Is the North-West important to our Government ?..

Paddy20

Lets face the facts, ever since the formation of of the Republic. The North-West and it's citizens expectations have been treated by all Governments with disdain.

Even our most dedicated politicians are treated disgacefully, as a result our Health service, our road network, our electricity supply , transport services ,education needs and current infrastructure are inadequate.

In order for this to change, we need logical suggestions from North-West citizens.

That is what this thread is about, we need your down to earth views on how our quality of life, in all it's aspects can be improved via immediate Government/action, attention.

I know this is a wide all encompassing scenario, but if people will only express their honest concerns, at least hopefully our live's could be improved.

Voice your opiniion's, and your suggestions, your views matter.

P. :cool:

smashey

Paddy

Was this not covered on a previous thread of yours?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054931204

Paddy20

smashey wrote:

Paddy

Was this not covered on a previous thread of yours?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054931204

I know where you are coming from, but IMHO this thread relates to Government rather than County Councils/Local Authorities reponsibilities

Especially in view of a not too distant 'General Election', Our local politicians need to know the honest views of North-West citizens, and where better for them to get them than from the politically independent North-West forum members ?...:)

P. :cool:

Well at least every other county will have a TD apart from Leitrim after next general election.:mad:

nanook

fair point dazzler, we have lost our county seat in the up and coming elections. We now have to share our seat with North Roscommon, if you are in the south county leitrim, and west sligo for the north of leitrim.

But i dont think that leitrim will loose out that much due to this.

Leitrim does not have a whole pile going at the moment and i think that half the charm of county is the unspoilt/untouched beauty.

philologos

in terms of tourism, the north west is crucial for the government, think of how many people come to Sligo, Roscommon, North Mayo, and Donegal on holidays

retalivity

we might as well secede to the north, maybe theyd look after us better.....

eiretamicha

retalivity wrote:

we might as well secede to the north, maybe theyd look after us better.....

I'm partially speaking for my husband here when I say don't count on it.

jimmycrackcorm

retalivity wrote:

we might as well secede to the north, maybe theyd look after us better.....

After all they rejected us once before...

I thought Paddy20 was gone for a month. Obviously the Huff didn't last too long. Perhaps Paddy20 might consider going after Dr. James upcoming seat?

Paddy20

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

I thought Paddy20 was gone for a month. Obviously the Huff didn't last too long. Perhaps Paddy20 might consider going after Dr. James upcoming seat?

That was my plan, but then I received a 1 week ban from muffler [A bit ironic] Eh !.

That sort of upset my self-imposed exile and I decided to ride back in to town sooner rather than later .

As for Dr James McDaid's upcoming vacant seat. I'm afraid I am too old now, damnit anyway .

P. :cool:

donegalman1

Donegal North East has to be important!

More to the point, what really was achieved when Independant Fianna Fail had the govt dependant on it in the past.

With the exception of James Mc Daid's ministry when he showered lottery funds locally, local politicians of all parties are not in any way being making their presence felt on our behalf.

Still most will be re-elected so there is no point in blaming anyone but the electorate.

I'd be more in favour of taking more power out of their hands. Planning is a perfect example. How can they over-ride experienced and educated planners. Just look anywhere in Donegal to see how smart our politicians are.

Their legacy isn't as pretty as they think.

Paddy20

donegalman1 wrote:

Donegal North East has to be important!

More to the point, what really was achieved when Independant Fianna Fail had the govt dependant on it in the past.

With the exception of James Mc Daid's ministry when he showered lottery funds locally, local politicians of all parties are not in any way being making their presence felt on our behalf.

Still most will be re-elected so there is no point in blaming anyone but the electorate.

I'd be more in favour of taking more power out of their hands. Planning is a perfect example. How can they over-ride experienced and educated planners. Just look anywhere in Donegal to see how smart our politicians are.

Their legacy isn't as pretty as they think.

I could not agree more, particulaly in relation to highly qualified dedicated planners, whose authority is undermined by mere County Councillor's ? .

P. :cool:

Civilian_Target

Yes - ever since the dawn of time, the North West has voted Fianna Fail. So when the rainbow are in government, the NW is mostly ignored, and when FF are in government, because they're vote FF anyway, the north west is ignored. I'd suggest that people might consider changing, but a leopard never changes his spots.

Star Lord

I have to say that I am totally disgusted by the 'support' shown to matters from the local TD who is from my town, Ms Keaveny.

