McDowell dilemma

Hugh_C

vallo wrote:

for god's sake ... put this man out of office!

I'm in a dilemma.

Last January there was a local issue in Rathmines I was having trouble with so I e-mailed (!) all 4 representatives. I got a swift response from McDowell's office, and appropriate action was taken as a result of the work of his constituency secretary. The other three responded much later, (and I mean about five weeks ago in Ruairi Quinn's case) and too late to be of use. My dilemma is this, I'm not a lover of the PD's politics, but if they actually achieve something that was of concern to me, am I obliged to vote for them on Thursday. The other three were ineffectual, but MMcD's office actually did something.

What'll I do?

jhegarty

I'd dump him in a river but he looks like he deserves your vote !

Pherekydes

You don't owe him anything. Vote for who (the party) you want to be in the next government.

PH01

If they do the ground work then they should be serious contenders for your vote.

Heinrich

That would depend on the nature of the "local issue" and what was done to resolve it and by whom.
Politicians are notorious for "doing favours".

alcon

You don't owe him anything. I'm in a similar position (if I could vote... but I'm out of Ireland at the moment). A particular TD helped me with a problem, but I still wouldn't vote for him. The fecker even sent me a letter asking for my vote!

By TDs doing favours, this is how they keep getting re-elected - because of the guilt they pile on. However if Ireland is to ever break out of the parish-pump political mindset, then people are going to have to stop voting for whatever side their family was on during the civil war and also to stop voting for the TD who did them a favour. The only reason the favour was done was to get a vote.

TheVan

A public representative who actually represents his constituents on a local and national level seems to be the kind of person you should vote for.

Its very easy to boil it down to "ideologies" but in the end, the effort that a public representative puts in in his own community can be indicative of the kind of person he (or she!) is.

If Ruairí Quinn only got back to you 5 weeks ago, that smacks of electioneering and to be honest, he would have to work hard to get my vote after that.

But no, no obligation....just seems a compelling enough reason

Pansy Potter

Despite what everyone has said I think it is very hard to not vote for the TD who has actually done something for you. We all have the perception that once they're elected we never hear from them again. Job done - they don't need you anymore. So when you have a problem and contact them all and only one does something you are left with a warm feeling about this person. I think its unavoidable.

I recently had an issue regarding a transport problem in my area (Dublin South) I too wrote to all the TDs, and some of the prospectives. I was sure that both Olivia Mitchell and Eamonn Ryan would have been particularly interested in my case as they are both their respective parties spokespersons on Transport, and both being in opposition with an election approaching might like to score some points. But I was wrong. Eamonn Ryan ignored 2 emails, all the others ignored everything I sent, with the exception of Seamus Brennan. He responded to my email within 2 days, and a few days later I got a letter from him with a provisional response from Dublin Bus.

Now maybe nothing more will be done but I feel I must give Seamus Brennan some kind of a preference, and will definitely give Eamonn Ryan nothing.

While TDs are tasked to run the country, not local issues, the ones that convey the impression that they are capable of doing both will always hold their seat.

thebman

TheVan wrote:

A public representative who actually represents his constituents on a local and national level seems to be the kind of person you should vote for.

Its very easy to boil it down to "ideologies" but in the end, the effort that a public representative puts in in his own community can be indicative of the kind of person he (or she!) is.

If Ruairí Quinn only got back to you 5 weeks ago, that smacks of electioneering and to be honest, he would have to work hard to get my vote after that.

But no, no obligation....just seems a compelling enough reason

Maybe he had a lot to do while McDowell was twiddling his thumbs.

I wouldn't vote for him because he did you a favour.

vallo

brim4brim wrote:

I wouldn't vote for him because he did you a favour.

In fact I'd take even greater pleasure in not voting for him after he had done me a favour.

But that's just me.

Well, actually that's just him - he is about the only politician I would find that loathsome.

At the end of the day, it can't be about personal favours. If you vote for McDowell you are saying yes to keeping legitimate asylum seekers out of the country, yes to ministers subverting our judicial system, yes to meaningless promises on incinerators, yes to meaningless posturing as a tough anti-IRA guy etc etc etc, and taking in PD policy, you're saying yes to a 2-tier health system.

bill_ashmount

alcon wrote:

You don't owe him anything. I'm in a similar position (if I could vote... but I'm out of Ireland at the moment). A particular TD helped me with a problem, but I still wouldn't vote for him. The fecker even sent me a letter asking for my vote!

By TDs doing favours, this is how they keep getting re-elected - because of the guilt they pile on. However if Ireland is to ever break out of the parish-pump political mindset, then people are going to have to stop voting for whatever side their family was on during the civil war and also to stop voting for the TD who did them a favour. The only reason the favour was done was to get a vote.

lol, nice little lecture there, yet you still let him do you a favour. :rolleyes:

cm2000

most of these posts have been rubbish. i heard a similar story of mcdowell getting someone a medical card when they needed one. if it was anyone else people would go on about good public service. if he's representing you well then you should of course take this into consideration when voting. and to vallo we HAVE a 2 tier health system as we did under the rainbow when they were in power. if we didn't the state would have to pay and provide for the healthcare of over 4 million people and this would put exceptional strain on the states finances

irish_bob

if michael mc dowell were to make every single person in this country a millionaire ,reduce income tax to 1%, wipe out world hunger , broker a lasting peace between israel and pallestine and score the winning goal for ireland aganst england in the 2010 world cup final
the majority of people in ireland would still hate his guts

Dave!

