SU Elections

gamblitis

blacon wrote: »

This has been blown way out of proportion.

Here here.

blacon wrote: »

Monaghan Penguin, you spoke of the Doyle Campaign team creating a sympathy vote for Megan. It is my opinion that this sympathy vote has only been created by your complaints. You have made this whole thing seem far worse than it was, and that is a fact.

I'd like to point out that Megan's team were doing the exact same as Doyle's team, i.e trying to find holes in Doyles manifesto and asking him awkward questions. The fact remains that there are simply more holes in Megans manifesto than Doyles, so more questions were aimed at Megan.
Do you really think that Megans team wouldn't have gone through Doyle like a hot knife through butter if they had the ammunition to do so?

The DCU SU will be a sorry place next year if votes are swayed by this nonsense. The fact remains that if Megan was 'nearly brought to tears' by the questions she was asked yesterday, she simply would not be able to stand up for students in the many confrontations she would have as SU President.

I have to agree. What ever happened is finished and cannot be changed. Mistakes were made, apologies were made and accepted.

We're only human and we make mistakes. This is how we learn. If we could turn back time I think there would be a number of people who would have acted differently at the Q&A session but unfortunately this is not an option.

I think to drag this incident out any longer would be very childish act.

Sorry Gizmo, I'm not trying to backseat mod but I just think everyone should just move on from this and remain focused on who they think would be the most capable person to take the Presidential post next year.

MonaghanPenguin

I've removed some of my most recent posts as has Dave as it was getting childish.

gizmo

I've also removed some silly little insults and flames from various people.

gamblitis is quite right, while I do think this incident is certainly worth considering when deciding who to vote for, there are plenty of other things which need to be discussed in the meantime.

Grudaire

I'm surprised at how the Presidential election seems now to be judged on who isn't the worst. Clearly Mr Doyle is losing votes from this. I know some people will automatically not vote for Nudie becuase he's a GAA head (which I would like to point out is completely unfair, he has a very balanced personality, and does get things done.) I don't know Megan well enough to comment on her.

I would like to hear a bit more about the Deputy candidates though..

gamblitis wrote: »

Sorry Gizmo, I'm not trying to backseat mod but I just think everyone should just move on from this and remain focused on who they think would be the most capable person to take the Presidential post next year.

Yea, because this will have no effect at all on anyone's opinions at all. Someone's ability to oversee the running of a whole host of committes and the organisation of a variety of events could not be judged at all by how they organise and control a group of what are their friends in the canvassing process... </sarcasm>

Ria2

Ok so I only came onto boards today for the first time in aaaages because of all the talk....and I see that a lot of maifestos are up here.

So here's mine

My name is Maria Corcoran and I'm running for Science and Health Convenor. I'm an ESH3 class rep and PRO of juggling society. I'm a 3rd year Environmental Science and Health. This means I have experience in most of the main areas of the faculty - Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Health. I hope to improve the academic and social life for students. I am a very friendly and approachable person and I think I would make a good convenor. I will listen to all students and put forward their opinions on any issues that may arise. I will strive to improve the faculty in the following areas:

-Lab structure.
This would involve more training for lab tutors so they are aware of the ongoing labs. Improve student-tutor relations.

-Nursing work placements.
This would involve more support for nurses on placement, including having facilites open later for students who need to do things in college after work. Also help with any accomodation issues relating to this. It has been brought to my attention that Childrens nurses get an hour every day in their placement to do assignments but none of the other nurses get this. I will try my best to make this equal for everyone. However, as i am not a nurse myself I will need more feedback from nurses so all feedback is very much appreciated. I assure you nursing students will not be neglected by me if I am elected.



-INTRA work placements.
More talks for students due to go on placement so they are aware of the system and what is involved. Also more support for students who do not find placements on time.

-Module configurations.
Some of the modules in this faculty are unneccesary or need changes. I wish to improve this situation with feedback from students.

-Social Events.
Science and Health Ball.
Nurses Ball.
Inter-faculty activities
Hopefully more throughout the year also. Especially during reading weeks for us who do not get them


-Academic support.
I wish to provide more information to students in relation to their career path possibilities (especially for common entry courses), course requirements, grinds, referncing workshops. I will do what I can to improve the moodle site to make more notes available here as the n drive can be awkward to get to near exam time in particular. I will encourage lecturers to make more notes available. I hope to make all module requirements very clear on either the portal page or moodle, as people often forget how much each continuous assesment is worth and how many there are. I will improve assesments with feedback. (If students want more C.A or longer exams etc.)

