The Race for the Park - who will the good people of Clare be voting for? - Continued

Lady Chatterton

The Presidental Election campaign kicked off yesterday with a number of radio and television debates on RTE and there will be another big debate on the Late Late Show tomorrow evening. I'm wondering if we can start our own debate here on the Clare forum on who might make the best president (similar to our pre-general election debate, which was great craic and it kept Clareman on his toes;)).

I was initially supporting David Norris but when I heard he wrote a letter to an Israeli court (on Seanad Eireann paper) seeking clemency for his former partner, Ezra Nawi, who had been convicted of the statutory rape of a 15-year-old Palestinian boy, I felt I could no longer support him.

At the moment I'm completely undecided.

Here is a list of the candidates

Mary Davis (Ind)
Michael D Higgins (Lab)
Sean Gallagher (Ind)
Martin McGuinness (SF)
Gay Mitchell (FG)
Senator David Norris (Ind)
Dana Rosemary Scallon (Ind)

Clareman, would you be kind enough to create a private poll? Thanks

CiaranMT

If people decide not to vote for Norris based on clemency letters then Gay Mitchell has to be out of the equation too.

Clareman

Poll added

Lady Chatterton

CiaranMT wrote: »

If people decide not to vote for Norris based on clemency letters then Gay Mitchell has to be out of the equation too.

No, I disagree. My issue with Mr. Norris is that he used his position in the Seanad to progress a personal matter, that was an abuse in my opinion. Having said that, I'm glad he has been given an opportunity by the councils to put his name on the ballot paper.

Carry

Martin McGuinness is an Independent????

To my knowlewdge he is still Sinn Fein.

Clareman

Party affiliation changed

Lady Chatterton

Thanks Carry! You're a 100% correct, Martin McGuinness is definitely a Sinn Fein candidate, that was a typo on my part

Carry

Nice to be right sometimes...;):D

Pity I can't vote, though.

CiaranMT

MrsD007 wrote: »

No, I disagree. My issue with Mr. Norris is that he used his position in the Seanad to progress a personal matter, that was an abuse in my opinion. Having said that, I'm glad he has been given an opportunity by the councils to put his name on the ballot paper.

What was Mitchell doing so?

Clareman

I have to say that I'm very uncomfortable having this thread in here, Regional Forums aren't really for Political Debate (we have places for those ), but I understand that people want to put a local slant on a national election so I'll leave the thread open, try to keep this relevant to Clare, if you want to discuss individual candidates and their overall merits, please feel free to visit the politics forum.

Lady Chatterton

I thought that this might be an interesting thread as the presidency of Ireland and the Banner County have been inextricably linked - De Valera (elected TD for Clare) was president for two terms, Dr. Patrick Hillery from Miltown Malbay also served as president for 14 years.

As for the Clare slant in this current election, Michael D Higgins, was reared in Ballycar, Newmarket on Fergus and attended St. Flannan’s College. That is Clare enough for me :)

Clareman

It's fine by me also (I'm not starting a debate on how long Dev spent in Clare btw ), I really don't want to have to start mediating between people debating the differences between stuff 2 candidates did.

pappyodaniel

I'm in some way related to Michael D through marriage so I'll be looking forward to free tickets for home 6 Nations games and All Ireland Finals

angelfire9

Has anyone seen any of these people in Clare canvassing yet or is it too early?
I know Sean Gallagher was in Ennis a few weeks ago and Michael D has his posters up but I haven't personally seen sight nor sound of any of them

Lady Chatterton

angelfire9 wrote: »

Has anyone seen any of these people in Clare canvassing yet or is it too early?
I know Sean Gallagher was in Ennis a few weeks ago and Michael D has his posters up but I haven't personally seen sight nor sound of any of them

David Norris was canvassing during the Fleadh Nua weekend but that was back in May, Mary Davis was in Clare to seek the nomination from Clare Co. Co.but they ended up supporting Sean Gallagher. I'd say all the candidates will do a little pit stop tour in the next few weeks.

mikemac

Dev, Paddy Hillary and Michael D?

Why don't you just move the Áras to Clare so

Lady Chatterton

mikemac wrote: »

Dev, Paddy Hillary and Michael D?

Why don't you just move the Áras to Clare so

I can't see Michael D going the distance.

I will be voting for whoever is running strongest in the polls against McGuinness

PARKHEAD67

Jazlynn Stale Tweed wrote: »

I will be voting for whoever is running strongest in the polls against McGuinness

Good for you...

Johnboy1951

angelfire9 wrote: »

Has anyone seen any of these people in Clare canvassing yet or is it too early?
I know Sean Gallagher was in Ennis a few weeks ago and Michael D has his posters up but I haven't personally seen sight nor sound of any of them

Michael D was in Newmarket recently to open some festival weekend or something.
Don't know that he was canvassing as such .... but his appearance was timely

PARKHEAD67

PARKHEAD67 wrote: »

Good for you...

I'm sorry, I must have been mistaken in thinking that this was a thread asking us who we were voting for in the upcoming presidential election, silly me. :rolleyes:

Insect Overlord

PARKHEAD67 wrote: »

Good for you...

Mod note: If you've nothing helpful/insightful to add, don't say anything at all. Thanks.

Claregirl

Made the mistake of voting LAB last election won't make the same mistake again. I'd like to vote for SF just for the fact that they're still campaigning for the common folk but something just doesn't sit right with McGuinness I'd probably have voted for them if they put forward a different candidate.

