Local Elections 2014: What issues will you be raising with candidates on the door?

Mr. G

With local elections in May, what questions will you be asking canvassers when they come calling to your door?

With household charges, water metering, flood defence and planning dominating the news over the past year, the forthcoming local elections are set to be a lively affair.

So if a candidate came knocking at your door tomorrow what would you ask them? What issues affect you and yours on a daily basis? What would you like to see changed or introduced? How satisfied are you with the current crowd and what would you like to see changed tomorrow? Do local politics even matter and how should a candidate justify themselves to the electorate?

This thread is intended to raise issues that are important to you, so hopefully local candidates can take notice. Also this thread is to have no canvassing by candidates or party representatives, and any such actions will not be allowed.

We at Boards.ie will be getting in touch with as many candidates as we can, and the aim will be for them to come onto Boards to explain their policies, and to answer the questions that you the posters have posed in this threads. When that time comes we aim to use seperate threads for the candidates so that those threads can be answer and policy specific.

Finally & importantly, we would like this thread to focus on the issues that matter to you & be able to provide the candidates with a clear list of local issues as seen by local posters. If you wish to debate the issues raised - we will create a separate thread.

Johnboy1951

Q. for party candidates

On what issues are you prepared to vote against the party line?

haybob

Jobs
Blakes Corners
Roads
Hedge cutting

ger664

Rates. They are crippling the Town and county.

dr.fuzzenstein

ger664 wrote: »

Rates. They are crippling the Town and county.

The logic there being "rates take is down, let's up rates"
I honestly don't think any more thought than that goes into it.
If there was a Monster Raving Looney Party, I'd vote for them, otherwise you're just pissing into the wind voting.

Round Bale

Discussions with canvassers in my house, will be delegated to the dog:cool:

Claregirl

Seriously what's the point in raising issues??

Hospitals? - don't have any
Water? - talk to Bord Gais
Roads? - talk to NRA
Property Tax / Household Charge? Gone to Europe
Driver Licences - talk to NDLS
Refuse Service - Gone

Value for Money? http://www.clarechampion.ie/mayors-claim-more-than-e40000-in-2013/

So what exactly are we paying for? Increasing Rates, junkets to the States and the decimation of our town and county?

Can anyone here give an example of a councillor providing anything other than what you are already entitled to?

Round Bale

Claregirl wrote: »

Seriously what's the point in raising issues??

Hospitals? - don't have any
Water? - talk to Bord Gais
Roads? - talk to NRA
Property Tax / Household Charge? Gone to Europe
Driver Licences - talk to NDLS
Refuse Service - Gone

Value for Money? http://www.clarechampion.ie/mayors-claim-more-than-e40000-in-2013/

So what exactly are we paying for? Increasing Rates, junkets to the States and the decimation of our town and county?

Can anyone here give an example of a councillor providing anything other than what you are already entitled to?

Since Enda Kenny's, "call me anytime, about anything", speech in Washington yesterday, all councillors have become totally redundant.
We can now go straight to the top. Why bother faffing around with an underling:cool:

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/enda-kenny-call-me-anytime-30092244.html

Claregirl

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NO-Cold-callers-WE-KNOW-WHO-WE-ARE-VOTING-FOR-WE-HAVE-JESUS-Sticker-Vinyl-DOOR-/161164924841

Would this do the trick?

kollegeknight

For me, it will be the new building regulations that have passed. any FG/Lab counsellors that come near me will get it with both barrels.
I do think parking in ennis needs to be looked at also.

ulinbac

- I agree with water rates but would want to know the price hikes and how to keep them at a minimum

- How they will account for EVERY PENNY in the property tax and how often reports will be published with income matching expenditure

- Roads: the Lahinch road being the most dangerous in the country AFAIK

- The big one is parking in town and getting the first half hour free should be a definite

- The IDA and Enterprise Ireland have offices in UL, what plans (if any) are there to bring some of the jobs they are creating to Clare

- Business' in town have been paying water rates for years and its extortionate the rates. These need to decrease to help business' grow

- What is being done to attract tourists? I have always thought that Ennis would be a very good place to host an All-Ireland weekend for the LGBT community. It would bring a great buzz to the town and the LGBT community are great drinkers and not afraid to spend

golfball37

Why are we expected to pay for tap water we cannot consume.

poppyvally

golfball37 wrote: »

Why are we expected to pay for tap water we cannot consume.

