Local Elections 2014

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donabateportrane1
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Anybody else getting leaflets for Local Election candidates?
jack white
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No actual leaflets yet but one candidate has knocked on the door. Local man, Michael Collins, gave a brief rundown on why he's running and what his aims are.

He's well known in Donabate but I don't think Donabate is big enough for an independent to run and garner enough votes to get elected. He'll need to canvass successfully elsewhere if he is to stand a chance.

He was once part of the Fianna Fail local network before turning his back on that party and was saying he is still getting huge amounts of anti-FF messages on the doorsteps. No surprise there, I suppose.

No doubt the coming weeks will bring more candidates and plenty of leaflets.
Mr. Stupid
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So many people who live in Donabate bought between 2000 and 2008. All of Carr's Mill, half of Beverton, etc etc

So yeah there would be strong anti - FF sentiment.
donabateportrane1
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I had Collins around at my door as well. I have had some leaflets, mostly independents. I agree and dont think the Donabate independent vote will get him over the line.
donabateportrane1
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After reviewing all the candidates I think I'll be giving Bob Dowling my no.1, he has done a lot of work for the community.
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Ken
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donabateportrane1 wrote:After reviewing all the candidates I think I'll be giving Bob Dowling my no.1, he has done a lot of work for the community.
You seem to be pushing Bob Dowling very hard. Have you any connection with him?
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Ken.
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Sydney
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I'll say straight out that I know Adrian Henchy through the GAA and the hockey. I haven't ever been a FF fan but for Local Elections, I believe in following the Person not the Party.

It's a nice idea to run as an Independant but once elected what's that person likely to be able to get completed without a party behind them.

It is a local election so I think most people will vote based on how strong they think the local candidates are and what they are likely to achieve if elected.

We've had a few leaflets in the door alright, most of whom are fairly generic and "band-wagon-jump" like. My favourites are the ones who refer to all they've done for the Astro Pitch :roll: We all know who's done the work there!

Adrian is a local guy with his finger on the pulse. He's approachable and he gets stuff done. That's good enough for me!
donabateportrane1
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Nope and still haven't reviewed all of the candidates just saying of the candidates I have reviewed he seems to have done the most work.
donabateportrane1
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I think a lot of the candidates have worked hard on the astro but I agree some are just using it as a way of getting votes.
donabateportrane1
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I heard a while back that someone wanted to make Donabate/Portrane its own constituency for Local Elections and take 3 or 4 of the seats and leave the remaining 6/5 to Swords. Any thoughts?
Mr. Stupid
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Well there's no way I am voting FF. The people running for it could easily run for one of the other parties but obviously don't see something wrong with reckless economic policies.
donabateportrane1
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I would find it easier to vote for any of the FF candidates if they were independents.
Derek
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Nice to see some blatant electioneering in this thread !! :lol:

Seriously, I used to be a Labour voter but never again. The performance of the current shower in government is by and large abysmal and at local level, leaves a lot to be desired.

As for who I'll vote for, I've no idea because it's so difficult to tell them apart they are all so bad. :?
donabateportrane1
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Donabate was always a huge Labour area and I can see a massive drop in support taking place.
donabateportrane1
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Derek wrote:Nice to see some blatant electioneering in this thread !! :lol:

Seriously, I used to be a Labour voter but never again. The performance of the current shower in government is by and large abysmal and at local level, leaves a lot to be desired.

As for who I'll vote for, I've no idea because it's so difficult to tell them apart they are all so bad. :?
I'm not canvassing for anyone.
donabateportrane1
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Sydney wrote:I'll say straight out that I know Adrian Henchy through the GAA and the hockey. I haven't ever been a FF fan but for Local Elections, I believe in following the Person not the Party.

It's a nice idea to run as an Independant but once elected what's that person likely to be able to get completed without a party behind them.

It is a local election so I think most people will vote based on how strong they think the local candidates are and what they are likely to achieve if elected.

