The strategy of building an Alliance with Labour is one thats been discussued a number of times on this site. One comment challenged anyone who had an alternative strategy in mind to bring it to the table. Thats worth doing as an exercise just to see what the options are and while the end result may or may not be a viable strategy hopefully such discussion can broaden the options for the party and how we move forward. Firstly I'd like to say I personally see merit in a working relationship with Labour while still having doubts about their lingering anti-republican factions, their willingness to do the shovel work necessary to rebuild the southern state and ultimately their committment to creating an all-Ireland republic. Significant caveats but still the basic idea of working together... Similar posts

In last week's An Phoblacht Eoin o'Broin again highlighted the opportunity for a broad, progressive, political alliance in south Ireland which would serve to realign southern politics away from the oddity of two right wing parties with the same ideas constantly swapping office.Starry Plough had looked at this question before. There has never been a better time to realign politics certainly. For such a long time Fianna Fail had a strong lock on Public sector workers and also even in working class communities. Seeing as how both these groups have been targetted for some extra pain by that wretched party in the recent budget it is to be hoped that their % vote will drop even further. But for all the delight in seeing Fianna Fail on the canvas, if not quite knocked out, its a sober warning... Similar posts

The second part of the Irish Times/TNS-MRBI poll released today has state of the parties and party leaders. It is good news for Cowen in that the Fianna Fail support level has risen by a statistically significant 3% to 20% but bad news in that they are still the third party behind Fine Gael and Labour.  The bit of a boost is followed by the mixed news from yesterday’s poll. The party standings: Fianna ail 20% (+3) Fine Gael 31% (-3) Labour 25% (+1) Green Party 4% (+1) SF 9% (-1) Ind 11% (-1) It goes without saying that the party who now repeatedly tell us they are the biggest party in the state, out front and centre of the Lisbon campaign haven’t had a good innings on NAMA and the return of the Dail. Indeed taken on Tuesday and Wednesday it reflects on a week of exchanges in... Similar posts

A few of us got an email from Brian Lenihan last night, having signed up to Fianna Fail’s alerts for research purposes. It was so awesome I left it to this morning to post.It does neatly summarise where we stand this morning, but not really in the way Lenihan intended. Aside from waffly introductions some key paragraphs are highlighted below. Tomorrow in the Dail, I will introduce a budget that proves Fianna Fáil is the right party to lead Ireland. Our budget will strike the difficult balance between higher taxes for those who can afford it and necessary spending cuts. Our strategy for recovery is based on everyone making a contribution. … The Opposition have put forward their proposals and some of them are constructive. But they avoid the difficult decisions that we all... Similar posts