Is Mary Coughlan too lightweight for Tainiste?

FlutterinBantam

Like a lot of people I was a tad concerned when Mr. Cowan appointed Mary Coughlan as Táiniste, while bypassing people like Dermot Aherne, Noel Dempsy et al.

Her performance,since taking the position has been in my opinion ,less than re assuring that she has what it takes to handle this job effectively.

She has made several gaffes and imho is not convincing at Thursday QTime in the Dáil. Strange decision?

Opinions??

nesf

Moved to correct forum.

Seth Brundle

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Her performance,since taking the position has been in my opinion ,less than re assuring that she has what it takes to handle this job effectively.

She has made several gaffes and imho is not convincing at Thursday QTime in the Dáil. Strange decision?

Opinions??

Doesn't that make her fit in perfectly with the rest of them?

Badabing

As a staunch Fianna Fail man i was surprised when she was appointed Tainiste, she was a very good minister in her own right and i think the tough last few months have affected her confidence some what. I think Dermot Ahern with Brian Cowen are head and shoulders the best we have in the party.

lostexpectation

i love how they started to call her mary palin cos she's from a big empty disconnected wilderness up there.

(i don't think she lightweight)

K4t

Mary Harney is still Tánaiste :rolleyes:

marcsignal

'Is Mary Coughlan too lightweight for Tainiste?'

compared to Mary Harney ? yes, definitely

her top lip is too big for her mouth , i dont trust her.

MisterAnarchy

She is way out of her depth.

FlutterinBantam

Sorry , someone told me this was a serious forum.

Have a good day guys.

Darragh29

Badabing wrote: »

As a staunch Fianna Fail man i was surprised when she was appointed Tainiste, she was a very good minister in her own right and i think the tough last few months have affected her confidence some what. I think Dermot Ahern with Brian Cowen are head and shoulders the best we have in the party.

Ahhhh. As a Fianna Fail man, can you point me towards one single thing that this useless c*nt can be credited with since she was elected to the Dail??? She was a useless c*nt in her previous ministry and she is a useless c*nt now, same as everyone else in her party.

Mr.Micro

Just take a look at her anytime she is in the Dail. She looks like she is ready to fall asleep. She looks dozy and she is. Cowan probably chose her over Ahern to a) distance himself from from the name Ahern and b) put his number 2 in place to make him look smarter, although its a close run thing as far as looks.

Darragh29

Cowen looks like a walking unmade matress and she looks like something that climbed out of a haystack. The two of them are a national fu*king joke... As long as these two are at the helm, we are well and truly Fu*KED...

ninty9er

Darragh29 wrote: »

Cowen looks like a walking unmade matress and she looks like something that climbed out of a haystack. The two of them are a national fu*king joke... As long as these two are at the helm, we are well and truly Fu*KED...

Looks can be deceiving, and that's true in this case. If you'd care to talk to Cowen or Coughlan on an issue of mutual interest, you would find this out.

Let he who is without brains call the other guy an idiot.

EamonnKeane

Mr.Micro wrote: »

Just take a look at her anytime she is in the Dail. She looks like she is ready to fall asleep. She looks dozy and she is. Cowan probably chose her over Ahern to a) distance himself from from the name Ahern and b) put his number 2 in place to make him look smarter, although its a close run thing as far as looks.

c) sop to wimmin voters

The Raven.

Darragh29 wrote: »

Ahhhh. As a Fianna Fail man, can you point me towards one single thing that this useless c*nt can be credited with since she was elected to the Dail??? She was a useless c*nt in her previous ministry and she is a useless c*nt now, same as everyone else in her party.

Apart from the...Ahem! Quaint, recurring description, I have to agree with the sentiment in this post. In her previous job as Minister for Social and Family Affairs, she can be accredited with causing severe hardship and disappointment to back-to-education students, and prevented many from pursuing post-graduate studies. While saving peanuts for the government, this will have had life-long, negative effects for these people.

http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0568/D.0568.200306170028.html

jmayo

ninty9er wrote: »

Looks can be deceiving, and that's true in this case. If you'd care to talk to Cowen or Coughlan on an issue of mutual interest, you would find this out.

Let he who is without brains call the other guy an idiot.

They are so clever they have done a fine job of convincing us all they are indeed idiots of the highest order
It's about the only thing they have managed.

They are at the helm of a government that has over the last 6 months stumbled form one disaster to another.
I will give them this much they are consistent, consistenetly inept that is :rolleyes:
BTW I thought the reason coughlan is there is because she is one of biffo's best friends in the party, not because she has any discernably abilities or talents. Ability and ff governments are oxymorons as most people are now at last discovering.

