Re: The Green Party

1

It wasn’t that she didn’t know who the candidate was because there was no candidate but she didn’t know ‘what people the Greens had up there’

When I took her up on it she just laughed it off saying that its not an area that they were concentrating on.

Hardly democratic and all encompassing now is it?

  1. I don’t know for certain what she knew and didn’t know.

  2. They aren’t concentrating on Leitrim for a seat - they don’t think they’ll get one there. What’s the issue?

  3. If you don’t know who the Green Party have in Leitrim why would you expect that a non-member of the party from Fingal would know?

  4. The point is that the Green Party are running a candidate in every constituency for the first time. How many candidates do you expect people to be able to name? Do you have any idea how many constituencies there are?

2

I thought she was an employee of the party but Rock is in a better position to call it and he says that she is an employee of the Oireachtas

3

Read the posts. No.

4

That’s correct - neither an employee, nor a member, nor a representative.

5

The issue is that she didn’t care about Leitrim because it was not a place where they were going to get votes

6

well you can hardly blame the party for targeting constituencies where they have a better chance of securing a seat. any right thinking party would put effort into securing those seats that are attainable. this tactic is used by the liberal democrats in Britain and other parties here. they should be applauded for fielding a representative in every constituency and given people maximum choice.

7

I don’t necessarily blame them for concentrating on best constituencies but the condensing tone was what annoyed me

She then questioned me voting for my local TD because there was some controversery around him in the past - eventhough he has always done a good job for his constituents

She evidently knew nothing about the constituency, nor cared about it yet had the neck to tell me who not to vote for

8

Re Mick Wallace; he has said he’s considering running as an Independent. That could really shake up matters in Wexford.

Didn’t realise the Greens were running candidates in all areas. That’s a positive development - the more greater the number of options the better for the electorate.

9

Didn’t you tell us before that your father told you who to vote for? That said it all for me. He told you to vote FF and you did.

And do you think that if a politician does a good job for his local constituents that’s the only barometer you should measure him by? So you’d vote for Lowry or Burke or Cooper-Flynn or Lawlor if they were in your area?

10

Ellis wasn’t nearly as bad as those you have mentioned. His company went bankrupt resulting in a few Roscummon farmers not getting paid. Boo Hoo :’(

I am voting for Ellis now purely on merit as he is our only Leitrim representative and he has done a good job in the past

11

Ellis wasn’t nearly as bad as those you have mentioned. His company went bankrupt resulting in a few Roscummon farmers not getting paid. Boo Hoo

I am voting for Ellis now purely on merit as he is our only Leitrim representative and he has done a good job in the past

I never said he was as bad as those, just asking you to clarify your position. So:

  1. Is constituency work the be-all and end-all for you? In particular do you consider corruption and the national interest in your decision making?

  2. Did you vote FF because your father told you to?

12

This is all irelevant to the point. You are trying top discredit me as a reporter on the incident which is a cheap trick

13

Ellis wasn’t nearly as bad as those you have mentioned. His company went bankrupt resulting in a few Roscummon farmers not getting paid. Boo Hoo

By the way it wasn’t that he went bankrupt that caused the controversy.

It was that he was about to go bankrupt, which I think precludes a TD from sitting in the Dil and because FF only had a majority of 1 Haughey paid Ellis out of government funds - i.e. public money - to pay off his debtors. Then he did it again.

14

Ok well I know the answer to Q2 so ignore that. But what are your thoughts on the first part?

15

Hold on here - the controversery was around Haughey mainly not Ellis

And I will address Q2. I have in the past voted for FF on the basis that I had no real preference but it meant a lot to my auld lad.

With regard to Q1 - I think there’s a trade off between level of corruption and level of capability

(got by 1s and 2s mixed up there so modified it)

16

The controversy was mainly around Haughey because he was Taoiseach. Ellis as the recipient of public money to stave off bankruptcy was just as guilty. He knew fine well what was happening. And then he did it a second time.

You implied at the start that the controversy was just that he had personal financial hardship. The issue was how he saved himself from financial ruin, not he ruination itself.