I hate to respond to a thread bumped by some dolt that's two years old, but voting for Fianna Fáil in 1932, at least, was not only one of the few occasions where voting FF is justifiable but a near-moral imperative.
Labour were supporting FF in 1932 but you could probably make a case for the "near-moral imperative" through a lot of the 30s, given CnaG/FG's shirt-wearing during the period. ("NO! We weren't FASCISTS! We just wanted to abolish democracy and install a one-party corporate state with ourselves in charge! THAT'S COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!")
The tragedy about 1977 is that FF could have won it without a lot of the over-the-top goodies (rates, car tax) that they resorted to in the (mistaken) belief that there was no other way to overcome the Tullymander.
It has never, ever been justified to vote for the utterly corrupt, ah-but-now-oi-went-ta-yer-mammy's-funeral-and-got-yer-kitchen-drains-fixed pork-fest that is Fianna Fail. Never. Ever.
Still less of course is it justified to vote for any independents in Eire, none of whom stand for anything but themselves. That a waster like Flanagan tops the poll in Ulster-Connacht-half of Leinster (or whatever it is) with 130,000 preferences speaks volumes for Ireland.
The sooner Feel and Fail and Fine Gael realise they're absolutely the same bloody thing, just to different degrees, and merge (would 'the Unionist Party' suffice as a name?), with Labour as the opposition, the better.
Until then, abstain, abstain, nuke it, bomb it until it at least attains the Tweedledee-Tweedledum status of the US Dem & Rep parties; yes, Irish politics is
even worse than that two-donkey race.