Oh badabing, as an ffer, I see you are pretty selective in what threads you post, unlike ninetyer99 who at least comes out to defend the education cuts and all the other successful policies they have pursued :P

ninty9er

jmayo wrote: »

Oh badabing, as an ffer, I see you are pretty selective in what threads you post, unlike ninetyer99 who at least comes out to defend the education cuts and all the other successful policies they have pursued :P

I can be fairly good at ignoring certain threads myself. Mainly where it's clear that nobody will respect what I have to say though. I post because I can take other people's **** without necessarily giving a **** what they think of my opinion.

The amount of people on this (and other) sites, that cannot agree with a policy solely because it is pursued by FF is monumental. If the opposition suggested some of the policies being bashed, they'd be hailed as heroes simply for not being FF.

old boy

did she not give foreign nationals the dickey money for their kids back home, some move that i.m.o.

cowen coughlan and harney makes the munster front row look like film stars. i saw them sitting togeather in the dail kept me giggleing for the night

old boy

ninty9er wrote: »

Looks can be deceiving, and that's true in this case. If you'd care to talk to Cowen or Coughlan on an issue of mutual interest, you would find this out.

Let he who is without brains call the other guy an idiot.

every one has brains, the difference is the density

i wonder what the majority of posters would have in common with them two
i doubt if c and c would sit down and chinwag with us

ninty9er

old boy wrote: »

i doubt if c and c would sit down and chinwag with us

You may doubt it, but that doesn't make the assumption true. They don't top polls by being elitist and reclusive.

ninty9er

old boy wrote: »

did she not give foreign nationals the dickey money for their kids back home, some move that i.m.o.

We can do it any other EU country. Our payment just happens to be the most generous (though you won't hear the opposition say that) so they use a EU wide loophole to garner the benefits here.

dresden8

ninty9er wrote: »

We can do it any other EU country. Our payment just happens to be the most generous (though you won't hear the opposition say that) so they use a EU wide loophole to garner the benefits here.

We were stuck on the child benefit, that had to be given to foreigners.

However, instead of tackling the childcare issue directly they threw money at it in the early childcare supplement, which is payable to people here who don't need childcare in the first place and sent abroad to pay for children that are not affected by the outrageous childcare costs here.

That's what was wrong with the FF government for the last ten years, they never saw a problem they didn't try to solve without throwing wasted money at it.

galwayrush

She's absolutely useless, but no more so than the rest of those pathetic idiots in Goverment.

old boy

ninty9er wrote: »

You may doubt it, but that doesn't make the assumption true. They don't top polls by being elitist and reclusive.

voting for a particular party seems to be a habit
one reason that people who vote f.f. are pensioners who usually are assured of a pittance of a raise but at least they get it, now that that they have received a kick in the family jewels i wonder will they be as recptive to f.f. who have promised them 300 lids p.w. in the o.a.p. shortly. which me thinks it is a case of live horse and see grass.

K4t

Brian Lenihan always came across as the most intelligent and informed perosn when on Questions and Answers or The week in politics before he became Minister for Finance. I was happy he got the position but look what he's done with the budget. Looks can be deceptive. People say one thing but do another.

Darragh29

If ever there was a walking advertisement for smaller class sizes, it is our government.

ninty9er

Darragh29 wrote: »

If ever there was a walking advertisement for smaller class sizes, it is our government.

Really? Have you carried out some empirical research on the class sizes of TDs when they were at school?

lostexpectation

ninty9er wrote: »

Really? Have you carried out some empirical research on the class sizes of TDs when they were at school?

give it a rest 99'er who nominated you defender of the faith.

ninty9er

lostexpectation wrote: »

give it a rest 99'er who nominated you defender of the faith.

Read my sig.:rolleyes:

Who nominated Darragh to be character assassinator in chief?

If someone makes a stupid comment attacking a public figure and I disagree, then I am entitled to right of reply.

brianthebard

jmayo wrote: »

They are so clever they have done a fine job of convincing us all they are indeed idiots of the highest order
It's about the only thing they have managed.

They are at the helm of a government that has over the last 6 months stumbled form one disaster to another.
I will give them this much they are consistent, consistenetly inept that is :rolleyes:
BTW I thought the reason coughlan is there is because she is one of biffo's best friends in the party, not because she has any discernably abilities or talents. Ability and ff governments are oxymorons as most people are now at last discovering.

