Waterford Election 2011

Sully

AdMMM wrote: »

I think Waterfords primary example of failed politicians taking refuge in the senate is Maurice Cummins. He remains a high profile member of Fine Gael too but I'd rather see parties who wish to reward loyal membership pay for that out of their own funding rather than appoint them to high paying Senate positions which are similar to the ones that the people rejected them from only months earlier.

I don't know whether Sinn Fein wish to get Cullinane elected to the Senate with the view of him contesting the next General Election or if they simply want him to enjoy his final years in politics in peace. My gut instinct tells me it's the latter as he's already been rejected by the people 3 times and if he was the run again he'd be giving
Declan Waters a run for his money for most unsuccessful election campaigns.

Rejected three times and heading for the back door where the people don't have a say. But, if I recall, his vote increased this time which has given them hope about him re-running. I would imagine the idea is, if he was elected, that it would raise his profile and hopefully increase his vote.

nkay1985

Sully wrote: »

Rejected three times and heading for the back door where the people don't have a say. But, if I recall, his vote increased this time which has given them hope about him re-running. I would imagine the idea is, if he was elected, that it would raise his profile and hopefully increase his vote.

Yeah but in fairness you must remember that Sinn Féin in Waterford were starting from zero when Cullinane first ran. There hadn't been a Sinn Féin candidate for a number of years so the party had no profile. He ran and got a very good first preference vote in 2002. He didn't push on significantly in 2007, although he did get the national Sinn Féin percentage and a modest increase. Then he's had a big increase this time out so his profile has been building from a standing start, these past 9 years.

Your memory can't be so short as to forget that it was your buddy Mr. Coffey who headed "for the back door" after the last General Election to execute what I imagine is the exact same strategy. It just happens that FG have the ability to elect more Seanad members so were able to put him in sooner than SF could do with Cullinane.

I hope he does manage to get into the Seanad so we can see how he operates on a national level. He has a good reputation locally, recently evidenced in the 'Rental Extortion' thread, so let's see what he's like when he steps up.

wonderer1

Smiley Burnett wrote: »

a couple of points

1--no guarantee that Cullinane will get elected to Seanad
2--Joe Kelly didnt represent Cullinane's ward on the city council, so the seat may go to someone else

Lads I really hope David gets the seat. This being the case I cant possibly see how the SF party would look outside Joe Kelly for the council seat. He has done trojan work for years in David's ward, can get things done quickly as he knows how the council works and is a household name throughout the city. Just hope he would take it on and keep highlighting the real issues that affect us on the ground!

Smiley Burnett

wonderer1 wrote: »

Lads I really hope David gets the seat. This being the case I cant possibly see how the SF party would look outside Joe Kelly for the council seat. He has done trojan work for years in David's ward, can get things done quickly as he knows how the council works and is a household name throughout the city. Just hope he would take it on and keep highlighting the real issues that affect us on the ground!

how did joe kelly lose his seat so in 2009??

Gardner

to a clown called Dick Roche

insight_man

Smiley Burnett wrote: »

how did joe kelly lose his seat so in 2009??

Sometimes hard work and commitment is not rewarded. Its happened up and down the country to people who should be re elected but somehow lose out by a handful of votes.

AdMMM

Sean Reinhardt is to be co-opted onto the City Council following the election of John Halligan to the Dail. He's well known in his area, and interesting to point out that this co-option isn't either a relation, or a prominent person involved in his campaign which is something we've seen across the country following the elections and required appointments.

I wish him the best of luck.

nkay1985

AdMMM wrote: »

Sean Reinhardt is to be co-opted onto the City Council following the election of John Halligan to the Dail. He's well known in his area, and interesting to point out that this co-option isn't either a relation, or a prominent person involved in his campaign which is something we've seen across the country following the elections and required appointments.

I wish him the best of luck.

That's a strange one. What's the connection so? Is he a community worker or something?

insight_man

AdMMM wrote: »

Sean Reinhardt is to be co-opted onto the City Council following the election of John Halligan to the Dail. He's well known in his area, and interesting to point out that this co-option isn't either a relation, or a prominent person involved in his campaign which is something we've seen across the country following the elections and required appointments.

