Irish Election Results Thread

[Filuwaúrdjan]

And here it is!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

50% tally in Kerry South... Fleming Ind 18.7 Gleeson SKIA 13.5 Griffen FG 10.1 Healy Rae Ind 15.3 Molony Lab 12.6 ODonoghue FF 12.6 Sheahan FG 15.7

[Filuwaúrdjan]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

What's the difference between the "final tallies" in the results livetracker and "first counts" which we are said not to have yet?

Tallies are estimates, not official counts IIRC. Tend to be very accurate though.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

End of the Haughey dynasty imminent in Dublin NC.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Photograph time!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

First prefs for Kerry North-West Limerick: FG 40.8, SF 20.3, Labour 20.1, FF 11.5

[Filuwaúrdjan]

You really need to be Irish to understand this (or at least the social dynamics of many small Irish towns and the countryside).

I'm not sure if dynamic is quite the right word you're looking for there.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

@Al: Excellent point though pointless petty inter-generational jealousy and begrudgery counts as a dynamic, no?

Maybe. Though perhaps more like flies flitting along the top of a stagnant pool...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Donegal SW

Votes: SF 33%, FF 22.5%, FG 19.9%, Inds 18.3%, Labour 5.1%, Greenie 1.2
Seats: SF 1, FG 1, Ind 1

Epic Fáil

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The FF seat there was held by the Tanaiste who once, I believe I embrassingly told you this before, claimed Einstein invented the theory of evolution (at a meeting intended to promote Ireland as a "knowledge economy" whatever that is). So yeah, LOL.

I was thinking of making that my election signature actually; quite a close call.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Al, your really should have made that your sig, I prefer not to be reminded of the Lynch-Haughey unpleasantness.

Speaking of which, Haughey the younger has now been formally eliminated.

Now that the son is gone ( ) I will change the signature.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Enda welcomes the "biggest endorsement" of FG in the history of the party.

FG 2011: 36.1%
FG 1982: 37.3%

TBF, FG never actually beat FF in a way like this, so I don't think it's an exaggeration.

And, isn't this the largest number of seats for them ever?

We don't know how many seats they've won yet.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Some rounding.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The south of Ireland used to have a lot of agricultural labourers and they used to form the backbone of Labour support before the late 1960s. Further north we're looking at more in the way of smallholders and so on. And as voting patterns in Ireland have tended to be passed down the generations...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Talking of personality politics and Labour, the Spring dynasty is back in the Dail. Yeah, that was declared last night, but worth a minor note somewhere.

Almost true. But I should stress here Agricultural labourer unions. There is also much more agri-industry in the south of the country.

I sort of assumed that was a given, given 'Labour'

Labour will certainly take back the Carlow/Kilkenny seat lost in 2007, fwiw. Again, obvious, but related to this topic.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yes I know my unions comment was obvious but it´s important. It´s not like there were no agricultural labourers in the west of Ireland in the 1920s. Much the opposite actually... but they didn´t vote Labour.

True, true.

No, that's quite right (though I suppose you can replace small with tiny and large with normal )

Does that fact have any impact on voting patterns anymore though?

Yeah, because it means there are more farmers in the west.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Why have more... er... exotic... forms of leftness been unusually popular in Dun Laoghaire for about thirty years?

Talking of Dublin in general, the results in the more working class constituencies are some of the most interesting of the election. Will Epic Fail ever get those votes back?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Well, their caps are magical, so maybe it shouldn't come as a surprise.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It´s probably a combination of the Sea air, the Monkstown area (which attracts alot of "arty" types) and perhaps the most important, historical residues of the region´s unionism which has easily converted into Liberal anti-Catholicism.

Ah, so an area radically outside cultural norms leading to a tendency to vote for unusual candidates/parties; makes sense and it isn't as though such places are unusual outside Ireland.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Some of the drops in support there are just astounding; in Dublin NW the FF vote fell by 37.1pts and while things weren't quite so extreme elsewhere...

Actually the survival of FF's working class base in 'seedy Dublin' until this year is probably more remarkable than the collapse itself, as essentially rural voting patterns in a big city are wont to be.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Yeah, that's true. FG suffering from identification with middle class politics?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Well done to Irish Labour!

Not sure they should be happy about possibly forming government in the long-term.

Yeah, in reality this isn't so good for them. They risk association with a government led by a stupid used car salesman which will inevitably be unpopular soon.

True, but becoming the second party isn't really anything to be sniffed at.

Indeed, but being junior coalition partner yet again, I imagine, will ruin their long-term chances of becoming a "serious" player.

Things may be different this time; there are now elements in Fine Gael that would much rather cobble together some sort of arrangement with independents than deal with their traditional partners and the very fact that Fine Gael clearly won the election might alter priorities. Of course things might continue as they have always done regardless.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Callaghan became Father of the House just four years after ceasing to be PM, and the same is true of Churchill the second time round.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I notice that Enda Kenny is also Father of the Dáil as well as presumptively the next Taoiseach.  Who else in various Parliaments has held the dual title of Father and PM (however so called).

It happened a few times in Northern Ireland with O'Neill and Faulkner. I am unaware of such a title in the present NI Assembly, but pretty confident Big Ian was oldest member and First minister.

Well it's rarely a formal title. But he'd have had it even then as a former member of the Stormont Parliament and of all subsequent devolved institutions in Northern Ireland.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Well, firstly, it's what they've always done. Secondly, there may be a view that a stable government would be better for the country and helpful in terms with dealing with the country's new masters. Thirdly, politics is about power; you don't run for office just because doing so successfully is an ego boost, you want to actually do something. Labour may also feel that it would be better for its supporters (old and new) if it kept a leash on the more right-wing elements within Fine Gael. And so on and so forth.