Oh badabing, as an ffer, I see you are pretty selective in what threads you post, unlike ninetyer99 who at least comes out to defend the education cuts and all the other successful policies they have pursued :P

So its her fault I couldn't get the btea? bint. *plans retribution*

It wasn't me!

lostexpectation wrote: »

give it a rest 99'er who nominated you defender of the faith.

Yeah! Doesn't he know he's not allowed say anything positive in a bashing thread? I mean, what does he think this is, a discussion forum?!

lostexpectation

ninty9er wrote: »

Read my sig.:rolleyes:

Who nominated Darragh to be character assassinator in chief?

If someone makes a stupid comment attacking a public figure and I disagree, then I am entitled to right of reply.

If ever there was a walking advertisement for smaller class sizes, it is our government.

thats right he was making a stupid comment, not a serious one, do they allow a senses of humour in OFF?

John_C

ninty9er wrote: »

You may doubt it, but that doesn't make the assumption true. They don't top polls by being elitist and reclusive.

I worked with a fella from Offlay a few years ago and he told me about a time when he was a student and was walking home after a night out (he lived a few miles from the town).

Didn't a big black car pull up beside them and Biffo's head popped out;
"Do yee need a lift home lads?", and in they all climbed. "Remember this now, when the vote comes.", he said when they arrived at one of their houses. And Biffo back went in the direction of the town, presumably to collect another load.

El Stuntman

John_C wrote: »

I worked with a fella from Offlay a few years ago and he told me about a time when he was a student and was walking home after a night out (he lived a few miles from the town).

Didn't a big black car pull up beside them and Biffo's head popped out;
"Do yee need a lift home lads?", and in they all climbed. "Remember this now, when the vote comes.", he said when they arrived at one of their houses. And Biffo back went in the direction of the town, presumably to collect another load.

all politics is local

and Biffo sure spends a lot of time in the local

O'Morris

I lost all respect for Mary Coughlan after she accused that Leo Veradcar gent of being a racist when he came up with proposals to try to reduce the number of non-nationals on the dole by paying them to return home.

jmayo

ninty9er wrote: »

I can be fairly good at ignoring certain threads myself. Mainly where it's clear that nobody will respect what I have to say though. I post because I can take other people's **** without necessarily giving a **** what they think of my opinion.

The amount of people on this (and other) sites, that cannot agree with a policy solely because it is pursued by FF is monumental. If the opposition suggested some of the policies being bashed, they'd be hailed as heroes simply for not being FF.

I would guess people do not respct what you have to say, when you just troop out stating the party line and come out with some total hogwash like you did when discussing class sizes.

To paraphrase your comments on that thread:
"Class size has nothing to do with quality of education, motivated teachers are the problem, there is nothing wrong with class sizes upto 40, upto 50 would be pushing it though".

And then you back up these facts by stating you had discussed this with trainee teachers :rolleyes:

The one thing I will give you is, you are consistent in supporting your party no matter what they come out with, unlike a lot of the other cheerleaders who were on this forum about the time of last election but they have since disappeared.

And yes I have had a problem with ff right back to when CJH took the reins. Ever since that point the party has always put the party first and the state second.
There was a cosy cartel set up between high flyers in the party and certain business people, that decided how this country was to be planned and run. We have since had tribunals costing the taxpayer almost a billion to get to the bottom of all these dirty little deals.
The only time ff did anything for the country first was when the IMF was at the door and fg agreed not to rock the boat which was ultimately political suicide for the fg leader.

Badabing

Fianna Fail has a lot of talent on the backbenches which i think will be brought on to centre stage in the next 18 months, John Curran, Sean Ardagh, John Mgcuiness for example and also Sean Connick should be given a junior ministery soon. Tough times demand tough decisons and i strongly belive that Brian Cowen is the man to lead us back to a sound footing.

jmayo

Badabing wrote: »

Fianna Fail has a lot of talent on the backbenches which i think will be brought on to centre stage in the next 18 months, John Curran, Sean Ardagh, John Mgcuiness for example and also Sean Connick should be given a junior ministery soon. Tough times demand tough decisons and i strongly belive that Brian Cowen is the man to lead us back to a sound footing.

Well he hasn't done much leading so far :rolleyes:
Well apart from leading us through a few u-turns
You reckon he will start bringing some of this hidden talent to the forefront sometime in the next 18 months.
That's comforting to know

BUT WHAT ABOUT RIGHT NOW ????

