Who will get elected

LeoB

Well with just under a month to polling day who do you think will get a seat on the council? Or who will hold on to a seat?

Who has done work? Who has been good for the area?

Time to ask the hard questions about issues raised here re.. underage drinking, anti-social behaviour and speeding to name but a few. Oh and why are Fingal not buying more houses for local families who have been waiting a few years? Are there many boarded up in your area?

P_1

I'd predict Fianna Fail to get quite the hiding in the polls anyway. The trouble is that while they may lose out in the locals when the general election comes around the sheep will probably vote them in again.

LeoB

Where is the alternative to Fianna Fail going to come from? It doesnt appear to be be there at the moment.
I think all these sheep you mentioned were happy to jump on the band wagon when the money was rolling in and now things have gone askew sure we will just vote out F.F. I think F.G will bring in more serious cuts than the rest put togeather if listening to them on Radio is anything to go by. And the first to be hit will be "Irish Tax Payers"

My only problem with our current situation is no bankers have been locked up. What these people done is in my opinion far worse than what any politican done.

Anway back to post, I actually think F.F wont do as bad in local elections as people predict. At this level all politics are local and they have worked fairly well at local level. Its silly to bring mistake of Government to bear on local issues.

I think Joe Corr could do well followed by Stephen O'Connor of F.F. and Ken Farrell

Eoineo

Joe Corr & Monica Harford are incredibly popular and have a reputation for being responsive outside of election times (!) so I would expect them both to do well.

In Malahide/Howth it's anyone's guess. Alan Farrell may get reelected (I've seen him here on these boards actually so I'd better watch what I say) he's got youth and drive on his side.

bcmf

LeoB wrote: »

Where is the alternative to Fianna Fail going to come from? It doesnt appear to be be there at the moment.
I think all these sheep you mentioned were happy to jump on the band wagon when the money was rolling in and now things have gone askew sure we will just vote out F.F. I think F.G will bring in more serious cuts than the rest put togeather if listening to them on Radio is anything to go by. And the first to be hit will be "Irish Tax Payers"

My only problem with our current situation is no bankers have been locked up. What these people done is in my opinion far worse than what any politican done.

Anway back to post, I actually think F.F wont do as bad in local elections as people predict. At this level all politics are local and they have worked fairly well at local level. Its silly to bring mistake of Government to bear on local issues.
I think Joe Corr could do well followed by Stephen O'Connor of F.F. and Ken Farrell

maybe it is the only way to get the message across to the main chiefs in Leinster Hse as they otherwise seem to be completley out of touch with reality.

blastman

bcmf wrote: »

maybe it is the only way to get the message across to the main chiefs in Leinster Hse as they otherwise seem to be completley out of touch with reality.

Yet listening to them on the Late Late, the overwhelming cry was how important it is to stay in touch with the electorate (when it was suggested in a debate on the nature of national politics that in Ireland today, it's basically a choice between two parties from opposing sides of a civil war with no actual ideological difference between them and there is an over-reliance on the "parish pump" at a national level).

meditraitor

LeoB wrote: »

Where is the alternative to Fianna Fail going to come from?

This is the line Fianna fail have been spreading for years, we dont believe it any more.

The alternatives to Fianna Fail are

Labour
F.G
Sinn Fein
Greens
Independents

A vote for any of these is a vote well spent. Listen to the fianna fail spin about the lack of alternatives at your peril folks.

LeoB

meditraitor wrote: »

This is the line Fianna fail have been spreading for years, we dont believe it any more.

The alternatives to Fianna Fail are

Labour
F.G
Sinn Fein
Greens
Independents

A vote for any of these is a vote well spent. Listen to the fianna fail spin about the lack of alternatives at your peril folks.