I'm led to believe that the tap water in Ennis is perfect for drinking. Didint we get a super water treatment plant a few short years ago. Has something gone wrong?

dr.fuzzenstein

poppyvally wrote: »

I'm led to believe that the tap water in Ennis is perfect for drinking. Didint we get a super water treatment plant a few short years ago. Has something gone wrong?

I think building more and more sophisticated treatment plants is a shining example of refusing to acknowledge the root of the problem:
Why is the water so poor in the first place? And the fact that no one is prepared to tackle the real reasons for it. Thousands of leaky septic tanks and millions of gallons of cowsh*t being spread around.
Of course that would upset all the people in one-off housing and the farmers, no politician would dare to do that.
The septic tank inspection is a step in the right direction, but look at all the demonstrations along the lines of "I have a right to sh*t on the countryside!"
I'm afraid with water, as with everything else, it's a case of "crap in-crap out"
If your water came from a river and that river had to flow through a cesspool, would you filter the water and drink it, or would you do something about that big pool of sh*te?

golfball37

poppyvally wrote: »

I'm led to believe that the tap water in Ennis is perfect for drinking. Didint we get a super water treatment plant a few short years ago. Has something gone wrong?

Haven't been able to drink ours for years anyway. I live in town

periodictable

Why it takes 4-5 man crew to go fix potholes.
No planner has lost their job since the building bust...why?
Same old faces...why should I vote for an older person?
Why are council tenants not held accountable for damage to their homes?
No more money for Traveller accommodation. It's money down the drain.
No subsidy for farmers to cut their hedges-it's a legal requirement so make them do it.
Overhaul of planning requirements for new houses.....planners are NOT architects.
Cut Glor and Cliffs of Moher Centre loose to make a profit on their own.

Round Bale

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

I think building more and more sophisticated treatment plants is a shining example of refusing to acknowledge the root of the problem:
Why is the water so poor in the first place? And the fact that no one is prepared to tackle the real reasons for it. Thousands of leaky septic tanks and millions of gallons of cowsh*t being spread around.
Of course that would upset all the people in one-off housing and the farmers, no politician would dare to do that.
The septic tank inspection is a step in the right direction, but look at all the demonstrations along the lines of "I have a right to sh*t on the countryside!"
I'm afraid with water, as with everything else, it's a case of "crap in-crap out"
If your water came from a river and that river had to flow through a cesspool, would you filter the water and drink it, or would you do something about that big pool of sh*te?

Do you actually know ANYTHING about the spreading of cow****?

Massive controls and regulations are strictly applied to the storage and spreading of farm slurry. Farmers in Clare, have to have six months storage facilities, which have to meet dept standards.
Spreading can onll be done between mid February and late October.

It's fair to say, agriculture has seriously cleaned up it's act with regard to slurry in the past decade or so.

dr.fuzzenstein

Round Bale wrote: »

Do you actually know ANYTHING about the spreading of cow****?

Massive controls and regulations are strictly applied to the storage and spreading of farm slurry. Farmers in Clare, have to have six months storage facilities, which have to meet dept standards.
Spreading can onll be done between mid February and late October.

It's fair to say, agriculture has seriously cleaned up it's act with regard to slurry in the past decade or so.

I know that there's usually a correlation between areas where cowsh*te is prevalent and areas with boil notices, this even applied to where I lived in Bavaria.
I would also guess that a small island with something like 20 millions head of cattle will have an issue with the resulting waste product.
And that the timeframe when it's spread is not entirely relevant, since the time of year has little or nothing to do whether it finds it's way into streams, rivers or groundwater.
Of course things have improved, but my point remains:
When you have water and sh*t, it's bad to mix the two. There are two sources for sh*t in Ireland and it's farm animals and septic tanks.
Much has improved, but more needs to be done.
Building hugely complex and expensive water treatment plants that allow us to drink the contaminated water has been a very expensive way of allowing us to further ignore the issue.

Carry

What I would ask a candidate knocking at my door is:
What power does a local councillor actually have?

It's a futile question because they don't have any power to move anything. They are just administrators for government policy.

Fine, they do the usual local pompousness flutter, look pensively at potholes, have a pint with the farmers and see to it that their cronies go on the fast lane.

But they actually can't do anything to change the world or at least the locality (well ... the parish pump, maybe).

So asking them about jobs, infrastructure, tourism and what not is pointless.
They might have an opinion on it, but they certainly don't have any power to do anything useful about any issue. The decisions are made in Dublin. The local councillors are just there to maintain the government policy - and feeling important.

