Waterford Politics MEGATHREAD

Hijpo

Sully wrote: »

I thought DDI shut up shop due to internal arguments / resignations over democracy issues at DDI HQ?

The big problem people within DDI had was with this Permanent Executive council consisting of Ray Whitehead, Ben Gilroy and three or four others. This council had the power to veto any changes voted in by the members of DDI etc. Very undemocratic. So at the last general meeting the members voted to scrap the permanent council and set up a National Exective consisting of members from each region and they were elected by the memebers of DDI. I think 11 people sit on this council i could be wrong. So now instead of a Permanent council there is a gaurdian council consisting of the people from the origional Permanent council, this was put in place because i think Ray Whitehead was paranoid that people might try and take over the party and lead it off track but this time the only powers they have are to freeze any changes they think could damage the party and then submit it for referendum amongst all DDI members.

Theres a write up about it here http://directdemocracyireland.ie/evolution-of-ddi/

They still lost a few members as the ones that split have set up another party called the Irish Democratic Party.

Any thoughts?

nice_very

Sully wrote: »

I thought DDI shut up shop due to internal arguments / resignations over democracy issues at DDI HQ?

I thought FG did all your thinking for you, wow meine eyes have been geöffnet

wellboytoo

KOTSC wrote: »

Going by a old post you posted a few years ago,, I think you have the wrong fellow there.

Max Powers wrote: »

I see Brendan McCann is (unbelievably) objecting to the re-development of some shops in Arundel Square (H&M have been lined up - Munster). This man has been on a quest to stop any progress being made in Waterford by continuously objecting to, delaying and stopping badly needed and wanted projects in Waterford. If it wasnt for McCann, The Newgate Centre may be being built now

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=72181507&postcount=1

Mc Cann and WCTU objected to the Centre and the public face of the WCTU was Dick Roche at the time ,

LiamD1977

In relation to Dick Roche I meant that the fact that he was being investigated by Gardaí for fiddling expenses would probably sink him this time round.

Hijpo

Was that not something to do with claiming expenses for a conference that went on to be cancelled and he made an attempt to return the claim??
In the grand scheme of things, when hes the lowest claimant and is being investigated for €300 then there are others getting double the amount of his claims, then when you see whats going on nationally. I know its still not right on any level, but in comparison it’s a drop in the ocean and i could see why people might choose to ignore the bad press.

AdMMM

Dick Roche will probably be able to weather the storm... by exercising a bit of spin and turning it back onto the established parties and their liberal attendance of conferences that are questionable in their usefulness to constituents to say the least. He can claim that he only attended those that he felt were necessary while others were galavanting. Of course the interpretation of that is very subjective, but he's not trying to win over support of FG/Lab/FF supporters, he just needs to re-ensure the anti-establishment that having him there is much better than having one of "them" in there.

With that being said, if another well known and left-leaning candidate with a less checkered past emerges, he's probably boned.

LiamD1977

Personally I would love to see a list of who attended what conferences last year before I place my vote.

AdMMM

As far as I know that should be available. They always make for interesting reading, like seeing a flock of inner-city councillors head off to conferences in Donegal about fishing quotas and stuff like that.

If there's an auld journalist on here, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to poke around this a bit?

hardybuck

Yeah I think you can apply for that information, or ask one of your current representatives to get it for you.

It should be an interesting local election after everything that has happened since the last one.

As it takes place two years before the next General Election it'll be interesting to see what type of candidates the parties put forward and the reaction to parties like Labour in particular - who could get wiped out.

LiamD1977

Labour are running three candidates,

Jack Walsh in City East,

Dee Jacques in Tramore - Waterford West

Seamus Ryan in City South.

I think all three will struggle to get re-elected.

hardybuck

LiamD1977 wrote: »

Labour are running three candidates,

Jack Walsh in City East,

Dee Jacques in Tramore - Waterford West

Seamus Ryan in City South.

I think all three will struggle to get re-elected.

Seamus Ryan would be hoping to scrape one Labour seat in the next general election, possibly taking it from Conway. He got 8.6% of the first preference votes in the county in the 2011 election. I'd be surprised if he didn't make get a local seat.

Jack Walsh would be fairly well respected I would have thought. He would have done very well in 2009, and if he goes again I'd have thought he'd hang on.

AdMMM

It would be Dee Jacques who's most at risk as a co-opted member. Long-serving councillors like Pat Hayes would have built up a big personal vote, and very little of that will transfer to her. I'm not quite familiar with how the redrawn boundaries will work but my initial instinct is that this will probably help her.

