Joe Higgins MEP: McDonald & Ganley finished!

Rebelheart

Absolutely a dream scenario!

Wonderful, Joe. Very, very well done. Where's Bertie "playing handball against a haystack" Ahern now?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0608/breaking2.htm

http://www.rte.ie/news/elections/stories/2009/0608/euroelection.html

A more honest, hardworking and principled individual in Irish politics is hard to conceive of. You know what you get with Joe Higgins. Fair play to the people in Dublin who put him in.

It is great to see our aspiring eurosceptic, Mary Lou McDonald, put in her place. The day she and Sinn Féin allied with the "British Isles" wing of British eurosceptics in the Lisbon Treaty was the day she, and Sinn Féin, abandoned any claim to being a party promoting Irish independence.

And Ganley? The contrast between that dubious muppet - and his even more dubious links with the US neocons and military - and Joe Higgins could not be more stark.

Comhghairdeas a Sheosaimh!

Highsider

Pity about Ganley TBH but well done Higgins all the same.

Joey the lips

Rebelheart wrote: »

Absolutely a dream scenario!

Wonderful, Joe. Very, very well done. Where's Bertie "playing handball against a haystack" Ahern now?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0608/breaking2.htm

http://www.rte.ie/news/elections/stories/2009/0608/euroelection.html

A more honest, hardworking and principled individual in Irish politics is hard to conceive of. You know what you get with Joe Higgins. Fair play to the people in Dublin who put him in.

It is great to see our aspiring eurosceptic, Mary Lou McDonald, put in her place. The day she and Sinn Féin allied with the "British Isles" wing of British eurosceptics in the Lisbon Treaty was the day she, and Sinn Féin, abandoned any claim to being a party promoting Irish independence.

And Ganley? The contrast between that dubious muppet - and his even more dubious links with the US neocons and military - and Joe Higgins could not be more stark.

Comhghairdeas a Sheosaimh!

Considering your name and your use of irish and your grasp of socialism I am very surprised at your bad comments towards mary lou. Then if I look deep I wonder am i. It seems a bit hard on her.

On that note its by the blessings that Joe got it because without Joe or Mary lou we would not have a no voice in europe to let us see what the yes campagn is up to

Well done Joe! Europe wont know what hit them!

conchubhar1

when i heard mary lou was not likely to get in - i was whole heardetly wishing joe would

if eoin ryan got in i would have lost all hope for dublin

Modo_09

Can somebody please explain why Joe Higgins in Europe is a good thing? I listened to him on today FM a couple of months back and lets just say i was not impressed.

conchubhar1

Rebelheart wrote: »

It is great to see our aspiring eurosceptic, Mary Lou McDonald, put in her place. The day she and Sinn Féin allied with the "British Isles" wing of British eurosceptics in the Lisbon Treaty was the day she, and Sinn Féin, abandoned any claim to being a party promoting Irish independence.

Comhghairdeas a Sheosaimh!

that is why she studied european integration studies and stood for europe - come of it

no, they still re working on that. :eek: imagine, the republican party doing that. sarcasm

aontaím le sin, ach sin an méid.

conchubhar1

mado - maybe someone else can

i didnt vote for him, altho i am delighted he got in instead of ryan

CiaranC

Delighted. Fair play to Higgins

astrofool

It should be funny to see him as an MEP, doesn't take away from the fact that he has nutball policies that would see us remove ourselves from the (majority of the) world.

Glad to see Mary Lou will be keeping up her record of not attending the european parliament.

cosmic

Go Joe!

I could not be happier!

Rb

Great result and a huge relief to see those two idiots fail.

jacool

So, will Joe Higgins still be going for election to An Dáil, as has been hinted at in the Irish Times on Saturday, or not ?

mobius42

jacool wrote: »

So, will Joe Higgins still be going for election to An Dáil, as has been hinted at in the Irish Times on Saturday, or not ?

On The Last Word last week, he said that he will still be going for election to the Dail. If he gets a Dail seat, Clare Daly will replace him as MEP.

