Which Irish Politician makes you gag?

silverharp

So which Irish politician do you find the most annoying, either because of their style or because of some policy gaff which you attribute to them


For me it's Mary O'Rourke, she sticks in my mind as being responsible or having a complete lack of vision when it came to the Luas, always reckoned she should have been running a sweet shop or a pub, not minister material. If she is ever on TV I can only watch her for a minute before reaching for the remote.

Colonel Sanders

Pat Rabitte. McDowell always got stick for being arrogant (not unfairly either) but Rabitte is so pompous and arrogant. Can't stand him.

stovelid

BCF - obvious but just the thought of her. I have somehow compounded her and her father into this single, venal entity.

Any SF politician when they start doing the righteous, oppressed whine.

Although I like Paul Gogarty, there always seems to be something annoyingly zany or full-of-beans looking about him.

Willie O Dea - not so much annoying as makes me chuckle. I always think he looks like somebody going to a fancy dress party dressed as Willie O Dea. Something about that comic 'tache and hair.

Liz O Donnell - I fancy her a bit but nonetheless she looks like any number of women who hog the counter queue at Avoca / run you off the M50 in their SUV.

Mick86

Bertie with his put-upon, one-of-the-lads act.

meglome

Quite a few really. I'd dearly love if one of them that the tribunals have got dirt on would actually come out and admit they've done something wrong. Even just one might restore my faith in our political system. But at the moment it would have to be Bertie.

Villain

Has to be Martin Cullen for me, the man lacks any sort of intelligence, although does too but I'd better not develop that thought for the time being.

Heinrich

Mick86 wrote:

Bertie with his put-upon, one-of-the-lads act.

Ditto and after him his brother! O'Dea is a buffoon, Lenihan is pure sleaze but give him a chance *cough*.

Mick86

Heinrich wrote:

...O'Dea is a buffoon, ....

Beware small, mustachioed men who like the sound of their own voices and who have a penchant for mixing with the military.:D

Heinrich

Mick86 wrote:

Beware small, mustachioed men who like the sound of their own voices and who have a penchant for mixing with the military.:D

Different hairstyles

stepbar

irish1 wrote:

Has to be Michael Cullen for me, the man lacks any sort of intelligence, although does too but I'd better not develop that thought for the time being.

You mean Martin Cullen. Bertie would rank high up there along with John O'Donoghue. What a scuttering gobsh1te :rolleyes:

All of the above.

J.S. Pill

Tom Parlon

pure C dash dash T

Mexicola

Bertie - sneaky, snivelling gimp.
Beverly Cooper Flynn - The very thought of this woman makes my blood boil. Its fun to take ordinary decent people for a ride.
Padraig Flynn - See above.
John O'Donoghue - Should have been a 'model' for Irish Independent's 'Life' magazine.

...ah there all a bunch of buffoons!

barrett1965

Willie O'Dea (aka Charlie Chaplin). How can that man be taken seriously, especially being Minister for Defense, looking like he does?

Z

I've had the unfortunate experience of working with Rabbitte in the past.
He is extremely arrogant, pretentious and pompous both personally and professionally.
He has a nasty habit of walking out of the room mid conversation. When he has heard enough or gotten his answer, he will simply walk off. I've heard it said, and seen it done myself enough times.

seamus

Willie O Dea - not so much annoying as makes me chuckle. I always think he looks like somebody going to a fancy dress party dressed as Willie O Dea. Something about that comic 'tache and hair.

That's the most perfect description of him ever.

Back when McCreevy was Minister for Finance, I couldn't see him on TV without shouting at it He constantly looks like he's planning your murder when he's answering a question. I just don't like him at all.

JSK 252

Brian Cowen. An insufferable arsehole who seems to get up on the wrong side of the bed every morning. He just snaps at anything that goes against him.

He should be put on the dangerous dog breed list.

thebman

All of the above except Brian Cowen who I actually like.

I hate Noel Dempsey who has single handedly destroyed any chance Ireland had to have a competitive broadband market.

FTA69

barrett1965 wrote:

Willie O'Dea (aka Charlie Chaplin). How can that man be taken seriously, especially being Minister for Defense, looking like he does?

Sure the Ministry of Defence is a load of b*llocks as it stands already. At least O'Dea's election posters are entirely graffitti-proof, no funny glasses or Hitler taches for him!

I'd personally like to smack the head off Brian Hayes and David Norris. Mary Harney could do with a dig or seven as well.