TheVan wrote:

A public representative who actually represents his constituents on a local and national level seems to be the kind of person you should vote for.

Its very easy to boil it down to "ideologies" but in the end, the effort that a public representative puts in in his own community can be indicative of the kind of person he (or she!) is.

If Ruairí Quinn only got back to you 5 weeks ago, that smacks of electioneering and to be honest, he would have to work hard to get my vote after that.

But no, no obligation....just seems a compelling enough reason

Well it could also be said that the PDs are in such dire straits that they're doing every favour they can to get as many votes as possible. Once they're in power, they won't need your votes for another 5 years, so see if they still do you favours should they manage to get into government.

Just showing an alternative slant on it.....

strychnine

Slow coach wrote:

You don't owe him anything. Vote for who (the party) you want to be in the next government.

Thats the exact opposite thing that you should do. With so little difference between all the parties the guy who improves your life in your constituency is who should get your vote. Your thinking along the lines of a presidential election, the consticuency system is there so local TDs can deal with local issues.

leninbenjamin

at the end of the day they are your representatives so to in responding to your problem they were only doing their job. do not think of it like a "favour" that you must return... it wasn't, it what's they are there for.

flogen

You don't owe him anything but this highlights the dilemma of Irish (and all parliamentry-based) politics.
Should you vote for a candidate who you believe will best serve your area, or do you vote for a candidate who you believe will best serve your country?
The Irish electorate tend to respond well to a good local candidate and even a superbly successful Minister will get punished if they focused too much attention on the office they hold and not the area they're based in.
There's also a tendency to vote for the person who has done a good deed in the past, rather than the person that offers the best for the future. This makes some sense because a TD who gets the job done for you once will likely get it done for you again but it also leads to some public representatives living off minor things they did years ago (in many cases things that aren't very special at all) rather than the merit they currently possess.

The trick is to balance these four aspects - what the candidate has done and can do, what they'll do for your area and what they'll do for your constituency.

In this case you have to ask yourself - was the thing he did before good enough to have him represent you for another 5 years and is it an isolated incident? Do you feel strongly enough about one aspect of his actions or personality to allow you to overlook the things you disagree with? Did he do anything above and beyond what should be expected of a TD?

brianthebard

OP did you get in contact with a local county councillor first?

The_Minister

You don't owe him a vote, and McDowell would tell you the same thing. But, think about it before you decide.
If he responded straight away, and the others waited until nearer election time to try to make you more greatful, then you have to wonder who is being more honest, and who deserves your vote.
McDowell seems to have helped you, he could do with the vote, and IMO, he's a very good national figure. The choice, however, is yours.

tywy

I thought the point of the local councils was so you wouldn't go to your TD about local issues.

When I look at voting for a TD, I see what they'll do for Dublin as a whole as that's where I live. I don't hope that they'd be able to resolve local issues for me, that's what I should go to a councilor for.

Burning Eclipse

leninbenjamin wrote:

at the end of the day they are your representatives so to in responding to your problem they were only doing their job. do not think of it like a "favour" that you must return... it wasn't, it what's they are there for.

That makes no sense.

If McDowell was only doing his job, then that implies that the other TD's in the constituency weren't. So he deserves the vote for doing his job... Simply because the others did not. If that's what you believe constitutes “doing his job”.

For the record, I wouldn’t vote for him, but in your case, might consider him.

There is one PG candidate in my area, Tim O'Malley... Can't say I'm overly enamoured with him. Can’t see him get re-elected either tbh. Kieran O’Donnell will probably take the 5th seat?!

Tricity Bendix

leninbenjamin wrote:

at the end of the day they are your representatives so to in responding to your problem they were only doing their job. do not think of it like a "favour" that you must return... it wasn't, it what's they are there for.

So only one of the TDs in DSE was actually doing their job. Surely he is the only one that deserves to continue in that job?

Oirthir

It really depends what you see as the job of your local TD. Are they there to act as a social worker of sorts, or are they suppose to represent the views of their constitutents in the Dáil and legislate?

nesf

See, I think people get caught up with first preference thinking. I don't see anything ideologically wrong with giving your first preference to your chosen party but giving a few lower preferences to guys in your area that you know do a decent job as a TD.

If you know a TD does a decent amount of work in your constituency you should give them something (imho) but whether it's first preference or fourth is where you get to look at ideology. A FF'er could go 1 FF, 2 FF, 3 FF and give a fourth to the local FG TD who happens to be a good worker in the area despite it being "the other party" without really upsetting their ideological view imho.