Carlow-Kilkenny Election 2007

Stephen

So, now that Bertie got up bright and early this morning to call it, who are you voting for in the general election here in Carlow & Kilkenny? (i.e. who is getting your no.1?)

I notice John McGuinness already has the ring road covered in posters.

edit: There's a Walter Lacey for the PD's too but the poll won't let me put in another option. Could a mod of this board add him in?

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I won't be voting for any of the present govt candidates thats for sure.

Anyone read the poll in the KK People? Putting B Aylward at No. 1. Will the voters of Carlow/KK never learn:rolleyes:
Th big story is Mary White and her rise in the past 12 months. Fair play to her.

EKRIUQ

The current TDs don't seem to have done much for Kilkenny in there last term, still people are going elsewhere to do there shopping and the roads have'nt improved much only now are we getting the ring road extended!

Look for someone new now I think

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BingoBongo wrote:

The current TDs don't seem to have done much for Kilkenny in there last term, still people are going elsewhere to do there shopping and the roads have'nt improved much only now are we getting the ring road extended!

Look for someone new now I think

So true. The major delivery of projects/anything tangible for KK has been abysmal. Carlow have fairted very poorly also. Our central location here in KK/Carlow has kept our heads above water, there has been very little support from central govt.

J Mcguinness should hang his head in shame. I missed him calling at home, I was raging. I want to confront him on his failures on the N77 and N76 road funding and also St. Lukes A+E 'facilities'

BeatNikDub

Im giving Greens my first vote anyway.
After that I just dont know who to go with. No one else has really moved me terribly much.

All i know is I want the present goverment OUT. Probably Labour afte rthat but not too impressed with choice of labour candidates in this area.

Im from Dublin but have got supplement form to vote down here.

I think this is a very important election indeed!

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See J McGuinness has one vote already. Crazy:rolleyes:

EKRIUQ

BeatNikDub wrote:

Im giving Greens my first vote anyway.
After that I just dont know who to go with. No one else has really moved me terribly much.

Mary White is going to go close to getting a seat (First woman TD in Carlow-Kilkenny EVER!) but there's something about the greens and their taxes policies that I don't like and feel it would be a bad decision for Kilkenny because of their anti everything attitude(Malcom Noonan and Tesco in Callan)

Our 3 FF TD's were promised a ministeral position in C/KK area but none arrived during the term. Kilkenny on a business point has lost our to other towns and now its going to take a lot to catch up.

My minds not made up yet I just have to see how the next few weeks pan out

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BingoBongo wrote:

Mary White is going to go close to getting a seat (First woman TD in Carlow-Kilkenny EVER!) but there's something about the greens and their taxes policies that I don't like and feel it would be a bad decision for Kilkenny because of their anti everything attitude(Malcom Noonan and Tesco in Callan)

Our 3 FF TD's were promised a ministeral position in C/KK area but none arrived during the term. Kilkenny on a business point has lost our to other towns and now its going to take a lot to catch up.

My minds not made up yet I just have to see how the next few weeks pan out

Thats it in a nutshell. I agree re the Green party. One need only look at Tesco in Callan. I'd be very afraid they might pull funding from N9 and waste it on that dinosaur Irish Rail:eek: !

KK has lost out big time under this govt. There will be no chance of a ministry either I might add if this govt were to be returned in it's present format...

finlma

mfitzy wrote:

I'd be very afraid they might pull funding from N9 and waste it on that dinosaur Irish Rail:eek: !

The Greens would need a big share in government to have that much of a say. A green influence as part of a rainbow coalition would be good for the country. Mary White is an excellent politician and would do great things for Kilkenny.

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finlma wrote:

The Greens would need a big share in government to have that much of a say. A green influence as part of a rainbow coalition would be good for the country. Mary White is an excellent politician and would do great things for Kilkenny.

