Brian Lenihan RIP *Mod Warning Post #1*

eyeball kid

RIP. Very suprised to hear this today. Cancer took him very quickly in the end.
Condolences to his family and friends.

efb

RIP Brian Lenihan.

While your fellow erstwhile FF minsters and even Taoiseach ran like rats deserting a sinking ship with suddenly remembered ailments and desire to become better acquainted with their own family, you stood up to be counted and faced the ire of the electorate despite your terminal condition.

You tried your best to deal with the financial mess you inherited and two positive things I remember from that poison chalice of a ministerial tenure was facing down Cowen and the PSU's as they laughably wanted unpaid annual leave rather than the necessary paycut, which you swiftly imposed casting aside the nonsense.

Also while the IMF and ECB were here you were trying to get them to separate the banking debt from the national debt, but were out manoeuvred by Houlahan, who was accused later of acting in the ECB's interests first.

The thing that you will be most critically judged for is the Bank Guarentee, which proved very effective at the time, and wrongfooted the EU and the British and saved our banks from almost immediate insolvency. But as later developed the banks did not provide you with all the facts and your mistake was accepting the position they offered as the truth.

Brian Lenihan RIP

RobitTV

R.I.P Brian lenihan

I Hope he rests in peace, and his family will be ok.

He may of not been the best Politician to some people, But he was a nice and dedicated man, and he was determined to do his job.

Condolences to his family and friends

Live RTE News now - http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0610/lenihanb.html

MagicMarker

Leaving aside his obvious failings, I have nothing but respect for a man who faces pancreatic cancer yet still ploughs on for all to see. I know if I went through that I wouldn't want to leave my bed, let alone manage the finances of an entire country.

mojesius

Rest in peace and my condolences to friends and family. Thank you for your ever-dedicated service to your country and constituents.

Manach

RIP

Teyla Emmagan

I'm very saddened by this. I do believe this man loved his country and did the best he could for us.

RIP Brian.

tallaghtmick

took the blame for bertie/cowan and kept on working while sick, R.I.P

JENNYWREN19

Not a member of my favourite political party but he was a brave man who soldiered on to the end and deserves respect for that alone

A sad loss for his family and friends

Mint Sauce

efb wrote: »

RIP Brian Lenihan.

While your fellow erstwhile FF minsters and even Taoiseach ran like rats deserting a sinking ship with suddenly remembered ailments and desire to become better acquainted with their own family, you stood up to be counted and faced the ire of the electorate despite your terminal condition.

You tried your best to deal with the financial mess you inherited and two positive things I remember from that poison chalice of a ministerial tenure was facing down Cowen and the PSU's as they laughably wanted unpaid annual leave rather than the necessary paycut, which you swiftly imposed casting aside the nonsense.

Also while the IMF and ECB were here you were trying to get them to separate the banking debt from the national debt, but were out manoeuvred by Houlahan, who was accused later of acting in the ECB's interests first.

The thing that you will be most critically judged for is the Bank Guarentee, which proved very effective at the time, and wrongfooted the EU and the British and saved our banks from almost immediate insolvency. But as later developed the banks did not provide you with all the facts and your mistake was accepting the position they offered as the truth.

Brian Lenihan RIP

Spot on, Regardless of people political belives and the party that you follow, I beleive Mr Lenihan genually tried dispite his ill health. People should remember he did not cause the downfall, the foundations for that were already well set. He inhertited the coutries mess from the politcal and banking corrupt and inept predecessors before him.

Time will tell how sucessfull, or uncessfull his efforts were.

JONJO THE MISER

Jaysus just heard now, R.I.P.

banquo

Not an evil man, and a damn smart guy.

RIP.

Lady Chatterton

Brian Lenihan - RIP

Condolences to his family and friends

AudreyHepburn

irish-stew wrote: »

Spot on, Regardless of people political belives and the party that you follow, I beleive Mr Lenihan genually tried dispite his ill health. People should remember he did not cause the downfall, the foundations for that were already well set. He inhertited the coutries mess from the politcal and banking corrupt and inept predecessors before him.

Time will tell how sucessfull, or uncessfull his efforts were.

