Theres quite a few Irish posters. But I will sum it up for my own amusement.
Fianna Fail
The former self styled "Party of Government" and champagne Republicans. Have ruled the country for the vast majority of its existence. They have their origins in the anti-treaty forces of the Civil War, but have largely abandoned any semblance of true Republicanism since the 1980s. They are masters of cronyism, backhanders, and state sponsored corruption. Broadly speaking, they are a somewhat left wing populist party in rhetoric (Bertie Ahern famously defined himself as a Socialist) but mostly right wing in practice and supportive of big business. This upcoming election could be a landmark in that opinion polls are predicting Fianna Fail's fall from having any say on the national stage, their approval rating standing at between 15-18%. They recently elected a new Party Leader, Michael Martin, in an effort to discard Brian Cowen from the public view.
Fine Gael
Have their origins in the pro-Treaty forces in the Civil War, and have largely served as the opposition since the country's independence. They are pretty much bog-standard (literally bog, har har) Christian Democrats, despite having brief flirtations with Ireland's fascist Blue Shirt movement in the 1930s. They are set to win the most seats in the upcoming elections, according to opinion polls. They do however have some problems, such as having The World's Most Boring Man as their leader, Enda Kenny. He has caused a stir here in recent days by refusing to appear on a national televised debate with the other major parties. The TV network may televise an empty podium in his place.
Labour Party
Ireland's only major party that has a largely peaceful and nonviolent history. They are a centre-left party by European standards, and set to win the second most seats in the election according to opinion polls. Also, according to the polls they have the most popular party leader in Ireland; Eamonn Gilmore. The Labour Party has never been a major force in Irish politics, due to the largely rural voters. Not all that much else to say really.
Sinn Fein
Ireland's nutjob nationalist faction. Unlike most nationalist parties, they are very left wing. They were the political wing of the IRA for years, and have since renounced violence. Gerry Adams, the party leader and terrorist extraordinaire, is going to contest a seat in the Republic for the first time ever, as far as I know. His role in elections so far has largely been to serve as comic relief in debates about the economy.
UWA - United Worker's Alliance
Basically a Party made up of World's Angriest Man Joe Higgins and various socialist fringe groups. I have nothing against this lot, at least they have principles. Joe has every right to be angry too, they're just never going to amount to more than a one man show.
Green Party
The junior partners in the debacle that was the last government. They have been subject to a lot of public ridicule during their first ever spell in government, which included such gems as accusations that they wanted to count and monitor the frogspawn in Ireland's lakes. It could be argued that they forced this election by abandoning the government a couple of weeks ago. Its really too late for them, they're all but finished and are likely to suffer heavily as a result of being coalition partners with FF.
So far the campaign can be summed up for each party as follows:
Fianna Fail : We're sorry! We'll never do it again, promise.
Fine Gael : Change! Political Reform! (Because we can't afford anything else...)
Labour: We're not getting into bed with FG! More political reform! New Constitution!
Sinn Fein: Down with the Elites/Bankers/Bailout/Sundry.
ULA: Feck if I know.
Green Party: Um... we could do the debate instead of Enda... please?
If I've forgotten someone, they're not worth mentioning.
