Girl 26 looking to become a TD- WTF?

Gambas

muppetkiller wrote: »

Politicians should have to be qualified for whatever department they intend to serve in , ie. Finance Minister or Junior Finance Minister must have a background in Economics, Accountancy , their own business etc

And they should have to declare the area they intend to work in before they get elected.

It can't be a situation where we've got Mary/Mike being given the role as Minister for Justice/Health because he pulled the wrong job out of the hat.

This woman is no different. She seems to have the education but no experience in anything.

We have arguably the best qualified person in the country in charge of the Department of Health.

Not from a political dynasty? Check
Medical professional? Check.
Political background - head of IMO, experience of negotiating major agreements between medical representative bodies and government, check.
Intelligent? Check.

And he is having a nightmare.

Simon Coveney -
Inherited his seat
Never farmed a day in his life
Political background - blueblood FG insider

And arguably the best performing minster over the past 2 years.

So it doesn't work that way.

If you want a government where 'real world experience' is paramount, then we should dispense with the need to put elected politicians in ministerial positions. In fact the provision is already there, aside from Justice and Finance afaik, but it isn't ever done. IMO, you'll end up with a bunch of George Lee's in cabinet. Worse - unelected George Lee's.

Gambas

crockholm wrote: »

Tough gig? Probably, but no other than any other job, thats why most of them have to be forced out( election time ), very few choose to leave willingly, and boy,when they go they go with a bang,the bang being a stable pension that joe soap would have to work 100+ hours a week to match.

'Forced out'? They are all out of a job come election time. The election decides who gets taken back on. Even that feature of the position is enough to turn most people off. As for working 100 hours a week, I'd say that wouldn't be far off the mark for many of them.

Sand Wedge

Stinicker wrote: »

Better than voting for a traitor from FF (Fiddle and Fraud) anyday. Thomas Byrne the FF candidate has become embroiled in controversy today as he denies removing a Bertie Ahern video. This guy represents everything that FF are about and shame on the people who will give him a vote.
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/ff-candidate-denies-taking-bertie-video-off-youtube-29116912.html

The McEntee girl hopefully can win it and so long as a Fianna Fail candidate does not win then it is a victory for honest people everywhere.

Yes, but surely Fine Gael could have come up with a better candidate than Ms McEntee.

Dyr

muppetkiller wrote: »

Politicians should have to be qualified for whatever department they intend to serve in , ie. Finance Minister or Junior Finance Minister must have a background in Economics, Accountancy , their own business etc

The current health and justice ministers should illustrate what a flawed idea that is.

My name is URL

muppetkiller wrote: »

Politicians should have to be qualified for whatever department they intend to serve in , ie. Finance Minister or Junior Finance Minister must have a background in Economics, Accountancy , their own business etc

Is that not already the case to a certain degree?

James Reilly is a doctor.
Shatter is a solicitor.
Coveney studied agricultural science and worked for IDA.
Ruairi Quinn is a former lecturer.

And so on...

Just because they've experience in the areas doesn't always make them the best people for the job.

Stinicker

Sand Wedge wrote: »

Yes, but surely Fine Gael could have come up with a better candidate than Ms McEntee.

It is better for party politics to run her especially after the death of her father, had they ran someone else then perhaps she might have ran independent and won anyway causing massive fractures to the party.

Gambas

Bambi wrote: »

The current health and justice ministers should illustrate what a flawed idea that is.

Shatter is actually an exception. Came into the job with a plan to reform and wasted no time in doing so. Definitely the case that his background helped him, but I suspect that is a peculiarity to Justice where aside from the Guards and Army there isn't really a typically big public service administration body to manage.

BizzyC

I have no problem with a younger person running for TD, in fact it's great.

The problem here is that this is a person who's been in politics since day 1.
She wont bring new ideas and new energy to the process, she's a product of the process.

It's a young person going in to maintain status quo for the party she grew up in.

naughtysmurf

I wish her well, unfortunately she will be a backbencher with little or no influence, she will just be making up the numbers for Fine Gael and doing what she is told
Any bright or unusual type of thinking is not appreciated by the mainstream political parties, look at Peter Mathews, she will just be swallowed up by the party

laoch na mona

id be more worried that shes in fine geal to be honest

ColeTrain

I really can't understand why people can't see what this is - the old Irish parochial political bulls*it.

I'm sorry for her in a way, she's obviously had it tough in the last few months but that does not entitle her to a seat in the Dail.

If things were right she would go off and learn her trade, build some experience in local politics and then put her name forward but no, she thinks it's grand to run at 26 without experience and her family name will see her through.

Hopefully the people of East Meath will see this for what it is but I wouldn't hold my breath, the sympathy vote goes a long way in politics.

mike65

Dad dies, son/daughter elected. Have any of these "second gen" type any good?

Why doesn't it work like this in every other line of work?*







*farming excepted

The J Stands for Jay

LittleBook wrote: »

She's a woman, not a girl. And frankly she's no less qualified and a lot better educated than a lot of TDs.

It will be good to have someone outside the usual mould entering politics for a change.

