I never ever thought I would say thank you to sinn fein, but thank the almighty God above that bang bang McGuinness did as he did on the frontline.

We were rescued from goldfish-memory voters who were taken under the spell of Uncle Fester and his empty rhetoric, supported by the ff gombeens

Thank you, thank you, thank you !!

Hello Don, Fianna Fail haven’t gone away you know!!!!!

No? they are like snakes in the grass !! but things are changing and FFail didn’t get in this time….

Well said Reada.

He may be a bit a bit pompous, but I defy you to find fault with the substance of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-vCJQ5lLPk

Wouldn’t get it from the gombeens.

@Niall Mulligan. Thanks so much for that link. I gave Higgins my No. 1, and that clip has made me very, very glad I did so. If you get to make even one speech as awesome as that one inyour political career, you’re more than qualified to be my head of state.

pity it will take so long

Right you are Paul, just hope it’ll be quicker than that!

So sick of the “ambush” talk.

Seán Gallagher shouldn’t have insulted the electorate by running as an independent. This was the dirty trick I’m most concerned with – the mechanics of how he thankfully got found out by the wider public aren’t really relevant.

Martin McGuinness , PAt Kenny & Glenna Lynch (the ordinary mother & business woman from Stillorgan who tackled Gallagher on the frontline ) should be awarded merits from saving this country electing a Bertie type character to the office of President ……

That’s your view but the old guard as you put it in Sinn Fein well out polled the Fine Gael candidate the so called most popular party in the country so the Old Guard in Sinn Fein must be doing something right

what about the old guard in fine gael will they go away after less then half of mmg

You have a definite point there, Tommy. I hope that my posts haven’t been in the realm of abuse, I really don’t intend it that way.

The strong language is due to the fact I’m still extremely angry at Gallagher and Fianna Fáil. I just think it’s an insult of the worst possible kind for the party to run a candidate under false pretences. Is this all the respect that they have for us?

But you shouldn’t confuse my contempt for the party machine with contempt for their voters or supporters.

Well said Niall . I feel the same way myself . It’s the FF machine and the hierarchy in that party who annoy me . I do not under stand what they have to offer any of us as a nation , they have dragged us into the depths of a recession and still theydeny deny deny. FF has no sense of fair play or shame. Why do people vote for them ?

In Fianna Fáil’s Ireland, bank robs you.

Just sayin’.

Torpedo , Lying Candidate you tweet ? are you referring to Sean Gallagher? in the court of public opinion the jury voted & removed the honour of the office of president from the candidate Sean Gallagher.

phew. your not the only one

Hi there – I’ve re-established there – do you want to try now? If not, if you go back to the home page and scoot down a little bit, you’ll find part one still there to open and read. Cheers, S

No, the link still doesn’t work, but found part one on the main page. Thanks!

Showing headlines that are knocking around outside of Ireland tonight don’t constitute an endorsement from us John…

Wall street journal, Routers, some crappy blog. There’s an odd one out there.

My point is you’re better than that. I feel you should promote this kind of rubbish – If it was the wall street journal I’d get what you’re saying but you know this is tripe.

This isn’t an attack on this site, or yourself BTW. It’s late, so please don’t take it personally. Your coverage of the campaign has been excellent. Just offering some constructive criticism. I wouldn’t give the IC the time of day after that kind of article.

Mary, the point is that he is still Fianna Fáil to the bone. He was still collecting money only a couple of years ago. I don’t believe that he’s ever resigned from the party, open to correction on that one.

But I am certain that he lied about it consistently, and then he was caught out he changed his position. It’s a disgrace, and an insult to the Irish people.

This is without even starting on:

” listening to people here you’d think he had been a member of the Mafia or such like”

Well, he pretty much was. Have a look at the details of his career. He basically spent it miking his Fianna Fáil connections.

Mary,
I think you’ll find Niall is from Galway. It’s worth keeping that in mind when you read his comments about Sean Gallagher. Several pinches of salt may be required!!

Our state was born out of political violence, was it not?

Maybe you’re a radical pacifist, in which case I hope your positions on, say, Barack Obama or David Cameron are equally strident to those you espouse with regard to Marty.

Or maybe you can live in the real world. Nobody’s asking you to vote for him, but at the same time droning on about his terrorist past isn’t enough these days – it’s about time that SF’s policy positions were addressed on their merits, without hysteria.

