throw about re. Sinn Féin.
The hegemonic demonic troika of ffg/rcc is OVER, ye lost, get over it and put on yer big boy pants.
@Matthew O’Kane: What’s this “we” sh*t? You on the SF party council?
@Matthew O’Kane: just want everything for free.
Interesting times. I agree that the state pension age should be reduced to 65, even though I myself want to keep working to 70 and beyond. Hope the new government facilitate more flexibility for people to achieve their desired work/life balance.
In terms of reforming the Health sector, it is irrelevant who is elected. The public sector unions will continue to block even the most basic reforms. The unions will only ever agree to flushing more and more tax payers money down the toilet. The budgetary over spends are the direct result of mind boggling buearacracy and mis-management. No politician has the backbone to take them on and reform.
@John Sheehy: It’s true, yet parties across the spectrum mystifyingly believe giving the HSE more money is the answer.
@John Sheehy: someone who actually understands the difficulties of making any change in Ireland. Not just in Health.
Restoring the pension age… That’s immediately going after the older vote where they’d normally be lacking
Looks like signalling tbh
@ConPhoto: or that it would be relatively easy to put in place and it was in both sinn fein’s and pbp’s manifestos where their views overlap…. like the point of the article, no?
@Daimhín De Naois: It was everyone’s bar one, point of view.
@ConPhoto: Wrong, its just bringing in to a normal euro level..
Will somebody please explain this to me?. SF say “We won the election “.
They have 37 seats out of 160.
@Pat Campbell: In fairness, they mean the popular vote. A lot of those seats were awarded to people based on their surpluses.
Not a fan of the Shinners and I think we’ve made a huge mistake, but they did win and they have to be part of the next Government. Anything else would be anti-democratic in the extreme.
@Pat Campbell: Since you seem to need an explanation of what winning means, here goes. Sinn Fein were the largest party in terms of the first preference votes, meaning more people voted for them than any other party. Thus they were the winners of the election. Sinn Fein elected the joint most TD’s in the election. Thus they were joint winners in the case of seats won.
@Pat Campbell: Yes because the received largest share of the vote and won the same amount of seats as FF, FF got a freebee for the Ceann Comhairle. But in simpler terms, SF got more votes than your losing crowd.
The other thing is, SF now has a TD, Or MP in every one of Irelands 32 Counties. No other party has such a mandate. Ya, I think SF won the election!
FFG need Coalesce fully to stop said. Then only one true opposition in SF. Question now is will Lieo work with new Taoiseach Mehole ?
They fear also giving SF free reign as true opposition party and potentially more growth.
Interesting ….
@Willy Mc Entire: are you saying FF & FG should go into coalition together?
@Jane: go in together so we can see they agree on everything and work against left voters
@Jane: They have for last 4 years. Should they now coalesce and ignore the electorate to stay at the trough ? Doubt they have the balls …
@Willy Mc Entire: but what about all the change you wanted? The change people voted for?
@Jane: Jane I believe you understand this can only go 1 of 3 ways . Lieo and Mehole ignore electorate and coalese . Mehole uturns and goes in with Mary Lou. SF with left side parties.
Sorry a 4th option. Election again. We all know Lieo and Mehole will not entertain option 4 for fear . So to be honest I’d like option 3, but who knows. We shall see.
One things for sure Jane. Change has come and the 2 lads know so.
@Jane: they would be decimated in the next election if they did.
@Aidan: I assume you mean FF and FG? That leaves us with possibly 5 more years of what we’ve had. Willy was one of those most pushing for change last week and now he seems to be saying Ff and Fg should stay at it. I can’t understand his logic
@Jane: Should I copy and paste my preferred option. Doubt this will happen. Change has arrived Jane. Sorry your taking it so bad. Poor soul…
@Willy Mc Entire: you’d want to read the first line of your first comment there Willy. You seem confused. I’ve no problem with change, in fact bring it on. Let’s see what they can do
@Jane: logic is pretty clear – and SF would loce another term in opposition against a grand coalition – it would Make them the real left wing opposition for the first time. 5 years from now they’d win big and lead a government.
