Our Worst Minister?

liammur

Micheal Martin

Why?

Let FAS unchecked for years
Nursing home bill - cost tax payers €1billion
Biggest advocate of 'light touch regulation' for the IFSC
Handed a job to Celia Larkin
Gave loads of jobs to Dublin, Cork and Galway and ignored the rest of the country.
Health service ran aground under him.

His only contribution: the smoking ban

ednwireland

you mean i have to choose one ? cowan for me he had the opportunity to calm the bubble but didnt have the guts

liammur

Surely the man who created the bubble should be deemed worse? i.e. mccreevy and ahern?

Cookie_Monster

Now there is a serious question!

But who to choose... may have to come back to this later.

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

liammur

It is a hard one, that's for sure!

ninty9er

I would honestly have to say, as nice and all as he is, Eamonn Ó'Cúiv has no idea what he's at!

irishh_bob

liammur wrote: »

Micheal Martin

Why?

Let FAS unchecked for years
Nursing home bill - cost tax payers €1billion
Biggest advocate of 'light touch regulation' for the IFSC
Handed a job to Celia Larkin
Gave loads of jobs to Dublin, Cork and Galway and ignored the rest of the country.
Health service ran aground under him.

His only contribution: the smoking ban

minister martin is a charechter who has gotten to where he is by way of absolutley nothing but being the best in the business at talking the talk , the man epitomises this

yuloni

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The_Thing

We should get medieval on their asses with a pair of pliers and a blow-torch.

Einhard

The wort minister of the past decade was none other than the prime minister for much of that time, the main man himself, Bertie. Most of his subordinates have fairly shoddy records, but it was Bertie who set the tone and the agenda for successive governments, and its his crazy policy of buying elections, and never standing up for fiscal prudence in the face of vested interests, that is the prime cause of our economic woes today.

Sponge Bob

Eamon Ryan, on the week in politics now

Einhard

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Eamon Ryan, on the week in politics now

What's wrong with Eamon Ryan? I kinda like him actually. He wasn't involved in,

Decentralisation
The establishment of the HSE without a single job lost
Benchmarking
Electronic voting

so I fail to see how he could possibly have the worst record of any minister in the cabinet. I really don't understand all the irrational hatred of the Greens that's out there.

Sponge Bob

Einhard wrote: »

What's wrong with Eamon Ryan? I kinda like him actually. He wasn't involved in,

He is a complete moron I do have some time for Gormley who displays evidence of sentience.

Mr Trade In

The_Thing wrote: »

We should get medieval on their asses with a pair of pliers and a blow-torch.

I would be on for the Medieval tactics, more lock them in stocks and belt them with rotten fruit,main event held for Bertie; hung drawn and quartered, with his head put on the spire.

Atlantic Dawn

Noel Dempsey, the most arrogant and ignorant of the lot of them.

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

Einhard

Mr Trade In wrote: »

I would be on for the Medieval tactics, more lock them in stocks and belt them with rotten fruit,main event held for Bertie; hung drawn and quartered, with his head put on the spire.

And the same for all those who voted for him in 2007, and who will undoubtedly do so again at the next election.

Einhard

Sponge Bob wrote: »

He is a complete moron

Well that settles it then! :pac:

Zynks

ednwireland wrote: »

you mean i have to choose one ? cowan for me he had the opportunity to calm the bubble but didnt have the guts

You mean you won't give him credit for this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc8ykHoBXmQ

World class stuff!

paddyland

I am torn between Bertie and Noel Dempsey.

Bertie, because after the Haughey years, when there was an opportunity for FF to take stock and get back to basics, Bertie took the other road, and simply built tenfold on the rot and corruption that Haughey inspired. The single most dishonest man in the country, who peddled complete lies through three election campaigns, to no end but short term plunder for a small band of his favourites. The country is where it is today principally through the corrupt administration of this man.

Dempsey, because he has ruined me personally, through his appalling tenure in cabinet. I have lost not one, but two careers because of this man, and I have lost everything I spent twenty years building up for myself. I content myself now with dreaming up horrendous, Victorian tortures for him. I would happily see this toad take a bath in boiling cooking fat.