She wants to carry on her father's legacy. Hardly a mould breaker.

suicide_circus

BizzyC wrote: »

I have no problem with a younger person running for TD, in fact it's great.

The problem here is that this is a person who's been in politics since day 1.
She wont bring new ideas and new energy to the process, she's a product of the process.

It's a young person going in to maintain status quo for the party she grew up in.

Exactly. Im all for young people getting into politics but this woman's youth is completely negated by the fact that she is a product of the existing system.

muppetkiller

Gambas wrote: »

We have arguably the best qualified person in the country in charge of the Department of Health.

Not from a political dynasty? Check
Medical professional? Check.
Political background - head of IMO, experience of negotiating major agreements between medical representative bodies and government, check.
Intelligent? Check.

And he is having a nightmare.

Simon Coveney -
Inherited his seat
Never farmed a day in his life
Political background - blueblood FG insider

And arguably the best performing minster over the past 2 years.

So it doesn't work that way.

If you want a government where 'real world experience' is paramount, then we should dispense with the need to put elected politicians in ministerial positions. In fact the provision is already there, aside from Justice and Finance afaik, but it isn't ever done. IMO, you'll end up with a bunch of George Lee's in cabinet. Worse - unelected George Lee's.

Valid points but is it not more the fault of the Health System itself that is the major problem. Anytime I've heard James Reilly speak at least he seems to know what he's talking about. People may not like him (I don't particularly either) But the health system needs to be totally overhauled and there's a multitude of bodies/unions/contracts that are no doubt preventing this.

ejmaztec

Healy-Raes.

muppetkiller

James Reilly is a doctor but I guess like any role he must be able to show a CV of his career history where he made sufficient savings and cleared up inefficiencies.
I've no idea if he did that in the past but that's the kind of person who should be running the department.
In fact that's the kind of thing we should expect to see on any leaflet that's handed in the door at election time.
" Vote for me because when I worked here I cut x amount of money off the budget while improving services by x % "
" Customer satisfaction went up x%" etc..

Jimoslimos

Her age isn't the problem here. Regardless of being younger than most other TDs in the Dail, she's anything but a breath of fresh air. Simply there to tow the party line and make up the numbers for FG.

muppetkiller wrote: »

Politicians should have to be qualified for whatever department they intend to serve in , ie. Finance Minister or Junior Finance Minister must have a background in Economics, Accountancy , their own business etc

And they should have to declare the area they intend to work in before they get elected.

It can't be a situation where we've got Mary/Mike being given the role as Minister for Justice/Health because he pulled the wrong job out of the hat.

This woman is no different. She seems to have the education but no experience in anything.

Yeah, as pointed out the current Minister for Health disproves that theory. Should the CEO of Aer Lingus need to know how to fly a plane?

Dyr

muppetkiller wrote: »

Valid points but is it not more the fault of the Health System itself that is the major problem. Anytime I've heard James Reilly speak at least he seems to know what he's talking about. People may not like him (I don't particularly either) But the health system needs to be totally overhauled and there's a multitude of bodies/unions/contracts that are no doubt preventing this.

The body that prevented it was the one that belonged to the previous minister.

Amirani

Ageist much?

Teyla Emmagan

Democracy at work folks. No one will be forced to vote for her.

ColeTrain

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

Democracy at work folks. No one will be forced to vote for her.

No but a ringing endorsement from our Taoiseach will carry weight.

donegal_road

it wouldn't matter if she were 10 years old, or a 90 year old great grandmother.. all she will be doing is delivering the agenda of the troika to the people of her constituency

mitosis

Hard to believe she's 26 - she looks 36. Let the electorate decide if she gets the job, though I agree it'd be more appropriate if she had some real-world experience before taking public office.

ejmaztec

Jimoslimos wrote: »

Her age isn't the problem here. Regardless of being younger than most other TDs in the Dail, she's anything but a breath of fresh air. Simply there to tow the party line and make up the numbers for FG.


Yeah, as pointed out the current Minister for Health disproves that theory. Should the CEO of Aer Lingus need to know how to fly a plane?

He knows how to run an airline, or he wouldn't have the job.

hatrickpatrick

We need far, far more young people in politics to be honest.
For starters, they're far less likely to have toxic connections to the financial industry which prevent them working for the actual citizenry.
Secondly, they're far less likely to restrict our freedoms in my view.

mike65

mike65 wrote: »

Dad dies, son/daughter elected. Have any of these "second gen" type any good?

Why doesn't it work like this in every other line of work?*







*farming excepted

Not just farming, a lot of businesses are carried on by the next generation.

krudler

This is hilarious, people do nothing but complain that politics is an old boy's club and now that a young woman wants in they're whinging, and nothing but remarks about her looks, christ no wonder women are put off getting into politics.

VinLieger

krudler wrote: »

This is hilarious, people do nothing but complain that politics is an old boy's club and now that a young woman wants in they're whinging, and nothing but remarks about her looks, christ no wonder women are put off getting into politics.

Exactly what i was thinking, now a young girl wants to become a TD the begrudgers find a new angle to complain from

Sarky

Young woman with university level knowledge of economics wants to help run country. This is a problem... how?