Girl 26 looking to become a TD- WTF?

suicide_circus

As stated, her age, sex and experience are irrelevant to me.

The problem is that she is running on the cynical, emotive and gombeen ticket of replacing her dead father.

There is no changing of the guard here. It epitomises the rotten "jobs for the boys" dynastic nature of Irish politics.

opinion guy

In the 12 pages of ranting here has anyone copped on that the guy she is up against, Thomas Byrne, is also the son of a politician and also ran for first time at quite a young age (also under 30 ??)


With that said - I do have a problem that the OP's article focussed on her father and avoided any discussion of what she stand for ?
Does she have a manifesto ?

wretcheddomain

Look, the whole thing is a farce.

This woman even worked for him - so much for the "degrees" that are constantly referred to in articles written about her. Her whole career stinks of riding on the back of her father and now she wishes to further exploit this by essentially earning €100k per annum to a party which people widely condemn in the media. Her opinions will be worth nothing given the party whip system - she's merely there to fill the seat of her father and collect the wage that would have been collected if not for his tragic and untimely passing.

This is cynical.

This is exploitative.

This is hereditary politics.

As I've said before, the McEntee's have become the Healy-Rae's of Meath.

And to all the posters arguing that we should vote depending on her policies, do you seriously think that's the case? Since when did people suddenly start supporting the policies of Fine Gael, because these are the policies she wishes to pursue.

I guess its this gullibility which has led the vast majority of ignorant people to vote in incompetent politicians, and those who assume the daughter must be good because her father was a politician with money who committed suicide. If this woman did not have a surname, no discussion would ever be held about her irrespective of her policies, she'd be forgotten.

And she should be forgotten.

hfallada

At 26 we can assume she lives in the 21st century and has views like 75% of Irish people. Rather the current government who is reluctant to do anything "liberal" aka anything most countries have allowed and legalised for years but for some reason the government wont allow it eg pre marriage arrangements

wretcheddomain

hfallada wrote: »

At 26 we can assume she lives in the 21st century and has views like 75% of Irish people. Rather the current government who is reluctant to do anything "liberal" aka anything most countries have allowed and legalised for years but for some reason the government wont allow it eg pre marriage arrangements

Do you seriously think that she's going to move from being his secretary to being the best orator since Demosthenes?

People here need to get real - she's not going to speak up for the people, she's going to be part of the Fine Gael mould i.e. sit down, shut up, and vote for everything Fine Gael agrees with or **** off.

And to be honest, I find this example of dynastic politics to be particularly sick and twisted - she wants the job that was essentially the cause of death of her father, could anything be more cynical than this?

biko

My only concern is that she might follow in her father's footsteps and not make her own mark.

wretcheddomain

biko wrote: »

My only concern is that she might follow in her father's footsteps and not make her own mark.

True - the whole process will be too daunting and intimidating for a college-leaving secretary anyway, even if she wasn't related.

All about the $$$!

VOTE NON-HELEN

Corkbah

opinion guy wrote: »

In the 12 pages of ranting here has anyone copped on that the guy she is up against, Thomas Byrne, is also the son of a politician and also ran for first time at quite a young age (also under 30 ??)


With that said - I do have a problem that the OP's article focussed on her father and avoided any discussion of what she stand for ?
Does she have a manifesto ?

doesn't that simply show one of the problems with our political system....forget pub politics ...lets just keep it in the family....almost civil servantish !!

My name is URL

wretcheddomain wrote: »

Her opinions will be worth nothing given the party whip system - she's merely there to fill the seat of her father and collect the wage that would have been collected if not for his tragic and untimely passing.

That's it in a nutshell as far as I'm concerned.

Cynical stuff by FG moreso than the girl herself. Is she really the best FG candidate that East Meath has to offer? I doubt it...

Sleeveen politics at its worst.

P_1

Don't have a problem with her age, in fact IMO we need more people of her age in power to drag this country kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

Slight problem with her getting the nod because of who her father was though.

King of Kings

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

From school to college and into the dail/civil service/RTE

No experience in the harsh real world,thats why we have such p1ss poor government and media in this country

This man speaks the truth.

a 26 year old given their life experience (or lack of it) can't govern.
We'd all like to think so - I used to think so.
We all want young people in politics but let them go the correct route by working at local level before they are trust into make calls that affect everybody.
Nobody walks into a job from college as a senior manager - so why should politics be different.
Just because other TDs did this does not make it right.

At 26 you do not have the experiences in life.

as for her degrees - degrees mean nothing much - the radio is full of academics telling us this and that and they know very little than the person who has to work hard/save etc...rather than rely on a state stipend while scratching their chin in trinity college library daring each other to run for president cos it would be a hoot.

The lady may make a wonderful TD - but she does not have the experience to at the moment.

token101

Why not? I mean the children of politicians have an excellent track record in public life. You need only look at Brian Cowen, Brian Lenihan Jr and Beverly Cooper Flynn and the countless others to see that. Nepotism works.

opinion guy

Corkbah wrote: »

doesn't that simply show one of the problems with our political system....forget pub politics ...lets just keep it in the family....almost civil servantish !!

Well its perhaps not a fair comparison since T Byrne senior was independent town councillor whilst T Bynre junior is former TD. now Senator for Fianna Fail.

And again - if you don't like it don't vote for either them. Apparently the majority of voters don't have a problem with it

dbrunson

Boombastic wrote: »

Who needs skills when you've got relations? I'll be writing to her to find out why they placed a methadone clinic for louth in an obscure east meath village with no bus service

lol, thats so oirish

Galwayguy35

She will probably get elected, disappear to the back benches and draw her 100 k salary and pretend to be interested to the locals coming with their problems and tell them she will get back to them ASAP.

