@Pádraic Ó Braonáin: it’s up to Sinn Fein To create the change. But instead they’re just distracting with these trump like rallies. The election is over, votes counted now SF need to get on with it but the truth is they don’t have the numbers and never did. They’re only digging a hole for themselves.

They’d be better off letting FF/FG forming a coalition because next time around they’re in the driving seat.

@Daniel Kelly: The way this is bring portrayed by the media it’s rallies on street corners. Tonight it’s in Cork. Rochestown Hotel .These meetings are open to the public. Pity the likes of Martin and Vareakra who pretend they have differences will not face an electorate that has voted for change and are quiet willing to go into collation to keep the status quo.

@The Risen: How so? FG and FF don’t have to go into power with Sinn Fein. What’s the issue? You can’t force either of them into a coalition with them. These ‘rallies for change’ are a publicity stunt.

@Daniel Kelly: this could create deep divisions across the 26 county state and it would be like opening the genie bottle and difficult to put back in if it got of hand . all I am saying is to dread very carefully. as it is unionists across the six county state are becoming very nervous and it’s not helping in any way towards reunification of Ireland or convincing them of the benefits of all IRELAND.

@The Risen: what a bizarre comment. There were no Sinn Fein TD’s elected in my constituency, does that mean SF trying to get into government are blocking my democratic vote ?

@Sos: Silly statement, as SF aren’t actively blocking or refusing to speak to anybody.

@The Risen: I too voted for SF(and Labour) but mainly I voted for change. I’m rightly turned off Sinn Feins supporters and this attitude that because the got a huge jump in support that it give them the absolute right to power. FF and FG canvesed before the election NOT to go into government with SF. SF told the electorate that they wouldn’t go into government with FF or FG. If the left had enough seats SF would refuse to speak to FF or FG about forming a government. SF are now using trump like tactics.

@The Risen: rock clime back under. These rallies are a load of BS

@The Risen: apart from the PSNI about Paul Quinn’s murder, that is

@Pádraic Ó Braonáin: I’d bet that in your 55 years of being a voter and a citizen that no political party ever asked you for your opinion after they got your vote.
The long tradition of ignoring voters is coming to an end.

@Daniel Kelly: we had an election, and the people did vote. But the most popular party is being excluded from talks by less popular partys. That’s an affront to democracy.

@J: Those two >failed< parties banding together… in reverse this time…. is NOT change! Its just a mirror image of what we had before….pure bad government .

@Beyond Belief: no that is democracy in action. The problem is that the “most popular party” isn’t popular enough at 24% to prevent a coalition of other parties.

@Gerry Ryan: What? They got your opinion when you voted! Simple!

@The Risen: but overall they got 24% of the vote, ffg got about 46%. Sinn Fein need to stop acting like they won the election, 24% of the vote guarantees nothing.

@GrumpyAulFella: It is not that they are not popular enough, it is that they did not run enough candidates so without support are unable to form a government.

@Daniel Kelly: the use of “mob” is offensive, and by the way, it is the disregard for the opinions of the opposition and the people who earn please that has weakened (your) FF and FG main parties. Keep that attitude and FF/FG will find it over hard to have any political relevance for a long time

@Attilio: please = less

@Honeybee: but u don’t know that. Hearsay is not enough to form a government. Sinn Fein and their supporters are just sounding childish at this stage

@Daniel Kelly: the mobilization of the people begins and where it ends nobody knows.

@Manbackonboard: FF pledged “We want a new Government”(said during before GE voting)& said “Fine Gael has increasingly right -wing agenda’(said that in 2016).
FG said”A vote for FF is a vote for SF”&”FF wrecked the economy”.
Both FF&FG had separate campaigns criticizing each others performance in Government,etc.
SF said before GE that they’d talk with ALL parties but preferance would be left wing coalition.After GE SF said the same and began talks with all parties and politicians but FF and FG refused to even meet for talks.
I’ll remind you that Labour also suggested that they’d like smaller parties to get together to form a progressive bloc but after GE,ruled that out!

@Paul Mallon: It is a fact they did not run the numbers,I think the next election will be more telling for all parties

@The Risen: No party got enough votes to form a government. So start talking not rallying. This is Sinn Feins opportunity to learn how a democracy works, whilst in opposition. Having proved themselves as a capable opposition in Dail Eireann, I am sure their day will come. But, it hasn’t arrived yet.

@Daniel Kelly: Nice one – SF voters are the mob. We now know were you stand on democracy!

@Pádraic Ó Braonáin: then why didn’t people vote for this so called change.

