mary harney to resign as PD party leader?

partholon

just heard on newstalk news at 4 , rumours are abounding mary will announce her retirement as party leader in a press confrence at 4.30. past her best, or getting out before the kicking at the next election (shes standing in my area now, and its not exactly PD central!)be interesting to see what you guys think is going on

road_high

partholon wrote:

just heard on newstalk news at 4 , rumours are abounding mary will announce her retirement as party leader in a press confrence in the next few hours. past her best, or getting out before the kicking at the next election (shes standing in my area now, and its not exactly PD central!)be interesting to see what you guys think is going on

If I were on a sinking ship I'd want to get off too..Though they say a captain shouls always go down with his ship, don't they??:D

Dave!

McDowell to succeed?

partholon

god could you imagine it? im not gonna vote PD anyway but any pretension they have about being a caring sharing party will go right out the window with reich fuherer macdowell in charge. how the hell can colm o gorman stand in this party now on the grounds it has a social conscience?

just thought, it could be harneys finally convinced liz to step up! be interesting to see what Mmd will do then

Dr. Nick

It's official -newsflash on RTE R1

partholon

yup the live feed is happening now, 16.55 on newstalk, mary harneys stepping down as party leader but is still staying as minster of health till her sucessor is appointed then its up to them as to weather she retains the portfollio. new leader should be in within 3 weeks . while she insists she wont partake in the process she does seem to be stressing that maybe one of the newbies may be chosen (colm o gorman, prehaps? she was talking about reinvigorating the party and defining what its about and he was one of the men she mentioned by name!)

parlimentary party annouce they were totally surprised by this announcement

bringitdown

http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0907/harneym.html

Bit out of the blue init?

Scruff

DaveMcG wrote:

McDowell to succeed?

At least he'll never be taoiseach. Thank god for small mercies.

Darragh29

I think the way the press started quizzing her when Ireland on Sunday suggested that she had intervened to get more favourable treatment for her mother in Tallaght Hospital for a hip replacement was when she decided she had had enough. I thought when I saw her reaction on TV to the way she was being treated, when she saw that the level of hostility towards herself was more than she could endure, she decided to call it a day. I am no fan of the PD's or Mary Harney for that matter but I'd hate to be a politician in government in this country today, not because of anything the government is doing wrong, but because people in Ireland today are so combative and literally all fired up for conflict. They see everything wrong as being the fault of the government, not always the case I think... Most of the time its ourselves that cause the problems, be it anti-social behaviour, problems with the health service, crime, etc. Sorry in advance if this is drifting a bit off topic, but I'm not surprised Mamma Harney has had enough...

They could appoint Liz O'Donnell and start winning back the electorate, or Michael McDowell and implode. Even if his stance on the shinners was exemplary, he was a character few warmed to.

Darragh29

Darragh29 wrote:

I'd hate to be a politician in government in this country today, not because of anything the government is doing wrong, but because people in Ireland today are so combative and literally all fired up for conflict. They see everything wrong as being the fault of the government, not always the case I think... Most of the time its ourselves that cause the problems, be it anti-social behaviour, problems with the health service, crime, etc.

What a thought provoking post. Good point well made.

Sponge Bob

Deleted User wrote:

They could appoint Liz O'Donnell and start winning back the electorate, or Michael McDowell and implode.

Or "Country" Tom Parlon to give us all a bit of a laugh , otherwise you are right Conor. I doubt Liz will put herself forward but you never know.

During the current spate of 'party think ins' the PDs were absent from the busines of promoting any new thoughts which says a lot. Maybe Mary thought she was effectively trying to lead a vacumn from the front and that the physics were beyond her.

partholon

sweet jesus ,i tell you one thing. it'll make the election next year very interesting. i was looking forward to it anyway but this just throws the cat among the pidgeons fun times ahead

mickd

Darragh29 wrote:

I think the way the press started quizzing her when Ireland on Sunday suggested that she had intervened to get more favourable treatment for her mother in Tallaght Hospital for a hip replacement was when she decided she had had enough. Sorry in advance if this is drifting a bit off topic, but I'm not surprised Mamma Harney has had enough...