I wish him the best of luck.

Big surprise there. Sean Reinhardts ex canvassed nearly every night for John Halligan but Sean didn't do much I hear. Must be his GAA connections in city and county that Halligan is looking at. Try to shore up some support in the county where he's weak through connections with Reinhardt.

Whatever the reason there is a plan behind it.

AdMMM

insight_man wrote: »

Big surprise there. Sean Reinhardts ex canvassed nearly every night for John Halligan but Sean didn't do much I hear. Must be his GAA connections in city and county that Halligan is looking at. Try to shore up some support in the county where he's weak through connections with Reinhardt.

Whatever the reason there is a plan behind it.

Really is a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't with you!

Max Powers

I hope no local SF gets into seanad as its the biggest joke, populist, zero economic sense 'political' party of the lot. Almost as big a joke as the seanad itself.

Deise Tom

insight_man wrote: »

Big surprise there. Sean Reinhardts ex canvassed nearly every night for John Halligan but Sean didn't do much I hear. Must be his GAA connections in city and county that Halligan is looking at. Try to shore up some support in the county where he's weak through connections with Reinhardt.

Whatever the reason there is a plan behind it.

Would say not many GAA People in the county know who Sean Reinhardts is. If Halligan wanted to use someone in the GAA as a way of generating support in the county he should have went for someone better known.

insight_man

AdMMM wrote: »

Really is a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't with you!

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with Halligan choosing Reinhardt at all. I just suggested that it wasn't by some accident. There had to be a reason behind it and I suggested strengthening Halligans position in the county.

Deise Tom says if thats the thinking he should have picked someone else. I don't know why Reinhardt was picked so I'm just guessing thats all.

I'm not damming anyone in this at all.

doublejj

sean is a community activast....its nothing to do with gaa......founder member of st pauls gaa club,but would is not well known in gaa circles...well deserved a gentleman.....

insight_man

doublejj wrote: »

sean is a community activast....its nothing to do with gaa......founder member of st pauls gaa club,but would is not well known in gaa circles...well deserved a gentleman.....

I agree from what I hear Sean is a decent man. The question still remains though...why him? He wasn't just picked out of a hat and not a prominent member of the Halligan camp.

There are 3 or 4 other people who on the surface anyway would be closer to Halligan and could have got the seat. The general public and John's own supporters are asking the same question I imagine.

Gardner

insight_man wrote: »

I agree from what I hear Sean is a decent man. The question still remains though...why him? He wasn't just picked out of a hat and not a prominent member of the Halligan camp.

There are 3 or 4 other people who on the surface anyway would be closer to Halligan and could have got the seat. The general public and John's own supporters are asking the same question I imagine.

Delighted Sean has got the seat. its only when i put a name to face that i knew him. gentleman who i knew through the gaa in the city. works his socks for the hurling club up there and is involved with the residents association.
he was involved in Johns local election campaign and took a step back during the general but his support was there.

great decision by John to get him to take his seat, having a good working man on the ground to pick up from johns hard work is vital for the people of the ward!

from this appointment he will see the end of WP in the area. no chance now of ever taking back a local seat. Sean will come very close to topping the poll in the next election.

insight_man

Gardner wrote: »

Delighted Sean has got the seat. its only when i put a name to face that i knew him. gentleman who i knew through the gaa in the city. works his socks for the hurling club up there and is involved with the residents association.
he was involved in Johns local election campaign and took a step back during the general but his support was there.

great decision by John to get him to take his seat, having a good working man on the ground to pick up from johns hard work is vital for the people of the ward!

from this appointment he will see the end of WP in the area. no chance now of ever taking back a local seat. Sean will come very close to topping the poll in the next election.

So from what you said you think the Halligan strategy is to wipe out the Workers Party chances of winning a local council seat in ward 3. You might be right in that.

Yet in the general election a lot of worker party votes went to Halligan on second preferences. Wonder what their supporters will think if your suggestion is right.

AdMMM

Davy Walsh's seat will be safe until he retires. I can also see Joe Tobin winning a seat, at the expense of Mary Roche or Gary Wyse. Most likely Mary Roche.