As for the next general election, Labour won't be running two candidates. Ciara will be the sole candidate and will be doing very well to hold onto the seat unless there's a massive swing in the polls, which doesn't look likely given the current trajectory of the government.

LiamD1977

What do people think of the two new FF candidates, Jason and Liz Murphy ?

Wonder will Hillary Quinlan run again or is the Irish Water thing his pension.

space2ground1

I felt betrayed by the members of the council that brought the merger through so easily. I felt the history and future of the city as a player on a level field demanded a far more Waterford focussed response that seems to have been very far from the party centred reaction.

I won't be voting for any party or person who advocated the merger as it was an acceptance I feel on their part, that a proverbial pat on the back for following the party HQs directions was more important than the good of Waterford City.

My only realistic method of objection to that decision is at the ballot box and so I'll have a narrow group to choose from.

Gardner

anywhere where we can get a list of all candidates and what wards they are running in and how many seats up for grabs?

nice_very

@Gardner, there are 6 seats going in each city/comeragh constituencies, with 8 going in Dungarvan/Lismore = 32 in total, here is the list so far:

SF
Waterford City East Pat Fitzgerald
Waterford City South John Hearne , Breda Brennan
Waterford City West-Tramore Jim Griffin, David Lane
Comeragh Declan Clune
Dungarvan-Lismore Siobhan Whelan, Louise Brierley

WP
Waterford City West-Tramore Davy Walsh
Wat City East Brian Hearne
WC South Willie Moore

FG
Waterford City East Tom Cunningham, Jim D’Arcy, John Carey
Comeragh Liam Brazil, Sean Power, Brendán Coffey
Dungarvan-Lismore Declan Doocey, Pat Nugent, Micheal Cosgrove, Damien Geoghegan

LAB
Waterford City East Jack Walsh
Waterford City West-Tramore Dee Jacques
Waterford City South Seamus Ryan
Comeragh Ger Barron
Dungarvan-Lismore Billy Kyne, Nicky Sheehan, John Pratt

FF
Dungarvan-Lismore Tom Cronin, James Tobin
Waterford City South Jason Murphy
Waterford City East Eamon McGrath, Liz Murphy
Comeragh Michael Joseph O’Ryan, John O’Leary, Mary Butler
Waterford City West-Tramore Pat Daly, Eamon Quinlan

People Before Profit
Waterford City East Joan Quirke

Independent/Non Party
Waterford City South Tom Murphy
Tramore-Waterford City West Joe Conway, Dick Roche
Comeragh Sean Walsh

Gardner

looking at sinn fein and workers party, they could very well struggle to pick up any seats. prob one of the most open LE ever!

nice_very

dunno man, I think sf wp and the Ind will do well, ff maybe too (unfortunately), remember the Seanad referendum, Waterford voted against the gov, the 3 gov TD's we have hardly open their mouths except for: coffey saying "I welcome....." deasy to put a fag in his mouth and conway to say "I do".. Halligan has been very vocal and was voted best opposition TD, while Sen Cullinane has been seen to do more than the 3 gov td's combined.

I predict a swing to the left, not including labour, in these LE

7upfree

nice_very wrote: »

dunno man, I think sf wp and the Ind will do well, ff maybe too (unfortunately), remember the Seanad referendum, Waterford voted against the gov, the 3 gov TD's we have hardly open their mouths except for: coffey saying "I welcome....." deasy to put a fag in his mouth and conway to say "I do".. Halligan has been very vocal and was voted best opposition TD, while Sen Cullinane has been seen to do more than the 3 gov td's combined.

I predict a swing to the left, not including labour, in these LE

I sincerely hope you are right.

hardybuck

nice_very wrote: »

dunno man, I think sf wp and the Ind will do well, ff maybe too (unfortunately), remember the Seanad referendum, Waterford voted against the gov, the 3 gov TD's we have hardly open their mouths except for: coffey saying "I welcome....." deasy to put a fag in his mouth and conway to say "I do".. Halligan has been very vocal and was voted best opposition TD, while Sen Cullinane has been seen to do more than the 3 gov td's combined.

I predict a swing to the left, not including labour, in these LE

Certain parts of the city will certainly vote left, as they always will. The only fallout you'll probably see is that Labour might lose some of their left vote.