Oirthir

Bertie, John O'Donoghue & the bulk of the FF party, with a few PD's thrown in for good measure.

I'd say McDowell, but he hardly counts anymore? Literally & figuratively...

barrett1965

FTA69 wrote:

Sure the Ministry of Defence is a load of b*llocks as it stands already. At least O'Dea's election posters are entirely graffitti-proof, no funny glasses or Hitler taches for him!

I'd personally like to smack the head off Brian Hayes and David Norris. Mary Harney could do with a dig or seven as well.

That's true.

lucernarian

That man who passes as a TD with the name of Jackie Healy Rae. Many and varied are my descriptions of him, which I won't utter here.

themurt

Not a huge fan of Olwyn Enright, she was canvassing in my area and displayed her true colours on the doorstep as an utter lightweight, no consideration of the issues in the constituency or any real opinions on national issues either beyond bashing her opponents. She also made it pretty clear that she hadn't read her own parties manifesto before looking for votes as she was in the dark on issues her party were campaigning about.

LostinBlanch

1. Mary O'Rourke, definite lack of vision a la LUAS as mentioned above but also for the mess that is Dublin Airport. Air France wanted to build a 2nd treminal for free 10 years ago but she would have none of it. I am totally in agreement with Michael O'Leary regarding her, and even more shocked to find that I agree with Michael O'Leary about anything!
2. Bertie, I'm not even going anywhere near the constant (and justified) questions about his finances. But he is an absolute g******e when it comes to actually making decisions, preferring to leave things on the long finger and get worse and worse. The buck never stops with him.
3. McDowell. Thank God he's gone. The only good thing to have come out of this election. Now can someone please put a stake in his heart? Politically I mean!
4. Martin Cullen. How long have you got? Electronic voting? Arrogance? Incompetence? You get the idea.
5. Dick Roche. Arrogance and incompetence all rolled up into an awfully unappealing package.
6. Willie O Dea. Seeing as he's mentioned above, but I can't take him seriously. Does anyone?
7. O'Donoghue. Another arrogant blowhard who fancies himself. What has he actually done apart from moving part of the state solicitors office to Kerry and giving disproportionately large amounts of OUR lotto moniesto clubs in his constituency? Has shown himself up in his first day as CC
8. Dempsey. As mentioned above decently priced quality Broadband (or lack of) and also started the electronic voting fiasco.
9. Martin Ferris. Never liked the man and thank God that he's not anywhere near power.
10. Tom Parlon. I always thought he was only out for himself. Glad to see that he actually has a sense of public service and left politics. Oh wait, he was thrown out
11. Cowen. Is this man really the towering intellect of FF? God help us if this is the case. Did he commandeer the buffet car of the decentralisation train before it came off the rails?
12. Conor Lenihan. Still think of him snoring while on air before giving an interview to RTE while he was at the FF pissup (sorry strategy meeting) in the Slieve Russell a year or two ago. Can't take him seriously after that. The next Willie O'Dea
13. Trevor Sargent. Led the Greens into supporting FF for less than was promised on the FF manifesto!
14. Can't think of any FGers that make me angry. I just don't care about them. Well except Leo Varadakar, I don't hold out any hopes for him after seeing too much of him in my constituency.
15. Joan Burton. Never sure about her competence at all. The Labour version of Mary O'Rourke IMO.

Maybe it might be easier making a list of current politicians that people actually admire.

seamus

LostinBlanch wrote:

Mary O'Rourke, definite lack of vision a la LUAS

Just curious to know what you mean by this - Not enough lines, not running through the right areas?

LostinBlanch

Well her totally unjoined up thinking for a start. All the crap that we're going to have to go through now to join the two lines together.

But then again she has been the worst minister I have seen in a long time. Yes even worse than Cullen, O'Dea and Roche combined. She's got Joe Jacob like levels of incompetence and good family connections.

K-9

Enda "Dream on baby" Kenny. Think this above anything else lost him the election. When you see this on the 6 O'Clock news and thought this is the future and change, Eh! No thanks.

Brian Hayes - Seems a bright enough fella but is it me, no matter what he says, you just want to lamp him! . Does he look smug and arrogant at 6 in the morning as well?

? Twomey - the FG Health spokesperson during the election. Come on how could anybody lose the Health debate to Harney?

Ferris - see Hayes.

Roche - see Ferris.