This mess has been coming down the tracks for years and they all stayed quiet, all sides. I am not a member of F.F. and they wont get my No 1 but they will get my No 2. I will vote for the people who I feel will do a good job for the area.
I dont agree a vote for any of these is a vote well spent.
I cant even bring myself to listen to Enda Kenny he is not exactly inspiring, Eamon Gilmore has a better chance of getting change if his councillors read the hymn sheet!!. But none of the parties seem to have very inspiring people involved and when it comes back to local issues I think we have good workers in North Dublin.
Should we do away with Punch and Judy politics as suggested by Charlie McCreevy?

bcmf

Forgive me but I am slowly but surely being drawn towards Libertas.

The Hill Billy

bcmf wrote: »

Forgive me but I am slowly but surely being drawn towards Libertas.

I wasn't aware that they were fielding candidates in the local elections for Fingal.

As for myself - I'll be giving my first preference to David O'Connor (Ind). I've had dealings with him over the past year in relation to a couple of local issues & was very impressed with him. He tells you straight up what his opinion is - not what he thinks you want to hear.

Honesty like that is hard to come by, particularly with politicians.

meditraitor

bcmf wrote: »

Forgive me but I am slowly but surely being drawn towards Libertas.

Thats something I will never do, but it is still better than fianna FAIL

meditraitor

LeoB wrote: »

This mess has been coming down the tracks for years and they all stayed quiet, all sides. I am not a member of F.F. and they wont get my No 1 but they will get my No 2. I will vote for the people who I feel will do a good job for the area.
I dont agree a vote for any of these is a vote well spent.
I cant even bring myself to listen to Enda Kenny he is not exactly inspiring, Eamon Gilmore has a better chance of getting change if his councillors read the hymn sheet!!. But none of the parties seem to have very inspiring people involved and when it comes back to local issues I think we have good workers in North Dublin.
Should we do away with Punch and Judy politics as suggested by Charlie McCreevy?

They didn't stay quiet as you suggest, being in opposition gives you no room to dictate policy.
Fianna FAIL are notorious for dismissing opposition policy even when they are good policies.

The real problem is the sheep keep voting Fianna FAIL even when they (and it is them) have driven the country into the ground.

Monica Harford will get my vote and still undecided on the rest, but I usually vote labour / Greens although with the greens getting into bed with FF Im not so sure

LeoB

As I have already stated I am not a sheep but will vote for who I think will do a good job for this area, no matter who they are.

Having listened to Pat Kenny today doing a show from Sligo I think the kartel is feeling very threatened by Libertas. Listening to the bull from Jim Higgins F.G, Marian Harkin Ind, Pascal Mooney and Pat "the cope" they launched into Declan Ganley in what to me sounded like a bitter attack from people from the main parties who are being shown up. Some of the trash the establishment threw up was pathetic.And the journalist who's name I cant think of sounded like a silly little girl who with her attidtude wont do Labour many favours. They spend their time attacking instead of coming up with solutions. If they were even constructive. Its scarey some of the people who could represent us in Europe

The basic idea behind Libertas and the diversity of the canditates Libertas has might not be a bad thing. It gives for good debate in my opinion. So they have people with far right views but some of the people who sit in Dail from all sides have strong views which differ from that of the party but they are nothing more than muppets and afraid to break rank with the whip and this is not good. There are good people on all sides of politics in this country.

Anyway, Meditraitor you say you "would never do that in reference" to bcmf saying they are being drawn towards Libertas But its better than F.F.
What are you/us/we afraid of? Real change?

Anyway, If Dustin declares for Council election and promises he will do things for the good of the area he will get votes. If Libertas had people in local elections I think they would do well.
Joe Corr Green & Stephen O'Connor F.F are 2 canditates I have met and I found both good to deal with. David OConnor has good name as has Monica Harford and with Ken Farrell back in the hunt there is a few good weeks ahead of us.

The Hill Billy

In relation to Libertas v Fianna Fail - I have a deep mistrust of both organisations, particularly their leadership. If a gun was held to my head & I had to make a decision I'd vote Fianna Fail. Better the divil you know.

