Did you know that 25% of people who voted for Fianna Fail would not have done so if they hadn’t believed Micheal Martin’s promise of 40,000 houses being delivered by last year? That’d be an awful lot of votes going in other directions.
Speaking of which, the Shinners are on 27% at present, and the most popular party in the state.
Again with things Micheál has said – he declared in Irish that Mary Lou McDonald was “telling lies again”. The Ceann Comhairle, it seems, has written to him urging him to withdrawn his statement as Gaeilge, but Micheál says no dice, forget it. Jack Profumo had to give up as a politician, not because he was sleeping with the high-class hooker Christine Keeler, but because he told a lie about the relationship in the House of Commons. How come sauce for the goose ain’t sauce for the gander??
Some families of people killed by the ‘security’ forces have agreed to settle out of court, which would mean any embarrassing activities involving collusion would not be allowed see the light of day. Is that a good idea, even if you do receive compensation?
Finally, young people, according to Jarlath Burns, are not playing GAA sports because, although there are jobs available in Ireland, they prefer to go live in, for example, Australia. Should we rejoice at their enterprise or be dismayed at their giving up on Ireland?
Hit dat button….
Jude, can I make two points which sprung to mind while Pat and you were debating about the comparisons between Micheal Martins lies and whether Michael D Higgins also told lies about serving a second presidential term.
1. Pat was correct to say that every politician, like every human has the right to change their mind on any subject. But where Pat is wrong in my opinion, is for an election candidate to state publicly before the election, that he or she wont contest a second term. By making that pledge he automatically boxed himself in to that pledge. the safe option therefore is to not make such a pledge. Otherwise, every politician and party can make any pledge they like including the contents of their manifestos and kick them to touch after the election and say they had simply changed their minds.
2. regarding SF’s negative publicity prior to the election and whether it accounted for their lower than expected vote. Well I think yourself and Pat answered that question at the outset of the podcast when Pat revealed that Fianna Fail polled 25% higher than it should have because of Porkies it told about housing figures. I think most people would agree, most of that 25% would have otherwise went to SF, if voters knew the truth.