There is something terribly wrong when an ordinary decent citizen of the country starts harbouring such hatred towards politicians. It is a sign of just how far we have fallen, how bad they let it get. Not only have they personally behaved reprehensively, but they have left a mountain to climb for a new generation to try to restore respect for politics.

Gigiwagga

Pretty much all the FF brigade, seriously what is the point in having some career politician running a government department he knows next to nothing about. And if someone suggests that the experienced civil servants in that department do all the thinking then they should be running it not some FF scum. I have a deep dislike for Michael Martin, I visited his clinic in the early stages of the Iraq invasion by the US and he held France responsible for the destruction of Iraq, I was shocked, but he was in no doubt, France were to blame.
The Green party have lost my respect, Ryan always appears smug and condescending, he will be utterly wiped away at the next election, same for Gormley and the rest, and I've voted Green for the last 15 odd years.
AS for FG and labour, also career politicians, flush the lot of them.

Oh I despair

yuloni

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Banned Account

Mary Coughlan is an embarrasment to the country she has absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever and should be tied up and shot with balls of her own shite

thegoodgirl

Lets not forget the biggest waste of space herself.......Mary Harney

Can't think of a simple thing she has done that is good.

liammur

But the really worrying thing is: all of those mentioned are almost guaranteed to top the polls again. What does that tell us about ourselves?

Oak1000

Finally somebody mentioned that Pond Animal Coughlan. Has there ever been a thicker politician ? Of course she was well qualified to take on the Global Captains of Commerce and to bring jobs and prosperity to Ireland - she worked as a teacher for a week !!

The only rational explanation as to why this **** eating pond spawn ever was made a minister is that the rumours must be true. Very close friends in high places "Snuffle Snuffle - pass the bacon.

Oak1000

Zynks wrote: »

You mean you won't give him credit for this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc8ykHoBXmQ

World class stuff!

Classic - There must be a way of running this 24/7 on the side of an office block in town. Something akin to a Time Square Screen would be perfect.

call d

I give my vote to the man who gave Martin Cullen a job, voting machines, transport etc etc and poor aul Martin hasn't a clue what's going on around him.

murrayp4

Dopey Drawers Coughlan.

dRNk SAnTA

thegoodgirl wrote: »

Lets not forget the biggest waste of space herself.......Mary Harney

Can't think of a simple thing she has done that is good.

Well that says something about you.

As Minister for Environment she cleared Dublin of smog with her ban on coal.

In her time as Minister for Enterprise, Ireland saw probably it's biggest ever levels of employment growth and foreign investment.

In Health, she dismantled the useless health boards and created the (also pretty useless) HSE. But when she took over, previous Ministers like Cowen and Martin had presided over almost no reforms, and compared to them she has done enormous amounts (whether you agree with what she's done or not).

Despite all the things people hate her for in Health, the Emergency Departments have improved and she has completely overhauled the states Cancer Services to a lot of acclaim.

I seriously doubt any single other Minister would've done a better job, at least she's never been populist (the bane of Irish politics).

Rosahane

I think the choice is between Noel Dempsey and Dermot Ahern. Unlike the others who are either buffoons or mannequins these two are bright, cunning, utterly amoral and totally focused on gaining personal power.

Sponge Bob

Dempsey and Coughlan would be a close run thing behind Ryan but as FFers I have no expectation of them and must therefore declare Ryan the outright winner albeit only by a short pinocchio shtyle nose from Dempsey and Coughlan.

Harney was once useful but has spent her time in Health hiding behind the HSE when not trying to land private hospitals into the back of every public one. While her career 1997 - 2003 was stellar she lost it after a year in health and opted to hide behind the HSE thereafter. But our worst ???? Never! Dermot Ahern has a brain and can master his brief, technically and politically....even if he is a knacker. He cannot be our worst minister unless he is promoted to the next Himmler and takes to the task with relish.

scr123

Surely the worst Ministers were those handed government on a plate in 1994. Unelected with some still sitting on Opposition with the handiest job ever earning great money spending their time waffling on about the Government with no sense of responsibility whatsoever. The others since out of politics are receiving great pensions or earning great money on the EU gravytrain. The hyprocrisy of the ABFF has no bounds !!