Well said , anybody would pack it in after that

Cronus333

This is the straw that broke the camel's back.

We are done for.

Darragh29

partholon wrote:

sweet jesus ,i tell you one thing. it'll make the election next year very interesting. i was looking forward to it anyway but this just throws the cat among the pidgeons fun times ahead

But in a way do you not think it makes it less interesting also??? With Mc Dowell as leader, the party are literally on a crash course with the electorate. Liz O' Donnell as leader, I could only see this happening if Mc Dowell stepped aside and was not interested in the party leadership, which is most unlikely to happen, so I'd say Mc Dowell will take the reins for better or for worse...

Funny that this Mama Harney resignes right in the middle of the government discussing one particularly difficult matter, which is the expansion of the Dublin Bus fleet -v- opening up private routes. It's well known that Harney favoured sourcing extra capacity by allowing more private operators to run bus routes in the city while the hapless Martin Cullen and the FF cabinet members wanted to look after the unions and give more money to Dublin Bus to expand the fleet. Apparently this particular issue was deadlocked for recent months as Harney was using a veto at the cabinet table on this matter, so committed was she to free enterprise... Interesting...

democrates

Darragh29 wrote:

I think the way the press started quizzing her when Ireland on Sunday suggested that she had intervened to get more favourable treatment for her mother in Tallaght Hospital for a hip replacement was when she decided she had had enough. I thought when I saw her reaction on TV to the way she was being treated, when she saw that the level of hostility towards herself was more than she could endure, she decided to call it a day.

She was clearly on the verge of tears and I remember thinking if it was me that would be the last straw, not because I couldn't endure it, but why the hell should I.

It's one thing taking stinging criticism accross the dail or constant personal jibes in the media, she's always taken that in her stride as a professional politician, but when one of your family is in peril and the yapping pack of salivating hyenas go on the attack you can imagine the intense reaction you'd have.

My mother died in january after problems began the previous september, considering what the family went through I'm stunned as to how Mary Harney managed to retain her composure at that time, maybe it's a female thing not to go straight to anger, and practice in suppressing your emotions as politicians must, but I wonder if I'd have the wherewithal to avoid a court appearance for gbh.

I'm dead set against many of her policies, but she and her family didn't deserve to be kicked when they were down like that.

mickd

There could be a general election before xmas as there is no way FF backbenchers will stomach McDowell as Tanaiste if he gets the job. This will scupper Berties long slow game strategy

Darragh29

democrates wrote:

She was clearly on the verge of tears and I remember thinking if it was me that would be the last straw, not because I couldn't endure it, but why the hell should I.

It's one thing taking stinging criticism accross the dail or constant personal jibes in the media, she's always taken that in her stride as a professional politician, but when one of your family is in peril and the yapping pack of salivating hyenas go on the attack you can imagine the intense reaction you'd have.

My mother died in january after problems began the previous september, considering what the family went through I'm stunned as to how Mary Harney managed to retain her composure at that time, maybe it's a female thing not to go straight to anger, and practice in suppressing your emotions as politicians must, but I wonder if I'd have the wherewithal to avoid a court appearance for gbh.

I'm dead set against many of her policies, but she and her family didn't deserve to be kicked when they were down like that.

Couldn't agree with you more Democrates. If I was treated like this I'd have been reliving Eric Cantona's most famous moment and the person who made the comment to me would be praying that the A & E they were going to was not busy. I felt very sorry for her that she had to endure this disgrace, I don't support many if not any of her policies but nobody should have to suffer this treatment. Although it was the paper involved which was responsible for attacking her in this manner, really I think it reflects poorly on the rest of us, the fact that the paper thought we would run with it and gasp in horror at the gall of it all, when all we were seeing was our minister for health worrying about her ill mother in the same way as any of us would, it doesn't get much worse than this imo...

partholon

mickd wrote:

