Enda Kenny on Campus

ferdi

So there i was minding my own business, sitting on the grass with a nice young lady eating an ice cream in the sun. When all of a sudden, out of nowhere loomed this staggering figure flanked by a gang of cronies and hacks. who was it? Enda Kenny of course! before i knew what was happening Enda walked up to us, reached down and tried to steal our ice creams. no joke. in a moment of panifc, forgetting all the smart witty cutting comments i have made up over the years to be used on the unfortunate public figures who tried to secure my vote with a wink and a cheesy grin, i did the first thing that came into my head that would save our ice creams.....i shook his hand!!:(

i feel so unclean. this is a public sevice announcment to warn all my fellow ucd boardsies that Enda is about and he is after your yummies. gods speed.

Scraggs

Oh man I'm so there, he's the hottest thing since Michael McDowell.
Don't wash your hand ever Ferdi

humbert

He's not the most hateful public figure. If it was bertie I think I would have jumped in the lake before I'd let him get his grubby hands near me. He is however frighteningly boring so if he tried to make conversation I'd have to run away.

Still you missed a wonderful opportunity to be witty and have said on the spur of the moment "**** off you boring auld bastard".

Spectator#1

"I will end the scandal of ice-creams in universities"!

Riamfada

you should have screamed "Rape" !

Duffman

I heard, like once, now it may be an urban legend, but this one time.. Enda Kenny

actually used his face to express emotion

!

jimi_t

Bleagh, we were lying over by O' Reilly Hall when he was making a general nuisance of himself there. I had a plan whereby I'd lure the swan which was sitting on the pavement with a trail of breadcrumbs to his position and see what would happen... needless to say it fell through. Pity though

Steibhin

I saw him down by the bushes near Glenomena and again in the toilets in the Arts block. This is his second visit this semester. Seems like he likes it around here.

Dontico

ferdi wrote:

When all of a sudden, out of nowhere loomed this staggering figure flanked by a gang of cronies and hacks.

I'm not his cronie nor am I a hack.

Can you name any other party leader that would come to campus and walk around talking to the students? I hear talk big on campus.
They all say all sorts of crap about YFG and Enda Kenny. People had the opportunity to ask him about anything or give out to him, instead I saw people who are usually slandering him, actually going up yo him, talking to him and having a good time.

I followed him from the start to the finish. FG is the only party that cares about the youth, oppose to the current gov thats actually trying to stop young people from voting.

FunkyChicken

YFG lol

Steibhin

Dontico wrote:

Can you name any other party leader that would come to campus and walk around talking to the students?

Well in fairness he has more time on his hands than Bertie - who has to run the country. Its canvassing. There is nothing wrong with that but don't get on your moral high horse because Enda Kenny was canvassing in a University. That doesn't prove that FG 'care more' about the 'youf'. It just proves that he was out canvassing ahead of an election.

Interestingly the word 'student' did not appear anywhere in his recent Ard Fhies speech. Surely if he cared that much he could have fitted more mention of student issues into that 30min TV slot.

Stabshauptmann

It was an intelligent PR operation, doesnt show they care about the youth. And tbh, no interest in talking politics. One thing I will say, he refused to shake my hand.

jimi_t

Dontico wrote:

I'm not his cronie nor am I a hack.

Can you name any other party leader that would come to campus and walk around talking to the students? I hear talk big on campus.
They all say all sorts of crap about YFG and Enda Kenny. People had the opportunity to ask him about anything or give out to him, instead I saw people who are usually slandering him, actually going up yo him, talking to him and having a good time.

I followed him from the start to the finish. FG is the only party that cares about the youth, oppose to the current gov thats actually trying to stop young people from voting.

It's all well and good for him to be on campus, and I'm all for increased student participation in political matters, but why not have him in a theatre or something - that way the people who care about it can go and see them rather than him bothering those who are out trying to sunbathe on the grass.

humbert

He did that before to be fair to him. He's still the world's most boring man though.

panda100

Steibhin wrote:

I saw him down by the bushes near Glenomena.

Hmmmm sounds dodgy...

Pythia

Kaptain Redeye wrote:

One thing I will say, he refused to shake my hand.

Why?
Also, if I remember correctly, you got a photo with him in Freshers' Week at your stand. I may be wrong, it was certainly one of the main Dutch Soc people.

Stabshauptmann

No, I tried to get a photo with him , but very quick ppl got him away from me and the stand

Chakar

I don't like Enda Kenny. I've met him once during Freshers Week last year. I shook his hand but he didn't make eye contact with me. While that's on a personal level, his policies and language do not appeal to me. Its based on empty rhetoric I believe.

cast_iron

Chakar wrote:

Its based on empty rhetoric I believe.

Sounds familiar.

Vorsprung

cast_iron wrote:

Sounds familiar.

Amen!

Spectator#1

Dontico wrote:

I'm not his cronie nor am I a hack

I followed him from the start to the finish. FG is the only party that cares about the youth

Haha!

Can you name any other party leader that would come to campus and walk around talking to the students?

Yes, any of them, they all do what their campaign teams tell them to do. If FF or Labour thought they could dip into the student populace for votes they'd be out here just as quick.

