Terence Flanagan interview on Drivetime

jooksavage

murrayp4 wrote: »

Wilson showed compassion and should be commended for it. There was no need to put the boot in as the damage had already been done. The man sounded like he was having a flap of some sort, it's unusual to have a TD of 8 years perform so poorly on a relatively simple 'trot out the party line' interview.

I agree. Getting stuck into him wouldn't have furthered anything. It was clear Flanagan was either having some kind of mental block or he's completely useless at this kind of thing. Whatever the case, it was a terrible start for Renua.

Declan A Walsh

I just listened to the interview on the RTE Player. Wow! What car-crash radio that was. It seems to me that Terence Flanagan was very nervous, or possibly distracted by something else. I felt sorry for him, to be honest, even if it possibly was his own fault.

I think Mary Wilson handled it very well. Presumably, she would have no idea what was going on with Terence Flanagan, so she was wise not to put the boot in to someone who seemed somewhat distressed, even if it was just nerves. What if something traumatic had occurred that none of us were aware of? Anyway, if it was simply a case of being nervous and a lack of preparation, Mr. Flanagan was digging his own hole and needed no assistance!

emeldc

I think Mary Wilson handled it OK. She even fed him a few details on tax and self employed in the hope that he might elaborate, or just say something, but he didn't. I don't know the guy but I feel for him, he was obviously crapping it.

hotmail.com

I just read that he's been a TD since 2007! So that's 8 years (I thought he only got elected in 2011). One wonders about his competency to be a TD. He's an odd character to say the least.

heybaby

And to think that Terence Flanagan is on almost 90k salary not including expenses etc.. It's a deplorable indictment of the calibre of person attracted into politics and equally a dreadful reflection of the level of apathy that this guy has been a public representative for Eight years!!

Horse84

heybaby wrote: »

And to think that Terence Flanagan is on almost 90k salary not including expenses etc.. It's a deplorable indictment of the calibre of person attracted into politics and equally a dreadful reflection of the level of apathy that this guy has been a public representative for Eight years!!

Nail on head there.

thesandeman

He certainly won't be joining Sinn Féin anytime soon.

XtraStrong

emeldc wrote: »

I think Mary Wilson handled it OK. She even fed him a few details on tax and self employed in the hope that he might elaborate, or just say something, but he didn't. I don't know the guy but I feel for him, he was obviously crapping it.

I agree Mary handled it well. There was no need for her to do anything more, the guy just wasn't prepared and it was obvious. Surely they were expecting to be asked on the party policy on their first day?

Aidric

Would be interested to see a breakdown of this guy's speaking time in the Dail. Might help to establish at the very least if this was a once off or if the guy is winging it on a long term basis.

realdanbreen

thesandeman wrote: »

He certainly won't be joining Sinn Féin anytime soon.

He gave an interview on radio, didn't actually say anything.....I duuno, seems an ideal candidate for Sinn Fein to me.

conorh91

Couple of observations:

Yes it was a car crash interview. Yes he should have been better prepared. No I wouldn't vote for him, after that. In fact, he probably shouldn't be a TD. But I hope he has recovered on a personal level. He seems like a shy man, I hope it doesn't overwhelm him.

And also, Mary Wilson just went up even further in my estimation. I don;t get why some people dislike her style. She could not have handled that better. She wasn't glossing over Flanagan's failure, but she wasn't going to kick him when he was down either. Fair play to her.

Morzadec

conorh91 wrote: »

Couple of observations:

Yes it was a car crash interview. Yes he should have been better prepared. No I wouldn't vote for him, after that. In fact, he probably shouldn't be a TD. But I hope he has recovered on a personal level. He seems like a shy man, I hope it doesn't overwhelm him.

And also, Mary Wilson just went up even further in my estimation. I don;t get why some people dislike her style. She could not have handled that better. She wasn't glossing over Flanagan's failure, but she wasn't going to kick him when he was down either. Fair play to her.

Agree with this assessment.

Feel sorry for the guy as he has been embarrassed nationally. He must be mortified/potentially very depressed at the moment. This could have massive ramifications on his career and his party leaders must be livid with him. So on a personal note, anyone with a bit of compassion is going to feel something for him here.

