Wexford Election Speculation

theforum

WexfordWarrior wrote: »

who the hell is the best person to vote for then... im sorry but the parish pump tactics have to rule on this occasion in my mind... wexford is in a complete mess... wexford town needs investment badly...then we have the roads issue alongside the total lack of ideas and vision by anyone with any bit of authority or pull in the place.

1800's thinking in 21st century times ! all investment and business is focused on waterford we are getting the **** end of the stick as usual... it sucks ass big time and im sick of it... whoever will do somthing for wexford gets my vote becausee on a national level nobody cares about wexford or its people and were getting sucker punched every time.

our hospital in bits, st.senans gone, zero incentives to get business back up and running in the place and even less promotion of the county in general.

i dont care if you accuse of parish pump tactics ... nobody else gives a dam and if the people of wexford dont stick up for themselves who else will...

whoever brings employment, infrastructure and builds the WEXFORD ECONOMY gets my vote.... because im Wexican First, Irish Second! simple as that.

Well Wexford Warrior, at least you know what you want!

I think most people from Wexford would agree with your analysis. However, as is said, a rising tide lifts all boats! If someone is good at national level then Wexford will experience the benefit at local level.

Theres no point in returning the same old faces with the same old "hows your father?" attidude. Its gotten us nowhere in the past and wont in the future. The parish pump has a lot to answer for in Wexford!

It looks at the moment that Fine Gael and Labour will be in government after March 11th.

Your choices are basically Liam Twomey, Brendan Howlin and Paul Kehoe.

Only these three are likely to be in the same room as the cabinet table. FG and Labour in the past have given us ministers. We live in hope that they'll do so again. God knows we need one....or two!

Judgement Day

theforum wrote: »

Well Wexford Warrior, at least you know what you want!

I think most people from Wexford would agree with your analysis. However, as is said, a rising tide lifts all boats! If someone is good at national level then Wexford will experience the benefit at local level.

Theres no point in returning the same old faces with the same old "hows your father?" attidude. Its gotten us nowhere in the past and wont in the future. The parish pump has a lot to answer for in Wexford!

It looks at the moment that Fine Gael and Labour will be in government after March 11th.

Your choices are basically Liam Twomey, Brendan Howlin and Paul Kehoe.

Only these three are likely to be in the same room as the cabinet table. FG and Labour in the past have given us ministers. We live in hope that they'll do so again. God knows we need one....or two!

What exactly would these three do for the county? Howlin has been in government before and I don't see any great legacy. Ivan Yates was a minister and I don't see his legacy either. FF/FG/Labour indistinguishable, the Greens unelectable (if they even had a candidate down here) - I think I'll stay at home on March 11th.

Zhane

Judgement Day wrote: »

What exactly would these three do for the county? Howlin has been in government before and I don't see any great legacy. Ivan Yates was a minister and I don't see his legacy either. FF/FG/Labour indistinguishable, the Greens unelectable (if they even had a candidate down here) - I think I'll stay at home on March 11th.

But surely casting a vote will be beneficial, we will never know if you dont vote for these people. Its all very good saying, who will do better, but the question is 'can they do any worse!'. A change is a good thing, and is what this county and indeed the country needs.

Judgement Day

I'm 51 and I've always voted but I remember the last FG/Labour government and it was no great shakes. I've seen enough crooks in FG and Labour to be fairly cynical of them too, so what do you suggest?

theforum

At the very least exercise your democratic right to vote. As Zhane said we could hardly do any worse with a new team in place.

Yates was only a minister for about 3 years - during that time the dept of agriculture was decentralised to Johnstown castle, funding was found for a new fire station, garda station and swimming pool in Enniscorthy. Urban Renewal was introduced into many parts of a stagnant Wexford. Wexford General hospital was upgraded. Howlin served at this time too and i'm sure there are other improvements which were brought to wexford during that government.

What have we got with the outgoing lot??

Judgement Day

While Yates and Co. may have taken credit for the new garda station/fire station etc. I wonder how much they actually did to realise these developments? Anyway how about some employment? How about the reopening of the South Wexford Railway line? How about the mothballed plan to develop Johnstown Castle (the building) as a major tourist attraction? The county is ****ed as is the entire country and I would be long gone if it wasn't for my family. Don't vote it only encourages them.

jd

If you don't vote or stand for election, you are in no position to complain..

Zhane

jd wrote: »

If you don't vote or stand for election, you are in no position to complain..

Very true!

Judgement Day

jd wrote: »

If you don't vote or stand for election, you are in no position to complain..