I have to say, I'd be interested to know whether he was supposed to get permission to go around disrupting student's social activities to canvas for votes. I can't imagine UCD would support randomers just walking in and wandering around interacting with students without their prior permission...

I hear talk big on campus.
They all say all sorts of crap about YFG and Enda Kenny. People had the opportunity to ask him about anything or give out to him, instead I saw people who are usually slandering him, actually going up yo him, talking to him and having a good time.

So some students might be hypocrites, so what?

oppose to the current gov thats actually trying to stop young people from voting.

I'm not defending the current government by any means, don't get me wrong, but how are they doing this? I wasn't aware of this, have you told the police?

Pythia

Spectator#1 wrote:

I have to say, I'd be interested to know whether he was supposed to get permission to go around disrupting student's social activities to canvas for votes. I can't imagine UCD would support randomers just walking in and wandering around interacting with students without their prior permission...

Yes, Richard Butler was informed.

Dontico

Spectator#1 wrote:

I have to say, I'd be interested to know whether he was supposed to get permission to go around disrupting student's social activities to canvas for votes. I can't imagine UCD would support randomers just walking in and wandering around interacting with students without their prior permission...

"randomers" as you say, are allowed walk on to campus. have you noticed we have a gym in ucd? most people are aware of it.
also, richard butler was there so he must have told inadvance.

Spectator#1 wrote:

I'm not defending the current government by any means, don't get me wrong, but how are they doing this? I wasn't aware of this, have you told the police?

i personally think the decision to have the election on a thursday is a deliberate attempt to reduce the amount of students voting. also many students that have regestared to vote, they still cant for a unexplained reason.
to me it souns fishy. FF have done stuff like this before.

cast_iron

Dontico wrote:

"randomers" as you say, are allowed walk on to campus. have you noticed we have a gym in ucd?

UCD is private property which is accessible to the public. When one enters the campus, they must adhere to campus rules or they can be asked to leave.

Dontico wrote:

i personally think the decision to have the election on a thursday is a deliberate attempt to reduce the amount of students voting. also many students that have regestared to vote, they still cant for a unexplained reason.
to me it souns fishy. FF have done stuff like this before.

Everyone (students included) can vote in advance via post, so there is no excuse for claiming you are "away in college".

Dontico

cast_iron wrote:

UCD is private property which is accessible to the public. When one enters the campus, they must adhere to campus rules or they can be asked to leave.

what rules was enda breaking?

cast_iron wrote:

Everyone (students included) can vote in advance via post, so there is no excuse for claiming you are "away in college".

how does one go about doing this? what if it goes missing in the post?


also some people arent able to vote even thought they registared. mostly students. FF have in the past tried this stuff before, so i'm not surprised that are trying to disrupt democracy.

Spectator#1

Dontico wrote:

what rules was enda breaking?

Effectively, he wasn't on a social visit, or on his way to the gym for that matter, as far as I know! A visitation such as that from the leader of a large political party, a short time prior to an election, which involves his walking about campus and shaking hands with people willy-nilly, that would be called canvassing-regardless of whether he 'really cares' about students or not.

As you would need permission to enter UCD and put up election posters, or any other kind for that matter, I'm sure that there are regulations in place that required for FG to clear it with the college before they started canvassing within the grounds. It's not the walking about that is the problem, it's the advertising. As you say, RB knew about it 'cos he was there, so it obviously was OK'd by them, end of story.

There's a big difference between travelling to a gym and canvassing for votes, I'm sure you'll agree. He probably didn't break any rules, in answer to your question, but there are rules there and it's not the same as going to the gym which is all Cast Iron was saying when he replied to you, if I may speak for him/her on this occasion.

how does one go about doing this? what if it goes missing in the post?

Therefore, FF and An Phoist are fixing the elections? And you said you'd only heard big talk?

also some people arent able to vote even thought they registared. mostly students. FF have in the past tried this stuff before, so i'm not surprised that are trying to disrupt democracy.

I'm not supporting either party here in saying this, but it seems you have fairly shaky grounds for rather strong accusations such as these. FF have very little to do with the electoral process as far as I know, I'd like to know how it is that they're preventing young people from voting even if they are registered. It's interesting the point you made there though, FF don't like young people because they obstruct democracy and prevent them from casting their vote, therefore FG are the only ones who care about young people. Now that would make an interesting Enda Kenny poster in the train station!

cast_iron

Dontico wrote:

what rules was enda breaking?

As Spectator quite rightly pointed out, that's not what I was getting at.

Dontico wrote:

how does one go about doing this? what if it goes missing in the post?

At this stage, you are probably too late. You're supposed to have registered for a postal vote before Nov 25th (But I sent in other details in Jan with the same Nov deadline applied and my CC allowed it). Incidentally, not quite everyone can get register for a postal vote, but as a student living away from home, you can.

Do you expect me to be able to answer for a lost letter in the An Post system?

Dontico wrote:

also some people arent able to vote even thought they registared. mostly students. FF have in the past tried this stuff before, so i'm not surprised that are trying to disrupt democracy.

Either one is registered or not. They can check this online well in advance. Assuming on is registered and actually being registered are two different things.
FF do not control the register of electors - they are held by individual councils.

But as Spectator already alluded to, aren't An Post and all of the County Councils colluding with FF to prevent students voting? Off with you...