Willie O'Dea resigns as Minister for Defence

Stab*City

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0218/breaking13.html?via=mr

I thought this might happen.. Funny the way things change for the good outta something bad.. Before the recession this would have been brushed under the carpet..

PeteSanchez

Good riddance to an arrogant self absorbed incompetent embarrassment to this city. :mad:

Roadend

How's he going to get to and from the dáil wothout the ministerial car?

Kess73

I am sure the €100,000 pay off he is getting for losing his position will soften the blow.

I wonder will the Limerick man who got a year in jail for perjury after his life was threatened if he gave evidence, take out a lawsuit against the State?

Afterall if one man does not get jailed for the same crime, why should another have gone to jail for it?

banjobongo

I was in the pub last night, we were trying to think of 1 thing that Willie has done for Limerick. We could not think of anything he has achieved for Limerick. Can you? (apart from having a fly over and loads of tanks for hte Paddy Day parades! )
There was a vox pop on the radio this morning (RTE1 Morning Ireland) and the general feedback was that this was bad news for Limerick. Personally I dont see how its bad news for Limerick, I dont see it as a loss, as he has not done anything for us and I dont think he has bought any news jobs in Limerick.
Just my opinion!

neo2010

It is partially bad news for Limerick City as we have lost a representative on the front bench but in reality the loss isn't that great as he hasn't achieved anything significant for Limerick City.

Everything was just empty promises.

flutered

sure he will be a loss, look at all he has done to keep dell open, all the work to keep aer lingus slots to heathrow open at shannon, all the work done to have aer lingus use the pre clearence to the u.s. the work to have ryan aer keep their slots in shannon, bye bye willie you were and are a dead fcuking loss all i will remember him for is being a yes t shoch man

bazz26

I wish he would take those other incompetent members of that Government with him but hey their day is not too far off.

Aidric

Lads tbf he was consistently one of the largest first preference vote getters in the country, let alone Limerick. Now he had to be doing something right to get this sort of support. Just because they mightn't be the headline grabbers that's not to say he was doing a lot of good constituency work on smaller matters. To go back to some of those issues outlined by other posters earlier these were all headline business decisions that weren't likely to be swayed by one mans lobbying. Dell were always going to relocate to a lower cost base economy once a suitable one was identified. Aer Lingus pulled a non profitable route which they have every right to.
Now having said all that what he did was indefensible and he righly stepped down as a result. However instead of kicking a man when he's down we should at least have some perspective.

flutered

ok dell was always going to go, what fight did he put up, himself and calamity coughlan went to austin when it was too late,when th decision was final,he never opened his mouth before that, he never once was vocal about shannon, did he pubicly come out and ask al to stay, or ra for that matter, did he ever cross swords with mol, you bet your last buck he did not,there is more to being a politician than just getting medical cards which people are entitled to anyway, also housing, just because a td sends you a letter saying you are going to get one actually means that under the criteria you are entitled to it, i am not kicking him because he is down, he is down because of his mouth, a guy gets 12 months for perjury to stay alive, he should get more, because of the slander involved, plus quoteing the he had info from the gaurds. this clown is dead long live the clown

Itsdacraic

neo2010

Itsdacraic wrote: »

LOL I'm going to miss the aul fool. :pac:

golfball37

Aidric wrote: »

Lads tbf he was consistently one of the largest first preference vote getters in the country, let alone Limerick. Now he had to be doing something right to get this sort of support. Just because they mightn't be the headline grabbers that's not to say he was doing a lot of good constituency work on smaller matters. To go back to some of those issues outlined by other posters earlier these were all headline business decisions that weren't likely to be swayed by one mans lobbying. Dell were always going to relocate to a lower cost base economy once a suitable one was identified. Aer Lingus pulled a non profitable route which they have every right to.
Now having said all that what he did was indefensible and he righly stepped down as a result. However instead of kicking a man when he's down we should at least have some perspective.

It was nowhere near unprofitable I dunno where you heard that?