@Jane: it’s the same logic SF used in 2016 when they refused to even consider going into government, they knew by standing aside it would benefit them in the long run. I wouldn’t be surprised if behind closed doors the current SF leadership, here and in Belfast, are thinking along the same lines as Willie.
@Jane: aren’t they one of the same rotten apple
@Willy Mc Entire: was talking with an influential FF’r this morn and he told me right now, option 1 is the preferred one – not ideal, but the least worst one from their point of view. Option 2 would mean M. Martin would be for the chop. and as you said, option four suits no one except SF.
@Connoroconner: another new account troll
@Jane: what about your logic Jane. you were against SF last week. Now you are more or less admitting that people voted for change. But you are still against and don’t trust SF. What do you really want?
willie’s logic is simple. Its a win win for SF. If you really believe SF cant and wont perform to correct all that’s wrong and improve peoples lives and deliver change, then why wouldn’t you support the idea of FF/FG merging , or at least coalescing?
If both those parties insist that SF isn’t fit for office and they are – sure shouldn’t they do the honest thing and merge and deliver all the change they say they will.
The small parties are being used here.
Everyone knows the numbers aren’t there for a left coalition, but Sinn Féin have to be able to say they tried before inevitably coming to some arrangement with FF or FG.
God help us all.
So that makes 49, only need to find another 32 willing partners for a simple majority?! And there I was thinking Sinn Fein had won the election…..
Anything that gets houses and health sorted must be worth a shot,ff and fg tried and failed miserably.these 2 parties care nothing for the average irish person whatsover and proved it many times over.20-25 year olds care nothing about the past so let sinn fein get on with it and wish them all the best
@Jono: sure we just need another 20b a year in income tax and we be fine. Any Northern Banks still open
Next general election will be at a push Oct 2020. If it lasts that long
No Greens please No!
Green Diesel Toxic Noxious Fumes Party ,,. forced us all into toxic diesels ….
@Neuville-Kepler62F: there are not too many options possible if you exclude the Greens though. They are bound to be involved if a government is formed at all.
2020 Election : Voters Program for Government :-
“All politics is local and there is nothing more local than a man’s wallet”
“Its the Economy Stupid … the domestic home family economy .. stupid!”
People are not angry with FG / FF / Politicians … they are Furious!
The Banking crisis was fixed in a few days meetings … same should apply to the list … furious …
A Second Troika looks like the only real option we have …….
2020 Election : Voters Program for Government :–
2 Tier Family Homes … Owners and Landlords v the “Locked Out” – Rack Rents, No Affordable homes and Evicted Homeless.
- 2 Tier Car Tax … Post 2008 well off new car class Low Car Tax v pre 2008 excessive High Car Tax for older cars – irrespective of miles traveled . stupid Greens forcing us all into diesels …
- 2 Tier Health … We have VHI so we skip the queue v rest of you take your ‘Place’ in the Queue and wait … and 11% of GDP put into health. (This one is obscene)
- 2 Tier Insurance … €450 in Ireland car insurance v car insurance in France €185 … same company!!!(Judges should not be allowed to determine monetary awards. That is for the taxpayer via his TD to decide – on what society can afford. Judge should decide the degree of negligence or otherwise – that’s it …. no more daft Irish stuff)
- 2 Tier VAT Tax … No Vat on Bank transactions v but VAT (€28,000) tax on new family homes .. amazing no street protests!.
- 2 Tier LPT … a tax family homes ..none in Italy .. next tax food – you cant tax Life Essentials (shelter)… TDs just dont get it.
- 2 Tier Pensions … 3 pensions (1 Private + 2 Welfare ‘PRSI’) v wait until you are 68 yrs for your only Welfare pension. Wrong answer FG. One Man – One Pension.
- 2 tier Education .. free primary/Free Secondary v Pay for 3rd Level .. keep out the riff raff ??? Hello
- 2 Tier Medical cards … 1.5 million have them v chronically ill without … used by clientelist politicians .. obscene … furious
- 2 Tier Mortgages … €30,000 forced deposit for some v no restrictions on Vulture funds or LA buying up homes … more obscene stuff .. We don’t vote for Govs of Central Banks .. who are they to tell citizens what they can borrow … none of their business … TDs need to legislate for this ‘overlord’ nonsense
plenty more … add your own …
Complete lack of urgency, energy, competence by Political and Civil Service to remove the ridiculous barriers to fix above.
