Who deserves your number 1 vote in the general election this time around?

Trotter

Apologies in advance to anyone who reckons its completely cheeky to ask, but Im just wondering what the opinions of boards.ie people are at this stage in the election race?

I've stuck in a poll for anyone who wants to vote early

Apologies also to anyone else who will run in the election because boards only allows 10 selections in the poll. I just chose the ones I felt most likely to be elected.

Im going with Roche, Cullen, O'Shea, Coffey at this stage.. although the last one keeps changing.

I dont think Deasy is much use to us now because out of spite he'll get nothing from the seniors in the party should FG do well. He gets nothing.. we get nothing.

christophicus

ME!!!

Nah seriously though i dont know who I will vote for, I reckon they are going to change their positions on policies etc so many times between now and the election that I will probably not make up my mind till a few days before the election.

Minto

I've always found Brian O'Shea approachable and friendly and hard working, so I would say i'll give him my number one.

OP was it by accident or on purpose the Mr. McCann was left out? Or is he not running? I can't wait to have a word with any Green Party canvassers who come around my way. You've been warned, lol!

Trotter

Minto wrote:

I've always found Brian O'Shea approachable and friendly and hard working, so I would say i'll give him my number one.

OP was it by accident or on purpose the Mr. McCann was left out? Or is he not running? I can't wait to have a word with any Green Party canvassers who come around my way. You've been warned, lol!

As for Mr. McCann.. I couldnt fit them all in.. I know I left him out, and maybe one or two others I havent heard of yet. So I picked the 10 I think have any kind of chance of getting into the Dáil, and in no particular order.

Draw your own conclusions

Bards

For Me, Cullen is the only Politician that we have had since the founding of the State that has actually delivered something tangible for Waterford. It is important for him to come out of the next G.E with a resounding mandate to maintain his cabinet seat. If FF (as is most likely) remain in government.

I am not a FF hack just a concerned Waterford/S.E citizen

merlante

If I could choose the four:
Cullen
Deasy
O'Shea
Roche

In roughly that order. If I could disqualify two candidates, I would pick Wilkinson and Kenneally.

Car Mad

What about Cllr Pat Leahy in kilmeaden there

Sully

Brian OShea iv heard good stuff about,
Darcy I always seem to hear more then the others,
Deacy probably because hes outspoken but that can come in handy sometimes.

Cant think of anyone else.. Ill see close to the time

Trotter

merlante wrote:

If I could choose the four:
Cullen
Deasy
O'Shea
Roche

With Mary Roche being an independent, she's going to need a lot of number 1 votes to get a quota. I'll be putting her in 1 because Im pretty sure Cullen will go in on the first count anyway. If people want Mary Roche in they'll have to put her high up on the list because she may not get as many transfers as the others who will get them on party grounds. Thats what I reckon anyway.

BIG-SLICK-POKER

WHAT ABOUT TAWDY

merlante

Trotter wrote:

With Mary Roche being an independent, she's going to need a lot of number 1 votes to get a quota. I'll be putting her in 1 because Im pretty sure Cullen will go in on the first count anyway. If people want Mary Roche in they'll have to put her high up on the list because she may not get as many transfers as the others who will get them on party grounds. Thats what I reckon anyway.

You might be surprised with Roche, she might get transfers from everywhere. She could be everyone's second choice. Still, that's not going to elect her on its own.

I'd be tempted to give her a number one, but it's dangerous to take your eye off the ball assuming that X or Y is going to automatically get elected. Also, things like topping the pole, etc., might matter for the likes of Cullen. I haven't made up my mind yet though.

If she can hang in there for a few of counts, things might go her way. Could this be the election where one of Wilkinson or Kenneally gets decimated? Here's hoping!

fricatus

merlante wrote:

Could this be the election where one of Wilkinson or Kenneally gets decimated? Here's hoping!

Be careful what you wish for merlante, because it might come true! Here's why your wish would be bad for Waterford: Bertie expects Cullen to deliver a second seat for FF here. If he does, he will reward him with a ministerial post. If not, Cullen could be seriously undermined. And make no mistake, FF are likely to be the core of the next government, possibly with Labour, which would be my preferred government (Pat Rabitte is still fudging the issue as far as I can tell).