Willie had a chance to vote in the Dail to save this route and he showed his loyalty was to FF before Limerick, the same way the Taoiseach showed his loyalty was to FF and his friend ahead of the standards of his office this week.

flutered

do i not remember a thread on this forum some time ago discussing wheather or not he done a favour for a convicted person involved in the gangland fued, i forget the outcome, but i cannot seem to remember anyone saying for definate whitch or wheather.:eek:

gaf1983

Aidric wrote: »

Lads tbf he was consistently one of the largest first preference vote getters in the country, let alone Limerick. Now he had to be doing something right to get this sort of support. Just because they mightn't be the headline grabbers that's not to say he was doing a lot of good constituency work on smaller matters. To go back to some of those issues outlined by other posters earlier these were all headline business decisions that weren't likely to be swayed by one mans lobbying. Dell were always going to relocate to a lower cost base economy once a suitable one was identified. Aer Lingus pulled a non profitable route which they have every right to.
Now having said all that what he did was indefensible and he righly stepped down as a result. However instead of kicking a man when he's down we should at least have some perspective.

Funnily enough Maurice Quinlivan's originally raised the concern that Willie O'Dea was getting 6 (taxpayer funded) civil servants to carry out these routine constituency tasks.

He's exactly the type of parish-pump national politician this country could do without. If he was so good at local issues he should have stayed at local level.

I still haven't heard of one solid achievement he made for Limerick, can somebody enlighten me?

Zero-Cool

I dunno about 'Limerick' but I know of how he helped a family I know who were having problems with a dodgy solicitor in town. I won't get into details but Willie was a great help and i'm sure he has helped a lot of other people who used his free clinic.

That pic is classic!

Liam Byrne

sheehy83 wrote: »

I dunno about 'Limerick' but I know of how he helped a family I know who were having problems with a dodgy solicitor in town. I won't get into details but Willie was a great help and i'm sure he has helped a lot of other people who used his free clinic.

That pic is classic!

Again, that has nothing to do with his job as a national representative or as a minister.

So many things in Ireland are down to people only getting what they're entitled to (redress, Garda or Health Service help, etc) when some politician pulls a few strings, and to be honest it's probably deliberately that way so that the people who were "helped" vote for them next time around.

He helped a family; wow. Big deal. If I was on €1,500 a day I'd help a few people too.

I'd say there's even a few people that George W Bush helped, but that doesn't change the fact that he was a ****e and dangerous president of the U.S.

munstergirl

As a limerick person I have no idea what Willie O'Dea ever did for Limerick..

I know he goes to lots of funerals, I hear he's great for the people in his clinics, (doing what I don't know never been) maybe getting people council houses, new windows, medical cards.....

I am glad Willie O'Dea is gone, just wish he was fired and had to sign on the dole like the 22,000 people in limerick dole office.

Really anyone any idea what he ever did for Limerick City??

Unemployment.. Limerick Gangs.. (like 4 familys) City Centre falling to pieces..

Good bye Willie enjoy your 100,000 salary.. maybe now you'll have time to sort out our lovely city!

grenache

Glad to see another arrogant politician out of power. He should have been sacked, and as i've already stated in the Politics forum, that fact that he resigned because he didn't want to cause a ''distraction'' tells you all you need to know about the morals of the man - he couldn't even admit what he did was unethical and unacceptable.

iguana

grenache wrote: »

Glad to see another arrogant politician out of power. He should have been sacked, and as i've already stated in the Politics forum, that fact that he resigned because he didn't want to cause a ''distraction'' tells you all you need to know about the morals of the man - he couldn't even admit what he did was unethical and unacceptable.

It's worse than that, he resigned because the Greens said they would pull out of the coalition if he didn't step down. FF made him go as they didn't want to risk an election right now.

LoganRice

^ you mean forced, rather than resigned.

The place will probably stay the same, since he never even did anything only now Dublin cork and Galway are going to get all the attention rather than limerick. How exciting =|

bacon&cabbage

grenache wrote: »

Glad to see another arrogant politician out of power. He should have been sacked, and as i've already stated in the Politics forum, that fact that he resigned because he didn't want to cause a ''distraction'' tells you all you need to know about the morals of the man - he couldn't even admit what he did was unethical and unacceptable.

He did, he retracted his statement and apologised to the court :rolleyes:

bacon&cabbage

LoganRice wrote: »

^ you mean forced, rather than resigned.

