"a failed person" and a "nitwit"

Heinrich

From the chief of our current miseries! Is it any wonder that the place is in a mess when it's being run by this sort of person?

Higgins a failed person and nitwit, fumes Bertie

Taoiseach's stinging attack on Socialist TD

AN angry personal attack by Bertie Ahern on Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins marked yesterday's Dail proceedings, when the Taoiseach called him "a failed person" and a "nitwit".

Mr Ahern made the remarks after the two men clashed over the latest house price figures which, said Mr Higgins, had shown that the Government was doing nothing to lower the price of homes for young people.

The Taoiseach accused Mr Higgins of trying to "drag" people back to the "failed" policies he had dreamt up years ago in the south of Kerry. Mr Higgins asked: "Are members of this Government so cossetted by their massive salaries that they are oblivious to the suffering out there?"

Mr Ahern said the Government was continuing to try to ensure that supply outstripped demand, and said that "it is only that way that we can stem the increases".

The Taoiseach gave figures for the number of new houses built and said these compared more than favourably with many other countries. They were ahead of the US, Europe and the UK, he claimed.

Mr Higgins was unhappy with the Taoiseach's answers which, he claimed, were missing the point that many were unable to afford the high cost of new houses.

Mr Higgins then suggested that maybe it was "the clatter of the developers' helicopters as they descend on your tent at the Galway races which is drowning out the calls to stop this scandal of unbridled profiteering in the housing market". Mr Ahern then rounded on him, and said he had "a failed ideology" and always "likes to return to the days of pathetic poverty".

Mr Higgins, he claimed, wanted to go back to a time when no houses were being built in this country, where people had to emigrate, had no jobs and no future. That, he said, would be "back to the great tradition of Joe Higgins and his weary warriors".

"You have the most hopeless policy I ever heard pursued by any nitwit," he said. "You are a failed person. You were rejected and your political philosophy has been rejected. "You are not going to pull people back into the failed old policies that you dreamed up in South Kerry when you were a young fellow," he told Mr Higgins. "Now go away," he added. Later, the Socialist TD said he was very proud both of his roots and his policies and accused Mr Ahern of going on "a diversionary rant".

"The values we received in South Kerry when I was growing up were that every human being deserved to have a roof over their head and should be able to live in reasonable comfort. That is all I was demanding and continue to demand in the Dail," said Mr Higgins.

"The Taoiseach occasionally does react to my questioning by getting quite annoyed," he added. "But I have to say that in the nine years I have been questioning him, I don't think I have heard him previously reply in those terms," the Socialist Party TD said.

Gene McKenna

jjbrien

Ahh when things are going badly for Bertie and his cronies they resort to name calling. Do you remember last month they called Richard Bruton the Gobels of the dail. Bertie has not reacted this was since he called John Bruton names when his goverment collasped back in 1994.

seamus

I have to say I watched this exchange last night, and Bertie was squirming.

He pretty much resorted to attempting to discredit Joe Higgins rather than refute his points.

Dudess

Bertie's hissy-fit was legendary! Especially the bit where he went on about "those ideologies you dreamt up when you were a young fella in South Kerry"

arbeitsscheuer

seamus wrote:

I have to say I watched this exchange last night, and Bertie was squirming.

He pretty much resorted to attempting to discredit Joe Higgins rather than refute his points.

Agreed.

Higgins pretty much summed it up when he said Bertie had gone on a "diversionary rant"...

Nice one Joe, ya got a rise out of the bugger!

eigrod

There's already a well established thread open on this topic : http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054949919

jd

I don't care much for Joe Higgins' politics, but below the surface Bertie has a fairly nasty streak that has come out in the Dail previously..

Victor

One has to wonder when the Taoiseach of the day has to resort to name calling against the leader of the smallest party in the Dáil.

Sarsfield

Agreed, I would expect more restraint from the leader of the country.

But in fairness, Joe Higgins is a complete plank. It's important that this fact is highlighted often.

yobr

"But in fairness, Joe Higgins is a complete plank. It's important that this fact is highlighted often."

A complete plank? was it not Joe Higgins who highlighted the situation regarding the exploitation of the GAMA workers, not bad considering he has the smallest party in the Dail. This is when the Minister for Overseas Development who you would have thought was in touch with issue of cultural diversity was making racist remarks in the Dail.

Whatever you think of his ideoology Higgins is one of the most hardworking TD's in the Dail rising well above the normal dross of the backbenches...

simu

Victor wrote:

One has to wonder when the Taoiseach of the day has to resort to name calling against the leader of the smallest party in the Dáil.

Or when boards has higher standards than the Dáil! o-O

ScottishDanny

Its nice to see someone who isn't elected on the basis of which side their grandaddy picked in the Civil War..

lostexpectation

i reckon people who are totally living in a different era shouldn't be allowed to vote say, people over 70...

constitutionus

isnt it funny that we've got a party called labour yet its left to higgins to highlight what went on in gamma. then when you think they'd be looking for other cases its left to higgins again to show up what the gov was getting up to in the contract with the ESB on moneypoint.

no matter what you think of higgins politics hes the only one whos got bertie on the run. he consistantly gets to him, uncovering scandal after scandal (the latest being the cosy relationship with monarch properties and how even the PDs are roped into this one!). really makes you wonder if the main opposition parties do anything at all,

"failed person " and "a nitwit" ? sounds like berties projecting his own failings