I think there are things to admire about nearly all the Irish parties that we sometimes don't give them credit for. FF are really the architects of the very successful modern Irish state. FG have been behind what is pretty much an economic miracle taking us from where we were in 2011 to now. Labour and the Greens stepped up at difficult times for the state and made huge advances on their agendas relative to their number of seats. You could say the same about the PDs even if their agendas are less progressive in my eyes at least anyway. And how SF managed the peace process is unquestionably the most skilful and probably in my opinion most important practice of politics in the history of Ireland, and I very much admire that as committed flag-shaggers they have always resisted the temptation to tap into nativist populism.
You could find fault with all of the above but I'd respect all of them more than the sanctimony of SDs and Aontu who have far more in common than either would like to admit and most of the "independents" who are simply on the make. The far left are really not a party more a collection of rival factions whose interests occasionally overlap. But I'd have a lot of respect for Richard Boyd Barrett certainly.
There are a fuck load of problems with our country and public life but I wouldn't swap our politics or politicians for those of Britain, France or America for anything.
