Would you vote for a FF candidate if . . .

[liaconn]

Now theres a question.

Would most people be agreed that the best , current politician in the dail to lead any party would be Richard Bruton.

Would we not all feel better if he was head of FG.

Would he be a great strong leader or end up dissapointing like Cowan.

You are only as good as your backroom staff, lets be honest Cowan's is deplorable in parts.

I would sooner take advice off one of my rabbits (the one thats always in the vet with stomach problems), then the Headless, incompetent, utterly non redeeming qualitys of Coughlin . . .

I still cant believe people voted for this person . . .

Richard Bruton is definitely coming across as a lot more intelligent and competent than both his own leader and the shower of chancers and mé féinners in Fianna Fail. I would really like to see him get a shot as Taoiseach (with George Lee as Minister for Finance).
Mary Coughlan should have been moved long ago. She is just not a convincing Minister for Enterpise, Trade & Employment. She was fine in Agriculture, down with the lads cursing and swearing. However, I think a bit more finesse and dignity is called for in her current position.

 

[cork]

But a FG/Lab government lead by Kenny with Labour being soft of the inefficency of the public sector would be a disaster.

I can't see a leadership heave aganist Kenny. FG lack the bottle.

 

[Complainer]

But a FG/Lab government lead by Kenny with Labour being soft of the inefficency of the public sector would be a disaster.

As opposed to the current situation?

 

[bamboozle]

But given the amounts of grades and structures in the Health system maybe the problem was with the initial idea.

Still no accoutabilty or leadership in FG.

i'm finding your blind loyalty to FF quite hilarious at this stage.
Are you suggesting the idea of having a single payrole system in the National Health System to be a bad idea?

Perhaps we should revert to former ways of all public & civil servants getting paid weekly by cheque and giving them an hour off to lodge said cheque....oh hold on they're still getting that time off anyway.

answer me this based on your logic above; are the Luas and Dublin Port Tunnel bad ideas as they too came in far more costly that initial quotes?

 

[bamboozle]

But a FG/Lab government lead by Kenny with Labour being soft of the inefficency of the public sector would be a disaster.

I can't see a leadership heave aganist Kenny. FG lack the bottle.

would this be the same inefficiencies created by the successive FF governments through the creation of numerous quangos which provide no real service? or through the numerous payrises enjoyed by our public sector through benchmarking? or perhaps the lack of accountability that has been exposed through the serious mismanagement of state bodies such as FAS, Financial Regulator etc etc

 

[polo1]

Yes I would is the simple answer to the OP question... But as many have indicated unfortunatley I dont have that option as I have the option of a candidate whom I never heard much of him until a few weeks ago which doesnt bide well with me...

I would most probably vote for FG if Edna Kenny wasnt the leader or even part of the party... I could not stomach having him run the country either solely or in conjunction with Eamonn Gilmore..

I think its very unfair to attribute all the blame for the way the economy and country is to FF.. Alot (yes not all) is down to global circumstances,however I agree wholehartedly that FF could have planned better and not squandered as much but which of us was complaining during the boom times.... We are all culpableof lapping it up...

The jury is still out on who my vote will go to... No one has called to my house yet or I have receiped no "junk" mail in relation to any of the candidates so we will see who will visit in the coming wks..

 

[bamboozle]

I think its very unfair to attribute all the blame for the way the economy and country is to FF.. Alot (yes not all) is down to global circumstances,however I agree wholehartedly that FF could have planned better quote]


Nonsense, global circumstances had very little impact here, and this is why all experts are saying we will take longer to come out of the recession and this is also why our dear island is number 1 in the world for indebtedness.

succesive FF governments caved in to Developers demands in fuelling the Construction Industry through the many Incentives introduced by Bertie, McCreevey and Cowan as Minister's for Finance
Irish government saw a situation where 6 out of every 10 working men in ireland were directly or indirectly employed in construction industry.
FF introduced the Financial Regulator who for 5 years sat by twiddling his thumbs and turning a blind eye while the banks were giving out ridiculious loans. when this was exposed the man was given a golden handshake.
FF happily took the credit for successfull partnership talks which led to huge pay rises for public & civil servants thereby creating the huge public funding bill.
FF were in power as energy prices became further and further inflated above EU average
FF were in power as the minimum wage was increased thus seeing a haemmoraging of jobs to lower cost economies.

So to argue your above point, even if the global economy had not suffered these last 6 months the Irish economy was already in serious trouble.

 

[cork]

global circumstances had very little impact here

A small little island off western europe with a small population is dependant big time of the world economy.

fuelling the Construction Industry

Not alone did the Irish fuel the bubble here - they also helped to fuel the bubble in many countries eg. Bulgaria, Spain & the UK.

FF were in power as the minimum wage was increased

FF introduced the mimimum wage which did more to protect the low paid than the Champagne Socialists in the Labour Party,

 

[cork]

would this be the same inefficiencies created by the successive FF governments

FF formed Bord Snip Nua. No don't Labour and their comrades will oppose reform like they opposed the pensions levy.

FF introduced the Financial Regulator

A regulator was needed. He told people what a tracker mortgage was and people borrowed and spent as if their was no tomorrow.

Houses were over-priced. People were carried away with the frenzy.