I hope you're right...I too would love to see Mary in there fighting for Carlow/kk. I have no doubt she would dleiver a lot more than three FF TD's have for the last 5/10 years!
Then again had we sent nobody to the dail the last 5 years it hardly would have made any difference! I personally will not give Mary a no.1 due to clash of ideologies etc. Still though she most definitely will feature on my ballot paper.
Think Labour will loose out. Why they couldn't run either Pattison's nephew or Anne Phelan is beyond me. She has great ability and a lot younger than O'Brien or Townsend.......Still it is a wide open race here this time

Stephen

Could the person who voted for MJ Nolan explain one thing to me... WHY?

Nightwish

McGuinness was very quick off the mark yesterday morning. Beeped at young Andy on a ladder on the ring road at lunchtime yesterday! I for one wont be giving McGuinness or any other FF-er my vote. Walter Lacey isnt getting a look in either. He hasnt responded to any of my e-mails since he first dropped leaflets in the door a few months ago. JP Phelan spammed my bebo page a few months ago, and again, he didnt respond to any questions I put to him. I am looking at Michael O Brien, but thats more along voting for Labour than the man himself. I lost respect for Mary White when my sister told me how Ms. White did nothing to help the Saplings school for autistic children in Goresbridge (where my sister was an ABA tutor) when they were crying out for funding. The parents of the schoolkids did loads of fundraising, and had to resort to reducing their kids to a 4 day week to save money, and Ms. White took credit for the parents work.

djpaul

Nightwish wrote:

I lost respect for Mary White when my sister told me how Ms. White did nothing to help the Saplings school for autistic children in Goresbridge (where my sister was an ABA tutor) when they were crying out for funding. The parents of the schoolkids did loads of fundraising, and had to resort to reducing their kids to a 4 day week to save money, and Ms. White took credit for the parents work.

Agree with you wish, My missus helped open the school and the B*****ds, including Ms. White could not give a S**t about Autism,Autistic Children or their Parents. I'm just waiting for them to call :mad: they are gonna get an ear full!!!

Nightwish

I know I have the autism leaflets by the door, ready for whoever comes calling. Come the summer, the government will cease all funding for ABA which not only means my sister will be out of a job, but more seriously, theres hundreds of kids who will be put into "special needs" classes in primary school, who maybe arent suited to it. The politicians have to realise not every child with autism is the same, so one solution does not suit all.

Have any canvassers been out yet? I have yet to see any in my area.

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What are the main issues for you all though???;

Mine have to be the following;
-Lack of inward investment in KK
- Lack of investment in infrastructure, particualry in the last ten-fifteen years of relative prosperity. Such a sad reflection on the current three govt TDs.
-Lack of investment in St. Lukes, particularly the A+E..

Vote back in FF and basically kiss goodbye to KK'c chances of a Ministry in any form either Junior or Senior for another 5 years...

Any see McGuinness' posters? Apparently he see's himself as 'Effective'. Funny, I hadn;t noticed him doing anything concrete for KK in the last ten years, apart of course from draw a big salary that is...

PS. I crave a debate on him, especially with those who voted for him on this website? Can you please explain his appeal 'cos I'm at a total loss:eek:

Stephen

Major issues for me are:

• The roads (particularly here in Kilkenny, some of the worst in the country) and the utterly disproportionate taxes motorists pay. On a very local level, the ring road extension. What a farce. They still haven't built the Ballyfoyle Road bridge - they're due to start "any day now".
  
• University for the South East - i.e. WIT. Make it happen.
  
• The fact that Kilkenny is the poorest county in Ireland besides Donegal. What do the candidates plan to do about it? For those who were in office, WTF didn't they do anything about it?
  
• On a national level, access to broadband and the eradication of line rental. No, crappy overpriced satellite connections don't count.

I'm sure if I put my mind to it I'd come up with a list as long as your arm but they'll do for now.

Speaking of McGuinness' posters, have you seen the bloody forty foot trailer he has with his mug plastered all over it? :eek: I thought the van was bad but this is just silly. The trailer is parked beside the Glendine Inn on the Comer Rd at the moment.

Nightwish

All the Interlink vans are plastered with his ugly mug too.