Agreed. People are levelling blame at the wrong Brian, the wrong ex-Finance Minster. It was Ahern and Cowen who brough the economy to it's knees and Leninhan was forced to bear the brunt of it.

People are so blind with rage at the politicians it is actually getting tedious now.

Lenihan bore two burdens that should never have been his and the least we can do now is acknowledge it and give him the respect he deserves.

AudreyHepburn

LZ5by5 wrote: »

Wouldn't wish cancer on my worst enemy.

RIP

You beat me to it!

A truely horrendous disease.

SEPT 23 1989

AudreyHepburn wrote: »

People are so blind with rage at the politicians it is actually getting tedious now.

People will never lose the rage they feel against FF

AudreyHepburn

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

People will never lose the rage they feel against FF

No but they do need to try and direct it to where it is warrented, and that was never Lenihan.

Biggins

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

People will never lose the rage they feel against FF

This is true for a lot of folk (including I).
However we can (thankfully I'm always glad to see) put it aside and respectfully for a time, so that family's can look to their loved ones and lay them to rest with respect.

I and others do still offer condolences to his family and say to Mr Lenihan, rest in peace.
(And quite right)

JackieChan

RIP

naoise80

enda1 wrote: »

My father/brother/sister/etc. have not decided to represent the country in their position.

This is/should be one of the prices you pay when assuming public office.

What a load of nonsense.

It is not a price that his family should have to pay.

RIP

leahyl

RIP Brian. He always seemed to be one of the genuine politicians (and there aren't too many of them). He showed enormous strength over the past year and half while battling such an agressive illness.

There was never any scandal around him - he may have made mistakes regarding the banks etc but who would have taken on the job he had at the time? Fair play to him for staying on in spite of his ill health.

I really feel for his wife, kids and extended family.

Spacedog

RIP,

Is there a way we can help his family with funeral expences. These can be difficult times financially as well as emotionally.

Badgermonkey

anto2 wrote: »

A decent enough chancer is the best that i can say about him .

Never struck me as a chancer one bit.

In fact, his innate honesty always seemed to me to be greatly at odds with a party whose sordid culture was more typically represented by the Aherns, Callellys, McCreevys and O'Donoghues.
__________________

Micky Dolenz

Discuss politics somewhere else

Badgermonkey

Spacedog wrote: »

RIP,

Is there a way we can help his family with funeral expences. These can be difficult times financially as well as emotionally.

His wife is a Judge and he was a Minister.

Not sure what your angle is there at all.

ColeTrain

Spacedog wrote: »

RIP,

Is there a way we can help his family with funeral expences. These can be difficult times financially as well as emotionally.

ffs Let his family bury him without snide remarks about his funeral.

AudreyHepburn

UsernameInUse wrote: »

I don't really know what to think.

On one hand, we hate to see anyone leave us but on the other, he royally f*cked us up. His legacy will be living with us for decades to come.

No he didn't. His predcessors did.

fulmer1984

i'm pretty sure his family earned enough money off Irish people over the years to pay for their own funeral, RIP all the same, 52 is too young for any man!

Eoin

Ayla Green Gas wrote: »

Well whatever about his political/financial judgement, in the end he'll be remembered for his courageous & selfless contribution to the country during his illness.

R.I.P.

I really hope that this is the legacy he leaves. I think a man of his dedication and intellect deserved to leave a more positive political one, but sadly that probably won't happen.

Richarz

Some truly appaling comments from posters who I very much doubt would be even an iota as courageous and brave as Lenihan was in his last few years. The fact that he continued to work tirelessly for the country when many a person would have packed it in spending their last remaining years enjoying life as best they could says a lot about the man. Have some respect.

RIP.

RIP Lenihan, this could also be the death of FF he was one of the few popular ones left

Biggins

I wasn't a fan of his nor of his party - but one thing still stuck out for me.
...That in the little time he had left and battling to hold on to life, he still remarkably still wanted to serve his country to the very end.
Now THAT is something special and honourable - and credit to him for that alone!

fulmer1984

I agree he worked tirelessy over the past couple of years and i applaud him for doing that! just a pity decisions were wrongly made by himself and Fianna Fail over that period, kind of leaves a bad legacy for the man.

