Willie O'Dea resigns as Minister for Defence

Stab*City

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0218/breaking13.html?via=mr

I thought this might happen.. Funny the way things change for the good outta something bad.. Before the recession this would have been brushed under the carpet..

PeteSanchez

Good riddance to an arrogant self absorbed incompetent embarrassment to this city. :mad:

Roadend

How's he going to get to and from the dáil wothout the ministerial car?

Kess73

I am sure the €100,000 pay off he is getting for losing his position will soften the blow.

I wonder will the Limerick man who got a year in jail for perjury after his life was threatened if he gave evidence, take out a lawsuit against the State?

Afterall if one man does not get jailed for the same crime, why should another have gone to jail for it?

banjobongo

I was in the pub last night, we were trying to think of 1 thing that Willie has done for Limerick. We could not think of anything he has achieved for Limerick. Can you? (apart from having a fly over and loads of tanks for hte Paddy Day parades! )
There was a vox pop on the radio this morning (RTE1 Morning Ireland) and the general feedback was that this was bad news for Limerick. Personally I dont see how its bad news for Limerick, I dont see it as a loss, as he has not done anything for us and I dont think he has bought any news jobs in Limerick.
Just my opinion!

neo2010

It is partially bad news for Limerick City as we have lost a representative on the front bench but in reality the loss isn't that great as he hasn't achieved anything significant for Limerick City.

Everything was just empty promises.

flutered

sure he will be a loss, look at all he has done to keep dell open, all the work to keep aer lingus slots to heathrow open at shannon, all the work done to have aer lingus use the pre clearence to the u.s. the work to have ryan aer keep their slots in shannon, bye bye willie you were and are a dead fcuking loss all i will remember him for is being a yes t shoch man

bazz26

I wish he would take those other incompetent members of that Government with him but hey their day is not too far off.

Aidric

Lads tbf he was consistently one of the largest first preference vote getters in the country, let alone Limerick. Now he had to be doing something right to get this sort of support. Just because they mightn't be the headline grabbers that's not to say he was doing a lot of good constituency work on smaller matters. To go back to some of those issues outlined by other posters earlier these were all headline business decisions that weren't likely to be swayed by one mans lobbying. Dell were always going to relocate to a lower cost base economy once a suitable one was identified. Aer Lingus pulled a non profitable route which they have every right to.
Now having said all that what he did was indefensible and he righly stepped down as a result. However instead of kicking a man when he's down we should at least have some perspective.

flutered

ok dell was always going to go, what fight did he put up, himself and calamity coughlan went to austin when it was too late,when th decision was final,he never opened his mouth before that, he never once was vocal about shannon, did he pubicly come out and ask al to stay, or ra for that matter, did he ever cross swords with mol, you bet your last buck he did not,there is more to being a politician than just getting medical cards which people are entitled to anyway, also housing, just because a td sends you a letter saying you are going to get one actually means that under the criteria you are entitled to it, i am not kicking him because he is down, he is down because of his mouth, a guy gets 12 months for perjury to stay alive, he should get more, because of the slander involved, plus quoteing the he had info from the gaurds. this clown is dead long live the clown

Itsdacraic

neo2010

Itsdacraic wrote: »

LOL I'm going to miss the aul fool. :pac:

golfball37

Aidric wrote: »

Lads tbf he was consistently one of the largest first preference vote getters in the country, let alone Limerick. Now he had to be doing something right to get this sort of support. Just because they mightn't be the headline grabbers that's not to say he was doing a lot of good constituency work on smaller matters. To go back to some of those issues outlined by other posters earlier these were all headline business decisions that weren't likely to be swayed by one mans lobbying. Dell were always going to relocate to a lower cost base economy once a suitable one was identified. Aer Lingus pulled a non profitable route which they have every right to.
Now having said all that what he did was indefensible and he righly stepped down as a result. However instead of kicking a man when he's down we should at least have some perspective.

It was nowhere near unprofitable I dunno where you heard that?

Willie had a chance to vote in the Dail to save this route and he showed his loyalty was to FF before Limerick, the same way the Taoiseach showed his loyalty was to FF and his friend ahead of the standards of his office this week.

flutered

do i not remember a thread on this forum some time ago discussing wheather or not he done a favour for a convicted person involved in the gangland fued, i forget the outcome, but i cannot seem to remember anyone saying for definate whitch or wheather.:eek:

gaf1983

Aidric wrote: »

Lads tbf he was consistently one of the largest first preference vote getters in the country, let alone Limerick. Now he had to be doing something right to get this sort of support. Just because they mightn't be the headline grabbers that's not to say he was doing a lot of good constituency work on smaller matters. To go back to some of those issues outlined by other posters earlier these were all headline business decisions that weren't likely to be swayed by one mans lobbying. Dell were always going to relocate to a lower cost base economy once a suitable one was identified. Aer Lingus pulled a non profitable route which they have every right to.
Now having said all that what he did was indefensible and he righly stepped down as a result. However instead of kicking a man when he's down we should at least have some perspective.