El Stuntman

Badabing wrote: »

Tough times demand tough decisons and i strongly belive that Brian Cowen is the man to lead us back to a sound footing.

why do you believe this?

can you please give me a list of Cowen's achievements in government as a TD, Minister and Taoiseach that would enable me to understand your view?

turgon

Badabing wrote: »

Fianna Fail has a lot of talent on the backbenches which i think will be brought on to centre stage in the next 18 months, John Curran, Sean Ardagh, John Mgcuiness for example and also Sean Connick should be given a junior ministery soon

Because there clearly isnt enough Junior miniteries there already :rolleyes:

Badabing wrote: »

Tough times demand tough decisons and i strongly belive that Brian Cowen is the man to lead us back to a sound footing.

I think many strongly believe he isnt.

Badabing

Obiously the next year or 2 will be tough for the country and it needs cool heads and clear thinking from our leaders, the bank guarantee scheme was the right choice in the current climate, in 2002 the economy was slowing down and people knew that and voted back in FF to remedy that and i think the same happened last year 2007.

Obioulsy events have changed we have lost Bertie Ahearn and the global crisis has hit us bad and yes i agree the medical issue was messed up and should never have happened but in the overall scheme of things goverments are elected to do a job in the good times and the bad times and i firmly belive that in 18 months-2 years Brian Cowen will get a grip on things. Post elections in 2009 hopefully we will see a big shake up of the cabinet.

El Stuntman

Badabing wrote: »

i firmly belive that in 18 months-2 years Brian Cowen will get a grip on things. Post elections in 2009 hopefully we will see a big shake up of the cabinet.

badabing, I asked you a question on the first page of this thread but maybe you didn't see it. I'd like to know why you think that Cowen is the best man to lead the country through these troublesome times? What achievements and/or personal qualities has he got to make you think this?

I'm genuinely interested in your response as it seems to be article of faith with many Govt supporters that Cowen is the best man to lead us right now but no-one can ever tell me why!

I'll give you my own opinion if you'd like to rebut it: I don't think Cowen has ever achieved anything of note in public office. He avoided doing anything as Minister for Health and quite frankly looked as though he coldn't wait to be out of there. In retrospect, his period as Minister for Finance was truly disastrous for the countries long-term financial health as he continued to prime the housing bubble, overspend on pre-election budgets and fail to reform the public service. As Taoiseach he's looked out of his depth, appointing incompetents to important cabinet posts (I'm mainly thinking Lenihan and Coughlan here) and failing to adequately tackle the financial crisis. Not to mention losing Lisbon.

so why is he the best person to lead our country at this critical time? I'm truly baffled.

Badabing

He tore shreds out of Dick Bruton and Enda Kenny during the Election Campaign, I genuinely belive that he will come good, ok he didn't set finance alight while he was minister same in health, im coming at it from the view that Fine Gael would be a disaster in goverment, god help us if they ever got power. We would have a leader that was minister for the tour de France in Ireland and a cabinet who have no ministerial experience at all. I think if people had a choice between Brian Cowen and Enda Kenny Cowen would win hands down and that's the main factor in my view.

El Stuntman

Badabing wrote: »

He tore shreds out of Dick Bruton and Enda Kenny during the Election Campaign, I genuinely belive that he will come good, ok he didn't set finance alight while he was minister same in health, im coming at it from the view that Fine Gael would be a disaster in goverment, god help us if they ever got power. We would have a leader that was minister for the tour de France in Ireland and a cabinet who have no ministerial experience at all. I think if people had a choice between Brian Cowen and Enda Kenny Cowen would win hands down and that's the main factor in my view.

ah right

the old "ah shure he's better than the other crowd" argument :pac:

very insightful, I am immediately reassured that the country is in safe hands :rolleyes:.

badabing, do you not realise the paucity of the argument you are making? I asked you to tell me why Cowen is the best man to lead Ireland and you start waffling about the opposition being worse! This is the 'same old' politics at play and people are not falling for it any more. Look at what happened to the Republicans in America last week. They tried to attack Obama and avoid the issues - they got what they deserved and FF will too.

oscarBravo

Badabing wrote: »

im coming at it from the view that Fine Gael would be a disaster in goverment, god help us if they ever got power.

Don't worry, we'll never find out - 40% of the population will vote Fianna Fáil even after they've destroyed the economy to the point where we're all living in caves. I mean, no matter what kind of a complete clusterf*ck they make of running the country, the other crowd couldn't possibly be any better, could they?

Badabing

El Stuntman wrote: »

ah right

the old "ah shure he's better than the other crowd" argument :pac:

very insightful, I am immediately reassured that the country is in safe hands :rolleyes:.

badabing, do you not realise the paucity of the argument you are making? I asked you to tell me why Cowen is the best man to lead Ireland and you start waffling about the opposition being worse! This is the 'same old' politics at play and people are not falling for it any more. Look at what happened to the Republicans in America last week. They tried to attack Obama and avoid the issues - they got what they deserved and FF will too.

