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Kathy Sinnott MEP ?????

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  • 18-05-2009 7:24pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 153 ✭✭


    in the last election I voted for Kathy Sinnott MEP and as I have a disabled adult and at the time thought she was the best person to represent my sons rights in Europe, but in the last 5 years I have seen no improvement in services for disabled persons under her watch as an MEP, in fact she has disappeared into the wilderness for the last 4 and half years.. I am aware she has made submissions to the EU Parliament for the disabled but I could do that myself in writing a letter to parliament. Now kathy in her campaign posters has the slogan 'No party, just You' but her giant billboard posters are paid for by the "Ind/Dem" group which must have cost a pretty penny, so is she not supported by a party machine?

    Also it has been reported on various boards online that kathy In a leaflet advocating a No vote on the Lisbon Treaty, circulated throughout the country and paid for by the "Ind/Dem" group again, Yes vote would bring about the legalisation of prostitution in Ireland kathy claimed if true In the same leaflet, she alleged Lisbon would lead to the introduction of euthanasia
    - In the same leaflet, she says that Lisbon would lead to the legalisation of "hard drugs". She even included a picture of a giant red syringe, just for added effect. Did she not mislead voters?

    Hans-Peter Martin and RTL Television in the fight against alleged abuse of expense allowances did a programme on all Members of the European Parliament (MEP) in Brussels earns approx. 14,700 euros per month (~£11,587), according to this RTL Report (in German with English subtitles). How much the MEPs have to work (or don't work) for their €14,700 is the subject of this on-site RTL investigation in Brussels. The video is about MEPs who sign in on attendance lists and then allegedly disappear immediately for their weekend, in which Kathy was shown signing on @ 7am on a Friday morning to do a day in parliament and with her suitcase beside her and then making a exit for the airport and when confronted by the RTL reporter, Ms Sinnott tells reporter Thomas Meier: "Be very careful about using this, and what you report about me."I have worked seven hours already, up to seven o'clock." The interview takes place at 7am on a Friday, and the reporter notes that the daily payment is "not intended for night work." This video is on You Tube.


    In this time of recession with so many people losing their jobs how can any MEP justify a salary of nearly €15,000 per month plus expences listed below when most people on Job Seekers allowance get €204 per week.Becoming an MEP is a bit like joining a millionaires’ club – you can easily live like royalty and still walk away with more than £1m saved up in your bank account from serving just one five-year term at the European parliament..Get elected twice or more and you can become a multi-millionaire.

    The benefits of being an MEP don’t stop here. MEPs also have a huge list of other entitlements that are generously subsidised by Europe’s taxpayers. If they take language and computer courses we pay their fees, travel and living expenses.

    They have full, free accident insurance, travel insurance and life assurance. They and their families get money for spectacles, contact lenses and dental treatment. MEPs and their families can also get full payment for things such as hydrotherapy, mud baths, aerosol therapy and acupuncture as reported in the Times.



Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭turgon


    Some things as regard Sinnot -

    Sinnot is first and foremost a conservative Euroskeptic. Whatever about her views on disability, she seems to campaign for the elimination of the EU in an oblong kind of way, and she desires a kind of conservative state where her distinctly nutter moral values are forced on everyone. Its not my thing, it might be yours.

    Sinnot is aligned (or used to be, it might be renamed) with the Independence/Democracy (ind/dem) Group in the European Parliament. This group includes such friendly people as the British Euroskeptics and some other irrational people. It is distinctly anti-EU, although you will be hard pushed to get Sinnot to admit this as she knows she would lose votes. The highly productive stuff they do includes voting No to every European Commission Panel put to parliament because they do not believe in the Commission.

    Most, if not all, of what Sinnot said about the Treaty of Lisbon is complete bollox. Its has no basis at all, which suits her slightly agitated support base. So yes, she misled voters.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,077 ✭✭✭Rebelheart


    I have to agree with the above poster about her eurosceptic position. I held a benign view of her until I saw her in the European Parliament surrounded by rightwing British eurosceptics - people who historically have no love for the Irish - waving placards with 'Respect the Irish Vote'.

    I've lost respect for her since.


  • Registered Users Posts: 16,250 ✭✭✭✭Iwasfrozen


    Though I hate to say it, I am also finding myself in agreement with Turgon. Kathy Sinnott has lost all the little respect she once had [emphasis on little] by giving out those awfully missleading leaflets and playing her own twisted part in the "successfull" No vote of the Lison Treaty.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 153 ✭✭veronica


    She has great network of support especially careers, religous groups, disablity groups but I hope that they can see trough her as she has done nothing for them in her time as an MEP. Is it true she employees her family members with EU funding and has three houses one in Schull another Ballinhassig Co.Cork and another rented in Mahon in Cork?


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,077 ✭✭✭Rebelheart


    veronica wrote: »
    She has great network of support especially careers, religous groups, disablity groups but I hope that they can see trough her as she has done nothing for them in her time as an MEP. Is it true she employees her family members with EU funding and has three houses one in Schull another Ballinhassig Co.Cork and another rented in Mahon in Cork?

    In fairness to the woman, I'd imagine that all politicians do that for their families with public money.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 153 ✭✭veronica


    Rebelheart wrote: »
    In fairness to the woman, I'd imagine that all politicians do that for their families with public money.

