Election Diary: Fathers Rights-Responsibililty Party runs eight candidates

The Fathers Rights-Responsibility Party is running eight candidates in this week's general election despite being refused registration as a political party. Says party chairman Liam Ó Gógáin:

"The FRP has managed to put Father’s issues and Men’s Health on the agenda as Political issue in this Thursday’s election . The next government is likely to either a hung Dáil or an unstable coalition, and there will probably be another general election in a year or two. There are also Local elections and EU elections coming up. The FRP will grow into these elections."

A list of the party's candidates is here.....

Election diary: Stamp duty and Bertiegate ok, but what about decent public services?

Stamp duty and Bertiegate are important in themselves but once again we have a general election campaign in which the needs of those who do not have money (or friends to give them a dig-out) or power go unregarded. In last Saturday's Irish Times Magazine, (Irish Times premium content) Róisín Ingle (right) illustrated this well when she wrote about how politicians at election time will sort out everything from urgent passport applications to, believe it or not, getting the pedestrian light settings changed so that the green man will stay on for longer! But Irish style clientelism is a poor substitute for good public services and she made the point very starkly when she wrote: "I was thinking about this when a young friend with cystic fibrosis texted to say she was on a trolley in A&E. But what does she expect? It's election time and our political representatives are busy playing God with little green men."....

Election diary: Sinn Fein IRA passé?

Fellow blogger Paul Newton of Newton's Laws takes me to task in his comments on this election diary in which I referred to Sinn Féin/IRA. He reckons that if Ian Paisley can do business with Sinn Féin, maybe it's time to quit calling them by that name.

"You are quite correct that the victims (on both sides) should be acknowledged and remembered and that seeing Sinn Fein in any type of government will stick in the craw of many, but the practical choice is whether to engage or disengage," he writes. "There are many precedents for the engagement with those who have previously been branded terrorists, from Mandela in S.A to the dignity of W.T Cosgrave in handing over to De Valera in 1932."

I used the Sinn Féin/IRA tag to draw attention to Sinn Féin's past which seemed to be absolutely ignored by a Roscommon TV audience who were loud in their praises of Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams. I agree that it would be silly to use this tag all the time but I felt this was a context in which it served a legitimate purpose.

I also agree with him when he says that "not all people who see Sinn Fein as a viable alternative to the 'me fein' political environment we currently live in are or ever were supporters of the IRA," though I am not one of those people.

Election diary: Labour routed by, er, dogs

Memo to McDowell et al: If you want to rout Labour Party canvassers simply put a fierce dog at each road entrance and they'll scarper. Works a dream, judging by this entry in Dublin South-Central Labour candidate Eric Byrne's blog. A rottweiler should do the trick.....

Election diary: Guns 'n' Roses: Rabbite-Adams the dream ticket?

Holy shit! Is it Pat Rabbitte and Gerry Adams for a future Irish government? That seems to have been the message from last night's Frank Opinion on RTE 1 with "renowned Washington pollster Dr Frank Luntzt" as they call him. The audience in his Roscommon focus group went positively orgasmic for Gerry and were very excited by Pat. All those Sinn Féin/IRA killings in Northern Ireland seem to count for nothing now. And people thought it was great the way Gerry stood up for the underprivileged. Mind you, the same audience thought we have too many immigrants coming into the country and one woman who boasted that she was an illegal immigrant in Chicago for five years declared that immigrants here shouldn't be supported by the State. Er, actually, Ms Illegal, those East European immigrants are not allowed welfare payments here and what's more they're legal, which puts them a step above yourself.....

Election diary: scarifying invective on Twenty Major

If you want to enliven your pre-election enjoyment by reading some scarifying invective about Michael McDowell, our beloved Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform, check out this post on Twenty Major's award-winning blog. The post is a few days old but what the f**k about it you f*****g c**t as Twenty Major would say, though without the asterisks.....

Election diary: leaders of the gang

Looking at the all-male party leadership line-up for the forthcoming general election campaign I found myself, I don't know why, comparing them to movie gangster stereotypes. Here is what I came up with:

Bertie Ahern: Definitely the Godfather. Too much gravitas and not enough desperation to be Tony Soprano. But old style Godfather, a la Marland Brando, yes. This is a man who knows where the bodies are buried, though he doesn't have to bury them himself any more.

Enda Kenny: The FBI agent, sharp suited and slick haired, consumed by his efforts to topple the Godfather. But no matter how much time he spends in the barber's chair, he will never nail the Boss of Bosses unless, of course, an act of treachery occurs somewhere along the line.

Pat Rabbitte: Definitely strikes me as The Enforcer. This is the guy who is hiding in the back seat ready to pop up and slip the garotte around your neck.

Trevor Sergent: The youthful eagerness of this Dublin Four capo could get him into trouble. May die in a hail of bullets in a motorway toll booth ambush.

Michael McDowell: The Consigliore. Will never be accepted as a member of the family but tolerated by the Godfather and his cronies for his ability to keep them out of trouble, mainly with him.

Gerry Adams: The up and coming pretender from the Old Country. Sinn Fein's background of guns and murder may be a turnoff to many but a turn-on to some. A day may come in the great battle between Gerry and the Godfather when one will have to take the other out - or in.

We are a fortunate electorate indeed to have such a fine body of men to lead us, going forward.....