So why do we have a Fianna Fail led goverment? Personalites in a large way affects peoples vote in Ireland right or wrong.

El Stuntman

Badabing wrote: »

So why do we have a Fianna Fail led goverment? Personalites in a large way affects peoples vote in Ireland right or wrong.

absolutely, hence Bertie winning 3 in a row.

but we are not talking about an election here, that was a political lifetime ago. We're talking about steering the country through the worst downturn it's ever experienced. I don't think Cowen has what it takes to do this - he's basically a country solicitor who inherited his seat and has no track record of achievement apart from bashing Indakinny in a couple of debates. You say you do think he's capable but you can't give a solid reason why.

Worrying for all concerned.

old boy

was he not on tv before the election telling about how the prudent management of the economy by him would steer us through any hard time that may befall us.
as i said earlier live horse and you will see grass

jmayo

Badabing wrote: »

Obiously the next year or 2 will be tough for the country and it needs cool heads and clear thinking from our leaders, the bank guarantee scheme was the right choice in the current climate, in 2002 the economy was slowing down and people knew that and voted back in FF to remedy that and i think the same happened last year 2007.

Obioulsy events have changed we have lost Bertie Ahearn and the global crisis has hit us bad and yes i agree the medical issue was messed up and should never have happened but in the overall scheme of things goverments are elected to do a job in the good times and the bad times and i firmly belive that in 18 months-2 years Brian Cowen will get a grip on things. Post elections in 2009 hopefully we will see a big shake up of the cabinet.

Ah yes the damm global collapse. It is all the Americans fault that the credit crunch arrived, thus the banks aren't lending 100% mortgages and thus we aren't all spending 20 times the average wage to buy a shoebox apartment in the are*hole of nowhere whether to live or just to watch it appreciate so we can sell it to another dumb paddy :rolleyes:

Manufacturing jobs and indeed service industry (not talking retail or restuarants badabing ok) disappeared by the week, we watched foreign investment fall and at the same time Biffo helped create the biggest property bubble in Europe through tax breaks for developers & investors and he allowed the banks to go unchecked (finanical regulator makes Homer Simpson appear positively Einsteinish) which is now costing the taxpayers in a massive bail out.
Speaking of which the bailout was a costly open cheque, why not take equity in the banks ?
Oh and even though banks have not asked for money, it is already costing us money since our state borrowing rates have gone up.

Did you hear about the IDA report that was obtained by FG about how around 40 % of foreign direct investors (that is companies, you know manufacturing and service providers - i.e real jobs that adds to our epxorts and not builders, construction related entities) have stated they would not reinvest in Ireland.

Reasons are becuase our infrastructure is sh**, our service costs (you know the likes of things that are to a degree under government control like water, power, gas, rates etc) are too damm expensive and because wage demands went shy high becuase house prices and other living expenses went through the roof.

And when did all this happen?
Well it was when Biffo, who didn't set the department of finance alight, was there.
He might not have set it alight, but it seems he did it flog it to the party's building buddies.

Badabing wrote: »

He tore shreds out of Dick Bruton and Enda Kenny during the Election Campaign, I genuinely belive that he will come good, ok he didn't set finance alight while he was minister same in health, im coming at it from the view that Fine Gael would be a disaster in goverment, god help us if they ever got power. We would have a leader that was minister for the tour de France in Ireland and a cabinet who have no ministerial experience at all. I think if people had a choice between Brian Cowen and Enda Kenny Cowen would win hands down and that's the main factor in my view.

Now we have a fine mess and you reckon he will have got to grips with by 18 months or 24 months, just becuase he bullied Bruton and Kenny :rolleyes:
He may be able to bully them and others in the dail or on RTE, but that doesn't mean he has the balls to take on the public sector unions or his developer friends.

I just love the ****** FFers come out with, where they blame FG for the sins they might or might not committ :rolleyes:
Wheras we all know too damm well the sins that FF committed (how much have the tribunals cost us ?) and we continue to see them meander aimlessly hoping that some magic solution appears that saves their ars** (which is the only thing they really care about).

Thank you very much FF, you have saved us all from the dreadful mess that FG/Lab etc would have gotten us all into :rolleyes:

What I wouldn't like to do to you and other ffers with a wet kipper :mad::mad:
Note to mods: I do not condone violence and no ffers were injured during the mailing of this post

Badabing

So what would a Labour minister for finance do? as they would get that portfolio.