We've had a few leaflets in the door alright, most of whom are fairly generic and "band-wagon-jump" like. My favourites are the ones who refer to all they've done for the Astro Pitch :roll: We all know who's done the work there!

Adrian is a local guy with his finger on the pulse. He's approachable and he gets stuff done. That's good enough for me!
Any connections to FF/ Henchy?
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Sydney
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donabateportrane1 wrote:
Sydney wrote:I'll say straight out that I know Adrian Henchy through the GAA and the hockey. I haven't ever been a FF fan but for Local Elections, I believe in following the Person not the Party.

It's a nice idea to run as an Independant but once elected what's that person likely to be able to get completed without a party behind them.

It is a local election so I think most people will vote based on how strong they think the local candidates are and what they are likely to achieve if elected.

We've had a few leaflets in the door alright, most of whom are fairly generic and "band-wagon-jump" like. My favourites are the ones who refer to all they've done for the Astro Pitch :roll: We all know who's done the work there!

Adrian is a local guy with his finger on the pulse. He's approachable and he gets stuff done. That's good enough for me!
Any connections to FF/ Henchy?
Dude, I can't think how you busted me? Could it be the first line where I say that I know Adrian through the Hockey & GAA? :o
Derek
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donabateportrane1 wrote:
Derek wrote:Nice to see some blatant electioneering in this thread !! :lol:

Seriously, I used to be a Labour voter but never again. The performance of the current shower in government is by and large abysmal and at local level, leaves a lot to be desired.

As for who I'll vote for, I've no idea because it's so difficult to tell them apart they are all so bad. :?
I'm not canvassing for anyone.
I never said you were. There's more than one candidate being mentioned here and more than one person discussing them.
Mr. Stupid
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Interestingly, there is a huge surges in "People before Profit" candidates. http://www.peoplebeforeprofit.ie/node/875

But none in our area. They are not by my cup of tea. I respect hippies and there is definitely a place for them in politics, but they haven't a clue how the commercial world works. Ireland is an open economy and things are getting more and more competitive in the real world whether we like it or not. It is a fight to get jobs here over other countries. Some people in FG have a bit of a clue, but they'd be a better party with Richard Bruton as leader and also got their ethical standards up and came down heavier on the banks.

A major problem they have is they don't have much talent on the back benches who are capable of Minister level and they only got a huge vote last time because of what FF did to the country.

Labour have some good policies. But they are too linked with Siptu and the Unions who are getting a pretty good deal at the moment to the detriment of everyone else. In fact, they are so used to getting good deals they don't even realise they are getting them.
jack white
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Sydney wrote:I'll say straight out that I know Adrian Henchy through the GAA and the hockey. I haven't ever been a FF fan but for Local Elections, I believe in following the Person not the Party.

I find it impossible to separate the person from the party.

Let's face it, the one thing we can all say about Fianna Fail, without any fear of contradiction, is that they are incompetent. Dazzlingly incompetent. Probably the most incompetent political party in the entire history of Europe. They're so incompetent that even the Greeks could point at them and laugh. And this Henchy guy, now that he's decided to run for Fianna Fail, is effectively standing up for incompetence. A vote for Henchy is undeniably a vote for the party and policies that ruined this entire country. So he's not getting my vote.

As for who I'm voting for... well, I haven't seen the lst of candidates yet but one thing I do know is that I'm astonished about how successful the current FG/Labour government has been. To be perfectly honest when Enda Kenny got the big job I didn't hold out much hope for the country. Unemployment was at 15 per cent and I could see it growing to 20% or higher as it has done in other bailout countries like Spain or Greece. In fact, it's currently at 11.9% and falling because the economy has been turned around in spectacular style. I'm still not a FG fan. They're a bit too right wing for my taste. But when I consider the state the country was in when FG/Lab took over, I have to give them credit. Three years ago I was convinced that my kids would have to emigrate to find work when they leave school. Now I'm hopeful that they might not. And it's FG/Labour who have given me that hope.