@Donal Desmond: will there be midnight torchlight marches through working-class areas and then marching into the city centres. because they till us that this what overwhelming majority of the people in the 26 county want …

@Daniel Kelly: “So start talking, not rallyi g”. Did you miss the bit where SF ARE talking but FF and FG refuse to talk to them??

@J: FF/FG will form the government anyway, but that’s not the point. If the people who voted for SF fail to show up at the rallies, then you will be in a position to say they were just a distraction.

some how, I feel there might be more than just those who voted for SF at the rallies, I think other left voters and disenchanted people will also show. Democracy dictates that anyone and any political party can organise public rallies when they like on any issue of public/voter concern. God knows FF and FG had their fair share of them over the years. I nearly burst a gut in laughter today when I heard Leo calling the rallies an act of intimidation. What kind of a bubble does the man live in. Is he trying to outdo Martin in the hysterics dept?

@Angela McCarthy: There are a lot of older FF voters really peeved with Mehole for talking to the old enemy rather than SF. The next election is going to be a doozy!

@Daniel Kelly: if even now you can see deep divisions are starting to form which I never noticed before. I think it’s been fuel by a hard left elements in society who couldn’t care less about a United Ireland but about there international deology .

@Paul Mallon: F3G got 43% the lowest combined vote ever . FF the 2nd lowest ever . Under Martin they have had their 3 worst Election results ever. Under VaradkarFG gad their worst result subs 1948. So much for the ” Leo bounce ” .

@Pádraic Ó Braonáin: do remember the 1981 hunger strikes marches in Dublin and love Ulster marches and how they turn out on the streets of Dublin.

@Bobby wilson: Perhaps it’s the statement by Drew Harris that will cause division. In recent negotiations which included Simon Coveney as Foreign Minister and the Secretary of state for Northern Ireland No mention of an Army Council was mentioned by the above named, The PSNI commissioner or Drew Harris also never mentioned the existence of the Army Council. The DUP would certainly have their own source relating to this matter. The danger is F.F.and F.G.are using this statement as a political weapon .. Point scoring is fair enough in politics, but this is playing at a level that could have serious consequences. Do people really think the Assembly would be up and running again if the DUP believed an Army Council existed.

@mcdb06: haha yeah sure – don’t think SF are in any need for ‘publicity’ -I am pretty sure the electorate that voted for change only two weeks ago know who and what SF are about – all this hysterics from the establishment -who seemingly think they can just ‘wish’ things to be like they were before is such a joke. The FFG supply and confidence days are numbered – if they cannot see that from the election results ( despite their best attempts at the same ol project smear and fear SF which people didn’t fall for – if as expected FFG just want to keep sneering at the groundswell of people who want change then they are foolish to believe that another 5 years of more of the same won’t lead to them being decimated – just look at Labour and how it worked out when the pent up frustration of the voters switched overwhelmingly to SF – the age groups too should be considered carefully – FFG got very very poor showing from voter under 40 and thats only going to get stronger – for FFG to keep doing the same ol thing for another 5 years and expecting a different outcome really is a classic example of a definition of insanity.

@Bobby wilson: Bobby Boy – I don’t know if you are unionist yourself or not. So lets say you are and you are watching whats going down here.

what would you make of FG/FF after spending years lecturing them to share power with SF, and after going through the whole process of decommissioning and regular reports from the international monitoring commission etc and various PSNI reports that the IRA had stood down, and that possibly the army council is still there but working through purely exclusive peaceful means to achieve its ultimate aim of creating a united Ireland. So the DUP and other Unionists decide that’s good enough for us and sit down and form an administration.

Now Bobby, for those unionists watching and who know exactly SF operates, how it communicates and calls meetings and rallies with their supporters in the north, do you think they will be more gobsmacked by SF organising Rallies among their supporters, Or by the sheer hypocrisy of FF/FG?

Don’t forget Unionists, and the DUP in particular, have a long history of organising public rallies when they feel they had been shafted by someone!

@Paul Mallon: ….Hang on Paul….what am I missing here?

You have to add those two parties results >TOGETHER< to come up with that argument !!!

@Attilio: Wrong presumption. I am neither FF or FG.

@Daniel Kelly: they are design for one thing only to create tensions across the free state which could engulf island of IRELAND ….

@Gerry Ryan: That’s true, and the gas part of all this, is its SF who are being shunned and you feel by some FG/FF commenters here that it was SF who is holding up the formation of Government.

I think most people at this point knows SF wont be in government – SF knows and the terrible two party’s knows, as they do who will form the government. SF has no control over that, but it does have the right and control to consult with its voters. Trump – in my arse – if anything, the decision not to talk to SF, is the classic Trump tantrum – your not playing with my ball!

