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” A Man for All the People .. That’s Our Bertie” September 14, 2011

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I dug this up from an archived version of the Fianna Fail Website and uploaded it to youtube. You’d nearly forget . as Fianna Fail now distance themselves from him, how they once lauded him.
This was shown at I think the 2002 or 2003 Ard Fheis.

This Week At The Irish Election Literature Blog August 26, 2011

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To starting off this week … From the 1979 European Elections an interesting ad for SFWP candidate Mick Dunphy who was running in Munster.

Two items from the 1920s from the Republican Press Fund. It was an unsuccessful attempt to setup a “Republican Daily and Weekly Press”, a forerunner of The Irish Press.

An odd one this. From the 1957 General Election campaign “Export of Horses and the General Election” from the Irish National Campaign against the Export of Horses for Slaughter.

From 2006 a leaflet from Shell to Sea “Protect Irish Natural Resources”.

and finally from 1951 “For your family’s sake …. vote Fine Gael“

Fianna Fail running scared of the Irish electorate August 23, 2011

Posted by irishelectionliterature in Fianna Fáil.
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So there we have it, Brian Crowley will not seek the Fianna Fail Nomination for the Presidency

Mr Crowley said he would not be seeking the nomination because the party leadership made it clear it did not see an internal Fianna Fáil candidate as the way forward.

Mr Crowley described the decision as a mistake and said he believed Fianna Fáil should be running an internal party candidate.

So it looks as if Michael Martin and others at the top of Fianna Fail are running scared of the Irish electorate, much to the dismay and anger of many within Fianna Fail.
Are they so broke? Are they so afraid of a trouncing?
Needless to say I wouldn’t have voted for him, but Crowley has an image of being a decent enough individual, probably the most presentable face of Fianna Fail nationally. He may not have won, but he would I suspect have on the day polled over 20% which given their current circumstances would have been a boost for Fianna Fail.
He may even have outpolled Gay Mitchell, which would certainly been a shot in the arm for Fianna Fail.

On his Facebook page earlier Senator Marc McSharry wrote

Very sorry to hear MEP Bryan Crowley has ruled himself out of Presidential election as FF nominee. His participation in the presidential race would have given our party a real bounce in my view. Support of a quasi celebrity will not serve Ireland or our party well

Amongst the Responses …

Im so annoyed Marc we need to let the people know and see that FF are alive and well and not going anywhere and will be around for along time to come.instead of worrying about finances my god its a disgrace.

Bryan could have been a great candidate for us, Longest serving MEP, impeccable record out there and could weather the legacy stuff better than most. a genuinely inspirational guy with a great story to tell and a person in my view that once a campaign got underway would put in a performance that at the very least would give us a very credible performance.

.. why cant our leader see this..? its unbelievable its like he is trying to make an xfactor competition out of the campaign for president.

Brian Crowley would have been an excellent candidate and one who could have transcended even party allegiances…what future has our party without running a candidate in an election we have always had one? Mary Hanafin or Brian Crowley would be excellent candidates, and yet the leadership insists on looking at crazy outside ones like Gay Byrne that ff members wouldn’t even vote for. Serious disconnect with grassroots on this issue.

Brian Crowley was left with no option but to rule himself out, as our leader had already done that! Madness, Brian was the best chance we had of shout at the Aras. The man is an inspiration, can hold an entire room with a few words, as you say he has an impeccable record, and no tarnish form the cabinet table… Why can’t MM see this? As I said in other pages, who will we go for next Bosco?

You’d wonder if Michael Martin realised what a hornets nest he was opening when he had that chat with Gay Byrne?

This Week At The Irish Election Literature Blog August 19, 2011

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From the 1985 Local Elections Sean Walsh running for The Workers Party in Piltown , Kilkenny

From the 2011 General Election, The “Sinn Fein 10-Point Plan on Job Creation”

From 1961 “Fianna Fail’s New Deal for Rural Ireland”.

From the 1959 Referendum on changing the voting system to First Past The Post, some Fianna Fail material looking for a yes vote

and finally a 1977 flyer for Enda Kenny and Myles Staunton

This Week At The Irish Election Literature Blog June 17, 2011

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First up this week….

I was honoured to have Fionnan Sheehan write an article in the Indo based on leaflets from the site.
Needless to say no credit was given…

On then to a leaflet from Brian Pelan “For a United Socialist Ireland” from the recent Assembly Elections in West Belfast

Then delivered to the house last week a Newsletter from Socialist Party MEP Paul Murphy

Then from I presume late 2005, a flyer from the late Tony Gregory

From the same year a “Release The Rossport Five” leaflet from Sinn Fein.

Then from 1987 a leaflet from Mary O’Rourke, Albert Reynolds and the now Judge Henry Abbott

and finally when Willie O’Dea was William O’Dea

The “Week In Politics Election 2011” book June 12, 2011

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Bought the “Week In Politics Election 2011” book the other day and its a welcome addition to the bookshelf.