The place will probably stay the same, since he never even did anything only now Dublin cork and Galway are going to get all the attention rather than limerick. How exciting =|

Yes, Limerick is much better off now that we have no Minister at the cabinet table :rolleyes:

Kess73

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

Yes, Limerick is much better off now that we have no Minister at the cabinet table :rolleyes:

True, because he was so good at backing Limerick at the cabinet table.

All his talk of "kicking ass" at the Dail, but anytime push came to shove, he always towed the party line when he was in Dublin.

Bit like the vote that was taken on the Shannon issue, Willie was all on about fightingf for Shannon when he was interviewed down here, but when the vote happened, weirdly enough there was no vote against it from the FF ranks.

Dell was more of the same, all waffle down here and nothing in the Dail.

Regeneration was just another thing for him to make out he was doing something with.

I reckon a lot of his votes were given to him by people not because of any work he did, or any quantifiable improvements he brought to Limerick, but rather to keep a Limerickman in the cabinet regardless of whether he was any good at his job.

pappyodaniel

bacon&cabbage

Kess73 wrote: »

True, because he was so good at backing Limerick at the cabinet table.

All his talk of "kicking ass" at the Dail, but anytime push came to shove, he always towed the party line when he was in Dublin.

Bit like the vote that was taken on the Shannon issue, Willie was all on about fightingf for Shannon when he was interviewed down here, but when the vote happened, weirdly enough there was no vote against it from the FF ranks.

The Govt were going to pull the plug on Shannon regardless,
AL are a commercial operation, you'd prob be one of the first complaining about political interference...

Kess73 wrote: »

Dell was more of the same, all waffle down here and nothing in the Dail.

Are you seriously suggesting that Dell would've changed their mind.

Kess73 wrote: »

Regeneration was just another thing for him to make out he was doing something with.

What, It's happening isn't it

Kess73 wrote: »

I reckon a lot of his votes were given to him by people not because of any work he did, or any quantifiable improvements he brought to Limerick, but rather to keep a Limerickman in the cabinet regardless of whether he was any good at his job.

40% of the voters in Limerick east gave him their first Preference in 2007
The second highest first preference vote in the country.
Give them some credit please

Kess73

The Govt were going to pull the plug on Shannon regardless,
AL are a commercial operation, you'd prob be one of the first complaining about political interference...



If it kept jobs in the Shannon region, then why would I complain? If government interference was an issue, then it sure as hell did not stop the government stepping in to bail out banks and various developers. Surely all of those would be termed as commercial operations as well.

Are you seriously suggesting that Dell would've changed their mind.


Probably not, but who knows what could have happened if Dell were approached when the talk of them leaving first surfaced rather than waiting until the last minute to see if a deal could be brokered. Going at the last minute just smacked of a PR exercise to appear like something was being done.


What, It's happening isn't it


The recent news that it now may not be happening contradicts that. Plus O'Dea's own comments two weeks ago that the only way it would go ahead now is if private investors come in with the promised 1.7 billion that the government originally claimed was put aside for the project for the years between 2009 and 2018 with a further 1.3 billion to be nededed after 2018. So no further state money for the project, no job boost, and nothing bar Willie's promise to "kick ass" on the subject.

40% of the voters in Limerick east gave him their first Preference in 2007
The second highest first preference vote in the country.
Give them some credit please



Credit for what? For voting back in a man with very little by way of quantifiable achievements for the region he claims to represent? Ahh shure Willie is great, he gets people medical cards that they already qualify for, he walks around a lot, and he spoofs to local media about all he is going to do for Limerick in terms of jobs and industry, but the minute he is in front of the camera in the national media he reverts to type, and starts spoofing and saying that the interviewer needs to ask other ministers about those areas.

If those ministers are accountable for those areas, then he should not be spoofing on local media that he has any influence over them.

He was the perfect minister for FF, he was no threat to their status quo and always towed the party line, never rocking the boat on any issues

bacon&cabbage

AL and the Banks are completely different and you know it.
Bailing out the banks was in the national interest, AL moving to Belfast was in the commercial interest of AL
BTW The Govt didn't bail out any developers. Name one please ?

