Michael McDowell Retires from public life

Your Man

id say willy o dea could get a promotion up to justice, especially after his performance in limerick..him or dermot ahern.
As for the pds id say its the end....(hopefully). mary harney will join FF

copacetic

chump wrote:

People have lost the plot if that can't see that it is important to have people like McDowell in politics.

agreed, I dislike him as much as the next man, but the likes of him with strong opinions, not afraid to say what he thinks without worrying too much about whether it is popular or not is what we need.

It looks like this attitude has cost him dear, he likely would have been ok if he had played a quieter role as minister.

I don't agree with any of his opinions really but would rather have him in the dail than all the various no name/no opinion backbenchers.

Limerick Dude

The Saint wrote:

What about Willie? He seems to have experience with dealing with firearms.:D

I know that was a joke, but the guy takes risks, he sat down between two feuding limerick gangs before to try and come to a solution, brave man!

Wishbone Ash

Limerick Dude wrote:

he sat down between two feuding limerick gangs before to try and come to a solution, brave man!

Publicity stunt - and they were hardly going to harm a sitting politician!

gandalf

Darkbloom wrote:

No, my dear moron.

And that earns you a ban.

fobster

Yeah I'd say the Little Corporal will probably get Justice, have to give him a promotion after getting nearly 40% of Limerick East votes.

daveirl

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copacetic

daveirl wrote:

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agreed, Higgins is another one I am sorry to see go. Himself and McDowell are miles apart on everything except their commitment to their beliefs..

AidoCQS

Here, here, Higgins will be missed.... but sure we dont need him, Aint Bertie a socialist

fobster

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Agreed.

Some people want their politicians to be sycophantic morons who are afraid to speak their minds and be all things to all people.

alanceltic

There certainly wasnt ang GREY area on McDowell, either u loved the man or detested the man. I for one taught he was an excellent minister with some good ideas & well educated too. If it wasnt for his actions on immigration I dare say that parts of dublin would now be like west africa. he was very outspoken and said what he taught without worrying about wether something was "PC" or "POPULAR OPINION" and he paid for this, if only some of our future ministers were prepared to hang their hat on an opinion instead of fence sitting. I agree with previous poster, Harney to defect to Fianna Fail with her other 1 or two TDs and PDs are history. A sad day to see the rotweiler go!!! he wasnt perfect but had a spine!

boardswalker

When the PDs elected McDowell leader they signed their own death warrant.
He had an opinion on everything and competence in nothing.
Ní bheidh a leithéid ann arís - buíochas le Dia.
Tá athas mór orm.

keystone

I would agree that we need opinionated and intelligent ministers however in the fullness of time and when his small portion of our history is written, he will be perceived as a publicity lover. No doubt that any talents he may have had will be over shadowed by his ego.

BTW, Thanks Gandalf. Glad to see that this not a place for insulting and ignorant remarks.

eoghan.geraghty

All I can say is

Dind Dong the witch is dead
the wicked witch is dead!

I do echo the sentiments about Harney though, she has been tackling probably the hardest cabinet position well.

Jonathan

Have the people of Dublin SE gone mad? Its a sad day for Ireland.

vallo

BigTommyBomb wrote:

McDowell had his own ideas for Ireland and was following them rather than just trying to appease peope and chase votes and thats what cost him. Its a pity.

What??

"Stamp duty will be done away with for 1st time buyers .. in July"

MisterAnarchy

jmccrohan wrote:

Have the people of Dublin SE gone mad? Its a sad day for Ireland.

Its a very sad day when a party becomes almost extinct.
The whole idea of democracy is to have a choice.
The PD's may soon be extinct,that can in no way be a good thing.

Wishbone Ash

Parlon looks awful on the TV now. :eek:

Wishbone Ash

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Parlon looks awful on the TV now. :eek:

...but Liz still looking good.

keystone

Agreed on both counts!!

Parlon went to the pub for a sandwich......emmmm yeah!

LordSutch

A Big loss for the Dail ~ one of the few TD's to go blow for blow with Adams & then tell him to his face that he (Adams) had been in the Prov-IRA!

McDowell may have been a hard Man & he may well have been difficult & bullish, and even arrogant, but he was very intellegent and was certainly not afraid of putting it up to the Shinners!

A hard act to follow ~ whether you Loved him or Loathed him ............

The Muppet

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Parlon looks awful on the TV now. :eek:

Parlon on Mc Dowell

" He never courted popularity"

Not a very wise philosophy for a politician.

DublinWriter

Wishbone Ash wrote:

...but Liz still looking good.

Ohhh yeah.

Damn you, previous poster who sang 'Ding Dong the Witch is Dead'. I thought I'd be first, but I'll just have to rely on transfers.

Guten nacht, Herr McDowell. For you, ze war ist ofer.

vallo

I don't know if you could really call him radical, but he most certainly is redundant!:D

LostinBlanch

So was that the last sting of the dying wasp then?

Wishbone Ash

DublinWriter wrote:

Guten nacht, Herr McDowell. For you, ze war ist ofer.

LOL

AidoCQS

McDowell was dead man walking from whence he opened his mouth about stamp duty, was it last July?

That put the property market on hold, which p1ssed off the Auctioneers, who pay large sums of money to the papers for adds in property supplements, which p1ssed off the Editors, which lead the writers to write unfavourably about him... his own fault.

I do think the crowd singing Cheerio, Cheerio, Cheerio though was a bit much

daveirl

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BigTommyBomb

Parlon on Mc Dowell

" He never courted popularity"

Not a very wise philosophy for a politician.

Thats the problem with politics. Its a popularity contest. People with vision need not apply and the country is poorer for it. Its all about voting for the man that will get the potholes done at the end of the road rather than looking at the overall national picture.

mike65

Good to see some here understand the value (as particular as it might be) of a figure like McDowell, unfortunatly we live in an age when looking good and not scareing the horses are the two most important requirements in political longevity.

Dick Roche for Justice anyone?

Mike.