@Angela McCarthy: I want a United IRELAND more than I want SINN FEIN….while most people in the free state want sinn Fein more than a United IRELAND

@Paul Mallon: fair point – but FF/FG need to stop acting like SF lost the election – or worse still- like they hadn’t taken part or received the vote they had. No matter how you dress it up – telling any party who received 24% that you are not talking to them – we’ll talk to you in the council chambers and we’ll negotiate with you in the north, but we wont talk to you to form an administration in the Dail, simply isn’t democratic. And because they are free to do that and say they have a mandate to do it, doesn’t make it any less undemocratic.

when all is said and done – everyone typing on this page knows well, if this was happening to any other party other than SF, you would all be blowing gaskets now and I’d bet you would all be organising public rallies too!

The SF posters advertising these rallies say ‘a government for change. Let’s make it happen’.
Also Eoin O’Broin tweeted that the rallies are about government formation.

These rallies are about trying to force the hand of FF and FG. We might not like either party but this ain’t right either.

@Bobby wilson: You sound like Michael Martin persuading Leo that there is now a credible party on par with them with the electorate. Martin and Vereadka plus the media tell us Sinn Fein ONLY got 24% of the vote. Now the problem is Sinn Fein technically has the same number of seats as F.F. one more than F.G. yet these two parties for all their so called differences tell us they got the remainder of the vote forgetting the vote of other left parties excluding so called Labour. The monopoly of FF/F.G.since the foundation of this state is now under threat from a genuine left. Believe me they will do anything to preserve the status quo.

@Pádraic Ó Braonáin: they will summing people onto the streets at moment notice.because there nothing like people power ..especially working-class anger.

@The Risen: Your vote was not ignored. Your candidates were elected to the Dail where there achieved the required votes. It is every party’s democratic right not to engage with other parties whose character they “unpalatable”. These rallies are a perfect example of how unfit SF are for office, let alone government. You and SF have no right to intimidate the rest of this country. A leopard never changes its spots.

@Donal Desmond: the SINN FEIN we have now was born in 1970 after it split with Marxist official sinn Fein on the streets of Dublin

@Manbackonboard: Yes and I imagine that if another election had to be held tat sf would lose half of those gains

@Donal Desmond: how have sinn Fein made a United IRELAND more possible..

@Pádraic Ó Braonáin: Yes Padraic – now you can see how FF/FG do the numbers and run the economy!

@Honeybee: but it’s not a fact they would’ve gotten more seats

@Bobby wilson: you sound very mixed up to me Bobby. You back the arguments of those who most definitely do not want a united Ireland and attack the one who does. Maybe you make sense in your own mind.

@Jane: Stop the BS and porkies Jane “we might not like these two parties” you are already a supporter of one – and will soon be in bed with the other, so please save us from that crap!

@The Risen: That’s a silly comparison. There are constituencies that voted mostly for non-SF candidates, you can’t take things at constituency level for a national election. Using your logic you could argue that the party you support is blocking FF reps from meaningful talks.

@Angela McCarthy: unlike you I am a IRISH NATIONALIST and not a INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST …I believe United IRELAND more than anything in my life. but I believe Sinn Fein are going about it the wrong way.to achieve reunification of IRELAND

@Daniel Kelly: stupid comment this is change you are seeing for the good of the people FFFG are happy to do nothing I welcome new ideas

@Bobby wilson: Would disagree with you on that point.. Their have always been splits in the Republican movement concerning which direction it was going …Official Sinn Fein morphed into the S.F. the workers party, New Agenda, Democratic left , just look at the history of the Labour leadership that went into government with F.G….Provisional S.F. took the mantle after the split with the officials.

@The Risen: who exactly is ignoring you? You (SF) basically got 1/3 of the votes.

@Bobby wilson: …..Nobody “summons” me onto the streets against my will Bobby…so stop trying to twist this into something it is not…while prending all the time to be mister “netural”.

@The Risen: your people when given the opportunity 100 years ago to abide by a democratic decision spurned it and caused a civil war, the effect of which can be seen today.
Now, the party for slow learners have decided to participate in democracy; but only so far as it suits their purpose.
After 100 years, would you ever cop on?

@Pádraic Ó Braonáin: what will the rally deliver?
Trumpism is all this is. Just an opportunity for more “up the ra”. A chance to shout but for no actual reason. Fur coat and no knickers.

@Daniel Kelly: public rallies are a fundamental aspect of any democracy, those who oppose holding them obviously have a problem with that and the idea that the mass of people have only a very minor role in discussing the affairs of the nation.

@Pádraic Ó Braonáin: you will be when you attend.

