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Simon Harris gone missing!!!!

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    #32
    flutered
    Registered Users Posts: 6,685 ✭✭✭flutered


    Joeytheparrot wrote: »
    Why do you need private business experience to be a politician?
    his brief would require a lot of buisess savvy, also experience in various disiplines, has he been thrown to the wolves, but with frances as his gaurdian angel he should be safe enough


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    #33
    MyPerfectCousin
    Registered Users Posts: 741 ✭✭✭MyPerfectCousin


    Joeytheparrot wrote: »
    It really pisses me off that there is so much dismissive ageism against him. He is a competent politician and this stuff anout him being an incompetent child is nonsense.

    I never mentioned age, just experience, but I know that if you favour a meritocracy you will sometimes be accused of ageism.

    Would prefer ministers to have had some or any meaningful achievements in their career.

    Harris's achievements are limited to winning elections and following orders. If he were aged 50 or 60 my opinion would be the same.


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    #34
    MyPerfectCousin
    Registered Users Posts: 741 ✭✭✭MyPerfectCousin


    Joeytheparrot wrote: »
    Why do you need private business experience to be a politician?

    Because it means you know what it's like to be accountable, responsible, productive, etc? I'd take public sector managerial experience too.

    But this is about qualifications for minister of health, not just "politician". Healthcare in Ireland makes up more than 10% of the total economy. Would you put someone with no meaningful experience in charge of that?


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    #35
    Wilberto
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 8,575 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wilberto


    hairyslug wrote:
    Does enda feel threatened by him giving him a position that he will only get grief over.


    This was my first thought. It was the same as when he gave Leo the position. For me I hope Simon does very well. I've been impressed with him any time I've seen him.


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    #36
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,992 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    Eh... why would they feel threatened by somebody they have been grooming for high office all along?
    From the time he was first put on the party ticket for the county council in 2009 as a young lad, somebody has been looking after him. There followed the classic route to power, except in a more accelerated manner than usual.
    Party ticket for TD in 2011. Placed on numerous prestigious committees over the years to give him a higher media profile, despite having no particular expertise in any of them.
    Party ticket to be the FG MEP in 2014 which would have given him a more "statesmanlike" international CV in peparation for being a govt. minister, but unfortunately he failed to get elected. Was then given a position as a junior minister in Dept. of finance as a consolation prize.
    Re-elected in 2016 on the party ticket, and straight to proper Minister.

    I've nothing against him personally though; he's a fine young man, probably of slightly above average ability.

    Coveney is another guy to watch. Like Peter "I've never been elected" Sutherland he is being looked after and used by powerful people. These pathetic stooges who work for the big multinational players never lose, because the whole game is rigged.
    Even if the candidate who has been given the party ticket loses, which is difficult, they can simply take some time out in the Seanad as one of the Taoiseachs nominees until the next election.

    Its Leo Varadkar I feel sorry for. A top quality politician, but it seems he'll always play second fiddle to the chosen ones.


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    #37
    loyatemu
    Registered Users Posts: 14,928 ✭✭✭✭loyatemu


    recedite wrote: »

    Its Leo Varadkar I feel sorry for. A top quality politician, but it seems he'll always play second fiddle to the chosen ones.

    People like Leo because he basically says what he's thinking, while he's thinking it. This is refreshing for a politician as they're generally quite cagey - I'm not sure it marks him out as some great leader though. Most in FG want Enda out, I'd expect Leo will get his chance fairly soon.

    As for Simon Harris, I wish him luck as he'll need it, but it's true that he has very little experience of life as a non-politician. His 2 predecessors were GPs and they achieved little in the dept of Health (though Varadkar wasn't there long) - Simon's qualification appears to be some campaigning work for health charities and he's now in charge of the entire health system.


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    #38
    cocker5
    Registered Users Posts: 3,274 ✭✭✭cocker5


    How's anyone googled Simon Harris on Wikipedia? Do it.. It's hilarious.. He's a gimp and Irish politician apparently!!


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    #39
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,992 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    loyatemu wrote: »
    People like Leo because he basically says what he's thinking, while he's thinking it. This is refreshing for a politician as they're generally quite cagey - I'm not sure it marks him out as some great leader though.
    This is true. What marks him out though, is that in hindsight he usually turns out to have been right.


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    #40
    uck51js9zml2yt
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,268 ✭✭✭✭uck51js9zml2yt


    Dont under estimate Harris.
    I thought he handled himself well in his last position. He has a lot to prove and is capable.
    While Enda was at the football yesterday, he was giving media interviews.


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    #41
    Annasopra
    Registered Users Posts: 41,065 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    I'm not particularly a Harris or FG supporter but I think Harris's detractors completely underestimate him.

    Highlighting his achievements as ONLY winning elections is an interesting one. It's almost as if people think winning elections is an easy task and dismiss all of the work involved to get there; the battle to get on the party ticket in the first place (he wasn't exactly wanted by the other Councillors), the constant PR needed, the setting up of an electoral machine, the networking, the logistics of an election campaign. None of this is something that I think can be so easily dismissed. Not only that but Harris came close to winning a seat in Europe in an absolutely ginormous constituency.

    The other thing is Harris has quite a few achievements; he was a Board member of National Youth Council of Ireland, he set up a local autism support group which is still quite strong, he was convenor of the Oireachtas mental health group. He has been a junior minister for two years and he was also constantly at the negotiating table for this government.

    Yes it's a big job for Harris but I really wouldn't underestimate him

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



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    #42
    tayto lover
    Registered Users Posts: 51,921 ✭✭✭✭tayto lover


    Harris might just be what is needed in Health. Might be better off with someone who has no history or associations with Health. Leo and Dicey didn't do much for the Ministry so let's give Harris a chance.


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    #43
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,992 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    In related news, has Donnelly now swung a bit too far to the left?
    https://twitter.com/SocDems/status/731068977854697473

    Or is it just his bedfellows. Maybe the end is nigh for the SD's as a party?


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    #44
    loyatemu
    Registered Users Posts: 14,928 ✭✭✭✭loyatemu


    Yeah, strange take on the Luas dispute there - I don't think the company is in any way denying their collective rights, and I wouldn't describe what's happening as a "race to the bottom". It's just a pay dispute where negotiations have broken down.


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