Have to agree with Lost in Blanch on Joan Burton. Hearts in the right place but my God is she boring. Bring back Noonan, but then again he was annoying too.

Dermot Ahern - overrated.

O'Caoilin - always criticising, never constructive.

O'Donoghue - nearly as bad as Jackie Healy.

Dempsey - in fairness he does speak his mind, sometimes thats not neccesarily a good thing!

Liam Byrne

Bertie Ahern......his smugness and distain for anyone who can see the faults with a "richer but unhappier" Ireland or points out the folly of allowing public services to deteriorate.........also a complete failure of leadership in not firing ministers who wasted our money and/or who weren't up to the job......finally, his arrogant public statements abroad that "Ireland" was not going to do anything about the U.S. using Shannon......he should have come clean and said that HE wasn't prepared to do anything, so that he wouldn't give the impression that WE agreed with him.

There are many wastes-of-space in FF (just look at the eircom & broadband fiasco, the e-voting machines, inflation, public services) but the buck stops with Bertie, since he decides who should do what.....

sovtek

The new Justice Minister...Lenihan! Firstly for his arrogance and utter lack of humanity on Q and A the other night when referring to the Roma people on the M50.
He smugly reports that they had no right to be here even though they are EU nationals.
Furthermore the INIS is a complete shambles and is seriously effecting immigrants that have been living here for years and paying taxes. Example one: Long Term Residency is supposed to take three months and is now taking over a year. Citizenship is now taking over 2 years. Disgraceful!

Liam Byrne

I don't agree, Sovtek.....NO-ONE has any right to set up home in the middle of a roundabout (and in fact, anyone with respect for their children would not put them in danger by doing so).

Some EU citizens can travel unhindered, while others require work permits and proof that they are working.....that's the law.

Likewise, there are lots of people who can barely afford housing, and yet people expect the country to provide homes and accommodation for these people.

If I could not afford a home for myself, should I pitch camp in the middle of a roundabout in an effort to cause enough of a fuss so that someone would give me a house or accommodation for free ?

To me, the differentiation between where they come from is a little unfair; anyone should be welcome as long as they obey the rules, but equality works both ways......giving this group special treatment would open the floodgates for spongers; and this isn't racist, it applies to both those from abroad and our own home-grown spongers that are also far too prevalent.

By all means, let as many people as possible/feasible to come in and contribute to society and the economy - many people have, and it's great to see them being successful and making a life for themselves - but they should not expect special treatment over and above what is available to others.

In many ways, our laws are too lax and actually contribute to racism, since there appears to be no way of saying "come to Ireland, we'll welcome you, but put a foot wrong or break the law and you're on your way home - immediately!!". We have enough of our own criminals to deal with.

And while setting up home on a roundabout and not having work permits is minor compared with what some people get up to, it is still against the law.

Colonel Sanders

Seanies32 wrote:

? Twomey - the FG Health spokesperson during the election. Come on how could anybody lose the Health debate to Harney?

Liam Twomey. The man who ran as an independant on a completely anti party politcis card then joined FG as soon as he was in the Dail. Told me on my doorstep in 2002 that each vote he got would be one that the mainstream parties didn't get. We all know what happened next. Good ridance.

In my origianal post, how in god's name could I forget Bertie. At least the bed is made and now he has to lie (pun intended) in it!

K-9

Colonel Sanders wrote:

Liam Twomey. The man who ran as an independant on a completely anti party politcis card then joined FG as soon as he was in the Dail. Told me on my doorstep in 2002 that each vote he got would be one that the mainstream parties didn't get. We all know what happened next. Good ridance.

He was very poor. Seen him on Q & A and a few other things. Harney won hands down. Not just him either, the opposition where very poor on health. If they had been more imaginative they might have actually won the election.

liam byrne wrote:

NO-ONE has any right to set up home in the middle of a roundabout (and in fact, anyone with respect for their children would not put them in danger by doing so).

Some EU citizens can travel unhindered, while others require work permits and proof that they are working.....that's the law.

Likewise, there are lots of people who can barely afford housing, and yet people expect the country to provide homes and accommodation for these people.

If I could not afford a home for myself, should I pitch camp in the middle of a roundabout in an effort to cause enough of a fuss so that someone would give me a house or accommodation for free ?

To me, the differentiation between where they come from is a little unfair;

Agree with you there. Alan Dukes was saying on Prime Time tonight that none had applied for work visas and they would not be entitled to welfare for 2 years so I don't understand the motive. They would be entitled to housing but not welfare. It is a bit unfair they are treated different to the 10 countries in 04 but then again all the other EU countries have the same policy.