Deise Tom

AdMMM wrote: »

Davy Walsh's seat will be safe until he retires. I can also see Joe Tobin winning a seat, at the expense of Mary Roche or Gary Wyse. Most likely Mary Roche.

Listening to those who claim to be in the know, i would have thought that mary Roche was doing well. People say she is going well as Mayor. I dont know.

AdMMM

Her actions during her term as mayor have damaged her significantly. Thankfully for her sake, she has a few more years of her saying stupid things and doing even stupider things without the limelight on her. I cannot see the Government delivering on any of their promises which will result in the protest vote going to Joe Tobin. I reckon he'll take a seat without much trouble. Whether or not it's at the expense of Gary Wyse or Mary Roche all depends on whether the voters vote to signal that they've forgiven Fianna Fail.

Deise Tom

AdMMM wrote: »

Her actions during her term as mayor have damaged her significantly. Thankfully for her sake, she has a few more years of her saying stupid things and doing even stupider things without the limelight on her. I cannot see the Government delivering on any of their promises which will result in the protest vote going to Joe Tobin. I reckon he'll take a seat without much trouble. Whether or not it's at the expense of Gary Wyse or Mary Roche all depends on whether the voters vote to signal that they've forgiven Fianna Fail.

What sort of actions. Living well away from the city she appears to be doing well, this trade thing to america etc. In saying that i do know that Michael Walsh is the main man by a county mile in the city.

insight_man

AdMMM wrote: »

Her actions during her term as mayor have damaged her significantly. Thankfully for her sake, she has a few more years of her saying stupid things and doing even stupider things without the limelight on her. I cannot see the Government delivering on any of their promises which will result in the protest vote going to Joe Tobin. I reckon he'll take a seat without much trouble. Whether or not it's at the expense of Gary Wyse or Mary Roche all depends on whether the voters vote to signal that they've forgiven Fianna Fail.

Dont know what your talking about with Roche. What kind of stupid is she saying and doing.

insight_man

Deise Tom wrote: »

What sort of actions. Living well away from the city she appears to be doing well, this trade thing to america etc. In saying that i do know that Michael Walsh is the main man by a county mile in the city.

Michael Walsh is the city manager hes not a councillor but your right just like every other city and county manager he is the main man. Thats because practically all powers are in his hands. Very few powers are in the control of the elected councillors.

comeraghs

ADMM

You seem to have a a problem with Mary Roche considering some previous posts about her on here!

Is it a personality thing or is it to do with policies?

from what I can tell of here she is doing a good job as mayor, getting out & promoting Waterford & being a bit creative in doing it.

I voted for John Halligan based on his performance as mayor & to be honest I´d do the same now with Mary Roche,

AdMMM

Prior to the election she supported, in her capacity as Mayor, a county candidate. I would have had no problem with this had she done it in a personal capacity but to do it as Mayor of Waterford City was just madness. Her sole job is to promote Waterford City, not to make ill-judged endorsements of someone who even went as far to say that we shoudn't have a university. She was on the radio singing Holy Murder when Ruairi Quinn stated we wouldn't have a university, yet she had endorsed a candidate who believed we shouldn't have one?!

When she was running in the General Election, she issued baby photos to the papers in an attempt to get votes. But then again, this was the same election that Marie Raftis-Kennedy, the Green candidate - and only other woman, ran with a child abuse story to try win herself some votes! And then people wonder why many women aren't taken seriously in politics?!

She's liable to say anything (let's put a glass roof over Waterford City, anyone?) and has offended many people with her off the cuff speeches (addressing Down Syndrome Ireland and saying that the children could even grow up and work in a shop!).

Funnily enough, I think Gary Wyse has been much more pro-active in his ward since being elected and deserves to be elected much more than Roche, who I've been told by her family members is a great laugh to be out with, but I prefer to vote for politicians who don't offend people close to you at the drop of a hat.

comeraghs

Which candidate said Waterford shouldn´t have a university?

Did she seriously say that there should be a roof over Waterford City? If she pulled that off she´d definetly have my vote.

Justin Collery

I was pretty clear in being in favour of a university. It was talked about on here, and AdMMM rubbished the fact that I 'made it sound easy'. If the technical university can deliver the same benefits as a full university we should support that. It's a step on the road. I think Waterford can define what a technical university actually is, and should grab that opportunity to shape it to Waterfords benefit.