No lack of urgency when it came to save the Bankers …Decent people do not want to live in this most unfair horrible anti citizen 2-Tier Irish society … they are not angry – they are furious.
A Second Troika looks like the only real option we have ……. to fix it …
rotating Taoiseach (Troika Outside Appointment) every 3 yrs until citizens sort out political parties …
@Connoroconner: … Second Troika ….
@Neuville-Kepler62F: with regard to health service operation waiting list, you could start by halving the salaries of any consultant who fails to give 3.5 days service per week. Your consultants are paid more than twice what uk consultants are paid and there are tens of thousands of Irish doctors working very happily in the uk, for much less and in a much less corrupt environment..your consultants are conning you and ripping you off.
With regard to the heat of the property boom, which has taken so many houses away from the youngsters, you could eliminate mortgage interest tax relief and allow only one property sale per lifetime to be exempt from CGT..
@Neuville-Kepler62F: with regard to health service operation waiting list, you could start by halving the salaries of any consultant who fails to give 3.5 days service per week. Your consultants are paid more than twice what uk consultants are paid and there are tens of thousands of Irish doctors working very happily in the uk, for much less and in a much less corrupt environment..your consultants are conning you and ripping you off.
With regard to the heat of the property boom, which has taken so many houses away from the youngsters, you could eliminate mortgage interest tax relief and allow only one property sale per lifetime to be exempt from CGT..This would apply to property companies as well..
@John O’Hara: .. a very good proposal … i will add to the list …
“..eliminate mortgage interest tax relief and allow only one property sale per lifetime to be exempt from CGT.”
Says the champagne socialist
Of the 19 independents 10 or so are ex FG FF. So not exactly left leaning . Only 40% of the TDs are left the rest are centre right parties which is the majority. When the dust settles it will be a sf ff coalition with the greens. FF are all about power at any cost.
@john s: Absolutely. FF (and FG) are indeed all-about-power in the interests of maintaining the status quo-ante. And that’s why on this occasion, there is surely an urgency in ensuring to take the historic opportunity to break the hold of the centre-right (in European terms, christian-democrat) duopoly in the state. All the more reason, too, it seems to me, to keep FF/FG out of power this time. You’re right too about the arithmetic of the Dail. But your calculation appears to overlook the virtue of a minority left-bloc government on the basis of delivering specific ‘change’ on health, housing, and pensions, to begin with.
FFG won’t go in with the shinners. They shinners don’t have the numbers for a left government so I predict a general election sometime in April.
A bit of sense there?
@WoodlandBard: fffg labour would block all sf and sol pbp and left voter would be left disheartened
@Matthew O’Kane: will the red flag be flying over government buildings as part of the deal
Another election coming sf to double the candidates hoover up more seats
Where’s me new bleedin house I was promised?
Sinn Fein won’t get in all bluster , it will go back to last government with some tweaking
Not worth it as the other two parties would be waiting to torpedo anything they dont like. A minority government without a supply and support in place is doomed.
Doing so opens it up to being a government in name only.
@Gary Kearney: FF won’t be falling for that trap again and no thanks for it.
A left-bloc minority government is surely worth a try, putting forward something like a 100 Days priority programme of government of specific measures on housing and health and pension age, and on this basis thus challenging FF (in particular) to support implementation of policy actions plainly commanding popular support. A spring election might then follow to seek a deeper, unambiguous mandate for lasting change.
@db: let’s have a national government with the 3 biggest parties. That’s what they would all agree to if any of them seriously had the interest of the people at heart. But none of them do, of course.
@Connoroconner: Strategic problem with ‘national government’ approach would be to stabilise (in a bad way) the seismic shifting underway towards a reconfiguration of the political-ideological landscape of Irish politics along socioeconomic lines rather than the tribalism of the civil war century. Now is the time to quicken deformation of the old order – and to put to rest the traumatic memory of the civil war era.
