should sinn fein be next government

[2camp]

will it make any difference who gets in, I don't believe it will

[warmcome]

will it make any difference who gets in, I don't believe it will

if the people get in? things have to get worse sometimes...

[willieh]

Sometimes when a party is in opposition, they can propose, and object to, whatever they like without ever being faced with the reality of responsibility. The reality is being in government and of having to accept responsibility (either on their own or in coalition) is a whole different matter.

Take the North of Ireland for example. Westminster subsidises that failed state (and it has failed to the extent that it is and cannot be under the present model even approaching self financing) to the tune of one billion pounds Sterling a week. The very core and essence of Sinn Féin policy is to achieve a United Ireland. But does anyone really think that SF would even allow or permit such a reunification to come about without this massive funding gap being covered? They would lose so much support up North in the immediate aftermath that they would never recover from it. Similarly SF supporters "down south" would never accept huge tax increases and drastic drops in the level and extent of public services such as health and schools just to fund this reunification. And if it actually happened and the foregoing was to occur, just see how many votes they would get subsequently? They would be annihilated.

Politics is the art of the possible.

Jean-Baptiste Colbert who served as the Minister of Finances of France from 1665 to 1683 under King Louis XIV. To him is attributed the famous observation : "The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing."

There would be some amount of hissing both North and South of the border then.

I do see that McGuinness and Adams, after the Scottish referendum, are calling for a border poll but that cynically is only because they see what Scotland will gain financially from the close "no" vote.

All parties in government end up having to be someway responsible given the serious financial and economic responsibilities that will result. After all they know they will face a new election in less than five years (if not sooner!) (Sure is that not why Fine Gael have appointed the putative candidate to the cultural panel in the Seanad to the Board of the Museum of Modern Act in Dublin - the very body they have determined and sworn to abolish?) As Bill Clinton famously said: "It is the economy, stupid". Just look at the Scots; they voted with their pockets, not their hearts!)

But then perhaps I am just cynical too.

(On a separate soap box, it always gets my goat that the people down south still in Plato's cave are happy to encourage those living in the North to have SF in government whilst equally happily tutting and shaking their heads at any suggestion that they might have to accept them in government south of the border. To continue the goose analogy, what is sauce for the goose must be sauce for the gander.)

[justfrank44]

Sinn fein should be the next government , if they recieve enough votes to get there. If their policies are not strong enough then they will be tested when in power. At the very least, they can't do any worse than has gone before. And maybe, just maybe, they can do a bit better than the rest.

[leroy]

Sinn fein should be the next government , if they recieve enough votes to get there. If their policies are not strong enough then they will be tested when in power. At the very least, they can't do any worse than has gone before. And maybe, just maybe, they can do a bit better than the rest.

Agreed won't do any worse but will do no better either, there is just no money in the pot and things will not change much for us working class people.

[Catriona]

Well they support TORL and are just populists. My prediction is FF-SF coalition and much like Labour at the moment will totally fail to implement their own policies and will be a lapdog to FF or FG if they end up in coalition with them, as I doubt they'll get into majority government.

[justfrank44]

Well they support TORL and are just populists. My prediction is FF-SF coalition and much like Labour at the moment will totally fail to implement their own policies and will be a lapdog to FF or FG if they end up in coalition with them, as I doubt they'll get into majority government.

I very much doubt that sinn fein will go into a coalition government unless they have cast iron guarantees that their policies are implemented. Sinn fein are not afraid to play the long game and can wait for the next election.

[willie wacker]

if the people get in? things have to get worse sometimes...

Get worse are you serious !! if it gets any worse will the last person leaving the country please turn off the light,
I don,t think the germans will pay the bill