There could be a general election before xmas as there is no way FF backbenchers will stomach McDowell as Tanaiste if he gets the job. This will scupper Berties long slow game strategy

now thats something i didnt think of, like i said fun times to come. guess we'll know in three weeks. by the way i dont think she didnt consulte anyone, it'd be very irresponsible to leave a party leaderless this close to an election and while i dont like her policys she doesnt strike me as that type of person. i reckon there were backroom talks with either liz or tom to take over, strictly on the hush hush. one things for sure, macdowel didnt have a clue. just look at his face as he was leaving the confrence

Philistine

There could be a general election before xmas as there is no way FF backbenchers will stomach McDowell as Tanaiste if he gets the job. This will scupper Berties long slow game strategy

She did say that she would like to stay on as minister for health, for some strange reason, until next election. It is also posible for her to remain as tanaiste until then also, yet not be leader of the PD's. Posible but not probable I would think.

partholon

but i dont think theres ever been a time when the leader of the party wasnt in the cabinet and its entirely possible that could happen, so someone would have to leave. i wonder who ?

Time Magazine

Another coup for the Dáilternatives.

I hope McDowell gets it, it'd be the biggest electoral gain for Fine Gael in the last decade - but he won't. My money's on Liz.

partholon

hey yeah, anyone know what the odds are in paddy powers? they mustve put something up by now

its so funny to think how good they are at predicting these things. probably has something to do with people putting their money where their mouths are

Glenbhoy

democrates wrote:

but when one of your family is in peril and the yapping pack of salivating hyenas go on the attack you can imagine the intense reaction you'd have.

Agreed, there's no need for the media in this country to start intruding on politician's family dealings, i don't think there's an appetite for that sort of intrusion here yet. (incidentally apparently the Star had a front page story on Cormac McAnallen's (former Tyrone footballer who died 2 yrs ago) fiance finding new love - despicable i thought).
McDowell will take over, the party will be finished, in fairness, they aren't expected to get any more than what 4 seats max next time? With Big Mick in charge, that could well be optimistic.
I always thought her decision to take on health was going to be the defining move for the PD's, if it worked they might just have had a chance, if not, well, it didn't!! (I don't think anyone could do much with health without scrapping the lot and starting over).

democrates

Ibid wrote:

Another coup for the Dáilternatives.

I hope McDowell gets it, it'd be the biggest electoral gain for Fine Gael in the last decade - but he won't. My money's on Liz.

My money is on Liz as well and I'm willing to put my mouth where my money is.

I think MH want's out of health but obviously can't say so, if Liz takes her place as Tanaiste she'd might want to negotiate another ministry that's less of a poisoned chalice.

Villain

Well Ms Harney played a nice bit of PR announcing this the same day the report into the death of Pat Joe Walsh in Monaghan General Hospital was released showing that the mess that the health system is in is causing lives to be lost.

Anyway rant over, if McDowell gets this I reckon we could have an election by February as I don't think the FF bank benchers will take to his appointment as Tanaiste very well.

zepp

partholon wrote:

hey yeah, anyone know what the odds are in paddy powers? they mustve put something up by now

its so funny to think how good they are at predicting these things. probably has something to do with people putting their money where their mouths are

http://www.irishelection.com/09/mary-harney-resigns/
seemingly liz is paddy powers favourite

Sponge Bob

democrates wrote:

My money is on Liz as well and I'm willing to put my mouth where my money is.

LOL . do you fancy her that much ???

I do not think she will run although she is by far the best leader they could have in the next election if they want to be electable.

Time Magazine

Sponge Bob wrote:

LOL . do you fancy her that much ???

I do not think she will run although she is by far the best leader they could have in the next election if they want to be electable.

And that's exactly the reason why she'll run and she'll win. Think she wouldn't like to be the leader of her party? Show me a politician who doesn't use their party purely as a vessel (thus excluding a certain EU Internal Markets Commissioner) that doesn't want the leadership.

It's not secretive who's going to elect the next leader: the members of the party. I can't see them choosing Mickey.

billy the squid

I only wish the rest of the PDs would resign, they have ruined the country and made life miserable for the less-well off in this country.

I imagine if Tom Parlon was made leader of the PDs we would end up having Dail eireann moved to som hamlet in County Laois. Michael McDowell? what's the Irish for Gestapo.