Having said that I was disgusted by the likes of Gay Byrne (Can't stand the man) coming out against him so viciously so just to spite him.....!

CptSternn

You have Gallagher who until he put his name in the hat was still on the FF national executive. He only quit after many years of membership to hide his FF roots as we all know no FF candidate will be elected. He is also hiding the fact that he was on the FAS board which gave itself huge pay rises and when caught all got golden parachutes a few months ago.

Then you have Davis. Ross put it best in his article last week when he labeled her 'quango queen'. She was on the board of a Bank Of Ireland subsidiary when it failed, but it didn't stop her from getting a huge payout on the way out the door. Same goes for the DAA, she was on that board too when they agreed to give all the top dogs there six figure salaries all the while Shannon was going under. Her website lists a dozen other quangos she was on all simultaneously during the boom years, which is odd considering she has a degree to teach gym. If it were not for her FF roots which like Gallagher she has conveniently omitted from all of her literature, she would have never gotten so many lucrative do-nothing positions which she used at the tax payers expense to make herself rich. She is quite possibly the first millionaire gym teacher who is running for president.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/shane-ross/shane-ross-quango-queen-eyes-the-park-2886869.html

Hawk Wing 2

I saw a Norris campaign type jeep in Ennis today

PARKHEAD67

Jazlynn Stale Tweed wrote: »

I'm sorry, I must have been mistaken in thinking that this was a thread asking us who we were voting for in the upcoming presidential election, silly me. :rolleyes:

You didnt say who you were voting for.You told everyone who you werent voting for.Silly me:rolleyes:

Clareman

1 of the processes for elections is deciding who not to vote for, especially in Proportional Elections. Lets not turn the thread into a slagging match.

dr.fuzzenstein

McGuinness?
Seriously, like, are you kidding me?
Yeah, he never killed anyone, I guess he never was in a position to have to get his hands dirty himself.
What possible relevance could a northern politician and, let's face it, terrorist, have as Irish president, no really, I don't get it. Please explain.
At least Michael D won't be a one issue president, the guy has class, dignity, wit, intelligence and certainly never had to protest he never killed anyone.
I guess that in times of crisis the most radical candidate will always be popular.
Maybe the Irish want a president that can "persuade" Europe more efficiently to give us more dosh?

PARKHEAD67

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

McGuinness?
Seriously, like, are you kidding me?
Yeah, he never killed anyone, I guess he never was in a position to have to get his hands dirty himself.
What possible relevance could a northern politician and, let's face it, terrorist, have as Irish president, no really, I don't get it. Please explain.
At least Michael D won't be a one issue president, the guy has class, dignity, wit, intelligence and certainly never had to protest he never killed anyone.
I guess that in times of crisis the most radical candidate will always be popular.
Maybe the Irish want a president that can "persuade" Europe more efficiently to give us more dosh?

Ill explain as best I can dr.very briefly. Martin Mcguinness grew up in a city where 14 unarmed civil rights protesters were murdered by British soldiers.A place where to be a Catholic meant you were treated as some sort of sub-human piece of dirt.A place where internment without trial took place.You could be picked off the street at random and subjected to all types of interrogation.(where the old beating or two took place).You call him a terrorist? By God, Id love to see you and your mates go through the amount of c*ap that the Catholics in the north went through back then. You conveniently forget all the good hes done in the Peace Process since the bad old days.He sees dialogue as the way forward.Hes conversing with Ian Paisly and Peter Robinson on a daily basis.Two hardline Unionists for Gods sake. Yet, you cant see through the fog.

CiaranMT

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Maybe the Irish want a president that can "persuade" Europe more efficiently to give us more dosh?

The Irish president has absolutely no serious role in Europe for us.

CptSternn

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

McGuinness?
Seriously, like, are you kidding me?
Yeah, he never killed anyone, I guess he never was in a position to have to get his hands dirty himself.
What possible relevance could a northern politician and, let's face it, terrorist, have as Irish president, no really, I don't get it. Please explain.
At least Michael D won't be a one issue president, the guy has class, dignity, wit, intelligence and certainly never had to protest he never killed anyone.
I guess that in times of crisis the most radical candidate will always be popular.
Maybe the Irish want a president that can "persuade" Europe more efficiently to give us more dosh?

I'll start by saying Iam voting for Norris, and I'll be happy to outline why, but in another post.

Per the McGuinness bashing though, it does seem a bit unfounded. Here is why -

There was a great article in the Times about him last week you can read here:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0928/1224304857139.html

It brings up a very good point many people seem to be missing. Currently, he holds the highest office in N. Ireland. He has been an elected politician for quite some time. He has a very good track record for an elected politician, and most importantly, the UK like him.

The above article contains quotes of support from former British secretary of state Shaun Woodward (Labour). To say he is not a good candidate is to say the whole UK has it wrong and they are all eejits. To argue he would be a bad politician is to be intentionally obtuse about his current track record.

What is really strange is the people of the UK have accepted him as their leader for N. Ireland, yet small pockets in the Republic treat him like a pariah. If the British people can get over it, it makes those in the Republic, those who have even less of a quarrel against him than the British do, seem very small and petty.

He didn't wage war against Ireland, so if the people he was fighting against can move on, what does it say about people who can't?