I'm in my fifties and I have to say the current government is the most successful I can remember in my lifetime. Admittedly the competition for that title isn't exactly fierce. The only other genuinely successful fovernment I can recall was the Bruton/Spring/De Rossa coalition that gave birth to the Celtic Tiger. And that government was fairly short lived and didn't inherit the nightmare which the current ghovernment did.

I've always regarded voting for independents as a waste of a vote and I doubt if Sinn Fein have a clue how to run an economy. That essentially leaves it as a choice between FF and the current government. And that's a choice between incompetence and competence. I'm voting for competence.
Derek
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donabateportrane1 wrote:Donabate was always a huge Labour area and I can see a massive drop in support taking place.
Agree emphatically with you on that one. The absence of proper and effective representation from them is disappointing. And that's before we take the national picture into consideration
jack white
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Derek wrote:
donabateportrane1 wrote:Donabate was always a huge Labour area and I can see a massive drop in support taking place.
Agree emphatically with you on that one. The absence of proper and effective representation from them is disappointing. And that's before we take the national picture into consideration

Srange the way people have different perspectives. If we take the national picture into consideration Labour should do quite well. As should FG. That's the point I was trying to make earlier.

However, in mid term elections like these people often send a shot across the bows of the government. Even successful, popular governments tend to do poorly in local elections like these. The question is, where will those votes go. If the independent candidate I spoke to (Collins) is correct, the anger with FF is still palpable so it may well be that people will temporarily desert the government and vote for independents or Sinn Fein as a form of protest vote.
micropoodle

whilst I have no doubt that the positive things being said about our 2 local FF candidates are true, I made a promise to myself to never ever ever ever vote FF. Be that in local, general, european or presidential elections.

i will be telling them this at the door, as no doubt many others will.

Bob Dowling I know has been involved for many many years at local level and has done a lot for the area, however as he is running for FG I don't think I can vote for him either.

i presume Gerry will be running again for Labour. so that rules him out.

doesn't leave me with a whole lot of choice i'm afraid.

I'm certainly not voting for someone just because I happen to know him/her through such and such.
crazy way to vote and is typical of parish pump politics
Derek
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If you remember some of Labours comments before they joined government, we had "Frankfurts Way or Labour Way". We had ministers saying that health, education and public sector pay, and the dole wouldn't be touched. We had talk of bond holders being ceremonially incinerated and renegotiation of the banking debt. In fact, a lot of their high profile promises weren't worth the breath they were uttered with because each one was broken or unfulfilled. It's this failure to deliver that has hit their once solid core vote hard, and why sadly I won't be voting for them.
Mr. Stupid
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Derek wrote:If you remember some of Labours comments before they joined government, we had "Frankfurts Way or Labour Way". We had ministers saying that health, education and public sector pay, and the dole wouldn't be touched. We had talk of bond holders being ceremonially incinerated and renegotiation of the banking debt
In fairness, we had a deficit of 15 billion a year. That is a 60 billion bank bailout every four years - just to pay for the social welfare, the public sector pay etc. Of course they were going to be touched.

I think dam all has been touched considering that deficit. And I really think some people need to go back and look at the actual figures and stop getting stuck in the rhetoric be it "Frankfurter's way or Labour Sausage in batter" or "Burning of bond holders" - Look at the figures.

I know there are sob stories and they are very very valid ones. However, we had economic collapse in this country. Take a look at African states where there is also economic collapse. Or Greece, Spain, Portugal and you will soon see have got off very lightly.

We should have burnt a few more bondholders, I agree. That's obvious. But I guess what has happened is the EU / IMF won't let that happen after what happened in the states so in return for playing the EU / IMF game we get extremely low interest and keep our low corporate tax.

That is strategy that appears to be the best of bad options and the has managed to see the country turn the corner.
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