So Michael D IS running again!

B0jangles

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

She is the aunt of Maria Steen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Steen and some people think this automatically means she is an Iona fellow traveller.

Didn't she also claim to not know who or what the Iona Institute is, even though she has close family who are regularly in the public eye as its representatives? Even though she should have read submissions by them to the Senate as part of her job?


Whether or not she agrees with what Iona stands for, it stretches credulity to breaking point for her to claim to know as little about them as she apparently does.

Zubeneschamali

marieholmfan wrote: »

You sound like a Fianna Fail traitor.

Surely he can't be a Gallagher supporter - Gallagher's whole career has been based on grants, tax dodges and semi-state board appointments, the record of the FF insider grifting off the taxpayer.

For Forks Sake

B0jangles wrote: »

Didn't she also claim to not know who or what the Iona Institute is, even though she has close family who are regularly in the public eye as its representatives? Even though she should have read submissions by them to the Senate as part of her job?


Whether or not she agrees with what Iona stands for, it stretches credulity to breaking point for her to claim to know as little about them as she apparently does.

Correct.

Joan Freeman claims she didn't know of the Iona Institute until the recent referendum, in spite of the fact that her niece was a prominent spokespeople for said 'institute' in the recent referendum campaign(s)

https://twitter.com/newsworthy_ie/status/1036902002654150656

Now, even if you take that at face value, she sits (I believe vice-chair) on the Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs, they took submissions from the Iona Institute in Feb 2017, so she's either derelict in the duty of her role, or being economical with the truth, either of which should warrant further scrutiny.

mrbrianj

"Joan Freeman claims she didn't know of the Iona Institute until the recent referendum, in spite of the fact that her niece was a prominent spokespeople for said 'institute' in the recent referendum campaign(s)"

In fairness, she is not the only person around that's guilty of not keeping up on their nieces/nephews careers!

For Forks Sake

mrbrianj wrote: »

"Joan Freeman claims she didn't know of the Iona Institute until the recent referendum, in spite of the fact that her niece was a prominent spokespeople for said 'institute' in the recent referendum campaign(s)"

In fairness, she is not the only person around that's guilty of not keeping up on their nieces/nephews careers!

Not everyones niece was appearing on television and radio on a daily basis for months on end. :rolleyes:

Hurrache

mrbrianj wrote: »

In fairness, she is not the only person around that's guilty of not keeping up on their nieces/nephews careers!

Well then if that's the case, the only conclusion is that she wasn't doing her job in the Oireachtas and she has no idea of what's happening in the country she wants to be president of.

mrbrianj

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Not everyones niece was appearing on television and radio on a daily basis for months on end. :rolleyes:

Again - not the only person guilty of tuning out for the love both campaign!

You cant hang someone because of what a relative does or believes in. I have not yet seen any direct links between Freeman and Iona, the closest has been that she claims to have little or no knowledge of them. She read (or should have read) a submission from them - space for a valid questioning there maybe, but to dismiss her as a candidate based on being part of the Iona institute seems misplaced.

"Iona Institute" is the boards version of "Yer Ma"

James Brown

realdanbreen wrote: »

Japers I never knew he was of such high 'caliber'. He has spent a lifetime being paid huge salaries by the state and I am not aware of anything constructive that he has done for the state. We need to wise up to these people who are full of soft talk and token outrage and contribute very little ATEOTD.

You know little about him. He's campaigned for workers rights, same sex couples and numerous other worthy causes. He's also very eloquent and intelligent all good things in an ambassador.

While you're wising up to these people, (draining the swamp mayhap?) will you be putting your weight behind, which chancer? Or is it just Higgins you have spite for?

James Brown

realdanbreen wrote: »

You make it sound like he went out there like some kind of superhero and built the shagging TG4 building himself!
When are we going to wise up and stop fawning over these guys, who are paid mega bucks, for signing off on projects that we the ordinary folk pay for anyway.

There's fawning and then theres calling out baseless spite. Two very different things.

expectationlost

is Gemma O'Doherty going to get nominated by a load of gombeen councillors https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/news/336616/laois-councillor-nominates-presidential-candidate-gemma-o-doherty.html how many councils are left who havn't had a vote?

Ciaran Mullooly @ciaranmullooly
20h
After holding a meeting last Monday when no candidate was proposed, Laois county council will meet again after all next Monday to vote on the nomination of Gemma O’Doherty for the Presidential campaign. FF & FG now expected to abstain so SF councillors vote will decide her fate.

councillors have voted against her being nominated and they should do so again, she doesn't really want to be president

An Ciarraioch

AFAIK, there are still eight that could nominate a candidate.

For Forks Sake

expectationlost wrote: »

is Gemma O'Doherty going to get nominated by a load of gombeen councillors https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/news/336616/laois-councillor-nominates-presidential-candidate-gemma-o-doherty.html how many councils are left who havn't had a vote? councillors have voted against her being nominated and they should do so again, she doesn't really want to be president

Stupid Indys once again show that they can't agree on anything.

Cork Boy 53

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Stupid Indys once again show that they can't agree on anything.

Since when has David Norris been a TD?

blackwhite

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Stupid Indys once again show that they can't agree on anything.

Sounds like Craughwell made one last thinly veiled effort to get on the ballot

expectationlost

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Stupid Indys once again show that they can't agree on anything.

nor should they be expected to

expectationlost

blackwhite wrote: »

Sounds like Craughwell made one last thinly veiled effort to get on the ballot

he said he wasn't going because he didn't have the money so (he was partly talking about not having the money to get round all the councils), he wouldn't want the nom anyway?

expectationlost

An Ciarraioch wrote: »

AFAIK, there are still eight that could nominate a candidate.