Because someone is, in your opinion, geographically challenged does not make them a good or bad candidate, their policies do. Even through I live all of 12 miles from the city, many of the policies I was running for, were in my belief to the benefit of the city (and the county, and the country, it was a national election!).

The reality is that local politicians are very constrained in what they can do, Mary is being very energetic in supporting jobs and businesses. If her trip to the states generates 100 jobs it will have been of immeasurably more benefit that fixing 100 pot holes.

Thanks,
JC

Deise Tom

A university under a Fine Gael and Labour Government for Waterford was a non runner. I said that here and was shot down. I dont care however. If there was to be a new univeristy for the South East as some was putting it and not for Waterford i believe that it was going to be in Carlow. The Waterford FG TDs are not valued enough by Enda to have a uni here. On the other hand because Phil Hogan backed Enda in the leadership battle last year, Enda will back him now and if a university was going to be given to the South East it would have gone to Hogan's constituency and failing this to Brendan Howlins constituency as a thank you to Labour for jumping ionto bed with FG.

Deise Tom

AdMMM wrote: »

Prior to the election she supported, in her capacity as Mayor, a county candidate. I would have had no problem with this had she done it in a personal capacity but to do it as Mayor of Waterford City was just madness. Her sole job is to promote Waterford City, not to make ill-judged endorsements of someone who even went as far to say that we shoudn't have a university. She was on the radio singing Holy Murder when Ruairi Quinn stated we wouldn't have a university, yet she had endorsed a candidate who believed we shouldn't have one?!

When she was running in the General Election, she issued baby photos to the papers in an attempt to get votes. But then again, this was the same election that Marie Raftis-Kennedy, the Green candidate - and only other woman, ran with a child abuse story to try win herself some votes! And then people wonder why many women aren't taken seriously in politics?!

She's liable to say anything (let's put a glass roof over Waterford City, anyone?) and has offended many people with her off the cuff speeches (addressing Down Syndrome Ireland and saying that the children could even grow up and work in a shop!).

Funnily enough, I think Gary Wyse has been much more pro-active in his ward since being elected and deserves to be elected much more than Roche, who I've been told by her family members is a great laugh to be out with, but I prefer to vote for politicians who don't offend people close to you at the drop of a hat.

Bloody City-County divide thing we have with some people in this county is what us wrong with us. We should be getting the best people into positions as Councillors, TD's etc. Where they live, whether they are man or woman, Whether they hold religious views etc, Whether they are gay or straight etc should not come into things. If Mary Roche thinks a person from the country is the best person to be elected as a TD so what. Thats her view, you dont have to agree with it. Paddy O'Callaghan muight have thought someone from the city was best suited. But we dont know because we dont hear from him. Ger Barron as vice mayor of the county seems to be doing all the filling in at different functions, including the S patrick's day parades when the mayor was off on a junkit.

Psychedelic

AdMMM wrote: »

Prior to the election she supported, in her capacity as Mayor, a county candidate. I would have had no problem with this had she done it in a personal capacity but to do it as Mayor of Waterford City was just madness. Her sole job is to promote Waterford City, not to make ill-judged endorsements of someone who even went as far to say that we shoudn't have a university. She was on the radio singing Holy Murder when Ruairi Quinn stated we wouldn't have a university, yet she had endorsed a candidate who believed we shouldn't have one?!

In fairness John Halligan was not exactly impartial either during his term as Mayor. He stood on the picket line when there were job redundancies announced at Morris' DIY, taking the side of the workers against the employers.

AdMMM wrote: »

She's liable to say anything (let's put a glass roof over Waterford City, anyone?).

Yeah I remember that but it was just an idea that she was throwing out there. I think it was only John Roberts Square and George's Street she was suggesting could have a glass roof. It's probably still on her blog if anyone wants to read up about it. I think she might have been on here too defending that idea in a thread, she was on here once for something anyway.

I think she is doing an okay job as Mayor, the only thing that annoyed me was when she accepted Failte Ireland's explanation for Waterford being left off that website.