-Other issues

Promote inter-faculty relations
Bridge the gap between lecturers and students
I hope to arrange comfortable seating on the ground floor of the science building to accomodate students waiting around for lectures/labs...Or just for students to chill out on



So please vote MARIA CORCORAN #1 for SCIENCE AND HEALTH CONVENOR!


Thanks for reading!

Insulting_Bitch

blacon wrote: »

This has been blown way out of proportion.

Monaghan Penguin, you spoke of the Doyle Campaign team creating a sympathy vote for Megan. It is my opinion that this sympathy vote has only been created by your complaints. You have made this whole thing seem far worse than it was, and that is a fact.

At last, someone with a bit of sense.

Coming on boards to stir sh*t is just not cool.

In the eyes of many, including myself, this could be very well taken as a smear campaign. As a former student union president MonaghanPenguin, I would expect you of all of people to realise that boards is the one place to avoid.

I will stand up and say that I am a Doyle supporter and over the other two candidates my position is further strengthened by their lack of knowledge and experience.

Firstly, if anyone listened to the radio debate and heard Nudie say that he would be willing to 'read' the constitution...why did he not read it before running or at the very least before going into a radio interview. The constitution is the foundation of the union. It stinks of not understanding the role and it seems that he did not bother his behind to research it.

As for Megan, grand girl. I do not find her overly approachable but do think her manifesto is not bad at all. She has some great ideas but some of which I think are not that workable.

I will be voting Doyle #1, Megan #2 and Nudie will not even merit my #3.

newtothis10

I have been following this thread on boards for a while now and finally joined to have my say.

Insulting_Bitch wrote: »

Coming on boards to stir sh*t is just not cool.

hypocrite seems to be a word you may need to look up here. you attacked Ciarans supporters whom I also seen in the bar that day. They were a group of girls having lunch,.which in any setting is bound to be loud and somewhat annoying, this has nothing to do with campaigning for Ciaran. they were not bothering people by canvessing or approaching people looking for votes, simply wearing their tshirts and having lunch.

do not attempt to quell one smear campaign by starting another yourself. if what I have read here is true then Dave and his supporters have alot more to answer for than being "shrill", "annoying" and not knowing the exact details of the position, for example perhaps bullying and intimidation.

saying that I will not let boards cloud my decision and wish all three nominees the very best of luck!

Daysha

Insulting_Bitch wrote: »

Coming on boards to stir sh*t is just not cool.

In the eyes of many, including myself, this could be very well taken as a smear campaign. As a former student union president MonaghanPenguin, I would expect you of all of people to realise that boards is the one place to avoid.

And what I would expect everyone to realise is that boards is one of the best platforms we have for average students like myself to find out about who we'll be voting for and discuss the merits of each nomination (it's miles ahead of the forum on life.dcu anyway)

Our next president is going to be the head of our Student Union for the next year, we have a right to find out about the goings-on during the campaign, and what happened during the debate last night would certainly be of interest to the vast majority of posters here.

Ex-president or not, he absolutely did the right thing by highlighting the issue to everyone here. I'm still undecided so I don't know if it'll influence my vote or not, but at least I'm more informed than I was before. I'm sure a lot of other people here feel the same.

blacon

In the end though, any forum is not a good way to decide on these matters. Going to the talks and listening to the debates is the only real way. Forums in general are full of propaganda. All it takes is for 20 supporters of one candidate to post sh*t about the others, and it could sway the votes of countless readers.

I agree that they can also be a great source of information, as long as the readers try to keep an open mind and not base decisions solely on the words spoken by a fellow forum user.

irish_boy90

It is a fantastic source of information for people who are not in dcu (for whatever reason). For those who are busy or miss events. Lots of information in this thread where anyone who is interested can read through.

It is an internet forum so you can't take anything as fact however if you know who is doing the talking you can tell who you should listen to.

tvservices

Firstly, I am not involved in any candidates campaign teams, nor do I promote or stand for any one particular candidate.