That's as maybe and what I've been saying for years myself but the bastards have worn me down and I just can't be arsed anymore.

bmaxi

I can't understand why people won't vote. If you don't vote and somebody else does, it just means that somebody else is making your decisions for you. There will still be a Government, you just won't have had any part in it's make up. If they go on to fcuk up the country, you can't say "well I didn't vote for them" because you didn't vote against them either.
All the political parties have a core support and you can be sure those people will go out and vote. These will be people in your neighbourhood, probably your neighbours and they will be making the decision as to whether your children have schools, hospitals, libraries etc. not you. We have got to take a positive attitude to politics, what's the alternative?
The current crop of politicians was brought about by people voting for tradition, I recently heard one person refer to a FG candidate as a "blueshirt". FFS, what century are we living in, is this the "forward thinking" that's going to save us?? No, this is the type of bigoted, backward thinking that gives us the politicians we have. I don't give a fcuk if John won ten county medals with Wexford hurlers, so what! that only means he can hit a ball with a stick, it doesn't mean there's any brains between his ears, or if he is going to be any use in the Dáil. It's no coincidence that the political parties fall over each other to sign these guys up, witness FF and Packie Bonner in Donegal recently. At the end of the day they are only there to make up the numbers.
Go out and vote and pick your candidate by his ability, not by his sporting prowess or who his daddy was and when the recovery comes you'll be glad you were part of it.

Judgement Day

bmaxi - that's the problem isn't it - our candidates have no proven ability except how to feather their own nests.

bmaxi

Judgement Day wrote: »

bmaxi - that's the problem isn't it - our candidates have no proven ability except how to feather their own nests.

Well, it's one of the problems
If the electorate continue to vote for gob****es because they can kick a ball or because Grandad may or may not have been in the Four Courts then the political parties will keep putting them up, that's the law of supply and demand.
If the electorate insist on better calibre candidates, then the parties will be forced to put them up or be left behind.
Would we let someone repair the brakes on our car based solely on the fact they played hurling for Wexford? I'm guessing not, but yet we will trust them with the lives and futures of our children and grandchildren in another context. It just doesn't make sense to me.

jpb1974

The Irish electorate voted in the current government and have had little or no say in many of the decisions that have been made in recent times that are going to fundamentally define the future of this country for a long, long time.

It's fine to say "if you don't vote you don't have a say" but look at Fianna Fail voters are abandoning ship... why, because the decisions made by the party go against what people want as a future for this country... people no longer feel that they have had any say.

There's a far bigger issue that over-rides this: "Politics are fundamentally flawed in this country and the system needs to be overhauled".

Until this is addressed I can't blame people for not wanting to vote as many feel that it's a case of "you're f*cked if you do and you're f*cked if you don't"... if you'll excuse my French. It's understandable that people may have become disillusioned by politics in this country.

bmaxi

jpb1974 wrote: »

The Irish electorate voted in the current government and have had little or no say in many of the decisions that have been made in recent times that are going to fundamentally define the future of this country for a long, long time.

It's fine to say "if you don't vote you don't have a say" but look at Fianna Fail voters are abandoning ship... why, because the decisions made by the party go against what people want as a future for this country... people no longer feel that they have had any say.

There's a far bigger issue that over-rides this: "Politics are fundamentally flawed in this country and the system needs to be overhauled".

Until this is addressed I can't blame people for not wanting to vote as many feel that it's a case of "you're f*cked if you do and you're f*cked if you don't"... if you'll excuse my French. It's understandable that people may have become disillusioned by politics in this country.

As I said earlier, whether or not you vote there will still be a government elected. If you take the attitude "my vote doesn't count" then it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
The government of the last four years wasn't purely the fault of the voters in 2007 although they have to take their share of the blame, it is the result of generations of similar results and I've outlined some of the reasons for that above.
I agree the fundamentals have to be changed but they can only be changed by the people putting pressure on the politicians to do so.
One term in politics that has always infuriated me is the notion of a safe seat, that, to me goes against the whole principle of an elected government. If a politician or political party considers they don't need to work for their seat, they won't, that's human nature. No politician should consider himself a shoo in, no matter how able they are but civil war, parish pump and class politics perpetuate this.
There is also the concept of the greater good, this is totally absent in politics. Earlier posters have written about how different things would be if we had a Minister in Wexford. They are quite right but Wexford's gain would be somebody else's loss, this is what makes a mockery of national politics. Ministers, whose brief should be the national interest, are too busy minding their own back yard.
I don't pretend to know what the best political system is but I still say you won't achieve it by sitting at home on polling day or for voting a party simply because your family does, it's your future and you need to make up your own mind.

jpb1974

I here what you're saying bmaxi and would agree with a lot of what you say.

The thing is this:

I am disillusioned with politics.

I no longer want to turn on the news at night or pick up the paper for the simple reason being that I am sick of it.

They way I see it politics is a necessary evil.

Leading up to this government melt down I look at what the opposition are saying across the table and none of it adds up. Sure it sounds great "we wouldn't cut this, we wouldn't increase that" but it's totally unrealistic.

Voting the way I see it would almost be a case of choosing the "least worst" candidates.

It's not a case that I don't believe in politics, I really just don't care for it any more. Whether I vote or not Fianna Gail and Labour will form the next government... there's little or no uncertainty of that... taxes will increase, budgets will be cut, job will be lost, jobs will fail to be created, young people will emigrate, banks will be propped up, developers will transfer assets into their spouse's name and averages joes will have their pockets dipped into to pay the bills. The short-medium term future has been defined for us. Long term results... well, lets face it, what happens in the long term for a large part is really all down to luck and circumstance.