Or has anyone another experience? Would be glad to hear about it.

Round Bale

Carry wrote: »

What I would ask a candidate knocking at my door is:
What power does a local councillor actually have?

It's a futile question because they don't have any power to move anything. They are just administrators for government policy.

Fine, they do the usual local pompousness flutter, look pensively at potholes, have a pint with the farmers and see to it that their cronies go on the fast lane.

But they actually can't do anything to change the world or at least the locality (well ... the parish pump, maybe).

So asking them about jobs, infrastructure, tourism and what not is pointless.
They might have an opinion on it, but they certainly don't have any power to do anything useful about any issue. The decisions are made in Dublin. The local councillors are just there to maintain the government policy - and feeling important.

Or has anyone another experience? Would be glad to hear about it.

So the councillors, have some sort of axis of evil, with the farming community? Spending morning noon and night together in the pub, plotting how to stay in the fast lane together, to the detriment of upstanding, righteous, hard working citizens, of the state such as yourself, and all the other non councillors and non farmers. :eek:

muggles

Does anyone have, or know where you can get, a list of those who have declared themselves to date for each of the Clare areas?

poppyvally

Round Bale wrote: »

So the councillors, have some sort of axis of evil, with the farming community? Spending morning noon and night together in the pub, plotting how to stay in the fast lane together, to the detriment of upstanding, righteous, hard working citizens, of the state such as yourself, and all the other non councillors and non farmers. :eek:

Unfortunatly they have the power to re-zone land which got us into the sh!t in the first place

Claregirl

This would probably be worth asking about.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/lives-of-firefighters-at-risk-under-new-plan-265865.html

golfball37

A Labour guy left a flyer in my letterbox with a note saying sorry I missed you. He never even knocked as we were in the living room and saw him coming up the driveway.

Is their new tactic? Drop and run

Clareman

golfball37 wrote: »

A Labour guy left a flyer in my letterbox with a note saying sorry I missed you. He never even knocked as we were in the living room and saw him coming up the driveway.

Is their new tactic? Drop and run

Few candidates do this to make it faster to do an area and to avoid difficult questions. I got 1 from a guy on Monday morning when I was out walking my daughter, 9am on a Bank Holiday Monday canvasing I thought was a bit much till I met the guy putting them through the letterboxes, simple mail delivery service rather than a canvas.

Lady Chatterton

golfball37 wrote: »

A Labour guy left a flyer in my letterbox with a note saying sorry I missed you. He never even knocked as we were in the living room and saw him coming up the driveway.

Is their new tactic? Drop and run

I'd imagine that government party candidates (particularly Labour) aren't too anxious to meet people at the moment.

crazyguy01

Probably bordering on Europe as much as local but did anybody speak to Michael Martin/Timmy Dooley around Ennis today?
The reaction from people around Dunnes and up into the market did not seem too enthusiastic as I just happened to pass them twice.

NotInventedHere

periodictable wrote: »

Overhaul of planning requirements for new houses.....planners are NOT architects.

correct

Clareman

crazyguy01 wrote: »

Probably bordering on Europe as much as local but did anybody speak to Michael Martin/Timmy Dooley around Ennis today?
The reaction from people around Dunnes and up into the market did not seem too enthusiastic as I just happened to pass them twice.

Strangely enough, as much I don't have much time for Mr. Dooley or FF, FF getting back into power could mean a very powerful Ministerial position for him, he seems to be 1 of the top FF TD's now.

dr.fuzzenstein

crazyguy01 wrote: »

Probably bordering on Europe as much as local but did anybody speak to Michael Martin/Timmy Dooley around Ennis today?
The reaction from people around Dunnes and up into the market did not seem too enthusiastic as I just happened to pass them twice.

Despite everything that happened under the current government (and it has to be said it had to happen) people haven't forgotten what happened under the last government. And the current FF leader doesn't help, he is too much associated with the rot and culture of corruption that is synonymous with them.
Whether he had anything to do with it is almost irrelevant, politics is all about image.
FF in its current form is completely unelectable, they may gain a few points, but hopefully won't get in. If they do, there is no hope for this country.
I'm not saying they'll never get elected again, but they'll have to be completely reformed.

Clareman

FF are like a lot of sport teams that were successful for a long time, in order for them to rebuild they will have to get a completely new team together, the next election will probably be soon soon for them but they'll be back soon after that. Clare is also a very FF county, I wouldn't be surprised if they get a high percentage of the vote in the local elections.