This is just something that I think needs to be said. Anyone who believes that MonaghanPenguins original comments are a smear campaign against David Doyle are one of three things:

1) Someone who does not know MonaghanPenguin
2) Trying to play down the extent of how bad the incident was
or
3) Just plain stupid

Why? well for starters MonaghanPenguin knows and is friends with many of David Doyle's campaign team and indeed with David Doyle himself through their heavy involvment in SU activities. That made his comments very hard on his part to make. He actually took on the behaviour of FRIENDS! Something not very many people would do and something which makes his comments very admirable.

His expression of disgust with the behaviour of David Doyle's team is sincerely just to let people know what happened that were not there and not necessarily a direct target at David himself.

David has now apologised and has in his own words 'disciplined' his campaign team. In my opinion this is now over and can effect your voting in whatever way but at this stage I believe it should finish here.

It happened, judge it/forget it, let it change your vote/just focus on the policies, whichever you do just leave it be now.

Final thought (sorry bout the length), MonaghanPenguin did the right thing by posting and it is clearly not a smear campaign against David Doyle (MonaghanPenguin's friend!! or was anyway).

Common Sense and good luck to all candidates

Urizen

I'd agree with Irish boy. Boards are really the only place to go if, like me, you happened to miss the Presidential debate. You probably shouldn't rely on it as the be all and end all of your information, but you can't totally dismiss the usefulness either.

Joe_Bloggs_2010

newtothis10 wrote: »

I have been following this thread on boards for a while now and finally joined to have my say.



hypocrite seems to be a word you may need to look up here. you attacked Ciarans supporters whom I also seen in the bar that day. They were a group of girls having lunch,.which in any setting is bound to be loud and somewhat annoying, this has nothing to do with campaigning for Ciaran. they were not bothering people by canvessing or approaching people looking for votes, simply wearing their tshirts and having lunch.

do not attempt to quell one smear campaign by starting another yourself. if what I have read here is true then Dave and his supporters have alot more to answer for than being "shrill", "annoying" and not knowing the exact details of the position, for example perhaps bullying and intimidation.

saying that I will not let boards cloud my decision and wish all three
nominees the very best of luck!

Finally someone with a bit of sense on this thread!!! Fairplay!

JoePie

College is gas lads.

OrionsBelt

In an attempt to break away from the whole debate issue, i want to ask a question thats bugged me since hustings. a lot of the Health and Science convenors and the ed and wel candidates mentioned who the nurses and the school of nursing feel isolated, and to be fair there is some truth to that.

what i was wondering is why isn't the school, given its size, not considered and seperate faculty and therefore have its own convenor? i know they have the nursing officer, but wouldn't their own convenor be a way of bring them in, so to speak. is it more a university thing that it decided to combine with science?

Nanaki

I wasn't in the bar, what's "the issue of the Irish language in Campus Residence"?

blacon

OrionsBelt wrote: »

what i was wondering is why isn't the school, given its size, not considered and seperate faculty and therefore have its own convenor? i know they have the nursing officer, but wouldn't their own convenor be a way of bring them in, so to speak. is it more a university thing that it decided to combine with science?

I absolutely agree with you. I voiced this opinion to Maria who is running for Science and Health and she said the reason they are grouped is that they do in fact share a lot of modules with each other but she also agrees that the nurses haven't had good enough reprsentation. She said she'll focus as much as possible on changing this.

The role should be split. Although one of Doyle's policies is to make the role of the Nursing Officer much more valuable.

damo darko

Hey all just posting a facebook link to my page/manifesto for engineering and computing...

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=67740647421&ref=search&sid=531156722.3204467267..1#!/group.php?gid=111635642188210&ref=nf

Check out the discussion part for all your campaign manifesto ness :P

toostrong

OrionsBelt wrote: »

In an attempt to break away from the whole debate issue, i want to ask a question thats bugged me since hustings. a lot of the Health and Science convenors and the ed and wel candidates mentioned who the nurses and the school of nursing feel isolated, and to be fair there is some truth to that.

what i was wondering is why isn't the school, given its size, not considered and seperate faculty and therefore have its own convenor? i know they have the nursing officer, but wouldn't their own convenor be a way of bring them in, so to speak. is it more a university thing that it decided to combine with science?

Hi,

Alan Armstrong here going for Science and Health convenor. I completely agree with your point regarding the Nursing students. From talking to the nurses it does seem that many of their issues relate specifically to their school and are not something which can be generalised across the board with other science and health students. Therefore it makes perfect sense to create a separate faculty for them. This would definitely be a priority of mine, if elected, to ensure the idea of a separate faculty for nursing students was fully investigated.