There was no long term future in connecting bits of computers together in a high cost economy like Ireland. It didn't matter when WOD went to Dell, they were going to pull out anyway. It was a minor miracle they stayed in Limerick for as long as they did.

The regeneration has already started, the Govt were never going to foot bill for knocking and building a load of houses. Private investment in the project didn't live up to expectation, we all know the reason why.

Credit for having some level of intelligence. Again if 40 % of the population in a 5 seat constituency considered him good enough to represent them then he must have done a lot of things right. All these people aren't stupid.

I'm not going to continue this argument with you, we have a difference of opinion, so I think we should leave at that, instead of hogging the discussion

LoganRice

He hasn't done anything for the city. Half of patrick street is gone, and O'connel street is beginning to go the same way.

I'm waiting for a cinema in the city centre

Aidric

People blaming O Dea for the Dell pullout would want to go and lie down for a while.

Liam Byrne

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

The Govt were going to pull the plug on Shannon regardless

Are you seriously putting that forward as an excuse to vote the wrong way and not represent your constituents ?

If he voted against and the rest of FF shafted us, then fair enough.

But he joined them in shafting us, despite talking about doing the opposite.

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

Are you seriously suggesting that Dell would've changed their mind.

Again, 100% irrelevant. He should at least have tried. He didn't bother. Despite being on €1,500 a day.

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

40% of the voters in Limerick east gave him their first Preference in 2007
The second highest first preference vote in the country.
Give them some credit please

Hopefully they'll evaluate the fact that he hasn't represented us and vote accordingly next time out.

Macroom Man

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

Yes, Limerick is much better off now that we have no Minister at the cabinet table :rolleyes:

Check out http://www.thepost.ie/commentandanalysis/odeas-real-shame-ignored-by-our-pathetic-leaders-47488.html for comment from a Limerick native.

"The Minister, who attempted mediation talks four years ago, disclosed that he had been asked to intervene again. "

and he had the cheek to attack Quinlivan over crime!!

Kess73

Aidric wrote: »

People blaming O Dea for the Dell pullout would want to go and lie down for a while.

Nobody is blaming the waffler for Dell pulling out. What was being commented on was his BS talk about Dell.

He was one of the first to go running to the media and claim he had spoken to Dell and that there was no chance of them leaving Limerick.

Then when that lie was found out and it was announced that they were looking to make a serious amount of people jobless, he was off and waffling again how he was heading to Texas to protect the jobs. He made a big deal about it when he got back and about how confident he was that the jobs were safe. Again he was just saying in the local media what a lot of people wanted to hear, and as usual painting himself as a go getter doing stuff for Limerick.

Ask any ex Dell worker how long did they know of coming cuts before O'Dea flew to Texas.

My point was if Dell had been approached by O'Dea and Coughlan when the talk of them leaving first surfaced, then maybe some incentive could have been put in place to keep Dell. Maybe it would have worked, maybe not, but by leaving it to the last minute there was no chance at all.

Kess73

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

AL and the Banks are completely different and you know it.
Bailing out the banks was in the national interest, AL moving to Belfast was in the commercial interest of AL
BTW The Govt didn't bail out any developers. Name one please ?

There was no long term future in connecting bits of computers together in a high cost economy like Ireland. It didn't matter when WOD went to Dell, they were going to pull out anyway. It was a minor miracle they stayed in Limerick for as long as they did.

The regeneration has already started, the Govt were never going to foot bill for knocking and building a load of houses. Private investment in the project didn't live up to expectation, we all know the reason why.

Credit for having some level of intelligence. Again if 40 % of the population in a 5 seat constituency considered him good enough to represent them then he must have done a lot of things right. All these people aren't stupid.

I'm not going to continue this argument with you, we have a difference of opinion, so I think we should leave at that, instead of hogging the discussion

You say you want to end the discussion, yet you ask me to name one developer that the government bailed out.

I suggest you go to the Politics forum here on Boards and see the thread where the first ten people who will be availing of NAMA.