Funnily enough Maurice Quinlivan's originally raised the concern that Willie O'Dea was getting 6 (taxpayer funded) civil servants to carry out these routine constituency tasks.

He's exactly the type of parish-pump national politician this country could do without. If he was so good at local issues he should have stayed at local level.

I still haven't heard of one solid achievement he made for Limerick, can somebody enlighten me?

Zero-Cool

I dunno about 'Limerick' but I know of how he helped a family I know who were having problems with a dodgy solicitor in town. I won't get into details but Willie was a great help and i'm sure he has helped a lot of other people who used his free clinic.

That pic is classic!

Liam Byrne

sheehy83 wrote: »

I dunno about 'Limerick' but I know of how he helped a family I know who were having problems with a dodgy solicitor in town. I won't get into details but Willie was a great help and i'm sure he has helped a lot of other people who used his free clinic.

That pic is classic!

Again, that has nothing to do with his job as a national representative or as a minister.

So many things in Ireland are down to people only getting what they're entitled to (redress, Garda or Health Service help, etc) when some politician pulls a few strings, and to be honest it's probably deliberately that way so that the people who were "helped" vote for them next time around.

He helped a family; wow. Big deal. If I was on €1,500 a day I'd help a few people too.

I'd say there's even a few people that George W Bush helped, but that doesn't change the fact that he was a ****e and dangerous president of the U.S.

munstergirl

As a limerick person I have no idea what Willie O'Dea ever did for Limerick..

I know he goes to lots of funerals, I hear he's great for the people in his clinics, (doing what I don't know never been) maybe getting people council houses, new windows, medical cards.....

I am glad Willie O'Dea is gone, just wish he was fired and had to sign on the dole like the 22,000 people in limerick dole office.

Really anyone any idea what he ever did for Limerick City??

Unemployment.. Limerick Gangs.. (like 4 familys) City Centre falling to pieces..

Good bye Willie enjoy your 100,000 salary.. maybe now you'll have time to sort out our lovely city!

grenache

Glad to see another arrogant politician out of power. He should have been sacked, and as i've already stated in the Politics forum, that fact that he resigned because he didn't want to cause a ''distraction'' tells you all you need to know about the morals of the man - he couldn't even admit what he did was unethical and unacceptable.

iguana

grenache wrote: »

Glad to see another arrogant politician out of power. He should have been sacked, and as i've already stated in the Politics forum, that fact that he resigned because he didn't want to cause a ''distraction'' tells you all you need to know about the morals of the man - he couldn't even admit what he did was unethical and unacceptable.

It's worse than that, he resigned because the Greens said they would pull out of the coalition if he didn't step down. FF made him go as they didn't want to risk an election right now.

LoganRice

^ you mean forced, rather than resigned.

The place will probably stay the same, since he never even did anything only now Dublin cork and Galway are going to get all the attention rather than limerick. How exciting =|

bacon&cabbage

grenache wrote: »

Glad to see another arrogant politician out of power. He should have been sacked, and as i've already stated in the Politics forum, that fact that he resigned because he didn't want to cause a ''distraction'' tells you all you need to know about the morals of the man - he couldn't even admit what he did was unethical and unacceptable.

He did, he retracted his statement and apologised to the court :rolleyes:

bacon&cabbage

LoganRice wrote: »

^ you mean forced, rather than resigned.

The place will probably stay the same, since he never even did anything only now Dublin cork and Galway are going to get all the attention rather than limerick. How exciting =|

Yes, Limerick is much better off now that we have no Minister at the cabinet table :rolleyes:

Kess73

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

Yes, Limerick is much better off now that we have no Minister at the cabinet table :rolleyes:

True, because he was so good at backing Limerick at the cabinet table.

All his talk of "kicking ass" at the Dail, but anytime push came to shove, he always towed the party line when he was in Dublin.

Bit like the vote that was taken on the Shannon issue, Willie was all on about fightingf for Shannon when he was interviewed down here, but when the vote happened, weirdly enough there was no vote against it from the FF ranks.

Dell was more of the same, all waffle down here and nothing in the Dail.

Regeneration was just another thing for him to make out he was doing something with.

I reckon a lot of his votes were given to him by people not because of any work he did, or any quantifiable improvements he brought to Limerick, but rather to keep a Limerickman in the cabinet regardless of whether he was any good at his job.

pappyodaniel

bacon&cabbage

Kess73 wrote: »

True, because he was so good at backing Limerick at the cabinet table.

