Whose your favourite Fianna Fail TD?

goose2005

Tommy Bateman wrote: »

This is a tough one for myself, there is so much to consider.

Brian Cowen: straight talking, pulls no punches, no nonsense, a natural born leader

Brian Lenihan: brains to burn, diplomatic, economic wizard, cool headed

Bertie Ahern: peace in NI, the Celtic tiger boom, low unemployment

Noel Dempsey: has brought Ireland's roads and railways into the 21st century

Willie O Dea: honourable and noble in intention regarding defence issues, no nosense

So much to choose from, its worth thinking about seen as Lenny has got the country back and track and the people are returning to the real Irish party.

Poe's Law, anyone?

I particularly like the Dempsey comment. No two cities are linked by motorway, and there are no service stations either. There is no rail link Galway-Limerick-Cork.

trapsagenius wrote: »

Dev did more to for Ireland than almost any one other political figure.

fyp

thebman

Red Alert wrote: »

I think Noel Dempsey's ok.

Taking the p***.

He did great in charge of communications lol.

rasper

Red Alert wrote: »

I think Noel Dempsey's ok.

Only in Ireland would a minister who lost millions and counting of our taxes on the farce of evoting, he went against best advice from the professionals at the time and for, that he should have been sacked from the bench, and the voters should not have re-elected him, yet we pay this moron 200k pa plus expenses as I say Irish politics,

Fat_Fingers

I'm waiting to hear someone from Mayo nominating class act - Beverley Flynn . Go on, i know you want to.

redfacedbear

bmaxi wrote: »

Seán Lemass. In fact if FF could manage to reincarnate him I might even vote for him. His greatest failing IMO was in not exercising more influence over his daughter's choice of husband.
The current FF couldn't come up with even one T.D. fit to lick his boots

Lemass is the only one I think I could actually vote for - his son-in-law notwithstanding - just a pity that he didn't manage to shift Dev sooner.

Of the current crop - jaysus it's hard to name even one that is decent let alone a 'favourite' - I suppose Lenihan deserves praise for getting on top of his brief and driving through the changes he has. I think he's lucky too - Ahern keeping him out of cabinet for so long means that he is not as contaminated as the rest for the shambles they have made of the country.

I think that Dempsey can be good on the 'vision thing' - Better Local Government, e-voting, electoral reform etc but has fallen down on the implementation.

I admire Mansergh for the brass neck - when the **** hits the fan he's usually the only one who'll stick his head above the parapet and when he loses the head it's usually funny.

jmayo

Fat_Fingers wrote: »

I'm waiting to hear someone from Mayo nominating class act - Beverley Flynn . Go on, i know you want to.

Don't forget that Mayo is the one of the few constituencies that really tried to change the government last time.
Three FG TDs and two ffers.
If every other constituency had gone along simailr lines then we wouldn't have a ff/gp so called government.

Sadly there are muppets in the county that still would vote for the flynns even if they kicked them out of their own homes. :rolleyes:

gizmo555

redfacedbear wrote: »

I think that Dempsey can be good on the 'vision thing' - Better Local Government, e-voting, electoral reform etc but has fallen down on the implementation.

Whatever about the other items on your list, even if e-voting had been done properly, there were no benefits to its introduction which came remotely close to justifying either the initial capital spend or the ongoing running costs. At the time, I was chatting to the editor of a national newspaper about it and he couldn't get his head around the reasons why first Dempsey and then Cullen were pursuing e-voting so doggedly. The only plausible explanation he could come up with was that Fianna Fáil are disproportionately affected by spoiled votes in tight constituencies and that they hoped for some benefit from e-voting.

redfacedbear wrote: »

I admire Mansergh for the brass neck - when the **** hits the fan he's usually the only one who'll stick his head above the parapet and when he loses the head it's usually funny.

We should elect our politicians for their ability to run the country effectively and fairly, not for their willingness to be shameless cheerleaders for whatever the latest idiocy is that their party has committed, nor for their entertainment value.

redfacedbear

gizmo555 wrote: »

We should elect our politicians for their ability to run the country effectively and fairly, not for their willingness to be shameless cheerleaders for whatever the latest idiocy is that their party has committed, nor for their entertainment value.

Oh, I completely agree, but do you not sometimes find that when stuck in a horrific situation all you can do is laugh at the insanity of it all? The horror that FF have bestowed on us all makes me incredibly angry but until we can have our say on election day I'm going find whatever little pleasure I can in the current situation.

I also take your point regarding e-voting, but like I said having the vision to at least examine our election process is probably a good thing - its implementation is something else entirely

Liam Byrne

redfacedbear wrote: »

I also take your point regarding e-voting, but like I said having the vision to at least examine our election process is probably a good thing - its implementation is something else entirely

He'd have been better off examining our expenses process, or the corruption and incompetence going on under his nose.

TheWestsAwake

Tommy Bateman wrote: »

This is a tough one for myself, there is so much to consider.

Brian Cowen: straight talking, pulls no punches, no nonsense, a natural born leader

Brian Lenihan: brains to burn, diplomatic, economic wizard, cool headed

Bertie Ahern: peace in NI, the Celtic tiger boom, low unemployment

Noel Dempsey: has brought Ireland's roads and railways into the 21st century

Willie O Dea: honourable and noble in intention regarding defence issues, no nosense

So much to choose from, its worth thinking about seen as Lenny has got the country back and track and the people are returning to the real Irish party.

FAIL

gombeenfan100

Fianna Fails scarlet pimpernel
see clips below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAaHuNo3vyo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9DjGzXgb6s
or go to
http://www.kerryman.ie/news/mcellistrim-protest-vote-will-cause-more-cuts-2067320.html

Fat_Fingers

Tommy Bateman wrote: »

This is a tough one for myself, there is so much to consider.

Brian Cowen: straight talking, pulls no punches, no nonsense, a natural born leader

Brian Lenihan: brains to burn, diplomatic, economic wizard, cool headed

Bertie Ahern: peace in NI, the Celtic tiger boom, low unemployment

Noel Dempsey: has brought Ireland's roads and railways into the 21st century

Willie O Dea: honourable and noble in intention regarding defence issues, no nosense

So much to choose from, its worth thinking about seen as Lenny has got the country back and track and the people are returning to the real Irish party.

Its good stuff this! But lets not forget the real work experience which they bring with them.

Brian Cowen: worked as a barman in his father's pub then went into politics

Brian Lenihan:He began lecturing in law at Trinity College, Dublin in 1984 and in the same year was called to the Irish Bar, member of Irish political dynasty

Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern : Ahern has claimed or it has been claimed by others in circulated biographies that he was educated at University College Dublin and the London School of Economics but neither university has any records that show Ahern was ever one of their students. He worked in the Accounts Department of the Mater Hospital, Dublin but though a self-described accountant, he never qualified as a member of any accountants association.

Noel Dempsey:worked as a career guidance teacher

Willie O Dea: He worked as both a barrister and as an accountant before embarking on a career in politics. He also spent some time lecturing in the Law faculty in University College Dublin and in the University of Limerick