Six of the ten are known FF supporters. Three of the ten are part of the Anglo Irish golden circle. One of the ten does not even live in Ireland, instead he lives in Switzerland, and all his earnings here in Ireland have been tax free, yet he is receiving aid from NAMA as set up by the current government.

These men will be saving millions and millions on repayments for loans that they, not the general public, took out. Really interesting that the first ten have such close links to the current government and to Anglo Irish bank.



Below is a link to the Irish Times where all ten, many of them developers, are named

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/0218/1224264715434.html


As for your comment about regeneration, well another poster has posted a link where that gets mentioned, and in that link there is a reference to what O' Dea said in 2007 to the Limerick Leader just before the general election about money being no object for the Limerick regeneration scheme and that all was in place for it to start.

You say that the governement was never going to foot the bill for regeneration? Then why was Willie telling all that would listen that the government, the one he held a cabinet position in, had 1.7 billion euro put aside for it, and that 1.7 billion was for between 2009 and 2018.

Gee maybe it was Willie lying again and looking to get a big return in votes in the general election that happened soon after his comments. Going by his vote tally, it worked a treat on a lot of people.

mike kelly

Whatever way you look it it, it is a loss for Limerick. Could be while before there is a Limerick representative in cabinet again.

Kess73

mike kelly wrote: »

Whatever way you look it it, it is a loss for Limerick. Could be while before there is a Limerick representative in cabinet again.

A Limerick representative in cabinet is only of use if that representative actually does something for Limerick. If getting medical cards and similar are what the man does, then being a local TD is all he needs to be.

Dealing with bigger issues and getting them addressed at Dail level seemed beyond either his ability or his inclination.

No doubt he will be making some noise about today's murder as well, with claims of how he will get every resource used against the scum that did it. Either that or he will play the "I will do what I can, but could have done more if I was still in the cabinet" card.

grenache

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

He did, he retracted his statement and apologised to the court :rolleyes:

''Sorry'' doesn't cut it when you're a cabinet minister and a barrister by profession. Even then, he only apologised when he was found out. As far as i am concerned, he is a perjurer. I don't want liars in any elected government.

Casperbhoy

grenache wrote: »

''Sorry'' doesn't cut it when you're a cabinet minister and a barrister by profession. Even then, he only apologised when he was found out. As far as i am concerned, he is a perjurer. I don't want liars in any elected government.

We better sack the lot of them then:rolleyes:

This government are a joke, FG are no better though

bacon&cabbage

grenache wrote: »

''Sorry'' doesn't cut it when you're a cabinet minister and a barrister by profession. Even then, he only apologised when he was found out. As far as i am concerned, he is a perjurer. I don't want liars in any elected government.

Is an apology not an admission of guilt ?

He said he was mistaken, apologised, paid the Councillor damages and ultimately paid with his Job.

BTW he approached the court as soon as he found out he was mistaken

bacon&cabbage

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Are you seriously putting that forward as an excuse to vote the wrong way and not represent your constituents ?

If he voted against and the rest of FF shafted us, then fair enough.

But he joined them in shafting us, despite talking about doing the opposite.

Once again, It was going to happen regardless.
If he had voted against the party he would alienated himself and probably have lost the party whip. How much use would he be then as an independent ?
Every other party is the same, you vote with the party, I don't like it either
Are you that naive to think it works any other way ?
It called politics for a reason.

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Again, 100% irrelevant. He should at least have tried. He didn't bother. Despite being on €1,500 a day.

I can just see it, the Dell Boardroom
Michael Dell: I'm going to keep uncompetitive manufacturing in Limerick open because of the intense pressure from WOD.

Get real please.

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Hopefully they'll evaluate the fact that he hasn't represented us and vote accordingly next time out.

If he goes again, he'll get in again, no problem

mysterious

I'm not getting into the bitchfest. I don't have much time, respect or any feeling about the man to even want to comment.

But as a minister in his position on the front bench for god knows how many years. He has done nothing for this city. The fianna fail government has never done anything for this city. RTE the government owned station has pumped milions into airing the bad crime and ganglands situation, but has done little to promote anything good about the city. Limerick is a city and its a normal city by national standards.

I just don't understand how this man got to be in the postion and not ever promoted this city in the respect it deserves...