@db: I agree we need to break this civil war duopoly but even with a national government, I think the trend towards that would continue in the next election. It will never happen anyway, so it’s all moot
@Connoroconner: Am not so sure about that. Your pessimism may be well founded. However, the era of the October revolution ended suddenly, without portent, in 1989 with the dramatic breaching of the Berlin wall and the end of the USSR. The era of Irish partition has already exceeded the 72 years of the Soviet empire and may yet exceed a century. However, there are increasingly strong signs of dynamic shifting and when the moment comes, you can be sure ‘change’ in both Irish states will be seismic indeed: sufficient to rupture the bedrock of civil war tribalism defining politics in the south and to end the unionist gerrymander in the north of Ireland.
PSA:
The Journal has now changed the subject of this article to be about the Greens.
Earlier the PBP leader Boyd Barrett was in the headline and it was about SF/PBP negotiations.
Now all the comments giving out about “him” look like they refer to Ryan instead of Boyd Barrett.
@A2 Poster: exactly.
@A2 Poster: Very good point …
I couldn’t find the article either , as I had commented on it earlier today also…… Journal you need to get you act together… The initial comments , were driven around SF lead coalition talks with the like minded Left parties such Sol-PBP onboard.
The Green Party cannot be technically labelled Left as such …yes some policies are but their overriding policy platform is overcoming Climate Change ….and on that SF and the Greens are further apart than Greens are from FFG
They hold completely diverse positions on Carbon Tax and polluter pays principle … Greens also favour water charges , there a whole host of other policy differences …..
If the Greens cave in on their cornerstone principles …Eamon Ryan might as well pack up his tent..
There are only 2 possible governments:
1. Fianna Fail/Sinn Fein/SPBP/SocDems and independents
2. Fine Gael/Fianna Fail/Greens
@Connachtabu: You are discounting SF/FF/Greens ??
@Connachtabu: realistically, the first of those doesn’t have the numbers, which leaves only the second.
Neither outcome is particularly attractive, but more than half the electorate voted for ff, fg, or the greens….
@Kevin Lonergan:
Greens in bed with Sinn Fein? Over my dead body!
@Kevin Lonergan: I think that’s the most obvious option.
@Lesidees:
Connachtabu’s Option 1 definitely has the numbers. and there a few flavours even excluding Labour & Greens
1A) FF 38 + SF 37 + SPBP 5 = 80
1B) FF 38 + SF 37 + SocDem 6 = 81
1C) FF 38 + SF 37 + SPBP 5 + SocDem 6= 86
Obviously 1A) and 1B) are tight but these can also be improved further :-
While SF secured 37 TDS … Peadar Toibin (Aontu) and Carol Nolan ( Ind ) are both from SF gene pool ..both were elected in 2016 GE as SF TDs … but both left of the party during last Dail term …SF will aim to least seek their support… >> SF = 39
You then have a number of Left leaning Independents
Thomas Pringle Donegal
Catherine Connolly Galway West
Joan Collins I4C Dublin South Central
All 3 would be very close to SF / SD/ SPBP policies
Total Possible = 91
1C
@Connachtabu: Yes I agree I cannot see Greens going into government SF & FF ..
Carbon Tax is a corner stone of Green Party Policy… SF are totally opposed to it…. this is a redline for both parties..
FF will be nervous of coalition with Greens due rural / Farming voting base…and all noise cutting national herd
And the Greens themselves were destroyed the last time they went into coalition with FF in 2007 .. they blamed for all the ills of FF policy…I assume Eamonn Ryan knows this as he was part of that Government .. they were wiped out in 2011 GE ..
So if Greens are smart they will sit this one out and build their base for 3-5 years just as SF did in 2016 … when SF TDs literally disappeared from the Dail for 2 months until coalition was formed ..
History repeating itself
@XvSv: by the same very reasoning that’s why I don’t envision Labour being of any Left Coalition either . SF and Soc Dems and PBP have eaten away at labours base base over the past 9 years…
If Labour as a political party are to survive and be relevant in years ahead they need
1) Urgently need a New Leader .. given gender Ideological Political state of play in Ireland … Labour really need a Female leader.. not sure how they achieve this in the short term that given they have just returned 6 Male TDs
3) They definitely need to stay out of any SF coalition.