She is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard, and only seems to show support for anything when there is a chance to be seen, or to get her photo in the paper for it. :mad:

And there's competition for her in the town that is equally useful. When she was lobbying last year (Or was it year before?) I was at my parents house for a few hours, and she called to the door. When I answered it she proceded to ask me "Are your mammy and daddy in?" I was 25 at the time, and just thought to myself, "If thats what you think of the young voters, then you can be sure you're not getting my vote!"

Carrickman

Not to mention the clowns that call themselves TD's in the SW area, this time 10years ago there was loads of jobs between the knitwear and fishing industries (all gone and nothing done to replace them) now the likes of myself and many others had to move to Dublin etc to get work.

I have friends living away from the area in the same boat but when it comes to the next election they will be rushing up home to vote for Fainna Fail because God forbid it if they don’t because they come from a “political connected” family.

Civilian_Target

DamoElDiablo wrote:

I have to say that I am totally disgusted by the 'support' shown to matters from the local TD who is from my town, Ms Keaveny.

She is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard, and only seems to show support for anything when there is a chance to be seen, or to get her photo in the paper for it. :mad:

lol! My sentiment exactly, yet she's the one candidate thats guaranteed to get re-elected because she got Jimmy McDaid's seal of approval 10 years ago. And he can't even drive on the right side of the road!

Carrickman

Civilian_Target wrote:

lol! My sentiment exactly, yet she's the one candidate thats guaranteed to get re-elected because she got Jimmy McDaid's seal of approval 10 years ago. And he can't even drive on the right side of the road!

See whats in todays Democrat

Donegal North East Deputy, James McDaid, is coming under increasing pressure within Fianna Fail to reconsider his decision to step out of politics before the next general election.

:eek:
The same stunt was pulled with Pat The Cope a few years ago and he was a great boost to the NW:rolleyes:

Star Lord

Civilian_Target wrote:

lol! My sentiment exactly, yet she's the one candidate thats guaranteed to get re-elected because she got Jimmy McDaid's seal of approval 10 years ago. And he can't even drive on the right side of the road!

To be fair to him though, that wasn't exactly his fault, he'd had a few you see...

I didn't vote for her last time and I'll be damned if I'm gonna vote for her, or Marian whatsherface from Moville this time either.

donegalman1

Thinking about what Carrickman said, when you see knitwear, not exactly a technological industry, in decline then you see the crux of the problem.

In my view, the past few govts created a "false" economy. We priced ourselves out of the market labour wise. To do that they created things like NCT tests for example that we have to spend loads of money on, this in turn created jobs and spending, drove up costs and therefore wages and now even the likes of Knitwear which we learned about in school (cottage industries etc) are gone. Magee of Donegal can't compete and they weren't obviously paracuted in for grants and a short term policy like Fruit of the Loom.

Sticking to the thread, we in the Northwest were more vunerable than elsewhere. When you look at the likes of infrastructure both technical and roads etc we are screwed if local politicals don't stand up to party lines.

Now politicians say its a Job. If any company were hiring on their wages there'd be a contract. Politicians should enter a real contract with their electorate and fufillmost of their terms.

Many in Donegal North East voted James McDaid last time assuming he would stay at the cabinet table only to be quickly be demoted. Fianna Fail put hime forward knowing this in my view.

We have a shower of Backbenchers who's only job really is to make up votes in the Dail that rarely benefit us. I mean lets face it their secretaries write the letters and we could probably get better looking photo opportunities.

In fairness local politics seems to be making a revival. If local politicians couldn't name streets afer one another, retired, deceased or otherwise, and subvent planning for a quick vote, I might have some faith.

Civilian_Target

That's right Donegalman. The government used our new-found wealth to improve our quality of living in all sorts of overdue ways like reducing pollution, improving road safety, etc. etc. You're right, this squeezed out the "unhealthy" low-end industries, leaving us in a situation where a certain level of educated workforce was required to create employment.

Thanks to the traditional "brain drain" of the North-West, this has resulted in a lot of jobs being lost, but a lack of skills to attract new employers. Investments by FAS and the establishment of LYIT (and similar in Sligo) are there to counteract that and this has worked to a pretty good extent, particulalarly in urban areas with the advent of employers like Prumerica.

Investment in useful infastructure and education (including at adult level) are the two base requirements for progress and success in the northwest, and in my opinion, everything else, includuing healthcare, is secondary to this, although its importance should not be dismissed!