Cork Taoiseach

User142

gifted wrote: »

He's a chancer......lucky to get elected on the 6th count.....part of FF when they wrecked the country......responsible for the mess that is the HSE........just a very poor politician....and he'll do feck all for anyone let alone Cork

Lucky to get elected? Are you kidding. They took 2 of the 4 seats. They managed their vote and stopped the Greens taking a seat.

In our political system this is the definition of massive success.

whisky_galore

namloc1980 wrote: »

Historically Cork ministers are pretty bad at it though.

Again.
How do they get elected?

AugustusMinimus

User142 wrote: »

Lucky to get elected? Are you kidding. They took 2 of the 4 seats. They managed their vote and stopped the Greens taking a seat.

In our political system this is the definition of massive success.

It stuns next just how misunderstood STV is in this country.

namloc1980

whisky_galore wrote: »

Again.
How do they get elected?

Are you not aware that we have general elections? A quick Google search will tell you what you need to know.

whisky_galore

namloc1980 wrote: »

Are you not aware that we have general elections? A quick Google search will tell you what you need to know.

Now don't act dumb. How do cork candidates who supposedly deliver little or nothing get voted in time and time again?

namloc1980

whisky_galore wrote: »

Now don't act dumb. How do cork candidates who supposedly deliver little or nothing get voted in time and time again?

Because people just vote for them regardless. When FF got wiped out in 2011 Cork South Central still faithfully and inexplicably re-elected both Martin and McGrath. Only place in the country to do so. All three of them are lukewarm at best about the M28 and Martin in particular has shown little interest in progressing the Event Centre. What specifically have they delivered?

MrDerp

namloc1980 wrote: »

Because people just vote for them regardless. When FF got wiped out in 2011 Cork South Central still faithfully and inexplicably re-elected both Martin and McGrath. Only place in the country to do so. All three of them are lukewarm at best about the M28 and Martin in particular has shown little interest in progressing the Event Centre.

My vote pattern: 2002 out of the country (and don’t believe in postal votes). Green 2007. FG 2011, 2016, 2020.

I’m a cork south central voter and I vote based on policies overall, not local infrastructure projects.

Sure, I will factor it in, but I won’t knee jerk my vote if something is not delivered.

There is no party which meets my requirement to be socially progressive, pro infrastructure investment, pro education investment, but fiscally conservative on other day to day expenditure.

I look for a balance across all of that, but it means a party won’t lose a vote in a reaction to not delivering one, and I certainly won’t vote for change for the sake of change if I don’t believe in the policies of an alternative.

It’s not about delivering for Cork for me, which would be nice but has to be balanced with building an overall economic and social engine for the country. I will never vote on a single local issue housing, Heath, roads.

Finally, when I despair generally at the options and don’t agree with any party in particular, I will vote with my wallet, which I did in 2011. FG have retained my vote since for demonstrating the most credible commitment to avoiding us ending back in emergency EU / IMF funding

j8wk2feszrnpao

Peter Flynt wrote: »

There was no major opposition to the intro of the smoking ban.

Yes there was. The publicans fought against it for years, promising to use expensive air recycling units that they were never going to install (and they threaten legal action at the time).
Think we were the first European country to ban smoking in the workplace, so he wasn't following some pattern.

saabsaab

Of course it's not all about Cork but Cork is a vitally important area of the country and should get its fair share. Having said others areas don't either as Dublin acts like a giant hoover sucking up investment.

whisky_galore

the beer revolu wrote: »

Almost everyone was opposed to it.
I knew non smokers who thought it would ruin pubs and was a ridiculous case of nannystateism and, as already mentioned, the publicans fought tooth and nail against it.

There was nothing to be gained from pushing this unpopular agenda, yet he doggedly pushed it even as members of his own party opposed it. It was a rare brave and selfless political act for which he should be remembered.

Having said that, I never have and most likely never will vote for FF.

I met him as a young TD in about 1993 and afterwards said to my friend that man was being groomed to be taoiseach. Took 27 years for me to be proved right. I'm not sure I ever wanted to be proved right, but there you go.

Personally I think it was a great move. Was absolutely sick at the time of breathing it and my clothes stinking of other peoples' smoke and getting burned by eegits holding cigarettes.

We look back on those days now like the days smoking was allowed in planes, but I thought banning it in pubs could never work or be enforced, that people would take the mass public disobedience line, thankfully I've been proven wrong on that last one as the laws have teeth behind them and it polices itself. Anyone lighting up in a pub these days is going to get strange looks.

JP Liz V1

namloc1980 wrote: »

Lucky? Not sure you understand how elections work. There's no "luck" involved. He was elected second in the constituency and got 96.5% of a quota in first preferences and got a second colleague over the line in the same constituency in Michael McGrath.

McGrath would be a better FF leader and Taoiseach

namloc1980

If local politics plays no role in what a minister does, why are so many people getting their knickers in a twist over no senior minister from the west of Ireland??

saabsaab

namloc1980 wrote: »

If local politics plays no role in what a minister does, why are so many people getting their knickers in a twist over no senior minister from the west of Ireland??

So true the West is also neglected.

whisky_galore

namloc1980 wrote: »

If local politics plays no role in what a minister does, why are so many people getting their knickers in a twist over no senior minister from the west of Ireland??

No matter what is done, nobody will be entirely pleased.