*Planning in Kilkenny - how development is being smothered by the council (see Tesco controversy). Also how large tracts of land are being held by landowners and being offered at astronomical prices so businesses are put off opening here (see sports club controversy). Also why oh why oh why does a small place like Kilkenny need manky unsightly apartment blocks which only serve the transient rental market.

*Infrastructure - The lack thereof. The roads are appalling. Only 3 places to overtake, between here and Waterford! Over 20 years to build the ring road.

*Transportation services - Why is there no commuter bus/rail service to Waterford?

*Why is Kilkenny the poorest county in Ireland?

*On a national level: Housing, immigration, education, ridiculous stealth taxes (credit/debit cards) etc

zootroid

I think I remember being told that last time Bertie promised Carlow/Kilkenny a TD would be given a ministerial position if the constituency returned 3 Fianna Fail TD's. This didn't happen. So I think on that point alone the people of Carlow/Kilkenny would be foolish to vote Fianna Fail. Especially John McGuinness as he's a thorn in Bertie's side, disagreeing with him in public. At the end of the day Kilkenny needs a minister, let's face it, it's the only way Kilkenny will get any investment. An I can see Phil Hogan being given a ministerial position if Fine Gael get into government.

As for what I'd like to see happen in Kilkenny, I think it's been mentioned above by others - improved transport links, improved hospital facilities etc. Id also like to see more gardai on the streets, especially at night. Any time I walk home on a saturday night I don't see any gardai. But the main thing I expect from the new government is to stop the apalling waste of public money.

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zootroid wrote:

I think I remember being told that last time Bertie promised Carlow/Kilkenny a TD would be given a ministerial position if the constituency returned 3 Fianna Fail TD's. This didn't happen. So I think on that point alone the people of Carlow/Kilkenny would be foolish to vote Fianna Fail. Especially John McGuinness as he's a thorn in Bertie's side, disagreeing with him in public. At the end of the day Kilkenny needs a minister, let's face it, it's the only way Kilkenny will get any investment. An I can see Phil Hogan being given a ministerial position if Fine Gael get into government.

As for what I'd like to see happen in Kilkenny, I think it's been mentioned above by others - improved transport links, improved hospital facilities etc. Id also like to see more gardai on the streets, especially at night. Any time I walk home on a saturday night I don't see any gardai. But the main thing I expect from the new government is to stop the apalling waste of public money.

Thats it in a nutshell. FF promised much delivered NOTHING tangible for Carlow/KK. They have a complete 'Laissez faire' policy towards us with the result we have slipped behind Leitrim et al. in terms of income.

Their track record speaks for itself. Abysmal in my view..
1982 the last years we had a ministry; before I was born!! And boy it shows....A change of govt can only be a good thing. So long as the Greens don't push their anti-roads mantra we'd do well under the Rainbow I'm sure...

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See the FF'ers are holding their own...Have these people not been living in KK for the last ten years to see how poorly we've faired with these guys supposedly rep. us...

brettmirl

From the list of candidates, I think Phil Hogan is the only chance we have of getting a full ministry for the constituency...provided the 'rainbow' gets into power.

Liam Aylward was a Minister of State from 88-89 and again from 92-94.

Phil Hogan was a Junior Minister from 94-95, until he leaked what was going to be in the budget, and then had to resign the position.

@mfitzy - you seem quite passionate and vocal about the issues. Would you consider running for local elections in the future?

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mick_irl wrote:

@mfitzy - you seem quite passionate and vocal about the issues. Would you consider running for local elections in the future?

I don't have any particular party affiliations mick! Saying that I am pro-Rainbow, simply because FF have failed KK so, so badly.

I feel very strongly about KK getting its' fair share..It's disgusting to see MJ Nolan and McGuinness parade how great they think they are, when we know have delivered precious little. You say you live up in Meath? I bet you had to leave Kilkenny to get a suitable job?? Symptomatic of the neglect of KK for the last years unfortunately...

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Anyone else hear B Aylward on with Sue Nunn today? I won't be expectinmg a ministry any time is all I can say if FF continue in power.
Talk about cringe inducing..Marry White was also on and there was such a world of difference between the two.