It is a moot point though, as Libertas aren't fielding a candidate & I feel that there are better, more qualified candidates than Fianna Fail's for me to choose in my ward.

meditraitor

LeoB wrote: »

Anyway, Meditraitor you say you "would never do that in reference" to bcmf saying they are being drawn towards Libertas But its better than F.F.
What are you/us/we afraid of? Real change?

The smoke and mirror routine Fianna FAIL have been using for a generation has become transparent, their failures will cost me and probably my children. So nothing a local FF councilor or candidate can say will make me vote for them.
Libertas are a also a sham. But they have not ruined the country so if it was a choice I would go with the one who has done least damage. Although probably neither.

Change! yes I'm all for change,

I would never push my politics on anyone but I believe any but FF is a step in the right direction

Mark

bcmf

I know this is about NCD and local elections so forgive me for going off an Euro/National tangent.

I am fully aware that Libertas are not fielding in the locals and only in Europe.What lead me to say that I am being drawn towards them is this.They are asking the hard questions about Europe.Sure they are guilty of scaremongering especially in relation to Lisbon.But who isnt.
Sure they prob have some skeletons but agin who doesnt.
After the performance of FF especially on Vincent Browne on Mon night where the FFer was visibly riled by Declan Ganly sure maybe Ganly was stirring it a bit.
As regards better the devil you know................well the devil we know has brought this country to its knees and to shirk its responsibilty by saying its a global recession frankly insulting and shows how out of touch they really are.
I may just take my chances with the devil I know.After all how much worse can it get.My income is at an all time low while my bills are at an all time high and with the "Devil we know" saying that Unemployment will hit 600,000 and not doing anything to address this.Devil I dont know ........ please take a seat.

LeoB

Let me be clear I am not a Fianna Fai supporter. Also I would not push my views on to anyone.
I have voted for them in the past and their canditate will get my No2 this time. I have met him and found him good to deal with.

If you stand back and look at it I think their is a new generation of good young people getting involved in politics and with the relevations of what went on in the past coming out in various tribunals I dont think (hope) we will ever return to that.

As for the national stage the mess we are in is down to mismanagement by various sectors but I find it appaling no bamker has "sacked" They were reckless and I put 90% of the blame on them. The loans they issued were downright reckless trading. Adding the price of a car onto the mortgage, jeasus how much are some of the cars going about now going to cost when they are paid for. Then we mus think about the greed of so many people.
Libertas are asking the hard questions on the national stage and the "Dynasty" could finally be broken. To me Ganley is as trustworthy as a lot of senior politicans now sitting in the dail.

One question I have heard asked this past week or two, shoul we have all party politics?

The Hill Billy

LeoB wrote: »

Let me be clear I am not a Fianna Fai supporter. Also I would not push my views on to anyone.

LeoB - Nobody is accusing you of being a Fianna Fail pimp. We understand that you are giving your 2nd preference to one of their candidates because you feel that they dererve it. Good for you, now let it go & carry on with the discussion. HB

meditraitor

LeoB wrote: »

Let me be clear I am not a Fianna Fai supporter.

Voting for a candidate is supporting the party

LeoB wrote: »

I would not push my views on to anyone.

This was not a dig at you, apologies if it came across that way. What I mean when I say this is that I am a Labour supporter but I didn't want to go down the road of saying VOTE LABOUR;). I would be happy for most anyone else other than F Fail get a vote.Personally I will vote Labour because I know and trust the candidates, they are hard working and honest, quite the opposite of FF.
I hope a " rainbow" lefty type group gets control of our council because in my opinion it can only be a good thing for fingal local politics as it means more to them.
Only my opinion

LeoB wrote: »

have voted for them in the past and their canditate will get my No2 this time. I have met him and found him good to deal with.

I respect your right to vote for whoever you please and if you are confident the candidate is good for the fingal/north county by all means vote for him.