However, he was completely exposed as not having a clue what his party stands for. He should have been prepared. His party should have been prepared before launching. They have been exposed as basically a lot of hot air and buzz words. "Openness", "compassion" - these are not words that the voter needs to hear, we need clear policy. What you're going to do and how you're going to do it.

The guy should clearly not be in politics and his party clearly has no clear policies at this point and should be ignored in the upcoming election.

The interviewer handled it perfectly imo - she kept trying to lead him into questions he may have been able to answer. She gave hime a chance. She cut it off when it became absolutely apparent that this guy had lost it. It was not her fault he didn't have a clue and I would say she handled it very well and struck a middle ground between performing her job and asking the right questions and having some human compassion for a man clearly out of his depth. I do understand the point made above that she should have hammered his incompetence home, but I believe there was no real need to. The damage was already done and a bit of compassion needs to come into it here.

joseph brand

lucky john wrote: »

One of the most bizarre interviews I've heard on radio. This guy is a professional politician. Surley been able to think and talk is the minimum qualifications we should expect. Barring a health reason there is no excuse.

At the same time? Ah heyor!

Hilarious interview and I'm delighted for Ireland's Tea Party. RENUA have modelled themselves on the Titanic. They should have the Titanic or the Hindenburg as their party logo. :pac:

joseph brand

QuadLeo wrote: »

Completely disagree. There was no need to "go for the jugular". The damage was done and he dug his own grave. There was no need for Mary to attack him. That would've been completely unfair. The man had a bit of an anxiety attack or whatever, these things happen. Although it was very unfortunate. If Mary stuck the boot in and took advantage it wouldn't have made any difference, except that it would reflect very badly on the presenter and we'd now be here talking about how unfair the interview was. It couldn't be any worse for the new party, there was no need for the presenter to do anything. I think Mary was right to put him out of his misery and end the interview early. To call her weak is not fair. Sometimes a bit of compassion is needed. Don't get me wrong, Terrance made a mess of it, but he knows that better than anyone. No need to kick a man when he's down.

She wasn't interviewing a primary school pupil. He's a 40 year old politician and a questionable one at that.

[Terence Flanagan] a parliamentary question to ask if the Department of Social Protection cuts the dole of people protesting against the government and specifically those involved in recent demonstrations against the installation of water meters.

Going after people with no disposable income, living on the margins of society?

Aww poor Terence. (the 90K salary and benefits will be of some comfort)

joseph brand

I've tried to sum up Terence's take on what Renua are all about.

joseph brand

Taken from reddit:

First time rte have broadcast a blowjob. A brave new world.

It's debatable. The rustling of magazines leads me to suspect that he might have been 'flying solo' with the help of some adult 'literature'.

brettmirl

The FAQs of their website - "Is Terence ok?"
https://twitter.com/MrJustinMac/status/576821024098017280

In other news, http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Renua

hotmail.com

brettmirl wrote: »

The FAQs of their website - "Is Terence ok?"
https://twitter.com/MrJustinMac/status/576821024098017280

In other news, http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Renua

So Terence spent thousands of hours setting up the party?

I feel for him, and this brings back unpleasant memories for me.

I had a similar brain freeze. Not on the national airwaves, but speaking at a conference in front of a couple of hundred.

First world problems and all that, but the experience was deeply traumatic for me and shook me for at least a couple of months afterwards. No excuses about tiredness or anything; it was nerves pure and simple.

Since then, I've learnt that preparation is the key. That, and beta blockers

jimd2

As Ryan Tubridy said he is playing senior hurling now and he can get off the pitch if he can't perform.

On a personal level you would to feel sorry for him but, on the other hand, he jumped ship from FG when things were starting to look bad for them after getting in on the crest of last election's wave.

I thought that Hobbs was pretty pathetic and a bit narky on the LLS also. lucinda ok but it can't be a one man band.

jimd2

Deleted User wrote: »

I feel for him, and this brings back unpleasant memories for me.

I had a similar brain freeze. Not on the national airwaves, but speaking at a conference in front of a couple of hundred.

First world problems and all that, but the experience was deeply traumatic for me and shook me for at least a couple of months afterwards. No excuses about tiredness or anything; it was nerves pure and simple.

Since then, I've learnt that preparation is the key. That, and beta blockers

I agree, 3 key points making a presentation like that.

Preparation, preparation, preparation.