@The Risen: your constituency does not represent the whole country…75% of people rejected SF.

@Beyond Belief: actually it’s democracy at work. Yes SF got the popular vote but FG and FF don’t have to go into talks when they know that their policy’s are poles apart.

@Daniel Kelly: smacks of brown shirts

@The Risen: have a break have a kit Kat

@Daniel Kelly: it’s actually called transparent, inclusive and accountable democracy (for change) as voted in and expected by our voters!

@Bobby wilson: Bobby you said you voted for SDLP, and that you want to see Ireland re-united……Do you realize Bobby the SDLP are doing sweet F-all to that end…….Sinn Fein want all parties, including Unionists, to begin talks and debate the issues and work out our differences…..that makes sense ….don’t just leave it to fester back down into violence because it will.

@The Risen: A lot of discontent among FF voters where I live with Michael looking to FG to form a government as they don’t it as the change they and other people voted for

@Angela McCarthy: you obviously don’t knew much about the NORTH and how it works. I want United ireland and sinn Fein have failed to maximize the Nationalist vote over the past 20 years. The total nationalist vote is constantly hovering around 38% considering the Catholic /Nationalist population has risen to 50%of the population . In order to a achieve it sinn Fein must broaden out to a wider nationalist/Catholic Population and a softer protestant population to get the border poll over the line

@Donal Desmond: they split wth a party that are and and still are marxist party

@J: are you for real? They’ve been in the driving seat for near on a century, look where they’ve got us!

@The Risen: Mary loo said she wanted a left govt. She said she would talk to the left first to form that govt. She has openly criticized ff. Seriously don’t understand why you say that they are preventing you from forming a government. Get all the left together and do it. If you need a right wing party, why aren’t talking to FG??

@Liam Higgins: The left don’t have enough seats. Do try to keep up, instead of swallowing leos spin.

@Pádraic Ó Braonáin: I don’t believe sinn Fein have moved us any closer with a United IRELAND with there policies. since they contested elections in the six county state in 1982 in the earlier days they Help to bring out more nationalists to vote who where die hard republican abstentions winning back seats from unionists /loyalists on council’s but since 2000 total nationalist vote hasn’t moved above 40% is declining while Nationalist population has risen to 50% and yes I voted for sinn fein and the SDLP for political reasons both have failed to maximize Nationalist vote..SDLP are starting to make a come back and sinn Fein vote drop few points at last election which is worry for a United Ireland … I personally think she sinn Fein should need to move more to centre left slightly and wow the soft protestant population vote to get the border poll over the line.

@Pádraic Ó Braonáin: I thick most of these people on supporting SF are socialists at heart and couldn’t care less about United ireland but for me I am IRISH nationalist first and last…

@Bobby wilson: how that reach out might be achieved is through discussion with that electorate you mention. SF are the only party calling for those discussions. FF FG and SDLP call those discussions ‘ divisive’.
Blocking these discussions only maintains and prolongs the divisions within our country…

@M Bowe: yes! because its creating tensions in loyalist areas and its how go about it for a United ireland to happen we must win a section of the protestant community to win a border poll…unionist watch the free state very closely over the recent years they where starting to warm to the south ….then brexit comes along then all black and tan controversy this has opposite effect when they see all the protests they retreat back in. that’s fine for the audience in the free state but not for getting protestants on board it was basically own goal

@Manbackonboard: Maybe you did vote SF as your last preference, or whatever. SF never said they would talk to FF or FG and the fact you have come up with that porkie now, merely confirms that you never voted for them in the first place!

@Bobby wilson: Bobby, just because you don’t like SF, shouldn’t mean you feel the need to make up lies and write bullshit. You said in a previous post they will summon people onto the streets in a minutes notice and use working class anger.

the rallies are not planned for the streets, but will be peaceful meetings in hotels. The first one will take place in the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork tonight.
I think you will also learn Bobby, if you cared enough to check it out, that most of those in attendance, just as they voted will be more middle than working classes. So please give it a break until you know what you are talking about. Also Bobby, lay off on the northern comparisons – no one is buying it and I doubt you were ever there. If I gave you a map and a compass, Id doubt you would find it.

@Bobby wilson: Ive forgotten more about the north than you have learned and I can see you know very little. You and yours are against a border poll, in fact like FF you are even against making preparations for one.

You are one of those special people who feel the GFA is a final settlement in itself. And some day after we all keep our mouths shut, you will wake up to the sound of Orangmen outside your windows singing a chorus of a nation once again. That they will tell you they are ready for a border poll now! Grow up man. Stoop Down Low Party

@Daniel Kelly: yep, it’s a pr stunt same with them and the photos in government buildings. Their finally coming to terms that no one trusts or likes them

@Angela McCarthy: you get rattled very easily. Your comments are aggressive and at times needlessly offensive. If you are confident in your comments and responses you should be able to post them respectfully.