Biggins

Biggins wrote: »

I wasn't a fan of his nor of his party - but one thing still stuck out for me.
...That in the little time he had left and battling to hold on to life, he still remarkably still wanted to serve his country to the very end.
Now THAT is something special and honourable - and credit to him for that alone!

Or he put amibition ahead of his health and country. He was too sick to hold such a position and it was to our detriment
He wanted leadership

Miss Fluff

Poor man, RIP

Biggins

Deleted User wrote: »

Or he put amibition ahead of his health and country. He was too sick to hold such a position and it was to our detriment
He wanted leadership

Every person has their dreams and his was to get as high as possible to try and make a difference.
While its possible to disagree with actions, etc, you can't knock a person for wanting to get as high as possible, in order to being about what they thought was right.
I'm not going to knock the man for being ambitious. No sir.

Mint Sauce

I just hope that those making the snide comments on this thread never have to see some one die from cancer.

Regardless of what you thought of the man this is not the time.

If you cant say anything decent or sincere, how about saying nothing.

Micky Dolenz

Discussing the pro's and cons of his political career will = bans from here. There will be plenty of time to do that in the coming weeks and months in the politics forum. Fair warning.

squod

Talk to joe had a fella on saying how good Brian was at the Irish language. I totally agree. A lovely speaker I thought.

Marguerite Tonery

I was very saddened to hear the news. He did his best at a time when he could have opted out on health grounds. He stuck to his task bravely and passionately. My heart goes out to his wife and two girls. They must be distraught at this time. He was a good man and I hope he will be remembered for that. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam.

My name is URL

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1360

I reckon now is a good time to get that forum up & running

Da Shins Kelly

Had no idea he was that sick. He handled the illness very well in public and in private I'm sure, always dignified. He did the best he could in the position he was in professionally, and I don't really think that anyone else would have done any better. The damage was done by the time he got in there, and I think he handled it as best he could given the outrageous lies that the banks told everyone. Furthermore, he seemed like a genuinely nice man, and a devoted family man. Can't knock that.

RIP and my deepest sympathies to his family.

Duggy747

Despite the political shortcomings and the mess he had to deal with I respected the fact that in the past few months he stayed in office, knowing how brutal and unforgiving pancreatic cancer is.

Really, he should've been doing other things with his limited time but I tip my hat to him for staying in office to the bitter end.

puffy the panpipe player

Condolences to his family and friends.

Cocaine

He always came across as a nice guy.
Poor fella, I felt sorry for him seeing him in the Dáil looking so ill.
Unfortunately the type of cancer he had is very rarely overcome, RIP.

ironictoaster

RIP. Seemed like the type of person who always wanted to do right.

Biggins

Deleted User wrote: »

He was terribly sick and was not up to the job, he put himself ahead of millions.

In fairness, he tried to carry on, on behalf of millions.

Duggy747

Strange seeing his Facebook page where there's photos of him from exactly last night 2 months ago at a dinner party smiling and what not despite looking a shadow of his former self.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/BrianLenihan01

Da Shins Kelly

Deleted User wrote: »

He was terribly sick and was not up to the job, he put himself ahead of millions.

Or maybe he was putting millions ahead of himself? By all accounts, he felt it his duty to keep going given the economical situation.

However, it's neither here nor there. Discuss it at another time. The man is just after dying, it's not exactly the right time to jump in straight away with all the 'he wasn't up to the job' comments. We're not talking about his job. We're talking about his death and expressing some sympathy for his family. Like I said, get a little perspective.

Da Shins Kelly

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

Or maybe he was putting millions ahead of himself? By all accounts, he felt it his duty to keep going given the economical situation.

However, it's neither here nor there. Discuss it at another time. The man is just after dying, it's not exactly the right time to jump in straight away with all the 'he wasn't up to the job' comments. We're not talking about his job. We're talking about his death and expressing some sympathy for his family. Like I said, get a little perspective.

His legacy will be written today not later.
And it seems it will be a glowing one.