If Labour don’t rebuild over the next 3 yrs … they will cease to be relevant … some argue they already have reached that point , but they still have significant grass roots organisation
so don’t right them just yet !
@XvSv: but even allowing for FF’s ideological flwxibility, difficult to see them governing with SPBP
@Connachtabu: the greens were the first ones to meet with Mary Lou. Everyone knows they will hop into bed with anyone to try to get into government as they have proven in the past.
@Lesidees: Perhaps but even without SPBP , a coalition of SF / FF / Soc Dems + Peadar Toibin and Carol Nolan , both former SF TDs in last Dail , you have a total of 83 .. that’s a working majority .
Add the Three left leaning Independents I mentioned earlier namely Pringle , Connolly and Joan Collins and they 86 … that’s very comfortable …
Bottom line a coalition government based on SF and other left leaning is not workable ….. at least 12 Independent TDs are of FF , FG or PD gene pool … FF + FG + 12 Inds = 85
For a stable government it must be coalition jointly lead by SF & FF plus SocDems + Left others ..
If Sol-PBP & Soc Dems refuse to join a SF/FF coalition then the voters really need to question their “Commitment for Change “ ..why vote to stay in opposition
@XvSv: And as regards the various folks on this thread suggesting SF sit back and allow FF + FG + Greens form a government .. that is simply untenable ….
FG lost the election . Its worst result since 1948, lost 30% of their TDs , including Cabinet Ministers ( but not the right ones) … some others barely got in on the last count without reaching the quota… FG have no mandate to govern in any capacity. Nor do I believe they want to at this stage.
FF didn’t do very well ending up with 6 less TDs compared with 2016.
Sinn Fein won the election on popular vote and excl FF Ceann Comhairle they won 37 seats as did FF. Include P Toibin and Carol Nolan an effectively 39 SF TDs.
SF have to form a government , but need FF to make it viable.. re-running a GE not wise for SF , FF or FG
@XvSv: yeah, that could work, on paper at least. Any thoughts on how well the different elements might work together?
To my way of thinking, the most stable government would probably be a coalition of FF, FG, and Greens. I’m not saying that I think that is the preferred option politically, just that I think they would find it easier to work together.
This is playacting. They don’t have the numbers.
Despite all the bitching about time for a lefty government they are about to learn that its all about the numbers.
SF will then say they tried their best.
It will be Ff and others with lefty nutjobs sidelined where they can rant and rave about taxing the rich. FG may abstain or join in.
Leo And Martin should go and study the findings of the Mahon and Moriarty tribunals.
FFG the hurlers in the ditch now… Ironic
If the greens go with SF they will end up getting wiped out in the next election, happens all the small parties
It might end up like Irish rugby team – we all wanted change but new coach ended picking virtually same team with slightly different ‘approach’ – but still got results!
In Politics we throw all experience and bring in ‘uncapped’ ‘politicians’ – who weren’t even in Academy (PR)!! – we still require experience especially now – how long are we going to have to wait for (1) New Government and (2) for these new recruits to get up to speed??
FF is playing with SF now like a cat plays with a mouse
For the good of the country FF and FG should form a strong government.
If SF have any sense they should sit back and try and build on what they now have.
If they try swimming in the big pool they could drown and the sharks would have a field day watching them get eaten up by other more hungry sharks.
Wonder could the likes of O Cuiv and McGuinness join/affiliate with the shinners?
Rerun of GE2020 Mark 2
Sinn Féin field more candidates. Given maths & statistical probabilities they get close to 55 seats more than enough for a left led Dáil.
Bring it on!
A left-bloc minority government is surely worth a try, putting forward something like a 100 Days priority programme of government of specific measures on housing and health and pension age, and on this basis thus challenging FF (in particular) to support implementation of policy actions plainly commanding overwhelming popular support. A spring election should perhaps then follow to seek a deeper, unambiguous mandate for lasting change.
