Gaybo the new chairman of the NSA!?!

Ragazza

Can they not get a road safety expert, or even someone with a little experience?

Martin Cullen strikes again.

I love Gaybo........

as an entertainer.

Bring in the Australians I say.

lostexpectation

aren't alot of chairpersons figureheads, there is nothing really wrong with that,
its good PR for the car industry

so which chum of his convinced him to go on this commitee

A farce.

Kathleen Watkins should have got the job. She travelled every road in the country in Faeces and Places.

Ragazza

For such a serious issue, I would think they would want a serious figure head, not a lovable grumpy grandad type.

Whats next, an ' ah go on, slow down' campaign?

DublinWriter

I nearly crashed the car when I heard this on the radio, so his tenure has not got off to a good start as far as I'm concerned.

Honestly, what next? Rodge and Podge appointed join chairmen of Tourism Ireland?

I guess now we finally know the answer to "Can Martin Cullen do anything right?"

The Bannana Republic? It hasn't gone away you know...

Ragazza

I just heard on the news he says he will walk out of the job if he comes up against too much civil service red tape!
Ha
How long will he last?

Flukey

Gay Byrne is perfectly qualified for the job, as much as anyone else. There will be others on the board, a broad range of people. I don't see that there is any problem with this. He will actually be very good. He has alreday laid down a marker as to what he expects in terms of co-operation from the relevant ministerial department and other authorities. He can get things done. If he can't, it will be probably down to the powers that be, red tape, etc. He has said that if that happens there will be problems and this will not work. So the responisibility for all this is down to them.

Rb

Serious man for a serious job.

Blisterman

What is the NSA anyway?

mike65

Wheres the problem, he's a biker and does'nt suffer fools gladly. He was talking to Matt Cooper on the Last Word and he sounded like the man for the job.

Mike.

DMC

OK. Jolly Good. Well done. Thank you.

Roll it round the car park there, Collette.

scojones

Good ole Gaybo. He'll sort it out.

seamus

He gets plus points for me because he's a rather enthusiastic biker.

DublinWriter

seamus wrote:

He gets plus points for me because he's a rather enthusiastic biker.

He never goes out on his own on the bike. He hires a guy to go out in front of him on another bike and give him back directions via intercom.

I think it was either his daughter or a friend that mentioned that on the recent RTE documentary about him.

Whimp!

Peteee

Didn't know Gaybo would be into all that NSA spying business at all

It's always the quiet ones

meldrew

Gaybo's a great man for the job , someone from outside is needed to get things going not a career civil servant

OFDM

Blisterman wrote:

What is the NSA anyway?

National Security Agency. I always thought he'd be a CIA man myself.

DMC

The Harley bike U2 gave him on his last Late Late Show was auctioned off some years ago for charity.

Diamondmaker

Gaybo the man most respected by 18 to 25 year old males!

DublinWriter

meldrew wrote:

Gaybo's a great man for the job , someone from outside is needed to get things going not a career civil servant

I think Paddy Power should run a book on how long he'll last.

Personally, I'd give him three to six months before he storms out in a huff with all the toys thrown out of the pram.

He's reputed to be an autocrat and somewhat difficult to work with/for.

More importantly, remember it's your tax money paying the €130K annual salary (plus expenses) for his NSA position.

OFDM

OFDM wrote:

National Security Agency. I always thought he'd be a CIA man myself.

Thats fantastic They should remake American Dad and put Gaybo there instead.

Jeez, he's had a strange career since the Late Late Show; Who wants to be a millionaire, freedom of dublin city, and now he's in charge of the roads?

Archeron

Deleted User wrote:

Thats fantastic They should remake American Dad and put Gaybo there instead.

Jeez, he's had a strange career since the Late Late Show; Who wants to be a millionaire, freedom of dublin city, and now he's in charge of the roads?

next thing he'll open a clown college and then the circle will be complete.

elurhs

Could work though. As people have said, he's outside the civil service old boys network. He owes no-one there anything, there are no old debts or feuds strectching back through the years, so he could bring a different perspective to things. He knows how to get things done and he has name recognition and easy access to the media. He can't do any worse than some faceless civil servant.