Let's take a totally un-realistic scenario: Sinn Fein & The United Left party come into power - and to cut a long story short we'd all be happy for a day or two when banks and bond holders are burned and then we wake up one day and realize that the Loony Left have turned us into Communists.

Let's be honest - the only thing your vote will really determine is which bunch of FF/Green clowns exit and which bunch of FG/Lab clowns enter. It doesn't guarantee a thing after that.

I really don't believe in any of the parties at this stage.

Q: "Would you like Chef red sauce, Heinz red sauce or Daddy's red sauce on your chips sir?"
A: "Sorry, but I'm not that fond of chips and I'm allergic to red sauce."

bmaxi

It is hard to be enthusiastic about politics and I can understand your disillusionment, particularly after what has gone on in the last few years but like I say, somebody will elect a government and that government will determine how you live your life, like it or not.
Listening to SE Radio news this afternoon I heard that it is expected(by whom I don't know) the status quo will be maintained in Wexford. This saddens me both for the fact nothing will change and for the fact people are so predictable.
The same old faces trotting back into the Dáil as if nothing has happened is an anathema to me and an indictment of the Irish electorate.
So, what do we do? Do we sit at home and bemoan the fact that the same crooks who have supported those who have screwed us are back in their cushy number for another five years or do we do something about it?
I don't hold any particular brief for FG or Labour and certainly not for SF but I do think that nothing short of a rout will bring FF to their senses, if FG and Labour prove to be cast from the same die, their day will come but the main thing is not to become apathetic and above all get away from the parish pump.

HeavyRunner

Bit shocked at the recent Wexford polls. Connick/Browne with more than 20% between them after all that Fianna Fail has done.

Judgement Day

HeavyRunner wrote: »

Bit shocked at the recent Wexford polls. Connick/Browne with more than 20% between them after all that Fianna Fail has done.

Well, if people down here put either of those two - especially Browne - back in they will get what they deserve sadly so will the rest of us who still have the power of rational thought. I don't care that John Browne was in the GPO in Courtown in 1916 or that Sean Connick was a GAA rounders all star.:rolleyes:

jpb1974

Connick/Browne with more than 20% between them

I'd rather vote for Bobo the Clown (aka Johnny Leary) at this stage

jd

HeavyRunner wrote: »

Bit shocked at the recent Wexford polls. Connick/Browne with more than 20% between them after all that Fianna Fail has done.

That looks like 3FG 1 Labour, 1 FF. The only way there are two labour seats here is if Howlin can be persuaded to share his vote (ie local party supporters go 1 Cody, 2 Howlin ) , so he goes a percent or two below quota. On past form, he won't do it...

HeavyRunner

It's crazy that people would still vore for FF. It is some peoples psyche that they can only vote for one party. The Micheál Martin factor may drive up that vote even more.

theforum

HeavyRunner wrote: »

Bit shocked at the recent Wexford polls. Connick/Browne with more than 20% between them after all that Fianna Fail has done.

Looks like the only way to ensure FF lose one seat now is to vote for Twomey.

It'd be an absolute disgrace if we send back two FF gombeens after all thats happened, but never say never!

Badabing

Twoomey won't get in unless he's at 15-16% and well ahead of cody and Connick, Kehoe especially in 2007 was canvassing around Kilmore Bridgetown and around Rosslare so unless the 3 of them work toghether it's 2 FG.

HeavyRunner

That poll from yesterday may not be totally reliable to say the least. That facebook page is run by an anonymous person who declines to give any background information about the poll. I suspect is is run by a Labour person. Anybody have any ideas who ran that poll.

Badabing

Ivan Yates today went for 2 FG 2 Lab 1 FF, Coady pipping Jumpship and Connick.

Judgement Day

Is there no way of getting rid of Howlin and Browne? Could we not all just vote for Coady and not transfer to Howlin? Why would anybody vote for Howlin - he has been a TD for 24 years and what benefit has he brought to the South East? I ask as a blow-in to County Wexford because there is little evidence that the county has benefited from having TDs or Ministers.

HeavyRunner

Well, we have Mick Wallace running now according and article in the Times. Never know, migh take legs.

Conas

Mick has the most votes on the Election Poll for Wexford done on this forum. Brendan Howlin is second. Well done Mick. I voted you Number 1.

theforum

Interesting poll in The Sunday Indo yesterday. From memory (please correct me if i'm wrong):

Howlin 15%
Twomey15%
Kehoe 14%
Darcy 14%
Wallace 11%
Browne 9%
Coady 8%
Connick 6%
Kelly 5%

Think there were about 500 people polled. First observations:

Potential 3 seats for FG. Twomey doing better than what some might have predicted.
Labout wont get a second seat on these numbers.
Browne would get elected.
Wallace in with a decent chance
SF dead in the water

From this poll, looks like Wexford is voting for potential ministers first!

Judgement Day

Can't believe that Howlin is at 15%. Can anybody explain what exactly he has delivered for the county?