As you might imagine I’m a big fan of this genre of publication. I’ve assorted Nealons Guides, Magill Guides, “This Week” guides, Tallyman guides on the bookshelf covering each General Election since 1981. I’ve some others such as Whelan and Kevin Rafters book on the 1991 Local Elections and  the excellent “That’s Politics” which covered the 2004 Local Elections. Also a big bag of Newspaper Election supplements litters the Attic along with all the other election related material.
(*Despite efforts I’ve yet to get my hands on Seamus Brennans book on the 1985 Local Elections and am curious if there was anything published on the 1999 and 2009 Local Elections. )

So how does RTEs latest effort fare in comparison to other offerings in the genre. First off its 17.99 which isn’t bad considering some of the 2007 Election books were a lot dearer. The results are laid out well at Constituency, Regional and National level. The constituency analysis is written by two heavyweights in Sean Donnelly and Michael Gallagher. In general this analysis is good and up there with the Magill books of the early 80s. It does though almost always fail to mention anyone who got less than 1000 votes, which is often where the best election stories are.
Donnelly also writes a nice range of stats and analysis on transfers, vote management and other trends within the election. There is also a section on elections since 1918.
RTE staff feature in many of the articles on the Election and campaign with amongst others Sean O’Rourke, David Davin-Power, David McCullagh, Bryan Dobson and Brian Dowling contributing. Other include Michael Marsh, Olivia O’Leary as well as Prof David Farrell and Dr Jane Suiter.
Needless to say much is made of the collapse of Fianna Fail and The Greens. The emergence of the ULA gets a small enough mention. The role of  New Media, the TV debates are also covered.
One of the most fascinating parts of the book though is a number of questions asked to each TD. Not all seem to have replied, which is a pity. The one question that caught my eye was

“Is there any particular event that brought home to you just how serious the economic crisis had become?”
The answers told a lot.

“The IMF/EU bailout” or “The arrival of the IMF” was a very common theme. the other main ones were
“Emigration” , “Unemployment”, “job losses”, “The collapse of the building industry” , “Length of dole queues”, “increase in the number of suicides”…..

Other questions included “Politican (living or dead) you most admire?” (Ghandi, Mandela , James Connolly all featuring prominently. “Priority as a TD? “.

The questions add nicely to the profiles and you get to learn all sorts of mostly useless facts like Dessie Ellis being a dab hand in Karate, FGs Catherine Byrne having been a LOI womens soccer player and showband singer and  that Clare Daly plays the piano and violin.

Almost the Last word though to a few answers to the question ….

“Why did you stand for election?”

“To win a seat for Fianna Fail” -John Browne FF Wexford
“To bring about Social and Political change” -Ruairi Quinn
“Because I am committed to politics and public service” -Michael Lowry

All in All the book is pretty good and much recommended. I can see myself turning to it for many years to come.

Bailout Boys Go to Dublin …. April 26, 2011

Posted by irishelectionliterature in Economy, Irish Politics.
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You may have read some of the excerpts from interviews with Brian Lenihan for the BBC Radio 4 documentary “Bailout Boys Go to Dublin”. The show is now up on the BBC site…

Bailout Boys Go to Dublin

The inside story of Ireland’s bailout – a tale of high drama, international diplomacy and, ultimately, political meltdown. Almost six months on, the main players tell their story.

This Week At The Irish Election Literature Blog April 15, 2011

Posted by irishelectionliterature in Irish Election Literature Blog.
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Have gotten quite a few Seanad leaflets (and no I’m not a councillor) and whilst I wouldn’t normally post much Fianna Fail stuff here, it is interesting to see a divide within FF for the Seanad Elections.
By that we have the candidates who were asked to step aside but still ran, ones who weren’t asked to run but got themselves nominated and those who were on Michael Martins approved list. Martin had 10 candidates down as his preferred choices so with 30 Fianna Fail candidates between the various panels a lot of the “Ogra Generation” are going to have their careers wrecked.
It will also give a signal as to how receptive The Grassroots in the guise of Councilors are to orders from above and from that the party’s prospects of reforming itself.
Its also of interest to see what are in effect Fianna Fail to Fianna Fail communications with the audience for the leaflets being Councilors .

“..I watched the party self destruct with arrogance” writes FF candidate John Hogan from Tipperary.

Then Averil Power who wants Educational Opportunities for All

on then to Thomas Byrne, who should he be elected “Will make his knowledge and experience available to Fianna Fail councillors.” He also boasts that he was in an hour long debate with Joe Higgins on Radio Na Gaelteachta.

Then we have Denis O’Donovan, who despite not being on the list of 10 has  “With the Approval and Goodwill of Micheal Martin TD” on his leaflet.

and one last Seanad leaflet in that of Sinn Feins Kathryn Reilly

On then to an Anti EU/IMF Austerity Leaflet from the Socialist Party ,  given out at the demo outside the Dail last week.

and finally a “Warning Voter Beware” leaflet from Sinn Feins Chris O’Leary.

Since we’re talking about donations today……… April 1, 2011

Posted by irishelectionliterature in Fianna Fáil, Irish Election Literature Blog.
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Since we’re talking about donations today………

The full leaflet – “A Day at the Races with an Extra Dimension”

“The Bank Guarantee -The Truth” …. sure we’re making money! March 15, 2011

Posted by irishelectionliterature in Economy, Fianna Fáil, Irish Politics.
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(click on the image to enlarge)

From a Leaflet issued by Barry Cowen “Offaly News” (I’ll post the full thing myself later in the week)… “The Bank Guarantee -The Truth”
We get the justification of the guarantee, a quote from Patrick Honohan and then the punchline……
“The State has already earned €1 billion for guarantee fees in less than two years.”
not a mention of the guarantee bankrupting the country, not a mention of this €1 billion coming from institutions that are mostly nationalised either.