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[Photo Galleries ][Polls Discussion ] Posted by Tuars on October 02, 2003 at 17:40:19: In Reply to: Re: All hail Bertie! posted by U have a point but ! on October 02, 2003 at 17:09:57: I agree with you that the weakness of the oppostion is a huge problem although I think in hindsight the Rainbow government wasn't as bad as we thought at the time. I don't think their economic policies would have been as inflationary as FF/PD's but who can say. Fine Gael destroyed themselves in the last election by trying to be more like Fianna Fail than Fianna Fail themselves. They hired the wrong advisers I guess. There was a strong anti-government vote but it fragmented across a range of small parties and independents from every end of the political spectrum which in the end seems to have done nobody any good. Maybe we need some changes in the electoral system. These days I don't think there is any difference between the parties in relation to the northern question. They're all hiding behind the Good Friday Agreement. Fine Gael were probably more unionist friendly but maybe that's necessary too at times. Fianna Fail call themselves republicans but it's just lip service to the grass roots. To be honest I think that the issue of partition and a United Ireland is a dead duck. Economic development, closer European integration and the inevitable march of time have seen to that. The border is practically irrelevant these days.
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