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LAST UPDATE | 15 Jan 2020
TODAY IS THE first full day of campaigning in the general election, with political parties kicking off day one on the campaign trail with campaign launches.
The Green Party launched their campaign at the Royal Society of Antiquaries Ireland in Dublin today.
The Green Party deputy leader Catherine Martin reacted to reports that government minister John Paul Phelan described some in the party as “nutters”. Martin said today that it is not the type of language that should be used in any campaign.
Over the weekend, it was reported that Phelan described some of the Green Party members as “nutters” during a speech in Carlow-Kilkenny where he attended the Irish Farmers’ Association dinner on Saturday.
Party leader Eamon Ryan said he was “not worried one bit” that such remarks would have an adverse affect on those thinking of voting Green, adding that he believed it was an “off the cuff” remark and not deliberate.
He added that anyone who sees the green agenda that way “is very out of date”.
“This is the issue of our time,” he said.
The party is running candidates in every constituency in the country, with Martin stating that she does not believe that they will only pick up votes in Dublin, but also rural areas like Galway.
While the Green Party were in Dublin, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was in Monaghan at a forklift company Combilift, a big employer in the area that has been visited by numerous politicians and media outlets over the last few years due its location near the border.
Varadkar wasn’t alone either having being joined by frontbench ministers Simon Coveney, Paschal Donohoe, Heather Humphreys, as well as Minister for European Affairs Helen McEntee.
Unsurprisingly, Fine Gael was using the occasion to focus on Brexit, calling Coveney and McEntee a “winning team” and insisting Brexit was “at half time”.
Varadkar said Fianna Fáil cannot be trusted with Brexit.
“Thankfully Fianna Fail has not got much influence in Europe and, as a result, that Withdrawal Agreement will pass through the European Parliament,” he added.
“As part of our new relationship with the UK, we want to make sure that we rebuild and reimagine our relationship with our nearest neighbour.”
Fianna Fáil kept it closer to home by hosting their opening press conference of the campaign at their election headquarters in Cumberland Street.
Party leader Micheál Martin, along with deputy leader and director of elections Dara Calleary, told reporters today that Fianna Fáil will be concentrating on health and housing in the next couple of weeks.
Martin spoke out against the Taoiseach and his remarks in relation to the canal tent incident yesterday, but he also outlined the party’s priorities.
Fianna Fáil are hoping she’ll be elected to the Dáil this time around after falling some 40 votes short last time out.
“Fine Gael’s claim that it couldn’t do anything about these problems because of the focus on the economy, there are many thing that don’t stand up with this argument, including the fact that many of these problems, such as record waiting lists, stem directly from Fine Gael decisions,” said Martin.
While Fine Gael are keen to push their Brexit record during the campaign trail, Martin said the criticism from Fine Gael towards his party over Brexit were “silly attacks”.
“It’s generally accepted by the Irish people, and in Europe by the way, that there was a national consensus in the Irish political system on the Brexit issue.
“Michel Barnier has said to us they appreciated the fact we gave our government pace to negotiate and a consistency of message from Ireland from all the political parties on the Brexit issue.
“So, then, to turn around to say; ‘you’re not trustworthy on Brexit’ is just being silly and people don’t buy that,” he said.
Labour started their campaign at the Glass Bottle site in Ringsend in Dublin where the focus will be on housing
Party leader Brendan Howlin , joined by senator and former TD for the area Kevin Humphreys, said they will highlight the failure to build homes on the site.
Howlin said the Labour Party will seek to tackle wasteful government spending if they are elected.
With reporting by Christina Finn and PA.
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Really looking forward to FFG calling to my door.
@Sean Davies: Don’t know why not like they’ll listen to what you have to say.
@Sean Davies: Nostalgic for a repeat of the 1918 election result with FFG sweeping the board? I can’t see them coalescing though.
@Scorpionvenomm: Sadly that’s true.
@Sean Davies: I’ve been saying that for 20 years but my neighbours keep voting the feckers in!
I will be voting for change – that means no vote for FG, FF or Labour. And before the usual moans of who else is there, I’ll be giving g my no.1 to SocDems and perhaps SF after that
@P Quinn: indeed time for a real change
I know they will also be lying but maybe a little less.
@Hans Vos: people should try something else…. Unless they’re happy with the status quo?!
@Dave Thomas: are they still touring?
@jamesdecay: Yep..they are in Coolock tonight..full of headbangers there
Things are only going to go from bad to worse in this country if people don’t wake up. If we end up with FF/FG with a mix of greens it’s lights out. Let’s watch the Sheeple vote
@Fionnbarra O Nuallain: if the greens get into government, will the last person leaving Ireland please switch off the lights!!
@Liam O Connor: What lights? Don’t you mean blow out the candles?
@Liam O Connor: tax tax tax. Buy electric cars….. and wait for new taxes on them!!! Tax whatever the majority buy basically, some policy. Sick of the same old crap. Anyone but the usuals could run country better
@kevinhunt101: Bruton is the one telling us to buy electric cars and phasing out diesel/petrol.