 

[MrMan]

The FF bashing seems to be a nice way to shift the blame away from ourselves, when did we suddenly start looking to politicians to be our beacons of hope and when did we ever really trust any of them to lead us? The country thrived and enjoyed some very successful years and there would have been uproar if FF had said 5/6 years ago that the party must stop and start shifting up taxes or pulling back on the construction industry. If they had done what the 'experts' are now saying they should have done, they would have been out on their ear long ago.
We went along with the Celtic Tiger because of the new prosperity but also because it did give us a new identity of a nation that was bigger than the sum of its parts, we liked to read about Irish developers and businessmen making waves on the international scene because it was shifting our inferiority complex.
Now the party is over and we have to deal with it, it is far to simple to leave the blame solely at the door of one political party.

Regards Richard Bruton, i have liked listening to him, but at the budget I thought he really let himself down by just harping on about government failures rather than showing any form of forward thinking. Fine Gael have missed so many opportunities to gain the upper hand in the last 18 months it makes me wonder if they really want the hot seat at all.

 

[shesells]

vote for FF? You must be joking, they inherited the Celtic Tiger and left us with f-all!! Have just got my May payslip with all the new cuts and am truly sickened. I didn't get the country into this mess, didn't even vote for the government parties last time but I and my family have to suffer for their ineptitude. We're paying for their mistakes. And they want a vote - they can FF-Off!!

 

[BoscoTalking]

no. the reason being i asked someone who came to my door why they were going for local elections backed by FF after the shameful wheeling / dealing and waste for the last few years. and he had no answer but wouldn't knock and think just kept saying i have been hearing that a lot...
So no matter whether they were good bad or different its time they turned independent or coats altogether.

 

[Complainer]

FF formed Bord Snip Nua. No don't Labour and their comrades will oppose reform like they opposed the pensions levy.

It seems that you're living in the past - see [broken link removed]

A regulator was needed. He told people what a tracker mortgage was and people borrowed and spent as if their was no tomorrow.

Houses were over-priced. People were carried away with the frenzy.

You conveniently forget to mention the role of the Govt in fuelling the frenzy with tax reliefs designed to transfer as much cash as possible to the developers. Many of these reliefs are still in place today.

 

[MrMan]

vote for FF? You must be joking, they inherited the Celtic Tiger and left us with f-all!! Have just got my May payslip with all the new cuts and am truly sickened. I didn't get the country into this mess, didn't even vote for the government parties last time but I and my family have to suffer for their ineptitude. We're paying for their mistakes. And they want a vote - they can FF-Off!!

If we were not in this mess your pay slip would already be a lot smaller. Salaries were inflated along with everything else, yet we expect to keep the good and throw blame for the bad.

 

[Lex Foutish]

Is anybody concerned about FG going for celebrity candidates like George Lee in the Dublin by-election and Seán Kelly in the European election in Munster? If any party put those guys up for election, they'd probably win those two seats.

But I'm sure FG will claim that the votes were for the FG Party.

 

[shesells]

If we were not in this mess your pay slip would already be a lot smaller. Salaries were inflated along with everything else, yet we expect to keep the good and throw blame for the bad.

Not my salary! Am on a very modest salary.

As for celebrity candidates, Kelly ran in the locals for FG before he ever got the GAA position. George Lee is one of those rare things, an electable new arrival to politics. Having read his speeches he is a welcome addition to any ticket.

 

[Lex Foutish]

Not my salary! Am on a very modest salary.

As for celebrity candidates, Kelly ran in the locals for FG before he ever got the GAA position. George Lee is one of those rare things, an electable new arrival to politics. Having read his speeches he is a welcome addition to any ticket.

I agree with you about George Lee and I do feel he'd know what he was tallking about, if he were Minister for Finance. My point was that he would be elected, ever if he were a member of a small party.

Interesting point about Seán Kelly running before. I didn't know that. But he is a celebrity of sorts now and FG most certainly have chosen a failed candidate if he hadn't been a President of the G.A.A. (And a very good one, I would hasten to add).

 

[cork]

You conveniently forget to mention the role of the Govt in fuelling the frenzy with tax reliefs designed to transfer as much cash as possible to the developers. Many of these reliefs are still in place today.

If they are in place in rising + falling markets - what does that tell you?

The FF bashing seems to ok to absolve personal stupidy of buying slapped up houses in bad locations at top doller.

The Celtic Tiger was based on a building frenzy that government, develops banks and the Irish people bought into.

But hey blame FF. It seems the best Gilmore and Kenny can come up with.

Kenny wanted to cut stamp duty to add to the frenzy.

Smart guy.

 

[Complainer]

If they are in place in rising + falling markets - what does that tell you?

It tells me that FF are still in bed with the property industry, and the prices still have further to fall once these artifical subsidies to builders are removed.

 

[cork]

It tells me that FF are still in bed with the property industry, and the prices still have further to fall once these artifical subsidies to builders are removed.

House Prices have further to fall. That has been obvious for years. Affer the property frenzy - it was obvious they were going to fall.

A party (FF) who got 30% in the last locals - were not responsible for the carzy re-zonings that went on.

Local Authorities are made up by many auctioneers - voted for by the electorate.

The same electorate bought houses in Ireland and across the Eu At inflated prices.

They went into banks getting massive loans to buy crap houses in crap locations.

Yet blame the government.