Liam Byrne

Like I said, I don't completely understand the reasons for the policy, but doesn't the fact that "none had applied for work visas", but they would still be entitled to (and were kindof demanding) housing not strike anyone as an indication of their intent ?

I mean, if any of us want to head to Oz or the U.S, we need visas, or else we get sent home. Period.

And all of us here need to work in order to pay our way. So there was no discrimination.

Like I said earlier, it's people like this that will cause racism.....there could be (and are) thousands of immigrants here working their asses off and then a few potential spongers get all the media coverage......Joe Soap, struggling to pay his mortgage, gets the impression that the country is soft on those guys and, not having seen media coverage of all the hard workers, judges all immigrants with the same yardstick and boom! Instant racism!

Sending them home was the right option; if they want to apply for visas and work here and pay rent like the rest of us including all the decent immigrants, no problem, but like I said we have enough of our own home-grown spongers and dossers already, thank you very much!

K-9

Liam Byrne wrote:

Like I said, I don't completely understand the reasons for the policy, but doesn't the fact that "none had applied for work visas", but they would still be entitled to (and were kindof demanding) housing not strike anyone as an indication of their intent ?

Agreed.

Big reason was economic. People from Romania and Bulgaria would tend to be less educated than Polish, Slovakians etc. Also given the economic situation in the last year another huge intake wasn't recommended. As the McDowell, the economist, said on PT, wasn't sure of the merits of letting everybody in 3 years ago but it worked. Same could well apply now. There is already signs of unease between non nationals and nationals in the Construction sector as well.

liam byrne wrote:

Like I said earlier, it's people like this that will cause racism.....there could be (and are) thousands of immigrants here working their asses off and then a few potential spongers get all the media coverage......Joe Soap, struggling to pay his mortgage, gets the impression that the country is soft on those guys and, not having seen media coverage of all the hard workers, judges all immigrants with the same yardstick and boom! Instant racism!

Definitely. Prime Time was very interesting.Dukes was saying it was well known they can't claim welfare for 2 years, I don't think so. Most people seem to think they get houses and new cars straight away. Then you see the coverage of hostels and food vouchers. Somethings not adding up! Time for a new thread maybe

sovtek

Liam Byrne wrote:

I don't agree, Sovtek.....NO-ONE has any right to set up home in the middle of a roundabout (and in fact, anyone with respect for their children would not put them in danger by doing so).

Thats assuming they chose to live there. I can hardly believe people would chose to live that way.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10454107

Some EU citizens can travel unhindered, while others require work permits and proof that they are working.....that's the law.

That's all very well and good for the Irish isn't it. I wonder how you would react to the same imposition on yourselves.
Bertie's now trying to get the illegal Irish in America treated different to (some) of the EU nationals here.

By all means, let as many people as possible/feasible to come in and contribute to society and the economy - many people have, and it's great to see them being successful and making a life for themselves - but they should not expect special treatment over and above what is available to others.

My understanding is that they weren't expecting anything over and above what's available to an Irish person.

In many ways, our laws are too lax and actually contribute to racism, since there appears to be no way of saying "come to Ireland, we'll welcome you, but put a foot wrong or break the law and you're on your way home - immediately!!". We have enough of our own criminals to deal with.

Immigration law is not criminal law.

sovtek

Seanies32 wrote:

Agree with you there. Alan Dukes was saying on Prime Time tonight that none had applied for work visas and they would not be entitled to welfare for 2 years so I don't understand the motive. They would be entitled to housing but not welfare. It is a bit unfair they are treated different to the 10 countries in 04 but then again all the other EU countries have the same policy.

They weren't aware they had to apply for a work visa. Many are illiterate and I can tell you from experience applying for a work visa here isn't easy.

MoominPapa

Quickly getting back on topic:rolleyes: Pat Carey - he looks kinda :eek:

Heinrich

sovtek wrote:

They weren't aware they had to apply for a work visa. Many are illiterate and I can tell you from experience applying for a work visa here isn't easy.

That's an excuse not a reason!

How did they get here? Aerlingus.ie? They must have chartered a plane...

sovtek

Heinrich wrote:

That's an excuse not a reason!

How did they get here? Aerlingus.ie? They must have chartered a plane...

It is a reason and it's the one they stated.

Heinrich

sovtek wrote:

It is a reason and it's the one they stated.