The local elections should be intriguing as I think you are not alone in your Fianna fail support. Fianna fail has always had the silent masses in their pocket.

No offence Ourlad its just politics

bcmf

"The local elections should be intriguing as I think you are not alone in your Fianna fail support. Fianna fail has always had the silent masses in their pocket."

Agree with you there.I dont think the locals will be the FF washout that people are predicting.When faced with uncertainty people will turn to the norm.

Wishbone Ash

I think people are over playing the importance of the parties associated with the candidates. There will always be a portion of floaters but, in local elections, most people tend to vote for the person if they have a good track record (and often pecause they know the candidate personally). To disregard a good candidate because of his/her party, is effectively cutting off one's nose to spite one's face.

Cllr. Gerry McGuire (Lab), for example, will hoover up a lot votes from those who would normally vote FF and FG in general elections, because he is seen as a hard worker and seems to get a unusually high profile.

Ken Farrell (Lab) seems to be very popular. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything negative about him.

LeoB

Hill Billy, Fianna Fail pimp, WOW. It was important I made people aware of the fact I am not a member of F.F

Meditraitor I dont agree voting for a canditate is a vote for a party. This is a local election and the person is the important thing

People need to have a few questions ready for the candiates when they come calling. I have'nt always agreed with Eamon Gilmore yet I might agree with the poster who says Ken Farrell is popular and you dont hear negative things about him. So should I not vote for Ken because I dont like Eamon Gilmore? That would be a bit silly. I would'nt be a big fan of some of the F.F people in power but I know Darragh O'Brien fairly well and think he is a breath of fresh air to F.F and to politics in general as I stated in my previous post.
I have met Stephen OConnell and found him good to deal with, honest and no bulls**t.

Just on Ken Farrell. People in big companies have taken redundancy packages in the past and low and behold they are re-hired as consultants on huge fee's. Did Ken not get or recieve payment a few years ago? So is this fair? I dont know the details of what went on then.

If someone at my door tell me they will do something about underage drinking, speeding and general anti-social behaviour they will do me fine. The housing issue would not be a wise step for me to get into here. I will ask any Euro people I see are they going to push for some stricter measures on whitecollar crime (banks who gave 105% loans to people who an infant could see should not have got them).

Good discussion.

Wishbone Ash

LeoB wrote:

I have met Stephen OConnell and found him good to deal with, honest and no bulls**t

I met Stephen a couple of times in the past year (in social situations) and had no idea he was involved in politics until I saw his posters. He seemed like a decent chap alright.

meditraitor

Does anyone know were I can get a complete list of Local/council electoral candidates?


Just found out the complete list of balbriggan and Fingal candidates is in todays Fingal independant.

meditraitor

The european candidates for Dublin are

Eibhlin Byrne FF Candidate

Deirdre de Burca Green Candidate

* Proinsias de Rossa Lab Candidate

Joe Higgins Soc Candidate

* Mary Lou McDonald SF Candidate

Patricia McKenna IND Candidate

* Gay Mitchell FG Candidate

* Eoin Ryan2 Jnr FF Candidate

Caroline Simons LIBERTAS Candidate

Emmanuel Sweeney Ind Candidate

*current outgoing, only 3 seats this time

As it stands today It looks like Prionsas/Gay seem to be shoe ins the other will fight it out

LeoB

McKenna and Ryan are the only 2 I have ever SEEN in this artea. DeBurca opposed Dubs buikding or buying houses in Wicklow so dont think she will get elected on that.

Mary LOu will pick up a lot of votes for the stance she made against F.G on Pat Kenny a few weeks ago vis her attendance in Euro parliment, she missed a good lot of session as she was on maternity leave.

Alan Farrell

Eoineo wrote: »

Joe Corr & Monica Harford are incredibly popular and have a reputation for being responsive outside of election times (!) so I would expect them both to do well.