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Nightwish wrote:

McGuinness was very quick off the mark yesterday morning. Beeped at young Andy on a ladder on the ring road at lunchtime yesterday! I for one wont be giving McGuinness or any other FF-er my vote. Walter Lacey isnt getting a look in either. He hasnt responded to any of my e-mails since he first dropped leaflets in the door a few months ago. JP Phelan spammed my bebo page a few months ago, and again, he didnt respond to any questions I put to him. I am looking at Michael O Brien, but thats more along voting for Labour than the man himself. I lost respect for Mary White when my sister told me how Ms. White did nothing to help the Saplings school for autistic children in Goresbridge (where my sister was an ABA tutor) when they were crying out for funding. The parents of the schoolkids did loads of fundraising, and had to resort to reducing their kids to a 4 day week to save money, and Ms. White took credit for the parents work.

Fair enough but do you not think your legitimate anger would be far better directed at FF and Mary Hanafin seen as they are the ones in power and didctate funding allocations?? M White is in opposition after all. Blame J Mcguinness and his ineffectiveness to deliver anything for this constituency imo.
PS. I mean this with the greatest due respect..

Nightwish

Oh believe me, Mary Hanafin does have the brunt of my anger where autism is concerned. Andrew Mcguinness has already made contact with my sister with regards to it. Not that she trusts his daddy to be able to do anything. My point with Ms White, is that she can be just as bad as the rest of them.

brettmirl

mfitzy wrote:

You say you live up in Meath? I bet you had to leave Kilkenny to get a suitable job?? Symptomatic of the neglect of KK for the last years unfortunately...

You'd bet wrong. My job is quite specialised so I have to go where the work is as opposed to positions not being available in KK.

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Anyone hear Bobby Aylward speak yet? God almighty what are the FF'ers doing? He comes across as a total gombeen on radio at least.
Wtf is this guy going to achieve in terms of inward investment and infrastructure in KK?
I'm not saying you need to be v well educated to be a TD but surely there is some level of articulateness one needs? I'm at a total loss as to why this guy is seen as a 'poll-topper'.

Stephen

Probably because of his name and the sheep-like voters that will vote for him based on that.

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Stephen wrote:

Probably because of his name and the sheep-like voters that will vote for him based on that.

Indeed, you're right. But in my opinion this whole 'name' thing around Aylward is a total shambles. Eh, his brother was there for years and I can't point to one big thing/project he delivered on for KK.
People in KK really frustrate me when it comes to their voting patterns. They need to wake and start electing people with ability and an articulateness to deliver. Not based on 'isn't he great now,getting funding for the local cemetary carpark'!In the process they completely miss the big picture.
This seems to be the nature of parish pump politics here in KK unfortunately.

brettmirl

I think you are forgetting that it's the same in every constituency. People vote along family lines all the time. You have political families like the Collins' in Limerick, the Barry's and Coveneys in Cork and the Lenihans in Dublin for example.

In Kilkenny, Liam Aylward's father was a Senator and then you have families like the Crotty's and McGuinness' who have been involved in local politics for generations.

A sitting TD dies in office, his/her wife/husband runs, and they get elected.

It's a fact of life and probably happens in other countries too, let alone in just our own constituency.

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For some bizzare reason MJ Nolan has 4 votes here!Some peoples' loyalty really does know no bounds...

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Anyone see Bobby A pictured campaigning in KK People? He must be taking fashion tips from Jacky H Rae with that stylish farmer cap:D !
Also using some of the KK hurling panel I see too...
Personally I'm more worried about Kilkenny's gross infrastructural deficit, lack of inward investment, low 3rd level participation and dismal income figures than whether a candidate is 'in with' the hurlers. Wonder what Bobby's opinion is on the above?

Stephen

WTF is the story with the election "supplement" with the people this week that was nothing but a load of look-how-wonderful-john-mcguinness-is sh1te?

Our man in Havana

What's the story with that very youthful looking picture of Booby A near Ballyhale?