Kiera

He was on The Last Word last night and he admitted that he has never sit a driving test. He’s been driving since he was 14 (illegally) and bought his licence in a post office when he was 16. He’s only ever sat a test for the bike and that was only a few years ago. Hardly a role model now is he!?!

Tobias Greeshman

Yeah maybe so, but in my opinion, experience counts a hell of a lot more than proving that you spend 30 mins driving around with some hungover idiot with a refill pad. He's been driving for more than a quarter of a century and had little or no accidents. Sounds to me like a very careful driver and I see no reason why not having done a driving test should be held against the man.

In all fairness, most of the idiots on the roads are young drivers and not people who've a full license who've never sat a test, the rest are probably idiots on a provisional that shouldn't be let loose on a push-bike. Some of them probably have sat tests and just lucky enough to pass them, but the test hasn't made them anymore careful drivers.

Kiera

silas wrote:

He's been driving for more than a quarter of a century and had little or no accidents.
.

He has had accidents, he said so himself last night.

Tobias Greeshman

Kiera wrote:

He has had accidents, he said so himself last night.

Yeah, but as he said himself, they weren't what one would consider serious accidents as he said he ran into the back of someone once. What he said was that he was never in any serious accidents and that he never was in trouble with the guards for a traffic offence.

Archeron

silas wrote:

In all fairness, most of the idiots on the roads are young drivers and not people who've a full license who've never sat a test, the rest are probably idiots on a provisional that shouldn't be let loose on a push-bike. Some of them probably have sat tests and just lucky enough to pass them, but the test hasn't made them anymore careful drivers.

I consider that to be a completely unfair statement. Yes, SOME young drivers are dreadful, but not most by a long shot. I also have quite a bit of driving experience, and in my many years on the roads, you can add truck drivers, middle aged business men, van drivers, taxi drivers and God alone knows how many more onto that list of idiots on the road. Blaming everything on young drivers is a typical response, and completely unfair. If I were to think back to the last ten times I was almost creamed on the road for one reason or another, young drivers would probably figure less than anyone. In fact, go sit in the carpark of a busy pub on a Friday night and work out the percentage of older drivers to younger drivers who get into their cars and proceed to drive home drunk. No one group should be blamed for bad driving.

Did anyone else see in the newspaper that he told the government he'll resign unless they do more to stop road-deaths. Look like it could be a short-lived career for aul Gaybo

Tobias Greeshman

boneyarsebogman wrote:

Did anyone else see in the newspaper that he told the government he'll resign unless they do more to stop road-deaths. Look like it could be a short-lived career for aul Gaybo

Well the story I heard was that he'll resign if he comes up against too much red-tape, preventing him from carrying out the job.

dbnavan

Gay Byrne might be an entertainer but he is also a very well educated man, who carries out his work to a very professional manner.

I dont see any problem with it, anyway he is only a chairman he will have a committee of experts working below him I am sure.

silas

silas wrote:

Well the story I heard was that he'll resign if he comes up against too much red-tape, preventing him from carrying out the job.

I think that was included in the article too. If I can find it I'll post it here.

Sheesh, hes only had the job a short while and is already threatning to resign

DublinWriter

Archeron wrote:

I consider that to be a completely unfair statement. Yes, SOME young drivers are dreadful, but not most by a long shot....If I were to think back to the last ten times I was almost creamed on the road for one reason or another, young drivers would probably figure less than anyone.

...except in the yearly stats produced by the NSCI that clearly show that young males under 25 are head-and-shoulders above any other group when it comes to being involved in serious motor accidents.

DublinWriter

dbnavan wrote:

Gay Byrne might be an entertainer but he is also a very well educated man...

He's got the Leaving Cert, like most of us.

Please don't count that honourary Doctorate he got out of TCD!