Sorry to be padedantic but it is an excuse!

How do illiterates manage the logistics of bringing 70 people to this country and setting up shop on the Ballymun Roundabout? Are passports invoved? What about the tickets for travelling and how were they paid for?

Judging by the alacrity of complying to the authorities demands that they go home I reckon they probably earned enough to justify the journey and the free ride home, paid for by the local taxpayers.;)

Back on topic folks.
There are plenty of threads in after hours for you to enjoy talking about the Roma besides here.

lucernarian

MoominPapa wrote:

Quickly getting back on topic:rolleyes: Pat Carey - he looks kinda :eek:

What does that mean?!

Pride Fighter

Bertie Ahern makes me gag. What a corrupt phoney. I hate to see him at Dublin GAA matches, he is a jinx who only supports them for political points!

Heinrich

Three Green politicians make me gag ever since they landed on Planet Bertie.

:mad: Necks like jockey's b*ll*cks. :mad:

Saint Ruth

Ivana Bacik.

Oh, how I detest her. She's more orthodox than the Pope when it comes to adherance to dogma, her dogma being the lefty trendy liberal one.
If there's a trendy liberal view on something, she holds it.
Nothing she has ever said has even remotely surprised me.

Thankfilly, most Labour pols are not like her, otherwise I'd never ever ever dream of voting Labour...

Also she also looks a bit like one of the vampires on Buffy:

http://www.ivanabacik.com/index.htm

dodgyme

sovtek wrote:

The new Justice Minister...Lenihan! Firstly for his arrogance and utter lack of humanity on Q and A the other night when referring to the Roma people on the M50.
He smugly reports that they had no right to be here!

He was right!

My list Cullen is no.1 (too many reasons to list)
Roche also (water in galway and the praise he gave them at handling the crisis????.... I think you are missing the point dick??)
ODonoghue (ah come on now)
Parlon (as someone else said out for himself)
Mary ORourke (oh my good god how could they elect her)
BCF (for her arrogance after the final appeal against rte)
Ivana Bacik (I really dislike her, Her Feminism is of the brand that is simply anti male and being on such an single minded extreme is wrong in a pluralist democracy)


Joan Burton is a great politician. She she does bland and boring on Q & A but on local issues she is king. She goes and represents the estates that wouldnt be represented if it was left to the Castleknock comfortable Lenihan.
McDowell is a big loss to irish politics. I didnt like his party and his parties policies but he was a straight talker and that was unique in irsh politics. Also great pity Joe higgins lost his seat when there should have been one for him of the census figures were taken into account for the constituency.
Ivan Yates was another loss to politics. Good man , straight talk.

MoominPapa

To_be_confirmed wrote:

What does that mean?!

It means he looks like a freaky mf and his manner gives me the creeps

Delboy05

Saint Ruth wrote:

Ivana Bacik.

Oh, how I detest her. She's more orthodox than the Pope when it comes to adherance to dogma, her dogma being the lefty trendy liberal one.
If there's a trendy liberal view on something, she holds it.
Nothing she has ever said has even remotely surprised me.

Thankfilly, most Labour pols are not like her, otherwise I'd never ever ever dream of voting Labour...

have to agree. can't stand this woman- actually get angry every time i see her. How many times has she failed to be elected before she finally limped into the Seanad last week. Sees herself as the new Mary Robinson, but if she ever gets real power in this country, I'm emigrating.

stovelid

Saint Ruth wrote:

If there's a trendy liberal view on something, she holds it.

Do you imagine somebody goes to great lengths to disseminate their views for the sole sake of being 'trendy' or is that the only word you can think of to criticize her politics?

I actually saw her in the Carnival bar the other night. Must be the first time they had a senator drinking in there

Saint Ruth

stovelid wrote:

Do you imagine somebody goes to great lengths to disseminate their views for the sole sake of being 'trendy' or is that the only word you can think of to criticize her politics?

Where did I write that?

I believe she's far far worse than that.

I believe she believes every word of it...

Collie D

Pride Fighter wrote:

Bertie Ahern makes me gag. What a corrupt phoney. I hate to see him at Dublin GAA matches, he is a jinx who only supports them for political points!

Agreed....I hate his "man of the people, I drink pints in the local on a Friday and support Man U and the Dubs" fake image. Actually, I wonder has he been seen around Tolka Park now that Shelbourne are no longer the hot team in Dublin soccer and on tv/newspapers.