Gallagher an MEP... bye-election for his seat?

Yoda

Did FF realize that if Pat "the Cope" got a seat in Europe, there'd have to be a bye-election for his seat in the Dáil?

Sponge Bob

Absolutely correct . Pearse Doherty is salivating .

However Pat will be begged not to go by Donegal FF and will possibly hand the Euro seat to Pashcal Mooney instead .

That is not guaranteed by any means and the by election is the most likely outcome with a SF win the most likely outcome the way things are now and with FG currrently in utter disarray in Donegal SW and with Dinny not having a successor teed up to keep the FG seat .

Yoda

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Absolutely correct . Pearse Doherty is salivating .

Heh.

However Pat will be begged not to go by Donegal FF and will possibly hand the Euro seat to Pashcal Mooney instead .

A seat can be handed over? :eek:

Sponge Bob

A seat can be HANDED over , yes . Substitute lists . Ganleys subs are all family ...in England .

How do you think O Neachtain got Pat the Copes seat in 2002 ???

LostinBlanch

But I thought that someone had to at least sit in parliament before stepping down. If not I can see all kinds of legal action as a result of this, and it would hit FF hard.

Mind you their rightly in the toilet so I wouldn't put anything past them.

Yoda

Sponge Bob wrote: »

A seat can be HANDED over , yes . Substitute lists . Ganleys subs are all family ...in England .

Sorry, I don't follow your shorthand here. What do you mean by "substitute lists"?

How do you think O Neachtain got Pat the Copes seat in 2002 ???

I don't know. I'd never heard of "hand-overs" before. Where are the rules to this specified?

blorg

Yoda wrote: »

Sorry, I don't follow your shorthand here. What do you mean by "substitute lists"?

I don't know. I'd never heard of "hand-overs" before. Where are the rules to this specified?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0606/1224248164595.html

Sponge Bob

LostinBlanch wrote: »

But I thought that someone had to at least sit in parliament before stepping down. If not I can see all kinds of legal action as a result of this, and it would hit FF hard.

That may be so , OTOH I am not sure whether Pat has to resign his Dáil seat until he takes up the euro seat so he could take it up like you say Lost and immediately resign it but before he is forced to resign the Dáil seat .

Mind you their rightly in the toilet so I wouldn't put anything past them.

At one point they were thinking of running Eamon O Cuiv as candidate with baby Eamon O Cuiv as substitute

squonk

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Absolutely correct . Pearse Doherty is salivating .

However Pat will be begged not to go by Donegal FF and will possibly hand the Euro seat to Pashcal Mooney instead .

That is not guaranteed by any means and the by election is the most likely outcome with a SF win the most likely outcome the way things are now and with FG currrently in utter disarray in Donegal SW and with Dinny not having a successor teed up to keep the FG seat .

That's why Paschal sounded so upbeat on Radio 1 last night. I have to say though I was impressed with him. Sounded like a decent guy from what I heard.

Sponge Bob

squonk wrote: »

Sounded like a decent guy from what I heard.

You obviously never had to sit through his RTE Radio 1 programs of retarded country and western because your granny liked him .

squonk

Sponge Bob wrote: »

You obviously never had to sit through his RTE Radio 1 programs of retarded country and western because your granny liked him .

I did alright! That was why I started off witha VERY LOW opinion of the guy! At least he's better in politics than on the air by the sounds of it!

Sponge Bob

I voted to keep Paschal in a country , His own

Dr Galen

does anyone know what all this "the Cope" stuff is about?

Liam Byrne

Sponge Bob wrote: »

However Pat will be begged not to go by Donegal FF and will possibly hand the Euro seat to Pashcal Mooney instead .

WTF ? :mad:

Someone rejected by the electorate can be promoted to a representative undemocratically ? :eek: :mad:

Sponge Bob

Granpappy set up a co op .

There are millions of Gallaghers in Donegal .

Therefore that lot are called the 'Cope' Gallaghers like you have 'Scarteen' O Connors in Kerry as distinct from other O Connors .

Dr Galen

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Granpappy set up a co op .

There are millions of Gallaghers in Donegal .

Therefore that lot are called the 'Cope' Gallaghers like you have 'Scarteen' O Connors in Kerry as distinct from other O Connors .

i can just see it now in the parliament.....

vot iz de cope dat you speek of?


i've often wondered what that was about, but never had the energy to go looking it up.

jimmycrackcorm

I think Donegal had the highest FF vote in the country. It's a FF statelet. It never experienced the Celtic tiger and consequently hasn't suffered as great a fall as the rest of the free state. Event he dole queues are being swollen by plasterers who returned home after losing work in Dublin and not locally.