All his talk of "kicking ass" at the Dail, but anytime push came to shove, he always towed the party line when he was in Dublin.

Bit like the vote that was taken on the Shannon issue, Willie was all on about fightingf for Shannon when he was interviewed down here, but when the vote happened, weirdly enough there was no vote against it from the FF ranks.

The Govt were going to pull the plug on Shannon regardless,
AL are a commercial operation, you'd prob be one of the first complaining about political interference...

Kess73 wrote: »

Dell was more of the same, all waffle down here and nothing in the Dail.

Are you seriously suggesting that Dell would've changed their mind.

Kess73 wrote: »

Regeneration was just another thing for him to make out he was doing something with.

What, It's happening isn't it

Kess73 wrote: »

I reckon a lot of his votes were given to him by people not because of any work he did, or any quantifiable improvements he brought to Limerick, but rather to keep a Limerickman in the cabinet regardless of whether he was any good at his job.

40% of the voters in Limerick east gave him their first Preference in 2007
The second highest first preference vote in the country.
Give them some credit please

Kess73

The Govt were going to pull the plug on Shannon regardless,
AL are a commercial operation, you'd prob be one of the first complaining about political interference...



If it kept jobs in the Shannon region, then why would I complain? If government interference was an issue, then it sure as hell did not stop the government stepping in to bail out banks and various developers. Surely all of those would be termed as commercial operations as well.

Are you seriously suggesting that Dell would've changed their mind.


Probably not, but who knows what could have happened if Dell were approached when the talk of them leaving first surfaced rather than waiting until the last minute to see if a deal could be brokered. Going at the last minute just smacked of a PR exercise to appear like something was being done.


What, It's happening isn't it


The recent news that it now may not be happening contradicts that. Plus O'Dea's own comments two weeks ago that the only way it would go ahead now is if private investors come in with the promised 1.7 billion that the government originally claimed was put aside for the project for the years between 2009 and 2018 with a further 1.3 billion to be nededed after 2018. So no further state money for the project, no job boost, and nothing bar Willie's promise to "kick ass" on the subject.

40% of the voters in Limerick east gave him their first Preference in 2007
The second highest first preference vote in the country.
Give them some credit please



Credit for what? For voting back in a man with very little by way of quantifiable achievements for the region he claims to represent? Ahh shure Willie is great, he gets people medical cards that they already qualify for, he walks around a lot, and he spoofs to local media about all he is going to do for Limerick in terms of jobs and industry, but the minute he is in front of the camera in the national media he reverts to type, and starts spoofing and saying that the interviewer needs to ask other ministers about those areas.

If those ministers are accountable for those areas, then he should not be spoofing on local media that he has any influence over them.

He was the perfect minister for FF, he was no threat to their status quo and always towed the party line, never rocking the boat on any issues

bacon&cabbage

AL and the Banks are completely different and you know it.
Bailing out the banks was in the national interest, AL moving to Belfast was in the commercial interest of AL
BTW The Govt didn't bail out any developers. Name one please ?

There was no long term future in connecting bits of computers together in a high cost economy like Ireland. It didn't matter when WOD went to Dell, they were going to pull out anyway. It was a minor miracle they stayed in Limerick for as long as they did.

The regeneration has already started, the Govt were never going to foot bill for knocking and building a load of houses. Private investment in the project didn't live up to expectation, we all know the reason why.

Credit for having some level of intelligence. Again if 40 % of the population in a 5 seat constituency considered him good enough to represent them then he must have done a lot of things right. All these people aren't stupid.

I'm not going to continue this argument with you, we have a difference of opinion, so I think we should leave at that, instead of hogging the discussion

LoganRice

He hasn't done anything for the city. Half of patrick street is gone, and O'connel street is beginning to go the same way.

I'm waiting for a cinema in the city centre

Aidric

People blaming O Dea for the Dell pullout would want to go and lie down for a while.

Liam Byrne

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

The Govt were going to pull the plug on Shannon regardless

Are you seriously putting that forward as an excuse to vote the wrong way and not represent your constituents ?

If he voted against and the rest of FF shafted us, then fair enough.

But he joined them in shafting us, despite talking about doing the opposite.

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

Are you seriously suggesting that Dell would've changed their mind.

Again, 100% irrelevant. He should at least have tried. He didn't bother. Despite being on €1,500 a day.

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

40% of the voters in Limerick east gave him their first Preference in 2007
The second highest first preference vote in the country.
Give them some credit please

Hopefully they'll evaluate the fact that he hasn't represented us and vote accordingly next time out.