Look at the Front bench T.Ds who are all corrupt anyway did for their own consitenucies at least. I mean come on like...

There is no loss in him been removed. Infact I don't think there will be any loss if they all lose their power at this stage.

People should be standing up to their life and position in the world rather than putting these yobs in position and then blame them when they can't fix our lives..

flutered

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

Once again, It was going to happen regardless.
If he had voted against the party he would alienated himself and probably have lost the party whip. How much use would he be then as an independent ?
Get real please.

jackie healy rea is not doing too bad for his constituents as an independant,
there is a guy just across the border in north tipp doing extreamly well for his constituants as an independant,
it is you bacon and cabbage that needs to get real, on this forum we do not apologists for dandruff willie, he is usefull enough with verbal outbursts to stand up for himself, unless of course you and him are one and the same.

Liam Byrne

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

Once again, It was going to happen regardless.

Once again, that is irrelevant.

If you have conviction and want to earn the respect of those you claim to represent, then you - well - represent them.

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

If he had voted against the party he would alienated himself and probably have lost the party whip. How much use would he be then as an independent ?

I dunno - maybe as much as Jackie Healy-Rae ?

Because the only way to keep FF on their toes seems to be as an independent, where they can't force you to shut the fu*k up and defend the indefensible via the party whip.

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

Every other party is the same, you vote with the party, I don't like it either
Are you that naive to think it works any other way ?

No, I'm not naieve; but that doesn't mean that I have to agree with this method of abdicating responsibility.

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

It called politics for a reason.

"Poly" = "many"
"tics" = "blood-sucking parasites"

Yup, it's called that for a reason.

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

Get real please.

I can assure you that I am real, and that someone who makes no effort is a waste of space.

bacon&cabbage wrote: »

If he goes again, he'll get in again, no problem

If some of the people of Limerick choose to vote for a lying, ineffective, uncommitted individual, then I can't stop them.

But at least I'll point out the facts and highlight his track record of promising everything and delivering nothing.

His promises were as fictional as his affadavits and accusations.

Kess73

mysterious wrote: »

I'm not getting into the bitchfest. I don't have much time, respect or any feeling about the man to even want to comment.

But as a minister in his position on the front bench for god knows how many years. He has done nothing for this city. The fianna fail government has never done anything for this city. RTE the government owned station has pumped milions into airing the bad crime and ganglands situation, but has done little to promote anything good about the city. Limerick is a city and its a normal city by national standards.

I just don't understand how this man got to be in the postion and not ever promoted this city in the respect it deserves...

Look at the Front bench T.Ds who are all corrupt anyway did for their own consitenucies at least. I mean come on like...

There is no loss in him been removed. Infact I don't think there will be any loss if they all lose their power at this stage.

People should be standing up to their life and position in the world rather than putting these yobs in position and then blame them when they can't fix our lives..

What? What? Who are you? You cannot be Mysterious because I find myself agreeing with what you said there.

bacon&cabbage

Kess73 wrote: »

What? What? Who are you? You cannot be Mysterious because I find myself agreeing with what you said there.

I was thinking earlier, jeez I'm the mysterious of this tread; the controversial one

mysterious

The immaturity on this thread shows that some of you are no better than Willie O dea...

Liam Byrne

mysterious wrote: »

The immaturity on this thread shows that some of you are no better than Willie O dea...

Please explain.....what immaturity are you talking about ?

Kess73

mysterious wrote: »

The immaturity on this thread shows that some of you are no better than Willie O dea...

Ahh that's better. Welcome back. Sorry but I cannot argue with you on this thread. It is your fault though, for posting something I could not disagree with.:p

mysterious

Kess73 wrote: »

Ahh that's better. Welcome back. Sorry but I cannot argue with you on this thread. It is your fault though, for posting something I could not disagree with.:p

Dude take responsibility for your carry on this thread, and stop blaming others for your own immaturity. It's lowly.

Mr E

mysterious wrote: »

Dude take responsibility for your carry on this thread, and stop blaming others for your own immaturity. It's lowly.

Dude, stop trolling.

flutered

Mr E wrote: »

Dude, stop trolling.

with a thread on dandruff willie one has to expect trolling