It will be a safe FF seat to fill regardless unless FG can find another RTE personality to run.

Yoda

Pat the Cope just confirmed on RTÉ that as soon he is declared a MEP he ceases to be a member of the Dáil due to dual-mandate legislation that he himself had a hand in.

So it looks as though even if he wanted to give up the European seat for a substitute he would still have to run in a byeielection to get back his old Dáil seat.

Yoda

Mystik Monkey wrote: »

does anyone know what all this "the Cope" stuff is about?

Wikipedia sayeth: "His somewhat unusual nickname "The Cope" refers to his family connection to The Cope agricultural co-operative which operates in The Rosses area of Donegal. This nickname is even used officially, in his profile on the Fianna Fáil website."

Sponge Bob

Yoda wrote: »

Pat the Cope just confirmed on RTÉ that as soon he is declared a MEP he ceases to be a member of the Dáil due to dual-mandate legislation that he himself had a hand in.

No way out so . Pat is off to Europe and that is that .

Thanks Yoda .

Yoda

So when's the bye-election... and what happens when the FF candidate doesn't win?

turgon

Liam Byrne, the European Parliament remedies vacancies due to retirement and/or death by using a replacement list system. As you went into the polling station you will have seen a poster with the list of Euro candidates on it. At the bottom you would have seen a series of lists under a heading of each candidates name - this is their replacement list. For example Sean Kellys first replacement is Colm Burke (and vica-versa).

So when they retire the first person on the list goes to Europe.

In 2007 when banning of dual mandate was introduced, Colm Burke replaced Simon Coveney as MEP because he was first on Coveneys replacement list.

I would say this system was set to save money and to avoid changes in the ideological make-up of the Parliament halfway through a term. It also helps with smooth replacement of committee members I would imagine.

jimmycrackcorm

Yoda wrote: »

So when's the bye-election... and what happens when the FF candidate doesn't win?

Not a chance - even McDaid's escapade down the N7 did him no harm in the subsequent election. As long as we keep getting more elephant crossings such as the mulroy bridge to nowhere, FF are safe in Donegal:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055455521

Sully

I'm confused. So Gallagher becomes an MEP, loosing his Dail seat. What happens next? Can the seat be given to any candidate or does it go next in line as per count? Or is there a list of possible candidates and someone gets to pick who takes the step? Do we get another bye-election, if so, how long can the government hold off?

Yoda

If what Gallagher says is true, his Dáil seat is vacated as soon as he is elected MEP. And there's only one way to fill that seat. I don't know what the rules are about how quickly they have to hold the bye-election, or who calls it.

Yoda

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Not a chance - even McDaid's escapade down the N7 did him no harm in the subsequent election. As long as we keep getting more elephant crossings such as the mulroy bridge to nowhere, FF are safe in Donegal:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055455521

The bridge seems hardly relevant.

http://www.rte.ie/news/elections/local/a06.html shows that FF did OK, but that does not necessarily mean they would win a bye-election.

is_that_so

It's basically up to the government. Typically it's 90 days or so. I imagine it would have more to do with whether they can retake it. Based on his own votes, although a lot of it personal, I suspect there is enough of a FF vote left in Donegal to elect a new FF TD although McLochlainn of SF would fancy his chances.

kevmy

I wouldn't be 100% sure they would take it. Sure they would have the highest share of the vote but it's unlikely there would be a George Lee-win-on-the-first-count winner. If people then transfer from the rest of the anti-government parties even 60-40 they would be in trouble.

brianthebard

Yoda wrote: »

If what Gallagher says is true, his Dáil seat is vacated as soon as he is elected MEP. And there's only one way to fill that seat. I don't know what the rules are about how quickly they have to hold the bye-election, or who calls it.

I think the govt can call it whenever they want, but with some referenda coming up they will be under pressure to hold it on whatever date they are held. To not do so would be a declaration of no confidence in themselves. As other posters have pointed out FF remain strong in Donegal so they have a better chance of keeping Gallagher's seat than would be the case elsewhere.

turgon

Usually the delay in moving the writ is in respect for the dead, which is fair enough. However here they do not have any reason not to move the writ, unless they want to postpone it until Lisbon 2.