Other parts of the city, namely the east, would not vote for any left party other than Labour. Parties like SF and the WP don't even bother canvassing in large parts of those areas.

wellboytoo

nice_very wrote: »

dunno man, I think sf wp and the Ind will do well, ff maybe too (unfortunately), remember the Seanad referendum, Waterford voted against the gov, the 3 gov TD's we have hardly open their mouths except for: coffey saying "I welcome....." deasy to put a fag in his mouth and conway to say "I do".. Halligan has been very vocal and was voted best opposition TD, while Sen Cullinane has been seen to do more than the 3 gov td's combined.

I predict a swing to the left, not including labour, in these LE

The traditional left vote in the larchville ballybeg area maybe split and watered down with the inclusion of a large rural /tramore area , it may not be as simple as it was in the past.

Dunmoreroader

http://www.boundarycommittee.ie/reports/Ireland-Map.pdf
Strange carve up of the city and county that put Tramore and Ferrybank together. I haven't seen borders like that drawn up since the gerrymandering days in Derry; Cui bono?

wellboytoo

Dunmoreroader wrote: »

http://www.boundarycommittee.ie/reports/Ireland-Map.pdf
Strange carve up of the city and county that put Tramore and Ferrybank together. I haven't seen borders like that drawn up since the gerrymandering days in Derry; Cui bono?

Don't know but Davy Walsh could not be happy for one, it does dilute the left vote considerably imo.

Gardner

nice_very wrote: »

dunno man, I think sf wp and the Ind will do well, ff maybe too (unfortunately), remember the Seanad referendum, Waterford voted against the gov, the 3 gov TD's we have hardly open their mouths except for: coffey saying "I welcome....." deasy to put a fag in his mouth and conway to say "I do".. Halligan has been very vocal and was voted best opposition TD, while Sen Cullinane has been seen to do more than the 3 gov td's combined.

I predict a swing to the left, not including labour, in these LE

i do agree with what you say and Halligan will prob top the poll in the GE anyway but its the candidates themselves that i think people will find hard voting for. Davy Walsh been honest is the only decent one within the pack of them. there could be huge swings towards independents on the success of Halligan.

Rumour has it that Halligan may even form an independent group for his voters to vote for and that will prob include Sean Reinheart, Sean Walsh and may even row in behind Davy Walsh.

hardybuck

Gardner wrote: »

i do agree with what you say and Halligan will prob top the poll in the GE anyway

This is highly unlikely. He only got in by 1,000 votes on the 11th count in the last GE. He'd probably need to double the number of first preference votes he got last time to top the poll.

AdMMM

At the moment it's still between the two FG candidates to top the poll. John won't top the poll, but if he's there or thereabouts after the first count, he could potentially leapfrog them through eliminations and be elected first.

If the election were held tomorrow, it would be 2 FG, 1 IND and final seat would be a dogfight between Lab/FF/SF.

7upfree

AdMMM wrote: »

At the moment it's still between the two FG candidates to top the poll. John won't top the poll, but if he's there or thereabouts after the first count, he could potentially leapfrog them through eliminations and be elected first.

If the election were held tomorrow, it would be 2 FG, 1 IND and final seat would be a dogfight between Lab/FF/SF.

Cullinane to top, followed by Halligan. With the other mob fighting out the remaining two.

Smiley Burnett

cullinane and halligan pulling from the same pool....ff vote collapse in 2011, yet halligan only took last seat when cullinane was eliminated...halligan not know beyond the butlerstown roundabout....sf would need 15% plus in order to unseat either halligan or Conway...(sf tend to struggle on transfers)....Conway will struggle to hold seat, but I wouldn't write her off...(brian oshea used to get elected on 9%).....ff will only win a seat if they get the right candidate...also worth bearing in mind that cullinane local election vote halved between 2004 and 2009, when he really needed to blow halligan out of the water!!

hardybuck

7upfree wrote: »

Cullinane to top, followed by Halligan. With the other mob fighting out the remaining two.

Again, even more unlikely. I would give Halligan third possibly, and Cullinane might scrape 4th.

Halligan would get little or no votes in many areas of Waterford City, and have little or no presence in a lot of Waterford county.

Cullinane would have even less profile again, but as a SF candidate he might get some more profile in places like Dungarvan.

LiamD1977

I read recently that Halligan gives a large chunk of his salary to Childrens Grouplink ,

On the other hand his brother and a lot of his family work there and he has a office there.

Is it giving to charity when your indirectly employing your family ?