Fulton Crown

Modo_09 wrote: »

Can somebody please explain why Joe Higgins in Europe is a good thing? I listened to him on today FM a couple of months back and lets just say i was not impressed.

Me too pal....Higgins was TD for the Blanchardstown area until they threw him out a few years ago.

Seemed to spend most of his time thinking up "witticisms" an colourful phrases which were picked up by the media.

Represents a failed and outdated ideal of champion of the working man - to include all manner of misfits / bolshies / dole scroungers and work shy malcontents who think the "state" owes them a living.

watch out for "Joe - the peoples champion an colourful character" act being brought to the heart of Europe ...remind you of anyone ?

Dustin the Turkey - The Europeans won't get the joke here either.

Hopefully this backwoodsman won't do too much damage over the next 5 years and the good citizens of Sheepmoor / Clondalkin / and Blanch will put on their pyjamas and trakkies and flock to the polling stations to put an end to the rantings of this windbag

makl

Fulton Crown wrote: »

Me too pal....Higgins was TD for the Blanchardstown area until they threw him out a few years ago.

Seemed to spend most of his time thinking up "witticisms" an colourful phrases which were picked up by the media.

Represents a failed and outdated ideal of champion of the working man - to include all manner of misfits / bolshies / dole scroungers and work shy malcontents who think the "state" owes them a living.

watch out for "Joe - the peoples champion an colourful character" act being brought to the heart of Europe ...remind you of anyone ?

Dustin the Turkey - The Europeans won't get the joke here either.

Hopefully this backwoodsman won't do too much damage over the next 5 years and the good citizens of Sheepmoor / Clondalkin / and Blanch will put on their pyjamas and trakkies and flock to the polling stations to put an end to the rantings of this windbag

Higgins pulls transfers from all areas, gender, class, age - does that tell you anythin? maybe its that a good few people see integrity, sth which a lot of them lack. ye might say the same for bruton, eamon ryan, de rossa, gregory, o'sullivan etc etc... so before rantin like this, which ur fully entitled to, see the point that a lot of people respect him regardless of philosophy.

threw him out? he came 4th in 2002, and came 4th in 2007. so yea, they threw him out by removing a seat in a densely populated constituency.

"misfits / bolshies / dole scroungers and work shy malcontents who think the "state" owes them a living."

Tripe. he represents workers - workers, people who work, people who want to work, people who work but are forced to pay most of their earnings on basic necessities. not the pyjamas and trakkies that your classist snobby statement asserts.

modo-09 above, look at some of the policy answers on his website, www.joehiggins.eu to get an idea. the fact that he's only going to take home the average industrial wage says a lot.

and btw, i'm not a socialist. if fg, sf or even ff put up a good candidate, i'll vote for them.

djpbarry

makl wrote: »

he represents workers - workers, people who work, people who want to work, people who work but are forced to pay most of their earnings on basic necessities.

Actually, he also claims to represent “the unemployed”.

makl wrote: »

not the pyjamas and trakkies that your classist snobby statement asserts.

A somewhat ironic statement considering Higgins’ frequent references to “the working class” during the course of his campaign.

O'TOOLE79

Yay , I'm very happy for him.

kevmy

Wouldn't at all agree with his policies especially on the economy but I have huge respect for him.

He is honest, principled, hard-working and a different voice from that which is usually heard. He stands up for what he believes in and will undoubtedly try his best for all the people he serves.

Tbh I think we need people from all spectrums of the political landscape to have a voice in parliament.

A complete contrast to the careerist, self-serving and untruthful Mary-Lou in my mind. Given a choice between them I'd have Joe every time.

Greentopia

I couldn't vote for him but I'm glad Joe Higgins got elected.
BTW he's on The Last Word right now with Matt Cooper

Fozzie Bear

Declan Ganleys recount demands appear to have blown up in his face. His total has been reduced by 3000 votes following the recount according to TV3 news.