@Angela McCarthy: I will excuse for a not knowing how elections in the six county state works and how people have to maximise there votes on both sides in order for other side does not captured seat ..yes I voted for SF many times if SF put up a donkey I would vote for it rather than let it falls to unionists .your ranting and raving about Orange men makes no sense

@The Risen: there are 38 other constituencies? Not just yours

@Honeybee: The quota in a 3/4/5 seaters is 25%, 20% and 16.7% respectively. So unless you are polling at around 30%+ the seat “bonus” gets harder to achieve.
Labour won 32 seats in 1992 for example, and bouyed by this ran additional candidates in the 1997 election, only to lose more than half ther seats.

@Bobby wilson: who is this “they”?

@Laura Farrell: And SF topped something like 30 of them. For party’s who got less votes in those constituency to ignore their constituents top choice is undemocratic and unforgivable.

@Manbackonboard: We have never said we had the absolute right to power. We are saying that votes for Sinn Féin should not be treated as of less value than those for other parties. And that a FFFG+ government would be the opposite of change. Trump like tactics? Do you think Trump invented the public meeting? We talk to our voters, we report back to them, we involve people. That is the politics of change and proceed.

@Philip Kavanagh: ah calm down. How are meetings in a hotel intimidating you.

@Bobby wilson: Fair play to the workers party . Especially a councillor in Cork who has stood by his political beliefs for Decades.

@The Risen: when Gerry Adams was leader of Sinn Fein he went into elections stating they would not enter government unless they were largest party. Mary Lou has rightly pointed out that Sinn Fein won this election ( in as much as any party won). And now Sinn Fein say they are being disrespected because parties who lost and who pledged to their voters that they would not enter government with Sinn Fein will not go into government with them. Going into opposition was fine for Gerry but not for others. I am sure there is some logic there but I cannot see it.

@Terry Cahill: So because the ‘rally’ was used you think of Nazi Germany? Dear oh dear. You know all are welcome to attend and air their views, right??

@smart cat: The smoke filled rooms have evaporated since smoking ban came in ✅

@.Tk mc carthy: the smell of gun smoke then

@smart cat: would these be the guns that FF smuggled into the country in the ‘70’s??

@Tony Harris: reason not to vote FF either!

@smart cat: more like the smell of VS from u

@smart cat: theres been no smoke filled rooms since the smoking ban…just sayin…

@Terry Cahill: good point -read the poem of Martin Niemöller -”first they came for you”etc.and be wary – we all know what anti social behaviour accompanied water charge “rallies”or ‘demonstrations”-lets hope the decisions of the majority if our democratically ELECTED politicians ( not unelected negotiatiors) are respected.

@Terry Cahill: So when you heard of the rallies you “thought of 30s Germany” ……..I thought of Dublin and Mick Collins.

@The Risen: Nah.. that would be wasting my sweetness on the desert air I think.

@Terry Cahill: if you don’t want to attend then don’t fooking whingers, what are you all afraid of.. Pathetic snowflake

@The Risen: you’re the Sad one.

@Tony Harris: no the guns of a group that murder the mother of ten kids.

@Caoimhin O Hailpin:how much do SF/IRA pay u for each post. Nice handy money I’d say

@The Risen: no the rally is sad actually

@smart cat: Ah got ya, so FF just gave them the guns, they didn’t pull any triggers! You are right to differentiate

@smart cat: is that a reference to Kathleen Thomson or Joan Connelly. But shot by British guns???

@The Risen: Many people think of Nazi Germany when a democratically elected supposed political party has covered up the murder of innocent people and praise illegal armies that threaten democracy itself. These “rallies” are just more proof that the only thing democratic about SF is the country that they will destroy if they ever get their grubby, blood stained hands on power.

@M Bowe: it not British terrorist where talking about it Irish ones in the form of SF/IRA

@The Risen: good stuff

@Terry Cahill: That’s what you are supposed to think. That’s why the word ‘rally’ is being used.

Ask yourself why.

@Agenda21: What the fluic would I be doing attending a SinnFein public “ conversation with the People” I know what they want and I know the country is now ready for plucking. The pattern here is a long practiced one around the globe and it usually doesn’t end well.

@David Glynn: I’m beginning to feel sorry for you and not in a good way

@David Glynn: You do know that Leo also went to a private school,so what, any parent can make that decision for their child if they can afford it, petty jibe.