Brian. Don’t worry. Some people just red thumb everything they read. Gives them a sense of Neroism I guess. There’s a thread re Garda Ciaran with a lovely poem that will bring a tear to your eye if you know any gardaí.

Not writing in all caps is a good start :)

I guessing it’s because you went off-topic. Comments are meant to add to article and generate discussion. Yours trailed off there a bit.

Also never complain about red thumbs. People hate that.

You’re absolutely right Eugene – in my speedy typing to get the result in, I juxtaposed the second and third digits of the total vote. I’ve just double-checked the other numbers with our man on the scene there and they’re correct. Thanks for that – will post a note in the blog now!

No bother. I appreciate the effort you’re all putting in – it’s great to be able to follow the progress from overseas.

Do you have some sort of a problem with older people? Ever heard of experience and wisdom coming with age? Ask the arts and cinema industry about Mike D’s commitment to enterprise and openness to innovation and new ideas. You might learn something from the old man.

Martin, Seán Gallagher’s idea of “business” mainly involves milking his political connections – tbh, I’d say Michael D knows more about real business, making and creating, than Gallagher.

Sorry your guy lost, but I think you should give Michael D a chance, he’s a good man.

Gaybo? That seems like years ago. They did also have Mary Davis, although she’s not so much of an apparatchik as Gallagher. I think that they did try to cover a few bases, but it’s abundantly clear that Gallagher is a fully committed Fianna Fáil man. Cannot be denied.

Tbh, I’m a Labour leaning agnostic more than anything else, would hope that the party could develop a brand of 21st century socialism to reach out to FF supporters.

You’re probably right about Marty, although I think he’s done the party no real harm in this campaign. I have a feeling that he may well have gotten more first preferences if people didn’t feel the need to choose Michael D so as to ensure that Gallagher wasn’t to get in.

Of course, there will always be people who will never countenance voting SF, and I think that’s understandable, but I would hope that we’re at the point where debate will begin to move beyond “thug, terrorist, MURDERER” hysteria. In 2011, they’re a peaceful, democratic party, with a substantial mandate in this state as well as in the north, simply discounting their positions by reference to the troubles won’t cut it any more.

Granted, I think that much of the hysteria came down to desperate FF smoke and mirror tactics.

I hope that we can all agree that the brand of crony capitalist, gombeen man cute hoor politics that destroyed Gallagher’s bid by association needs to be obliterated for the good of the nation?

Niall think you’ll find that most of the murderer terrorist tags were put on mcguinness and not sinn fein. Sinn fein will never move on as a party unless they break the link with the troubles ie mcg and Adams and also start putting forward some policies. Until then they will never fulfill there potential

End total Brian – I actually just posted something about that – if Norris eliminated after second count, his transfers might push Mitchell over the magic 12.5 per cent and Mitchell will get his expenses back. Anyway, I explain more at the top.
Good question – cheers!

Bit of a pain, since it’ll never happen (Mitchell won’t see nearly enough Norris transfers)

Still, whole things a formality at this point.

You’re right. better start saving to cover any damages.

ooooh that slipped past me. Too many negative comments and a few mindless criticisms appear here (although much approved lately).

Apologies.

From his Wiki…

“Higgins originally joined Fianna Fáil in UCG while a mature student; ”

It was for 6 months and he was questioned about that already and he shot it down.

Idiot!

Ha! Now Tommy, Michael D is no more 2011 gombeen FF than the man in the moon.

Unless you’ve got a “hoax” tweet lying round somewhere you’d like to hit him with?

Ah, no. I was kinda hoping you were gonna break out the hoax tweets, would be good for a laugh. ;)

As for the gombeens, back to wikipedia:

A Gombeen Man is a pejorative Hiberno-English term used in Ireland for a shady, small-time “wheeler-dealer” or businessman who is always looking to make a quick profit, often at someone else’s expense or through the acceptance of bribes. Its origin is the Irish word “gaimbín”, meaning monetary interest.[1] The term referred originally to a money-lender and became associated with those shopkeepers and merchants who exploited the starving during the Irish Famine by selling much-needed food and goods on credit at ruinous interest rates.

No, bleedin’ autospell. It is of course quota. But we’ve also had lots of quotes tonight ;)