Something I mentioned in my manifesto and at the hustings was a review of the nursing officer position. This would be the first step in closing the gap with the nursing school as to create a new faculty would take a lot of time and planning. Personally I think the position does not reach its potential. My idea for the position would be that the nursing officer should have more say and power to act on issues specifically relating to nursing, as that is why the position exists in the first place. This would involve the officer working closely with the convenor in organising specific events and dealing with issues relating to nursing. Also creating a nursing mail list would allow both the nursing officer and the convenor to address the nursing students specifically on any issues or events.

I feel that these ideas would ensure that nursing students receive more specific representation in the students union and that the nurse who is elected to represent nursing students has more say and power the help them.

Al

Urizen

I really don't think a seperate faculty is needed. I just think that the convenors should work harder to include those that are often excluded. I mean, if we talk about splitting Science & Health, why not split Engineering & Computing? Where do we draw the line? We'll end up with a 20 person Executive if we go down that route.

That said, I do believe the role of Nursing Officer needs to be massively enhanced. People seem to forget we have one. In fact, a good deal of the other SU officer positions are forgotten eg. Accommodation Officer, Returning Officer. Simply making the Nursing Officer a more active position would solve the problem, especially if they worked closely with the convenor.

dcubetty

I find it ironic that you can attack a group based on what they look like or choose to wear. we're not in primary school here. yes some people may enjoy wearing fake tan, or backcombing their hair. just as others wear track bottoms or hareem pants or ponchos or metallica tshirts or t-dye or "jesus is my homeboy" shirts. Theyre wearing what makes them feel happy, theyre not hurting anyone in doing so, so whats your problem? (also UGGS happen to be the most comfortable things in the world, you should give them a try)


"Like the Summer Ball? Or has that been cancelled in dcu? Maybe the Golden Circle of E&S could do another Anglo Irish on the college."

I think E&S contributed greatly to the last few summer balls. Bringing out a bbq, and volley ball nets. Regardless of your opinion on what happened in Budapest, there will need to be a huge effort put into this summer ball to fill the void left from the society. they created a great buzz around campus lifting everyones spirits with random megaphone chants, boom boxes, general banter and great contagious enthusiasm.




"I don't see issue with the current Rag Week. Its about charity and getting students to give a little where they can not about spending lots of raised money to just have a good piss up session E&S. If you don't think people are giving ENOUGH then you need to look at student apathy and morals not what fun filled boozing events are organised. There are enough people taking time out of their week to go around with buckets collecting for students to give."

The financial return from the effort put into this years RAG week was abismal. I think that there is always room for improvement and with that comes change and diversity. We should always remain open to new ideas and perspectives. That is not to takeaway from the effort put in by those this year, but I think that the volunteers and the campus itself could have been utilised in many other ways. students should not be expected to hand over their hard earned money because its "for charity" or "its the right thing to do". we need to be creative in letting them know that theyl be making a difference, feel more involved or have a "fun filled boozing event" that will raise more money than buskers scattered around campus.

legendal

blacon wrote: »

In the end though, any forum is not a good way to decide on these matters. Going to the talks and listening to the debates is the only real way. Forums in general are full of propaganda. All it takes is for 20 supporters of one candidate to post sh*t about the others, and it could sway the votes of countless readers.

The minority view is very often blown out of proportion on boards.ie, but did you honestly think that conducting himself in such a public manner wasn't going to provoke a reaction here?

In fairness, you need to be approachable in this job and the last two presidents were excellent at this - in fact, they often were the ones doing the approaching. If Doyle thinks his kind of attitude is a proper way to run an SU he's sorely mistaken. If he thinks his attitude is a proper way to treat fellow people he's mistaken too.

Carri

dcubetty wrote: »

..................

Ye, E&S are gone. No one cares. This is also a thread about Elections not E&S and the way you dress...

Annyway, I am very confused when it comes to voting now.. I've only really heard from the presidents and one of the two faculty convenors for Engineering and Computing.

I'd like to see more about the other people running.

Go away silly Doyle rabble.