@Fionnbarra O Nuallain: As opposed to bad to worse under the current lot? Time for change
Ireland belongs to the Irish…vote for the only party making that claim. Vote the National party.
@Mejo: nah your grand there thanks bud
@Mejo: Nope!
@Mejo: Ireland belongs to its citizens… idiot!
@Mejo: Yeah, one of there main guys in Longford still lives with his mother. No thanks.
@Niall Binéad: does that include citizens that are TDs or even former justice ministers? Did you have personal details of TDs and former justice ministers because you were adding those citizens to your Christmas card list?
@Mejo: tally ho! What absolute toddle!
@Mejo: nope, wouldn’t be voting for that lunatic party
@Mejo: Anti-Corruption Ireland are for Ireland for the Irish too so I’d vote for them
@Mejo: The auld ethno-nationalism didn’t give a very good account of itself in the last century. Let’s leave it in the past.
@Clifford Brennan: a vocal supporter of Israel criticises ethno-nationalism. Rules for thee but not for me?
@Gordon Comstock: Of course I support Israel. Its a very racially diverse nation. Saying its a Jewish nation state isn’t in the same league as the whites only gibberish of the aforementioned “Irish” parties.
@Clifford Brennan: diverse in that they give preference of citizenship rights for different types of the Jewish ethno-religious group, and have in law that Israel exists as the nation-state for that ethno-religious group? But an Ireland that gave preference to differing Irish cultures over those of other cultures would be a form of gibberish? Your duplicity is showing.
@Mejo: wouldn’t vote for them workshy gombeens if they were the only ones running.
@Gordon Comstock: They give preference to Jewish people of any ethnicity. Why not? History has illustrated the need for this. Go ask our friends spouting the white only, racial homogeneity lines if they consider any variation on this theme as being Irish or worthy of inclusion.
@Clifford Brennan: you do realise you’re the only one bringing “white” into the conversation. Well would it be okay if preference was given to Irish of any ethnicity above all others in a similar vein to how Israel give preference to jews of any ethnicity? I’m sure there are plenty of mixed race Irish in Britain and North America. So is “Ireland belongs to the Irish” okay so long as these people are included in the definition of Irish, or is it just a simple case of rules for thee but not for me?
@Clifford Brennan: and you seem to imply jews of any ethnicity enjoy equal or even similar treatment in Israel’s rainbow nation. Would you say Ashkenazis are afforded similar treatment to the forcibly sterilised returning Ethiopian jews? Why were they forcibly sterilised in a country so unconcerned with ethnicity?
@Gordon Comstock: Look im happy to debate anything but please don’t tell barefaced lies. Nobody was forcibly sterilised – it’s a lie I’ve seen several times in recent years. You might take a look at Bangladesh or China for the examples you’re after. As for the me bringing “white” into the discussion, unless you are naive in the extreme its patently obvious what these parties are about.
@Mejo: so we’re all suppose to be racists now, Father?
@Clifford Brennan: strange that the Israeli government would issue an official apology for a bare faced lie. Do you know why Israel was injecting Ethiopian women with long term birth control without their knowledge or consent? Do you think it might have had something to do with their race?
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-ethiopians-fooled-into-birth-control-1.5226424
@Niall Binéad: @Niall Binéad: Ha ha, they’re the words of Pádraig Pearse and I’m the idiot! Typical sinn fein supporter….Brits out everyone else in. Take a bow clown boy.
@Sean Davies: well done you.
@Gordon Comstock: Birth control which lasts 12 weeks is neither sterilisation and nor long term. Read this: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-big-lie-involuntary-sterilization-of-black-ethiopian-women/
@Clifford Brennan: 12 weeks is the minimum, return to normal fertility can take up to a year with that drug per the below link, which describes it as “long term female contraception”. Why were they administering these drugs to Ethiopian women without their knowledge or consent? Why was this practice peculiar to Ethiopian women? Do you think it might have had something to do with their race?
@Gordon Comstock: Your answer is in the article I linked. Let me know how you get on.
@Clifford Brennan: You should also note that Haaretz retracted the article you linked here.
@Clifford Brennan: the claims in the article you linked are slightly undermined by the fact the Israeli government issued an official apology for the practice that was peculiar to returning Ethiopian jews. Do you think Israel was correct to issue long term birth control to women without their knowledge or consent to protect the ethnic purity of the jewish ethno-state? Do you simultaneously also believe ethno-nationalism should be left in the past for all non-jews? Rules for thee but not for me.
@Gordon Comstock: Read this from your own source:
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-comptroller-ethiopians-not-forced-into-birth-control-1.5392931
@Clifford Brennan: remarkable that the Israelis could clear themselves of any wrongdoing only three years after admitting to said wrongdoing having been blatantly caught in the act of said wrongdoing. Not like they have a dog in the fight so the remarkably low fertility rates of Ethiopian jews in Israel must have some innocent justification that can in no way implicate the “rainbow” Israeli ethno-state.
@Gordon Comstock: Classic confirmation bias. You shared a subsequentially retracted link and then ignore the results of a full investigation. Happy to debate. Really don’t like lies. Poor form.