In Malahide/Howth it's anyone's guess. Alan Farrell may get reelected (I've seen him here on these boards actually so I'd better watch what I say) he's got youth and drive on his side.

Thank you but speak your mind. I'm hardly going to come after you!

Regarding Joe, I think he might struggle because of national issues. He's got very tough competition in Ken Farrell nearby and I understand the SP or SF candidate is also from Rush. Probably wasn't a good idea to actively pursue the Kenure LAP either.

Monica is an absolute shoe in, part of the furniture in Balbriggan.

meditraitor

Alan Farrell wrote: »

Thank you but speak your mind. I'm hardly going to come after you!

Regarding Joe, I think he might struggle because of national issues. He's got very tough competition in Ken Farrell nearby and I understand the SP or SF candidate is also from Rush. Probably wasn't a good idea to actively pursue the Kenure LAP either.

Monica is an absolute shoe in, part of the furniture in Balbriggan.

First I would like to wish you luck in the upcoming election.

I would be interested in your opinion of local politics with respect to the power councillors have over local amenities/services?

This is not a personal question its just a question about councillors in general.

What powers do you have and what areas are in your remit as a councillor?

Do you really have a say in say public transport provided and what can you do to improve it?

Can you increase the number of Guards in the community you serve?

How does the budget for each council work and who decides were the money is spent? Is it a democratic system or is there different levels of councillor who make more decisions

What part does the civil service play in any of the decisions regarding alocation of funds for different projects?

Is there anywere I can view the complete budget(the books as such) for each council?

What is your opinion of Town Councils? Are they necessary.

Should the council members be increased to allow a better cross section of candidates access to decision making. I.E more independent non party voices on each council?

I know I can probably root out various bits and pieces of infomation about the above but I would like to hear a view from the coal face.

Mark

LeoB

Alan Farrell wrote: »

Thank you but speak your mind. I'm hardly going to come after you!

Regarding Joe, I think he might struggle because of national issues. He's got very tough competition in Ken Farrell nearby and I understand the SP or SF candidate is also from Rush. Probably wasn't a good idea to actively pursue the Kenure LAP either.

Monica is an absolute shoe in, part of the furniture in Balbriggan.

Joe Corr is a good local councillor. Unlike a lot of others I have found him to be an honest guy. As for the Kenure L.A.P Joe made his position quite clear from the start and stuck to it, unlike other from what I hear. So why was it not a good idea to pursue the plan? There was 186 submissions made to F.C.C on the L.A.P. Some people are not happy with aspects of it but if the amendments to the plan and carried through, school and open space provided first, it might not be to bad. Some of the people were genuine in their objections others in my opinion hopped on the bandwagon.
What would you have done?
What changes would have made?

Ken Farrell will get elected without doing much canvassing. Very Popular guy.
Neither the S/F or S.P candidates are from Rush. This can only be good for Joe Corr as the feeling locally is no matter who is power, if we dont have have a Rush person elected NOTHING will be done for Rush as is generally the case. As for the national issue you should be aware ALL politics in Ireland are local and while the Greens are in coalition they have a fairly decent national profile John Gormley is always on T.V and while I am not very fond of him he comes across fairly well. The opposition would have some chance of causing a big upset if they stopped mud flinging which people are sick of. In fairness to your own leader he does'nt seem to be as bad as others but still negative.

Wishbone Ash

I see Dermot Murray's posters have him posing in his fire officer's uniform. :rolleyes:

Does he think this gives him some sort of elevated status? If he was a ballet dancer by profession, would he would pose in a leotard!

He should have the normal suit/shirt and tie like all the other male candidates.

LeoB

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I see Dermot Murray's posters have him posing in his fire officer's uniform. :rolleyes:

Does he think this gives him some sort of elevated status? If he was a ballet dancer by profession, would he would pose in a leotard!

He should have the normal suit/shirt and tie like all the other male candidates.

Drastic times calls for drastic measures:) Thank god he is not a lap dancer:)