Of course, if Roche gets the fourth seat, then she and Cullen could be part of the next coalition, whether Cullen is in government or not. Her presence (or the power that comes with being an independent in a tight-majority government) could be instrumental in delivering the goodies down this way.

Trotter

fricatus wrote:

Of course, if Roche gets the fourth seat, then she and Cullen could be part of the next coalition, whether Cullen is in government or not. Her presence (or the power that comes with being an independent in a tight-majority government) could be instrumental in delivering the goodies down this way.

We'll miss out on that if everyone puts her down as 4 though.

merlante

fricatus wrote:

Be careful what you wish for merlante, because it might come true! Here's why your wish would be bad for Waterford: Bertie expects Cullen to deliver a second seat for FF here. If he does, he will reward him with a ministerial post. If not, Cullen could be seriously undermined. And make no mistake, FF are likely to be the core of the next government, possibly with Labour, which would be my preferred government (Pat Rabitte is still fudging the issue as far as I can tell).

Of course, if Roche gets the fourth seat, then she and Cullen could be part of the next coalition, whether Cullen is in government or not. Her presence (or the power that comes with being an independent in a tight-majority government) could be instrumental in delivering the goodies down this way.

I said Wilkinson OR Kenneally. The last time the people nearly elected 3 FFers, I hardly expect they'll fall that far. I take your point though.

However, I think we could get too caught up in what Bertie will or won't do if we don't elect 2 FFers rather than just Cullen, or if Cullen doesn't top the poll, or whatever. These are concerns, but in my honest opinion these concerns do not outweigh the fact that if we elect Wilkinson or Kenneally, which sadly we will, 25% of our Dail representation is be down the toilet.

I would prefer, if I could wave a magic wand, to replace Rosencrantz or Guildenstern with Roche even at the risk of weakening Cullen. I think a dynamic electorate is a feared electorate, whereas sometimes a loyal electorate is not respected or rewarded. Although, on the other hand, if I had a signed letter from Bertie saying that Cullen was a 100% dead cert for a cabinet position provided we elected one of the above fools, then of course I would advocate that, because having a man in the cabinet has been a lifeline for Waterford.

With regard to Roche, my fear is that if she could be elected, that the wrong man would be kicked out, i.e. O'Shea. But maybe we'd be the better for the new blood, despite the trojan service that O'Shea is given?

Trotter

merlante wrote:

With regard to Roche, my fear is that if she could be elected, that the wrong man would be kicked out, i.e. O'Shea. But maybe we'd be the better for the new blood, despite the trojan service that O'Shea is given?

We've got to change the lineup.. granted Cullen has signed contracts for a lot of stuff that will come through over the next 10 years, but we absolutely need the new blood. A strong independent means there will be pressure on the 3 party TD's because I will expect the independent to shout and scream if our other TDs arent performing.

Heads Up! Mary Roche is on Vincent Browne on RTE Radio 1 now!! 10:10pm

decies

Please anybody but that mary roche :rolleyes:
Anyway she should stay at home and mind the children :eek:

Trotter

decies wrote:

Please anybody but that mary roche :rolleyes:
Anyway she should stay at home and mind the children :eek:

You just made any opinion you ever give not worth listening to.
:rolleyes:

merlante

decies wrote:

Please anybody but that mary roche :rolleyes:
Anyway she should stay at home and mind the children :eek:

I bet you're serious and all!

rogue-entity

Not sure who to vote for myself, I agree with the sentiments on Cullan, he has done good for us, and we need another Waterford man with a Ministeral post, but who knows, we could get a nice rural man as Minister for Communications, many then we will have someone that will give ComReg the balls they need to deal with €ircon [/rant]. But if we get another Waterford Man as Transport Minister.. maybe we will still get the second bridge, the motorway to dublin et al
*keeps dreaming*

decies

Cullianane must be in with a shout for the fourth seat but i suspect the fianna fail cronies will make sure its two seats for fianna fail and most likely no change in the waterford 4 seater.

AdMMM

I don't believe that Cullinane will be serious threat and there will be stories coming to surface in the coming weeks that will cast doubts in the minds of his potential voters, nevertheless, I reckon that both he and John Halligan will hurt each others chances of being elected and as a result both will miss out on the chance of being elected - although that forth seat will be very closely fought for.