@Mejo: Bunch of alt-right fantasists going nowhere fast along with the Gemmaroid’s ACI
@Clifford Brennan: From my link which I doubt you read:
“The charge of involuntary sterilization makes no sense. If Israel wanted to limit the Jewish Ethiopian population why did they spend millions of dollars to bring tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in the first place? And why did they then provide the new immigrants with housing, free health care, and schooling for their children? And if Israel’s aim was population control, why did they extend the state’s generous child welfare allowances to these Ethiopian immigrants, a practice that encourages large families? The final proof of the absurdity of the forced sterilization charge is that, since their immigration, the Ethiopian population of Israel has grown in leaps and bounds.”
@Mejo: or don’t. Again how many minions do these lads have clicking the like button. They’ll struggle to get 100 cores in the election and they have more thumbs on the Journal. Seems to be the same strategy for all the minority parties. SF etc..
@Mejo: Bit old for the peaky blinders look
we haven’t seen most of then since the last election
@☘: I had a few potholes filled.
Get fine gael RIC BLANK N TAN sympathisers out
@Tom o brien: Let’s get bot accounts out too.
The sham debates between F.F. and F.G. just highlights the toxic politics that now exists in this country. Martin attacks F.G. Vereadka attacks F.F. The same F.F. that has propped up his government. Martin Still in denial concerning his party facilitating in the economic destruction of this country .Vereadka’s legacy.. Crumbling health service, Homelessness, Housing crisis, Scandal after Scandal. Such is the farce of FFG, R.T.E. Will show a leaders debate on T.V..problem is only Martin and Vereadka will appear. The pox debating the plague…That is the choice the electorate has been given.
@Donal Desmond: the pox debating the plague … Brilliant
RTÉ announcing a debate between Varadkar and Martin only? So the two parties who agreed policy for the last government are going to debate? What’s there to debate?
Get MacDonald in there and you’ll see sparks fly.
@Peter McGlynn: SF have presently 22 TD’s. That will drop by a third. So need to have that one screaming at Us.
Also if people don’t for FF it will be the final nail in the coffin for Mehole. We would be rid of him forever.
Come back Vincent Browne!!! We need you!!!
*Parties are out littering again
Fixed that for ya
Are there not enough criminals on the streets
Shameful that there’s going to be a 2 party leaders debate &the 3rd largest political party omitted!
@Nuala Mc Namara: all party leaders should be included, not just FFG v FFG
@Ferg: I absolutely agree,it’s only right, we’re supposed to live in a democracy after all & have General Election not a coronation!
@Nuala Mc Namara: well the situation is easily solved – if you dont agree with the way the debate is being run – dont tune in ! that way R.T.E dont get the viewing figures and might think again next time round – i for one won’t be watching !
Labour starting their walk around in Sandymount!!!!! LOL
Ah! more of the same is all we’ll get, elitist shower of …..
@Paddy: I prefer elites to twits
@Sean Thornton: twits would
I wonder did Leo noticw when he was being driven down the N2 this morning that it wasn’t gritted despite freezing temps last night!! Unbelievable that one of the busiest National Primary routes in the country wasn’t prepared for icy road conditions!!
@Simon Connolly: No he didn’t. He was up early this morning and took a nap in the car on the way there
Hope it pisses.
FF/FG holding babies and pretending to care about the working class. I would hope people have copped on to that by now.
Gotta love the marketing professional and focus group who came up with FG’s slogan!!! Translates as “live on old horse and you’ll eat grass“!!!
Yes.. Can see parties out and about as their faces blow around in the wind after coming off the poles already! Hope you’ve got your insurance policies in order to compensate for the injuries they’ll be causing – the plastic posters are lethal in the wind!
I really don’t want to vote Labour but they’re posters are just class. All red and colourdy…very hard to resist.
@John O’Leary: Is it the colour of their faces you see,then I shouldn’t be too surprised,will take decades to shed their embarrassment if at all.
I’ll set the dogs on them if they come to my door. Grrrrrrr
Are any radical candidates promising zero VAT on caviar and smoked salmon?
Leo had some work done for his campaign poster
Dear lord don’t inflict us with those green ‘ludicrous lightbulb’ loonies or FF. FG aren’t much better. We’re not blessed with great choices are we
@Declan Moran: interesting. In what ways exactly.?
letting it being known… really?
Proof read or use MS word which will highlight the error.
Shoddy, very shoddy.
25% people will vote for ff 25 % will vote for ff.
I thought half of america were dumb. You lot are as bad.
The best way to run off campaigners at your door is tell them you aren’t registered in that county. Did that the last election and I could see the cartoon speed cloud from them like they were the road runner
No matter who wins the election, nothing will change for the man or woman on the street.. High taxes, unaffordable housing, inadequate health service, rubbish public transport, high cost of living, insurance scams, gangland violence. No point in voting if you ask me
this every day ? thank God it’s short campaign
I see FG are taking there lead from Trump calling people names
@Gordon Comstock and @Clifford Brennan – obvious american trolls, obsessed with Israel.
Test
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