Hauk

dcubetty wrote: »

*SCHNIP*

Learn 2 internet. <o/

johan

dcubetty wrote: »

Winters wrote: »

I think I stand for

I think E&S contributed greatly to the last few summer balls. Bringing out a bbq, and volley ball nets. Regardless of your opinion on what happened in Budapest, there will need to be a huge effort put into this summer ball to fill the void left from the society. they created a great buzz around campus lifting everyones spirits with random megaphone chants, boom boxes, general banter and great contagious enthusiasm.

[/B]

Ha. BBQ at the ball 2 years ago was done by Trispace, the Redbull Trucks Sound Systems, lights etc are all organised by Shea McNelis, The SU events manager, though his contacts, including people like collie and max when he was red bulls campus rep, turning up and playing vollyball and singing along is not equivilent to organising it, any society can do that.

gizmo

dcubetty wrote: »

I think E&S contributed greatly to the last few summer balls. Bringing out a bbq, and volley ball nets. Regardless of your opinion on what happened in Budapest, there will need to be a huge effort put into this summer ball to fill the void left from the society. they created a great buzz around campus lifting everyones spirits with random megaphone chants, boom boxes, general banter and great contagious enthusiasm.

I can only assume that you've been in the college a short time as there were BBQs and volleyball nets at the Summer Ball before E&S were established. As for the buzz around campus, I have still yet to see someone not involved in the society make a statement like that and as such, I remain unconvinced.

dcubetty wrote: »

Students should not be expected to hand over their hard earned money because its "for charity" or "its the right thing to do".

Actually that's precisely the reason they should want to give money.

The primary goal of RAG week is to raise money for charity, not get absolutely tanked for the entire week. Now that's not to say one can't do both, however, someone putting €5 into one of the buckets will mean far more than someone paying for a ticket into an event.

legendal

Carri wrote: »

Go away silly Doyle rabble.

Dismiss it as rabble if you like, but you're not going to get that debate to "go away" on this place. What happened the other night's important too.

Winters

dcubetty wrote: »

I find it ironic that you can attack a group based on what they look like or choose to wear. we're not in primary school here. yes some people may enjoy wearing fake tan, or backcombing their hair. just as others wear track bottoms or hareem pants or ponchos or metallica tshirts or t-dye or "jesus is my homeboy" shirts. Theyre wearing what makes them feel happy, theyre not hurting anyone in doing so, so whats your problem?

I've no problem with people choosing to wear what they want. Infact, I do wish more people would do. I think you will find that what the stereotype and joke is being made fun of is people actually not wearing what they want to but what their peers and the collective mind thought was their fashion. College intends people to branch out, meet people they would never have before and to grow themselves. It encourages students to explore their individualism, their own creative streak, gather opinions which break from the norm and can lead to new ways of experiences and gain courage doing things they would never have done so before. The stereotype being expressed is a play and joke upon the fact that these students chose not to be individuals, infact they chose to let a collective mind dictate what they were, now obviously not all but enough to create a stereotype, and there in created the problem at the very core of the wide campus image upon that particular society in general. They were nothing more than the hated 'cheerleaders of a highschool'; the ones who thought they were elite and be that because of the fashion they had amongst themselves which ensured that anyone who saw ANYONE in that style thought that is who they are, they thought they were the best and believed it so strongly they thought they could do what they wanted no matter who they pissed on the process.

dcubetty wrote: »

(also UGGS happen to be the most comfortable things in the world, you should give them a try)

I cant see myself looking too well in UGGS or denim skirts and fake tans for that matter. Does it have to be the real 300euro UGGs or can I just use cheap penny's knock offs? Maybe drop me a PM and we can discuss this further over a drink?

dcubetty wrote: »

I think E&S contributed greatly to the last few summer balls. Bringing out a bbq, and volley ball nets. Regardless of your opinion on what happened in Budapest, there will need to be a huge effort put into this summer ball to fill the void left from the society. they created a great buzz around campus lifting everyones spirits with random megaphone chants, boom boxes, general banter and great contagious enthusiasm

I think you must be unbelievably naive and almost brainwashed to believe that sort of hype and spin. Having spent a fair few years in DCU I can tell you that a BBQ at a Summer Ball is not a new invention by one society. I remember one year they had a fake beach setup with bucket loads of sand somewhere (I wasn't at it that year) and this is all before the incarnation of one society. You will find that no one society ever created an SU event and I feel sorry for the past couple of years SU's to have their hard efforts in creating some absolutely fantastic events overlooked and for Shea who has done some amazing work too.

dcubetty wrote: »

The financial return from the effort put into this years RAG week was abismal. I think that there is always room for improvement and with that comes change and diversity. We should always remain open to new ideas and perspectives. That is not to takeaway from the effort put in by those this year, but I think that the volunteers and the campus itself could have been utilised in many other ways. students should not be expected to hand over their hard earned money because its "for charity" or "its the right thing to do". we need to be creative in letting them know that they'll be making a difference, feel more involved or have a "fun filled boozing event" that will raise more money than buskers scattered around campus.

