“….this magnificent sports complex – which I helped to build” February 28, 2011
Posted by irishelectionliterature in Fianna Fáil.Tags: 2011 election, fianna fail
trackback
Over the course of the weekend You may have caught John O’Donoghues speech after his defeat in Kerry South, he noted in his speech …
“I hope that the irony will not be lost upon you that I stand here, on my evening of defeat, in a hall – this magnificent sports complex – which I helped to build.”
(http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1092744 and Forward to 16.40 to see it)
There will be much much more to read on the future of Fianna Fail over the next while, but O’Donoghues speech gave an indication of how much Fianna Fail have depended on patronage and The Parish Pump to keep in power.
Over the past few weeks, I’m sure too you will have got leaflets or personally addressed letters detailing all the local achievements of Fianna Fail.
That Patronage is gone for the foreseeable future.
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
It’s my second favourite FF response to defeat of the week.
My very favourite is Martin threatening to take revenge on SF by bringing FF over the border. Considering FF can’t even outpoll SF in the North of Martin’s native city, this may not quite be the terrifying prospect for the republican movement he thinks it is.
LikeLike
Sinn Fein would only be too keen to see the FFs come over the border. They’ve been promising for decades.
The Bull was magnificent in leaving his political life. Pure bull
LikeLike
Built by the dollers of taxpayers rather than by his party’s ‘higher echelon’ patrons who ‘avoided’ their taxes.
LikeLike
We’re going to hear some classics over the next while.
LikeLike
Of cours the irony wasn’t lost on the people in the hall at all. It just made seeing him lose all the more fun. There is a ferocious level of communal glee about FF’s disaster out there. It’s a bit like an electoral version of the 1990 World Cup.
LikeLike
Displacement activity in the face of what’s coming down the line? Ah well, every bit helps as long as the current enemy is still in focus.
LikeLike
I think it’s got a lot to do with the fact that FF governed throughout the crisis with very low levels of public support and seemed to adopt a, “f**k you, we’re in power,” attitude. Whatever’s coming down the line, I don’t think we’ll see quite the same level of imperial disdain. We would, of course, if the Bruton/Varadkar/Hayes/Creighton wing of FG were calling the shots (Hayes old sense of entitlement got a nice run out when he was elected in Dublin SW and seemed under the impression that FG would be governing on their own.) But there was something uniquely arrogant about the last government in its dying days which made people think that the most important thing about the election was the opportunity it afforded to punish FF. Given the brutal times ahead, a couple of days schadenfreude is understandable.
LikeLike
That makes sense. You can even still see remnants of that. I’m told the last two weeks or so were used by FF to unpick as best as was possible some of the legislation enacted across the last few years that they were..ahem… less keen on.
LikeLike
Any examples of that WorldbyStorm?
It sounds worrying, but par for the course when it comes to FF.
LikeLike
The celebrations as Dick Roche gets eliminated
LikeLike
[…] “….this magnificent sports complex – which I helped to build … “I hope that the irony will not be lost upon you that I stand here, on my evening of defeat, in a hall – this magnificent sports complex – which I helped to build.” (http://www.rte.ie/player/#v= and Forward to to see it) . […]
LikeLike