Conchir

Why did you call her a girl and not a woman?

pickarooney

wretcheddomain wrote: »

Do you seriously think that she's going to move from being his secretary to being the best orator since Demosthenes?

People here need to get real - she's not going to speak up for the people, she's going to be part of the Fine Gael mould i.e. sit down, shut up, and vote for everything Fine Gael agrees with or **** off.

And to be honest, I find this example of dynastic politics to be particularly sick and twisted - she wants the job that was essentially the cause of death of her father, could anything be more cynical than this?

So, whether or not she is related to a former TD makes zero difference anyway as all Fine Gael TDs are required to vote a certain way?

_Kaiser_

pickarooney wrote: »

So, whether or not she is related to a former TD makes zero difference anyway as all Fine Gael TDs are required to vote a certain way?

Correct. We've seen TDs on both sides of the coin floor be sanctioned, removed from committees and even expelled from the party because they didn't tow the line.

It's not even Enda who's calling the shots either.. don't forget they tried to overthrow him not too long before the election. The real power in that party is Reilly, Shatter and Leo I'd say. Enda is just sent out to waffle - talk much but SAY little.

How can we have a Democracy without our elected officials being free to vote their conscience/on the wishes of their constituents? Short answer - we don't.

P_1

What is everybody's main issue, her age or who her father was?

Steve O

Without the gender/age/fair play/ah shure twill beh grand bull****.

Is she a competent person and fit for the job?

kowloon

I think being part of a political family would bias me against this person. Being part of that party ensures I won't be voting for them (although I can't anyway). I'm not sure I really care about the age that much, as long as they're out of school long enough to form some ideas of their own and have lived a little bit they're fine by me. The real advantage of being older is the time you've had to gain experience, but plenty of our politicians worked their way into middle age behind a bar? I'm in no way saying there's anything wrong with running a bar, but it's not the most relevant experience when it comes to running a country.

_Kaiser_

P_1 wrote: »

What is everybody's main issue, her age or who her father was?

Both..

As I said earlier, she is running on nothing more than name recognition and sympathy.

She's a lot of academic qualifications (good for her! So do a lot of people) but has apparently done nothing more than go from college to Daddy's office.

Now that his seat his vacant she thinks that this is good enough to qualify her to (help) run a country and get a €100k salary?? But with the Irish electorate being the short-sighted, change fearing, parochial sheep they are, she'll probably walk it.

If she'd actually worked her way up through council politics and achieved something of note then I'm sure no one would have an issue with her running for Daddy's seat.. but she hasn't

P_1

What are desirable skills for running a country though?

RobbingBandit

Glorified nepotism is what this is, as many have said cash in on the sympathy vote, this is what is wrong with Irish politics too many people getting in on Family name only. After the death of Brian Lenihan his son was asked to take up the mantel by Fianna Fail and run in Blanchardstown by-election.

My name is URL

P_1 wrote: »

What is everybody's main issue, her age or who her father was?

It's exactly the sort of parochial, nepotistic & opportunist politics that FG promised to reduce when in power.

Dail seats should not be treated like family businesses.

Grayson

To be fair, she might not be qualified for the job, but she's still better qualified than half the backbenchers. Most of them are teachers or publicans. She has a degree in politics and economics, which means she probably knows more about politics and economics than 90% of TD's.

I still wouldn't vote for her. in 10 years maybe, after she's done a bit with her life and has proved herself.

wretcheddomain

Grayson wrote: »

She has a degree in politics and economics, which means she probably knows more about politics and economics than 90% of TD's.

What?

I mean, what?

Just because somebody has a degree in no way implies they are competent on the subject. There are many people out there with degrees in history who have no analytical skills whatsoever but merely relied on rota memory techniques to get them through the exams. Economics is very much an art in this regard, and what does it mean to say you have a 'degree in politics', like a 'degree in how to manipulate people/propaganda', nah, the overall point is that don't prostrate yourself to somebody just because they have a degree in it.

Some papers I've read have said she has 'degrees in politics, economics and law'...see the manipulation from 'degree' to 'degrees' - way overrated and probably just another mindless goon who has no critical or logical skills to impart on real life dilemmas. This probably explains the fact she decided to work as a secretary for her father which shows she mustn't be that keen on her so-called 'degrees'.

heretosay

shes kind of cute imo. Not sure about what sort of impact she could have though. Best of luck to her for giving it a go though.

P_1

Grayson wrote: »

To be fair, she might not be qualified for the job, but she's still better qualified than half the backbenchers. Most of them are teachers or publicans. She has a degree in politics and economics, which means she probably knows more about politics and economics than 90% of TD's.

I still wouldn't vote for her. in 10 years maybe, after she's done a bit with her life and has proved herself.

Well to be honest, it is people of that age who are really being shat on from a great height by the current shower so why should they not be able to get elected to help to reduce some of this

Leroy42

Not sure what all this 'real life experience' people keep talking about is all about. Look at the world of business, many of the top drivers of change are young people who have an idea and what to make it happen and aren't afraid of change.

Should only people who has lived in real poverty run, what about people who have been unemployed at some stage, surely only they know what it is like.

Rubbish, great leaders don't need to actually have lived the problem, they just need to be able to understand and drive others to make the changes necessary. Being a teacher doesn't mean your not able to be a TD, but being a person without any clear ideals or ideas does. We have loads of these middle aged men (and some women) who seem more intent and not rocking the boat. TD's of all parties seem to be able to tell us all the reasons why something can't be done. We can see from young people like Zuckerberg, Jobs (obviously when he was in his younger days) Gates etc completely changed the world. IBM wanted the world to be a certain way and these guys said 'no' lets try something different.

That's what we need. Now is a change to reset Ireland, to try things in a different way. Electing the same people won't deliver that change.