I would not consider giving a vote of any kind to Mary Roche. Her performance in the Council isn't very awe-inspiring considering all she's done is join the pact and mirror the vote of her the more senior members. I've also heard through members of the Fianna Fáil party that she has agreed to join FF after the election as Cullen is set to retire after this election if he isn't awarded a Ministerial position (because lets face it, one of the only reasons why many are continuing to support him is because he is a Minister).

While I have been following FG over the past few years, I do not think that they are offering a viable candidate that would be of an advantage to the people of Waterford City. John Deasy and his pro-Dungarvan remarks just don't cut it for me and neither does his disgraceful behaviour over recent months which has pretty much rubber stamped the fact that he will be offered absolutely no place of potential influence within the party should they enter a coaltion. I know nothing of his FG counterpart but no doubt I'll get a comment from him soon on Bebo - a medium that FG are using for some petty electioneering.

As for my vote, it will most likely go to John Halligan. He's the candidate that I'm most familiar with and is certainly one of the more high-profile politicans on a local level. While I do question his ability to perform on a national level, I would be more than willing to offer him the opportunity!

fricatus

rogue-entity wrote:

maybe we will still get the second bridge, the motorway to dublin et al
*keeps dreaming*

No need to dream. The bridge is under construction. Two of the four sections of the Dublin motorway are under construction too, with the other two due to start during 2007.

Trouble for Cullen is, the only evidence of his work so far is a lot of mud and a pile of Ascon 4X4s driving around the place.

rasper

Don't get me wrong as some proper investment is long over due, however never had faith in cullen since the evoting fiasco.
Just feel we may have a very unfair of distributing taxpayers money as if it's just
for buying votes, cullen is a waste of space as a public servant but FF true and true. Imagine we have a board that watches for this type of spending

Van

fricatus wrote:

No need to dream. The bridge is under construction. Two of the four sections of the Dublin motorway are under construction too, with the other two due to start during 2007.

Trouble for Cullen is, the only evidence of his work so far is a lot of mud and a pile of Ascon 4X4s driving around the place.

Further evidence of his work is seen in the 50 million euro wasted on evoting, the failure to deliver a University or to deliver public radiotherapy at WRH as he promised. And nationall the failure to deliver on the Affordable housing as it was he who changed the Act to allow builders buy out of their obligations. Need I go on.....

Cork

Van wrote:

And nationall the failure to deliver on the Affordable housing as it was he who changed the Act to allow builders buy out of their obligations. Need I go on.....

The affordable housing point has more to do with choices made by local government.

Waterford does need a university but this has not happened. Why??

I think the next election will be won on the tax and the economy.

The protest vote will go to the Greens.

Having lived in Waterford - the city has improved alot.

It is good to see progress on the 2nd bridge.

Bards

rasper wrote:

Don't get me wrong as some proper investment is long over due, however never had faith in cullen since the evoting fiasco.
Just feel we may have a very unfair of distributing taxpayers money as if it's just
for buying votes, cullen is a waste of space as a public servant but FF true and true. Imagine we have a board that watches for this type of spending

e-voting = Dempsey his little brain child, not Cullen

Cullen got landed with it when he was appointed to Environment...

Roche who is currently in Environment still has not canned it and had every oppurtunity to do so

The_Thing

Never voted for anything or anyone in my entire life - never have, never will, couldn't care less.

Trotter

The_Thing wrote:

Never voted for anything or anyone in my entire life - never have, never will, couldn't care less.

Why post here then?

Bards

The_Thing wrote:

Never voted for anything or anyone in my entire life - never have, never will, couldn't care less.

and you're just the type of person who then complains about everything that's wrong with the World

Freddie59

Bards wrote:

and you're just the type of person who then complains about everything that's wrong with the World

How true. And there are people around the World denied the opportunity by force - and he squanders it. How intelligent.

Passport

Freddie59 wrote:

How true. And there are people around the World denied the oportunity by force - and he squanders it. How intelligent.

Get off your high hourse.

Why is everyone thinking so selfishly, should we not be voting in people who are good for the country rather than our petty city(maybee if we voted like this we would have some respectable candidates), and I pity ye if your excuse is that everyone else is doing it, or we have been left behind during this period of economic growth crap,