IT says 5 council who made no decision yet https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/independent-tds-and-senators-fail-to-agree-on-presidential-nomination-process-1.3634795
I wish this much talked about Sinn Fein discipline would appear now.

Henryhill2

What's this all about with all these dragons den stars running for president?

Is it an in-joke or does someone have the lowdown on what is to transpire during the race.

hotmail.com

I think we could have the drop out of candidates before the election itself particularly if the next poll continues to show a Higgins landslide.

blanch152

Matt Barrett wrote: »

You know little about him. He's campaigned for workers rights, same sex couples and numerous other worthy causes. He's also very eloquent and intelligent all good things in an ambassador.

While you're wising up to these people, (draining the swamp mayhap?) will you be putting your weight behind, which chancer? Or is it just Higgins you have spite for?

He campaigned for a lot, but didn't achieve very much, apart from creating a monstrous waste of taxpayers money in TG4.

As for being very eloquent and intelligent, if those are the criteria, I might put myself forward.

expectationlost

hotmail.com wrote: »

I think we could have the drop out of candidates before the election itself particularly if the next poll continues to show a Higgins landslide.

Peter Casey say he is in it to win it and willing to spend 750k to do so but maybe he'll use health as reason to drop out?

mrbrianj

blanch152 wrote: »

He campaigned for a lot, but didn't achieve very much, apart from creating a monstrous waste of taxpayers money in TG4.

As for being very eloquent and intelligent, if those are the criteria, I might put myself forward.

What is a monstrous waste of tax payers money is the circus of clowns chasing each county council for a nomination. Followed by an election campaign, which sole outcome for the challengers is to have their egos tickled as the current president will be re-elected.

Cork Boy 53

blanch152 wrote: »

He campaigned for a lot, but didn't achieve very much, apart from creating a monstrous waste of taxpayers money in TG4.

As for being very eloquent and intelligent, if those are the criteria, I might put myself forward.

If self praise is also part of the criteria, then you are definitely eligible.

Larbre34

Dateline: South Dublin CoCo County Hall

Sarah Louise Mulligan gets shirty with a Councillor who she accuses of making smart comments about her, walks over and berates the man, has to be removed by Security.

Meanwhile, in the public gallery, Norma Burke, dressed in character as the moron I will not name, starts yelling and acting the maggot and is also thrown out.

The only due credit of the day goes to South Dublin CoCo who vote not to endorse anyone.

I'm sorry lads, but I'm going to make it my business to petition the Citizens Assembly and Dept of Local Government after this election to consider my idea of candidates needing 50,000 (or either 1% of registered voters) verified signatures before they qualify to go before the Councils or Oireachtas.

As this stuff today is an absolute ****ing joke.

For Forks Sake

How to make friends and influence people #2631....show up over an hour late

Oh wait, it's a conspiracy of course....https://twitter.com/gemmaod1/status/1042865131816931337

And this is a flat out lie (which a remarkable number of her sheep seem to believe)

feargale

blanch152 wrote: »

creating a monstrous waste of taxpayers money in TG4.

Elaborate please.

feargale

Larbre34 wrote: »

Dateline: South Dublin CoCo County Hall

Sarah Louise Mulligan gets shirty with a Councillor who she accuses of making smart comments about her, walks over and berates the man, has to be removed by Security.

Meanwhile, in the public gallery, Norma Burke, dressed in character as the moron I will not name, starts yelling and acting the maggot and is also thrown out.

The only due credit of the day goes to South Dublin CoCo who vote not to endorse anyone.

I'm sorry lads, but I'm going to make it my business to petition the Citizens Assembly and Dept of Local Government after this election to consider my idea of candidates needing 50,000 (or either 1% of registered voters) verified signatures before they qualify to go before the Councils or Oireachtas.

As this stuff today is an absolute ****ing joke.

Not content to lose the game by a cricket score, some people are determined to show themselves as rotten losers. And some wait until the game is as good as over before showing their true colours. A pity they couldn't accept their drubbing with good grace.
In fairness to the county councillors they played a responsible part in the democratic process, giving of their free time to let people have a hearing. It's not their fault if in the process they find themselves listening to one or two idiots. I imagine such people would scream blue murder if they were shown the same degree of respect that they would show to the councillors and to our democracy.
If the councillors wanted comedy they could spend their time at the Gaeity and get far higher quality entertainment. Let us hope that the resulting publicity brings the same degree of success to comedians as Dustin's performance at Eurovision.
A Mayo councillor was on radio three days ago and made the very sensible suggestion that the councillors should decide in advance who to hear and who not to hear. That way some people would get just one shot at most if at all.
If the number of Oireachtas members needed to endorse were reduced from 20 it might enable some smaller parties to nominate a serious candidate, e.g. Greens or PDs once upon a time, who was neither a clown nor a moneyed person with no record of public service and no experience of law or politics.
I doubt that President Higgins is quaking in his boots right now.

mrbrianj

"who was neither a clown nor a moneyed person with no record of public service and no experience of law or politics."

Our county councilors should be questioned on their decision to endorse particular candidates. Explain why they think the likes of Gallagher, Duffy and Casey, in their opinion would be better than the incumbent / other candidates - and why some councils, that were known to be eager to endorse a particular candidate, voted for a different one when their preferred champion already got 3 endorsements elsewhere.

Zubeneschamali

mrbrianj wrote: »

Explain why they think the likes of Gallagher, Duffy and Casey, in their opinion would be better than the incumbent

In fairness, the councillors don't have to think the people they nominate are the best, just that they deserve to be on the ballot.

If I was a councillor, and a stealth nominee of party I hate (like Gallagher in 2011) came looking for a nomination, I might well say they should be on the ballot even though I don't want them to win.

Hurrache

Craughwell being mischievous by trying to stir it regarding presidential expenses.