PDD

They are all useless and I mean that from a pure productivity standpoint, all you have to do is look at the attendance figures. Any normal PAYE worker would be sacked for an attendance record like that yet we willfully let them keep their jobs and refuse to hold them accountable. And we are paying them large salaries for what exactly, they aren't even accountable when the make a cock-up. They aren't even apologetic or embarassed when its exposed how badly they are shafting us all by claiming multiple wages (does anyone remember 'tightening their belts'). Multiple wages for doing sweet **** all!

Why is this happening? Because the public at large are either bone idle lazy or too engrossed in their own lives to care. The lazy ones will bitch and moan about politicians but wont even bother to vote for any elections and only add to the panto that we accept as a democracy in action. Those who are too busy are typically tied up with personal responsibility that politics is a minor concern unless it impacts them directly.

For me its why democracy will always fall short of any reasonable expectation let alone the loft ideals it espouses. A true democracy relies on a well educated, well informed and engaged electorate. We may be educated but we certainly are not given relevant information by our government (more disturbingly we do not demand it via openness and transparency and allow 'private' enquiries) and at the moment an average persons single motivation for even thinking about politics is when it affects them directly until then its just ignored, something to talk about but definitely not something to do.

So what do we do? If so many people are upset at the state of affairs what actions can be taken that are constructive and will address these concerns? I'm genuinely asking for suggestions here because at the moment the only thing I can do is vote at the next election and how much use is that exactly?

DrumSteve

has to be cullen. how he ever got a job at cabinet level is beyond me.

Head The Wall

DrumSteve wrote: »

has to be cullen. how he ever got a job at cabinet level is beyond me.

Was it not from shagging that the PR lady:D

SkepticOne

PDD wrote: »

They are all useless and I mean that from a pure productivity standpoint, all you have to do is look at the attendance figures. Any normal PAYE worker would be sacked for an attendance record like that yet we willfully let them keep their jobs and refuse to hold them accountable. And we are paying them large salaries for what exactly, they aren't even accountable when the make a cock-up. They aren't even apologetic or embarassed when its exposed how badly they are shafting us all by claiming multiple wages (does anyone remember 'tightening their belts'). Multiple wages for doing sweet **** all!

TD's however will tell you however that most of the job is what referred to as constituency work. That is where the votes are. The legislative aspects are comparatively minor.

I would much prefer if the TDs job was more legislative but for that to happen there has to be changes in the electoral system itself.

zootroid

SkepticOne wrote: »

TD's however will tell you however that most of the job is what referred to as constituency work. That is where the votes are. The legislative aspects are comparatively minor.

I would much prefer if the TDs job was more legislative but for that to happen there has to be changes in the electoral system itself.

Which is unlikely to happen. In fact the only political reform I've heard of from any of the parties is FG's proposal to abolish the Seanad, which is something that I would be wary of.

I'm all for cutting the number of TDs and having larger constituencies though

mailforkev

Currently it has to be Mary Coughlan.

Hopeless at pretty much everything she's meant to be doing nationally, but great at sorting out the locals who voted for her of course.

And who can forget "Einstein's" theory of evolution. Halfwit.

danbohan

mailforkev wrote: »

Currently it has to be Mary Coughlan.

Hopeless at pretty much everything she's meant to be doing nationally, but great at sorting out the yokels who voted for her of course.

And who can forget "Einstein's" theory of evolution. Halfwit.

and what about the yokels that voted for bertieeeee, ogh sorry that would be jackeens would it not .
you dont need to insult a entire county to slam mary coughlan , having elected her must be embarrassing enough

mailforkev

danbohan wrote: »

and what about the yokels that voted for bertieeeee, ogh sorry that would be jackeens would it not .
you dont need to insult a entire county to slam mary coughlan , having elected her must be embarrassing enough

Yes true, I didn't mean to slag off the whole county. Don't worry I feel the same embarrassment for all those who voted de Bert in election after election.