No people hailing from some west of Ireland boghole or no women or no LGTQXYZ amputee Gaelgoir travellers of colour.

saabsaab

The West is a huge area and Women make up half the population!

corks finest

gifted wrote: »

He's a chancer......lucky to get elected on the 6th count.....part of FF when they wrecked the country......responsible for the mess that is the HSE........just a very poor politician....and he'll do feck all for anyone let alone Cork

Agree 100 PC,not a FF/ FG man at all,but McGrath' would be a much better, smarter FF leader and Taoiseach

corks finest

saabsaab wrote: »

So true the West is also neglected.

He will neglect the whole bloody country in time,he's a plamaser,a yes man

namloc1980

saabsaab wrote: »

The West is a huge area and Women make up half the population!

22.5% of the TDs are women. 26.7% of the cabinet are women. If anything women are over-representated in cabinet relative to the number of TDs in the Dáil.

saabsaab

I say give the man a chance. At least he is from cork.

mikeym

I trust Varadkar over Micheal Martin, he has a track record of lying to the electorate.

Carrigaline will have 2 ministers living in that town but dont worry people of the West us Carrigaline people wont be getting any special treatment it will be the same manure as usual.

rom

Other than the smoking ban what other positive impacts has he had during his time in politics?

physioman

MrDerp wrote: »

My vote pattern: 2002 out of the country (and don’t believe in postal votes). Green 2007. FG 2011, 2016, 2020.

I’m a cork south central voter and I vote based on policies overall, not local infrastructure projects.

Sure, I will factor it in, but I won’t knee jerk my vote if something is not delivered.

There is no party which meets my requirement to be socially progressive, pro infrastructure investment, pro education investment, but fiscally conservative on other day to day expenditure.

I look for a balance across all of that, but it means a party won’t lose a vote in a reaction to not delivering one, and I certainly won’t vote for change for the sake of change if I don’t believe in the policies of an alternative.

It’s not about delivering for Cork for me, which would be nice but has to be balanced with building an overall economic and social engine for the country. I will never vote on a single local issue housing, Heath, roads.

Finally, when I despair generally at the options and don’t agree with any party in particular, I will vote with my wallet, which I did in 2011. FG have retained my vote since for demonstrating the most credible commitment to avoiding us ending back in emergency EU / IMF funding

I enjoyed your post and respected up until the last line. The eu/IMF own us and make the decisions. Our politicians are meer puppets. All tds are the same.

Yurt2

What would the people of Cork need from a Cork Taoiseach beyond the obvious (the Event Centre finally being built and the M20, both of which are in-train already you'd imagine)?

The best thing you could hope for is probably a Green Minister in the Housing and Planning department, who above all would take national spatial development & good urban lifestyle measures & sensible urban planning seriously. Cities outside of Dublin might get a better crack of the whip in that eventuality.

Instead of a bunch of FF yahoos giving every Mary and Tom planning permission in every boreen in the county.

AugustusMinimus

Yurt! wrote: »

What would the people of Cork need from a Cork Taoiseach beyond the obvious (the Event Centre finally being built and the M20, both of which are in-train already you'd imagine)?

The best thing you could hope for is probably a Green Minister in the Housing and Planning department, who above all would take national spatial development & good urban lifestyle measures & sensible urban planning seriously. Cities outside of Dublin might get a better crack of the whip in that eventuality.

Instead of a bunch of FF yahoos giving every Mary and Tom planning permission in every boreen in the county.

Isn’t it the Greens who seem to be primarily objected to high rise in the city centre. They say they are for high rise but then shoot down almost every development for a myriad of reasons.

namloc1980

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Isn’t it the Greens who seem to be primarily objected to high rise in the city centre. They say they are for high rise but then shoot down almost every development for a myriad of reasons.

They don't really have the power to shoot down developments. It seems any high-rise application in Cork to date has got the go ahead.

corks finest

mikeym wrote: »

I trust Varadkar over Micheal Martin, he has a track record of lying to the electorate.

Carrigaline will have 2 ministers living in that town but dont worry people of the West us Carrigaline people wont be getting any special treatment it will be the same manure as usual.

As a Carrigaline resident I agree

AugustusMinimus

namloc1980 wrote: »

They don't really have the power to shoot down developments. It seems any high-rise application in Cork to date has got the go ahead.

They don’t. But sure look like they’re objected to a lot of them. From a Cork point of view they appear to be the anti-development party if nothing else.

namloc1980

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

They don’t. But sure look like they’re objected to a lot of them. From a Cork point of view they appear to be the anti-development party if nothing else.

To be honest the Cork Greens are a bit of an unusual crowd. Seems to be a fair bit of infighting going on there. And they seem to be more focused on "social justice" issues than traditional Green issues. I wouldn't be too concerned about them.

saabsaab

rom wrote: »

Other than the smoking ban what other positive impacts has he had during his time in politics?

'As Minister for Education and Science, he oversaw an increase in spending at all levels of education, while a number of educational initiatives, such as a review of the primary school curriculum and the introduction of special needs assistants'

gifted

saabsaab wrote: »

'As Minister for Education and Science, he oversaw an increase in spending at all levels of education, while a number of educational initiatives, such as a review of the primary school curriculum and the introduction of special needs assistants'

Review....review....review.....MM favourite get out of jail card......hey Micheal...what time is it?....waiting for a review ...next question please.

A very poor politician and seeing what he's done to his deputy leader a politician I wouldn't turn my back on in a hurry.