    What do you mean, so it's right to use taxpayers money for your own benefit?


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,077 ✭✭✭Rebelheart


    veronica wrote: »
    What do you mean, so it's right to use taxpayers money for your own benefit?

    Well, presumably she is given an allowance to pay for these things. And she is choosing to spend it on employing members of her own family, rather than bring in outsiders to do the job. I don't think there is much wrong with that if she would have spent the money paying somebody else. If there are breaches of the rules, then she needs to be held to account. But it seems she is playing within the rules as they currently stand.

    I still wouldn't vote for her because of my above reason, but I think it's important to be fair.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,213 ✭✭✭ixtlan


    I actually think her Euroskeptic nature is working against her disability agenda.

    If I were voting for a disability advocate in the EU, what I would want is them pushing the EU to impose regulations and better rights in each state. However because she wants less interference in each state she cannot seem to take this line.

    Historically in Ireland advances in social equality have been imposed by Europe so logically (but unfortunately in a way) the more control Brussels has over our state the better off the disadvantaged may be. Debatable perhaps... but I think Kathy would not go near that debate.

    Ix.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,591 ✭✭✭✭Aidric


    I think Sinnott is an absolute sitting duck on a diminishing gravy train. She got in on the disability issues ticket but I haven't heard anything of her since then. She comes across woefully on any debates I've seen her in, last night on Vincent Browne another example.


  • Registered Users Posts: 234 ✭✭Ihaveanopinion


    While Kathy Sinnott may have had a legimate platform to stand for election - voting her into a European seat was a total waste of time. Her remit was disability etc and she has done nothing.

    Her personal Euro-skeptic views have superceeded the Euro-centric views of the majority of constituants.

    I personally hope that people see sense and vote in someone who 1) is an effective, experienced politician and 2) reflects their views


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  • Registered Users Posts: 9,366 ✭✭✭ninty9er


    veronica wrote: »
    She has great network of support especially careers, religous groups, disablity groups but I hope that they can see trough her as she has done nothing for them in her time as an MEP. Is it true she employees her family members with EU funding and has three houses one in Schull another Ballinhassig Co.Cork and another rented in Mahon in Cork?

    If people like you write to newspapers expressing views of disappointment and being misled (and she has misled people more than any individual you could care to mention in politics, I'd say Charlie Haughey was more sincere and honest) then you might get somewhere in discrediting her and helping people like yourself to see through her.

    I personally hope that people see sense and vote in someone who 1) is an effective, experienced politician and 2) reflects their views
    +1

    Crowley, Stafford and Alan Kelly will be getting my preferences.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭turgon


    I read Stafford policies, as soon as I saw he wanted some sort of minimum price of milk to be forced upon co-ops I decided he was not my man. I hate those kind of socialist policies.

    Wouldn't give Labour a preference, Kelly would probably be too busy in bed with the trade unions to attend parliament anyway :D

    Ill give Crowley a preference but not no 1 because hes FF.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,350 ✭✭✭Het-Field


    Shocking if you have seen no improvement in the past five years.

    Both Crowley and Sinnott proffer themselves as disability rights activists.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 153 ✭✭veronica


    After she won the high court case with her son's case, the media called her a champion of the disablied, but what did she do for the disablied before this they never mentioned and she took the trophy given to her by the media and ran for the election and won. I blame myself for voting for her the last time out as I was caught out with the hype surrouding her but I gave her a chance she did not perform so this time she will not get my vote!


  • Registered Users Posts: 32,136 ✭✭✭✭is_that_so


    She's on Pat Kenny now along with most of the other candidates. She is disowning the Libertas connection "If you want me to Pat". Her numbers are very low and single issue candidates tend to have problems when that issue disappears from the public eye.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 153 ✭✭veronica


    Heard katty Sinnott on Pat kenny debate show yesterday and he asked her about the two cases being taken by former staff against her, but she said, she could not go into detail as court cases are pending. Does anybody know what these cases are about and have they been reported in the media?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭turgon


    I was thinking today about the election, and considering that S Kelly and Crowley will probably get in, my priority would be to get Sinnot out.

    The last seat will go to either Burke, A Kelly or Sinnot id say. To that end Im considering giving my 1,2 to Burke and A Kelly (even though I dont agree with Labour) to make sure Sinnot is eliminated first. I dont want to give S Kelly or Crowley a vote as this would "dilute" my vote in combating Sinnot.

    What do ye think? Am I being to over the top?


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,155 ✭✭✭PopeBuckfastXVI


    turgon wrote: »
    I was thinking today about the election, and considering that S Kelly and Crowley will probably get in, my priority would be to get Sinnot out.

    The last seat will go to either Burke, A Kelly or Sinnot id say. To that end Im considering giving my 1,2 to Burke and A Kelly (even though I dont agree with Labour) to make sure Sinnot is eliminated first. I dont want to give S Kelly or Crowley a vote as this would "dilute" my vote in combating Sinnot.

    What do ye think? Am I being to over the top?

    Why would that be over the top, you're analysis seems good.

    I'll be holding my nose when I vote too, but I think it's worth giving the soldiers a preference to keep Ganley out...


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