I feel sorry for students if they feel they cannot spare a single extra euro for charity unless they get an event back for their efforts. Now I would agree, if collections are getting smaller maybe a new approach needs to be looked at? but thowing money hand over fist just to organise a "boozing event" inorder to get students drunk enough to donate to charity is not the way. Nearly all societies and clubs do what they can during RAG week to raise money amongst their members, the chuggers around (although can be pushy ) ensure that once a student feels the need to help those less fortunate during the one week of a year they do ask they can donate.

I remember RAG week events being fairly numerous so I dont think that the problem IS the events but possibly more so the new celtic tiger kids who were born with a silver spoon in their mouth and don't really grasp the fact that there are those less fortunate and that throwing your change from a roll at spar, or forgoing that first drink of the night really does make a difference. I do think the SU and Clubs+Soc's have always and will always do a fantastic job at trying to raise money, but if the vast majority of students arnt willing to give anything without something in return its a bad show not on the student body as a whole but generally on what this society has become.







Enough of that anyway. Back to the elections at hand..

I hadn't weighed into the discussion about the delegates harassing (If that's even the right term to use, I do mean no offence by it) candidates as I wanted to see all sides and opinions in the story first. What I will do is just mention how it was when I was on a candidates team. The foremost thing we were always reminded was that WE were representing our candidate and anything we did was a reflection upon that candidate. It was something we were always reminded of and we all ensured that nothing was done to embarrass, single out or harass any voters or the other candidates as it would always look worse upon the team and ultimately our candidate.

No matter how hard you try there will always be times when something will go wrong and things could get a little out of hand and I have no doubt that this is what happened (particularly if it was in the bar with alcohol consumed and tensions raised as its prone to outburst). Its sad to see happen as any candidate knows your faith is in your team and for them to ignore your wishes is a real shattering. However it is fantastic to see an open response from the candidate explaining what happened and that actions were taken.

My good luck to all people running in the next week as things will hot up even more and you will be working flat out campaigning all day and all night. And do remember, however hard you try, you will also never beat our after party

Ria2

Urizen wrote: »

I really don't think a seperate faculty is needed. I just think that the convenors should work harder to include those that are often excluded. I mean, if we talk about splitting Science & Health, why not split Engineering & Computing? Where do we draw the line? We'll end up with a 20 person Executive if we go down that route.

That said, I do believe the role of Nursing Officer needs to be massively enhanced. People seem to forget we have one. In fact, a good deal of the other SU officer positions are forgotten eg. Accommodation Officer, Returning Officer. Simply making the Nursing Officer a more active position would solve the problem, especially if they worked closely with the convenor.

Maria here (running for Science and Health Convenor)

I agree with Urizen here! Although I don't think that a seperate faculty for Nursing would be an entirely bad idea, I don't think it is necessary. It may even make the Nursing students feel even more alienated...

If elected, I will do all in my power to make the Nursing Officer's role more important and work closely with them to ensure the school is represented properly and all issues are addressed and dealt with effectively. I wish for Nursing students to be more informed on what goes on in the college. Most Nursing students don't bother going to the Hub as most of their lectures are in the H building. Therefore they rarely even see Campus magazine. Even small changes like putting Campus and College View in the H building and putting event posters up there would help i think. There seems to be an existent attitude of 'Well nurses are on placement the whole time so why bother with them.' This needs to change because, although they are on placement a lot, they are still DCU students! They still have lectures and college time along with their placements. They need to be kept in the loop of the social side of college!Their voices need to be heard and put forward!!

argonaut

Reading through this thread, along with listening to the radio debate, has convinced me to vote for Doyle.

Particularly in the radio debate, there was really no contest- Hughes' answer on the question about the constitution was just plain embarassing. O' Riordan was fairly okay, but a little vague.