I see someone gave that 40ft trailer near Dunkitt with JP Phleans picture on it a right going over. Disgraceful behaviour indeed.

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Stephen wrote:

WTF is the story with the election "supplement" with the people this week that was nothing but a load of look-how-wonderful-john-mcguinness-is sh1te?

There wasn't anything of substance in that supplement. It was a piece of rubbish quite frankly.The sad reality is McGuinness hasn't delivered for KK no matter how many pensioners he's pictured with...

On another note I see Bertie is ignoring KK. He's visiting Carlow and Waterford at the weekend but not Kilkenny. At least he's consistent in his ignoranace of KK!

Our man in Havana

Why does he need to visit KK at all? Thanks to sheep lik voting dating back to the civil war Aylward and McGuinness are shoe ins. No need to worry there. It's MJ Nolan is who he needs to protect in cw/kk.

As for Waterford his 2 muppets need all the support they can get.

road_high

I think it just goes to further prove my point that FF and this administration in general couldn't give a toss about Kilkenny. The leader is in neighbouring large town and city but yet couldn't even show the people of Kilkenny the courtesy of a visit.

Also this further highlights the irrelevance of McGuinness and Aylward in the FF party and the Taoiseach. They know Nolan is a lame duck at this stage, the purpose of Bertie calling to him seems like desperation to me

Nightwish

Ha ha, McGuinness snubbed again Bertie's probably trying to avoid having to grit his teeth and force smiles and shake hands with him for the cameras. McGuinness was mentioned the other night in the debate as an opponent of the co-location of hospitals.

brettmirl

I was quite surprised at the lack of election posters around the country when i was down at the weekend. Where I am in Meath, there are at least 3 posters per lamp-post and the roundabouts are plastered with them.

Were there more up at the start of the campaign?

Also, I would have thought that FF would have split the county between their three candidates. Babby Alyward was canvasing the housing estates in the city over the weekend. Thought he would have taken the south of the county and left the city and north to McGuinness.

Our man in Havana

It seems like they have abandoned all their own areas and it is everyman for themselves. I see that in Tipp N Máire Hoctor has been trespassing into M Smiths area. Same carry on in Laois/Offaly, Brian Cowan has been spotted in the wilds of south Laois canvassing.

Stephen

The FG candidates are doing that too - JP Phelan has people canvassing the city and Phil Hogan has people canvassing the south of the county! Haven't seen anyone bar FF and FG canvassers around here yet.

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Hey, how did people here vote? I voted this morn before work.
Rainbow coalition all the way baby!!

brettmirl

Ah so you are still alive mfitzy! Was getting worried that FF might have had you taken out...

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mick_irl wrote:

Ah so you are still alive mfitzy! Was getting worried that FF might have had you taken out...

Not a chance! They might try to buy everyone else with their false promises and Bertie's crocidile tears but not me!

Our man in Havana

good on you! I voted just now in LS/OY. Rainbow all the way too! Heres hoping!

BeatNikDub

Here's hoping indeed!!
Got to wait till after work!

Stephen

I'll be voting after work this evening. Rainbow all the way here too.

otherpinion

In response to the previous dicussions with regard "to parish pump politics", I would like to state my support for politicians of that hue.

During the current election campaign , the main problems were not of an economic nature but concerned with the delivery of services such as health, childcare etc. These issues by there very nature are localised issues and have always been best supported by such candidates .


Of course there is a need for those "who can see the big picture" in terms of national economic and foreigh affairs etc., but in order for democarcy to to function and to remain relevant, it is necessary to offset such political thinking by politicians who are very much 'of the people'

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Bond-007 wrote:

good on you! I voted just now in LS/OY. Rainbow all the way too! Heres hoping!

Please god you'll get shut of Parlon over there this time !

Bards

mfitzy wrote:

Hey, how did people here vote? I voted this morn before work.
Rainbow coalition all the way baby!!

I'll know who to blame if the Rainbow get in and don't complete the M9:D

Our man in Havana

mfitzy wrote:

Please god you'll get shut of Parlon over there this time !

I have done my duty in that respect. He got nothing from me!