Delighted for Higgins too. A real man of the people. Others may laugh at him and mock but he is still there and will leave a better legacy IMO (bertie take note)

FlutterinBantam

Now ..back on topic... Higgins,in my honest opinion is a Don Quixote character who appeals to the low achievers, the drones, the naysayers, the type of people who expect the state to hold their hand from cradle to grave.
His bailiwick is the mantra of the greedy capitalist tearing the food out of the "workers" mouth.

Joe knows full well that his brand of ideology will never work, but makes a nice little living around his "champion of the working man" presentation.

As Fulton Crown said,he loves the attention he gets from the carefully thought out "off the cuff" responses to people who are actually trying to do something for this country.

It's great to purport all the pie in the sky stuff he elucidates , the no bin charges,the no to income levies, the no to water rates,happy in the knowledge that he will never have to run a country on those policies.

So for the people who ,maybe it's their first time taking an interest in politics, and who genuinely want this country to succeed take a hard look at Higgins and his aide de camp Claire Daly and genuinely try and think what kind of a wasters charter they promulgate and think what it would be like to exist in such a state.


Just think about it.

Permabear

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sceptre

donegalfella wrote: »

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I see what you did there.

Helpful link for anyone who missed it:)

wildswan

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Joe knows full well that his brand of ideology will never work, but makes a nice little living around his "champion of the working man" presentation.

Apparently neither does free market capitalism if the events of the last few months are anything to go by.

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

the no to water rates

It would be a disgrace to pay water rates in this country. It would be a bit like paying for sand in a desert!

sink

donegalfella wrote: »

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Hey, even I gave Mr. Higgins a preference as he will be better than Mary Lou, but as I put Eoin Ryan before him my preference didn't help him get elected.

Higgins can campaign all he likes for socialism but as he is a small fish in a very big pond with few allies he won't really get anywhere, so I wouldn't worry about it.

Sinn Fein are the far more dangerous threat as they have a party system to push their agenda at all levels, local, national and European and they are far less honest then Joe.

FlutterinBantam

Higgins has effortlessly landed in the slot where he will never have to take risks or account for himself.

All he will do is push out the old mantra of the "downtrodden worker" and he will have the immediate support of the neanderthals who believe that despite taking no risks, taking no initiatives, and earning €35 per hour in the pay of a semi state or state company ,they are down trodden.

Those are the people he appeals to,and they are many.

Will he ever encourage private investment, entrepreneurship,risk taking and job creation by the small and medium businesses who form the backbone of this countries economy??

NOT A CHANCE.

So those who voted for Joe be proud tonight and wallow in the reflected glory of electing a maverick who will never get anything done, never take even the slightest risk, depend of "the State" to provide for them and who's ambition is to drag the populace down to the lowest level of achievement whilst pumping money into wasters and chronic low achievers happy in the knowledge that inventive thinking will be snuffed out at birth and that the acme of achievement is to lodge in a council house and claim state benefits for the rest of your life.

We can do better than that.

wildswan

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Will he ever encourage private investment, entrepreneurship,risk taking and job creation by the small and medium businesses who form the backbone of this countries economy??

NOT A CHANCE

FF crippled private investment in industry etc by helping to make property speculation way more attractive than actual investment. Now they're trying to stop those speculators from going broke by protecting Anglo Irish.

Does that make Fianna FAIL socialist?

Permabear

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Mad Finn

Well I'm no doctrinaire Socialist but I have always been impressed by Higgins' integrity, candour and the diligence with which he goes about representing the interest groups that are his main constituency.

I also believe that any democratic assembly is the better for having a conscientious contrary voice, continually challenging whatever is the prevailing wisdom of the day. Call it the "Carping Critic" which all the management text books tell you is such an important component to have in any decision making process.

So I gave him my vote.

The only mild regret I am already having is that I have since learned he wants to run for the Dail in which case his MEP seat will go automatically to somebody I didn't vote for, that I don't know and could be a complete loony tunes altogether.

Now I realise this is as much a flaw in the system as it is in Higgins' Dail ambitions but I still think that if he asked to be elected to an assembly which doesn't have the facility to run by-elections then he should honour the mandate he was given.

Nodin

donegalfella wrote: »

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There was no national socialists there as far as I can tell.

Permabear

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