Someone above said this “The country has been right or centre right its entire history”. I think this canard needs to be dispelled once and for all. It is true in terms of social issues (until recently) but not economic policy. Until the early 90′s we had a protectionist economic policy which prioritized state intervention, blocking foreign investment and privileging state owned enterprises or quasi public monopolies. Marginal tax rates were through the roof. It was one economic crisis after another, there was mass unemployment and high emigration. The economy was liberalized in the 90′s with reductions in taxation and opening to foreign investment – this is when the economy took off and massive leaps in living standards were achieved, we started to see immigration instead of emigration, unemployment fell and tax revenues rose. What did we do with those tax revenues – massively increased welfare rates and the numbers receiving them, massive public sector pay increases AND we took the low(er) paid out of the income tax net while taxing the so called “high earners” at 52% (we now have the most progressive income tax system in Europe). Doesn’t sound very Thatcherite to me. We need to quit this navel gazing.
Most of the issues that trouble people now i.e health, housing, can be traced back to policy errors mainly made under FF administrations. Housing issue can be traced back to the disastrous housing policy of the early 2000′s resulting the near bankruptcy of the state and which distorted supply and demand up to the present (but people voted for these policies at the time in huge numbers). The health issue can be traced back to the fact that we had almost no investment in health between 1930-1998 (because the country was broke due our retrograde protectionist policies) resulting in a massive infrastructure and capacity deficit that we are having to catch up with now. Countries in continental Europe went through a post war boom from the 1940s-1970s where they were able to spend lavishly on things like heath. We were broke. The second disastrous policy in health was the mass PS union buy off that resulted in the bureaucratic behemoth that is the HSE where any extra funding was soaked up into the administrative apparatus without getting to the front-lines (again not very Thatcherite)
Let Martin form a government.
Wait for him to screw up.
Then run more candidates in the next election.
Don’t let the dream of power rush SF into formatting a government.
Don’t forget what happened to Labour.
Any chance the greens would take down ALL their posters, election well over.
Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas another election unless Fianna Fáil gets its act together Michael Fianna Fáil leader not to be Taoiseach maybe a record for him
They can smell the spice Melange, they can taste it.
It’s almost within their greedy grasp.
Did the greens learn nothing? Power at all costs will end in disaster.
@Sean Fahey: To be fair to them, the Greens are the only party who are likely willing to sacrifice short term popularity in return for getting their policies implemented – esp those policies relating to climate change. They are driven mainly by the climate change issue and not popularity. Having said that I think some of their members have very wacky ideas
love the SF/FG that are commenting along the lines of ‘go on then Sinn Fein, follow through on your promises’ or ‘cant wait to watch this all burn down’ as if they’ve just been pulled from some utopian wonderland. Get off the high horses.
Has to be an FFFGIND combo, cos the combined left dont have a majority & dont have an agreed policy.
Better to let it go this time, go for a replay with a fill team & left transfer deal to get clear over 80.
If the FFFG dont coalesce this time, then the replay could come around Easter, & FFFG will be joint opposition thereafter.
Thats their 2 options right now.
What served Sinn Fein well:
-abolish USC on first E30K earned
-Extra Child Care subsities
-Abolish Property Tax (biggie)
-Aged pension @ 65 (retirement age)
-Renters’ benefits
These, IMO, is what won votes for SF, IMO; not the “protest vote”
This could very have been Labour’s policies but it wasn’t
MM
If Sinn Fein features in the upcomming Government , then it should revive the 39th Constitutional Amendment :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-ninth_Amendment_of_the_Constitution_Bill_2019.
A year ago I put the proposition to a Senior Political Journalist visiting down here in Aus and she said “That’ll never happen because the diaspora would vote Sinn Fein” !
i said ” Would it be acceptable for the Diaspora to have the vote if we all voted FF?FG?
She did not conmment.
vm
Thwart the leftie madness, FF/FG and gene pool independents can see this madness off the stage
@Angry_Man41:
Hitler was not successful with his Eugenics Program !
We have a democracy and the issue here is to accept what the electorate voted for ( of at least 62.5% of the electorate)
IMO, the conservative parties should be very thankful that the 37.5% did not vote !
It is now time for compulsory voting like that in Aus, IMO. And it is silly to have 160 TDs in a country the size of the 26 Counties; half that would do of better quality people.
have your say