Political resignations

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Pique318

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In the aftermath of Ian Paisley Jr from the NI Assembly I have to ask this.

Why oh why do Irish politicians NEVER resign ?

I mean, no matter how many question marks hang over them about blatently 'dodgy' dealings, none of them have the honour to step aside for the good of the party, people or country and will continue drawing a huge salary in the meantime.

Of course, considering the fawning admiration for those in question from their constituents, no matter what, I suppose the people are at least partially complicit in the farce.

Considering the many UK MPs who have resigned over employing family menbers, non declaration of contributions, possible conflict of interest links with property developers etc, it shames me to look upon our own 'political representatives' as being 'representative' of the people of Ireland.

Ah when the revolution comes.....
 
Councillors do resign, quite frequently for various reasons. That's safe enough though because your party just chooses someone to replace you. In the Seanad or the Dail there would be an open by-election which would be too dangerous so the standard practice seems to be for a party to kick out (temporarily or otherwise) the troublesome politician.
 
TD's and senators don't resign because they know they don't have to as the irish electorate will just shrug their shoulders, moan, but never actually DO anything - except re-elect the same policitians..

the apathy of the electorate is unreal....
 
shesells said:
In the Seanad or the Dail there would be an open by-election . .
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I think the question was 'Why don't Ministers/Ministers of State resign their posts' rather than why don't they give up their seat. I think the answer is that there is no honour in Irish politics, probably because the people lack a sense of outrage and fail to hold the politicians to account.
 
triplex said:
the apathy of the electorate is unreal....
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Alas this is not apathy.

The likeable rogue is a positive vote winner. Remember poor old Garret versus Haughey. Bertie versus Enda was the same. Lowry has almost Castro like survivorship attributes etc. etc.
 
I'm reminded of something attributed to deValera:

"In England you can say what you like as long as you do the right thing, in Ireland you can do what you like as long as you say the right thing"
 
Caveat said:
I'm reminded of something attributed to deValera:

"In England you can say what you like as long as you do the right thing, in Ireland you can do what you like as long as you say the right thing"
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I thought that he only ever said one thing in his whole life? Something about girls cavorting at junctions? :confused:
 
triplex said:
TD's and senators don't resign because they know they don't have to as the irish electorate will just shrug their shoulders, moan, but never actually DO anything - except re-elect the same policitians..

the apathy of the electorate is unreal....
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Agreed, no only is the apathy unreal but the lack of understanding of the result of political choices...
 
So do you agree with this haughty disdain CM ?

Or is there some reason that our TDs decide that resignation is the wrong course of action (besides the hefty salary they'll give up) ?

Comment on the topic at least before having a pop at others comments.
 
ClubMan said:
What superciliousness.
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It would not be quite superciliousness. It continues to amaze me how Irish people keep making the same political choices, take no active interest in public affairs, and then continue to wonder why there is never political resignations or public services are so bad. In the UK politicians resign (e.g. Stephen Blunkett 1st resignation) over things that Irish politicians do every day.
 
Despite what people say, there IS A culture and tradition of political resignations & sackings in Ireland. Ministers resigned or were sacked relatively regularly in the Bruton, Reynolds, Haughey & Fitzgerald governments. The thing is, Bertie Ahern, who has been Taoiseach for the past 10 years seems congenitally incapable of sacking anyone. To my recollection Ahern has sacked no senior minister and only 2 junior ministers in those 10 years, those being the hapless Ivor Callely and Ahern's long term enemy Ned O'Keeffe.

I don't think its fair to draw negative generalisations about Irish politicians, or Irish people in general, from the failings and foibles of one Taoiseach, whose political survival has been due more to the good fortunes of the economy than his management skills.
 
They say a week is a long time in politics. 10 years feels like an eternity, which may give rise to the generalisations. In fairness, one hypothetical explanation may be that if someone knows about your skeletons you can't exactly sack them; that might explain how some in particular hold on to their Mercs (or is it A8's?).
 
Pique318 said:
Why oh why do Irish politicians NEVER resign ?
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Because that would be the honourable thing to do.

ubiquitous said:
Despite what people say, there IS A culture and tradition of political resignations & sackings in Ireland.
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I can't think of a single example either before/during Ahern's tenure where a TD willingly resigned without being forced to do so after tortoured weeks of "will they won't they".
 
cole said:
I can't think of a single example either before/during Ahern's tenure where a TD willingly resigned without being forced to do so after tortoured weeks of "will they won't they".
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You obviously haven't thought for too long. Michael Lowry resigned the same day as Sam Smyth published his "house renovations" story in 1996. Obviously nobody has done likewise since Ahern took office in 1997.
 
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