ZYX

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

Well that says something about you.

As Minister for Environment she cleared Dublin of smog with her ban on coal.

In fairness after years of the people demanding that it be done. Yes ministers before her had not done it but Harney simply bowed to the inevitable. The fact that there was a long history of the same think being done in other countries made the decision a no brainer.

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

In Health, she dismantled the useless health boards and created the (also pretty useless) HSE. But when she took over, previous Ministers like Cowen and Martin had presided over almost no reforms, and compared to them she has done enormous amounts (whether you agree with what she's done or not).

This was done in the most ham fisted way possible. I don't think anyone can seriously argue that the HSE and Dept of Health Combination is an improvement. The HSE has to go down as a major failure by Harney.

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

Despite all the things people hate her for in Health, the Emergency Departments have improved and she has completely overhauled the states Cancer Services to a lot of acclaim.

I seriously doubt any single other Minister would've done a better job, at least she's never been populist (the bane of Irish politics).

You have to remember how much she spent on Health. She has spent more than every other minister for health in the history of this state combined. This year alone, at a time of major cutbacks, she will spend more than half was spent in the entire 1990s. This year the average family of 4 will pay €13,000 in taxes for the day to day running of the health service. Yet despite this, people are still on trollys. Many hospitals, including all childrens hospitals have effectively cancelled all routine operations.

Harney diverted huge sums of money from the Public service into the private system by way of the treatment purchase fund. Yes this reduced waiting lists but only in a temporary way. Had the money being used in public sector we could have had more theatres built, more ICU and HDU beds and more trained staff.

DidierMc

Dermot Ahern. Nothing but a thug in a €1000 suit.

SkepticOne

zootroid wrote: »

Which is unlikely to happen. In fact the only political reform I've heard of from any of the parties is FG's proposal to abolish the Seanad, which is something that I would be wary of.

I'm all for cutting the number of TDs and having larger constituencies though

Unlikely yes, but ultimately political reform has to happen.

DrumSteve

Head The Wall wrote: »

Was it not from shagging that the PR lady:D

Now now... thats only scurrulous hearsay!

Rosahane

I think we need to define what we mean by "worst"

It's obvious there is no "good" or even democratic minister in the current government. It's also obvious that the majority of them are nothing more that timeserving jobsworths who are only there to get their snouts in the trough and keep it there for as long as possible:mad:

That's why I see Dempsey and Ahern as the "worst" insofar that they seem to have a bigger agenda which obviously entails eventual leadership of FF and given the forgiving and fickle nature of the electorate, eventual leadership of the country:eek:

I think that both have something akin to a Napoleon type level of ambition, deviousness, cunning and ruthlessness that would bode ill for our democracy if they succeed:(

God help us if they ever make it!

Head The Wall

ZYX wrote: »

Harney diverted huge sums of money from the Public service into the private system by way of the treatment purchase fund. Yes this reduced waiting lists but only in a temporary way. Had the money being used in public sector we could have had more theatres built, more ICU and HDU beds and more trained staff.

We have plenty of facilities but no money to staff them, thats real foresight. They would be as well off leaving the money in a deposit account, that money could now be spent more efficiently on infrastructure in todays market

bamboozle

of current ministers, worst would be a toss up between Coughlan and Harney.
for the celtic tiger years , Bertie, Cowan, McCreevy, in fact that were all greedy yes men/women

Floppybits

I have to say that our worst minister is actually Brian Cowen. In fact I dont know how he got to lead Fianna Fail party. The man has held at least 6 ministries and can anyone honestly say what he did in any of those ministries that marks him out? The only thing I know he did was give the Ministry of Health its nickname Angola, other than that there isn't really a lot that he has done. I suppose he held firm on stamp duty when he was minister of Finance.

Japer

Coughlan knows sweet all, and does sweet all except buy expensive clothes + hire expensive groomers, and she costs the state a fortune, more than most other prime ministers in proper countries are paid. In medieval times, it would be off with her head, hang and quarter her. Instead we will give her a massive pension in a few years time, when she is still a foolish, incompetent and lazy young one. Let her go back to school and learn who Einstein was.