Willie O Dea to stand for re-election?

Amazotheamazing

From the Irish Times, fair appraisal of how bad O'Dea has been for his constituents.


Limerick's champion left people powerless

Paradoxically it is the failure of Willie O’Dea’s advocacy for Limerick that makes the city so dependent on him, writes FINTAN O’TOOLE

IN ALL the talk about Willie O’Dea over the last week, one question has scarcely been asked – why did almost 20,000 people vote for him in the 2007 general election? Answering that question gives us some idea of the depth of the problems in Irish political culture.

We know, at least, where the answer does not lie. It is not Willie’s irresistible charm, which teams of intrepid explorers have so far failed to locate. It is not the allure of his sexy moustache. And it is not his inner nobility.

If Willie were the captain of the Titanic, he would have been the first man in the lifeboat, dressed in bonnet and frock. He was, after all, quite prepared to see a journalist lose his job in order to save his own skin. (If Mike Dwane of the Limerick Leader had, as Willie implied, invented the smear that created all the trouble, no media outlet would employ him.) He even suggested in his last-ditch interview with Seán O’Rourke that he would consider naming the garda who allegedly gave him the false information – another potential sacking to save his own job.

So, what is it about Willie that makes him so extraordinarily successful in Limerick? Here we get to the heart of the paradox that is Fianna Fáil. It is not the success of Willie O’Dea’s advocacy for Limerick that makes the city so dependent on him. It is its failure. The relationship between the ultimate clientelist politician and his clients depends on the continuation of powerlessness. Instead of being punished for Limerick’s underdevelopment, O’Dea has thrived on it. The worse the city’s problems, the greater its need of a supposed champion.

I do not wish to indulge in the crude caricatures of Limerick as Stab City. The proportion of the Limerick workforce in professional occupations is higher than the national average. It has an innovative university on a magnificent campus and a very good third-level educational infrastructure. There is a thriving, sophisticated, beautiful middle-class Limerick.

But there is also the Limerick that is a national disgrace, that, for all Willie O’Dea’s supposed prowess as its political champion, benefited least from the boom and has been hurt most brutally by the recession.

Of the 18,900 houses in the city area, 8,000 were built as social housing. Even at the height of the boom, Moyross and Southill had an unemployment rate five times the national average and were among the most disadvantaged areas in the State. (In 2005, just 16 per cent of Limerick City Council’s tenants were in paid employment and youth unemployment stood at 62 per cent.) About a third of the houses in Moyross and half of those in Southill are effectively unfit for human habitation – so much so that John Fitzgerald, in his report on regeneration in Limerick, reckoned that they were beyond repair.

The drug problem in Moyross, O’Malley Park, Ballinacurra/ Weston and St Mary’s Park, both in terms of addiction and of the vicious gangs that feed off it, is worse than anywhere else in Ireland. Intimidation and constant, low-level threats of violence have made life hard for the vast majority of decent people trying to raise good families. A third of those over 65 in O’Dea’s constituency have a disability – way above the national average. There is also a significantly higher proportion of single-parent families.

The boom passed most of these people by. Even property mania did not take off in Limerick’s estates – people who put everything they had into buying their council houses got nothing back on their investment. Uniquely in Ireland, commercial rents in Limerick city centre remained substantially lower than those in the suburbs – a pattern more typical of devastated American cities like Baltimore.

John Fitzgerald, who was hardly an innocent abroad after his years as Dublin city manager, found conditions in the Limerick estates “quite shocking” and described the overall quality of life as “extremely poor”.

As “Mister Limerick”, therefore, Willie O’Dea has been a spectacular failure. The State that he embodies has not produced the goods for those of his constituents who most depend on it. The Fitzgerald report pointed out, damningly, that “it would be hard to conclude that public funding is achieving an acceptable, let alone optimum, level of direct benefits to the communities concerned”.

Time and again, Willie O’Dea, for all his local bluster, failed to deliver for those communities. The function of his moustache has always been to prevent anyone seeing that he is talking through both sides of his mouth at once. Just a few days before he was overtaken by the scandal that did for him, O’Dea was letting it be known, in his usual sidling manner, that the desperately needed regeneration programme for the city will not be delivered.

And yet O’Dea will probably get his 20,000 votes again. Our political culture is such that the worse things get, the more we look for a fixer to do us a few little favours. The more powerless we feel, the more we cling to those who keep us that way.

anti_c

"IRISH INDEPENDENT MONDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2010 .THEIR DREAM HOUSE TURNED INTO A TERROR TRAP.IN SEPTEMBER 2004 A LETTER FROM LOCAL TD AND THEN JUNIOR MINISTER "WILLIE O"DEA " TOLD THEM THOSE RESPONSIBLE HAD BEEN WARNED OF THE REPERCUSSION"REGARDLESS OF THEIR CIRCUMSTANCES UNLESS THEIR CONDUCT IMPROVED. BY BARRY DUGGAN IRISH TIMES . THIS IS NOW FAIRVIEW CRESTENT GARRYOWEN LIMERICK 20 FAMILIES HOUNDED OUT OF THERE HOMES

Amazotheamazing

anti_c wrote: »

"IRISH INDEPENDENT MONDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2010 .THEIR DREAM HOUSE TURNED INTO A TERROR TRAP.IN SEPTEMBER 2004 A LETTER FROM LOCAL TD AND THEN JUNIOR MINISTER "WILLIE O"DEA " TOLD THEM THOSE RESPONSIBLE HAD BEEN WARNED OF THE REPERCUSSION"REGARDLESS OF THEIR CIRCUMSTANCES UNLESS THEIR CONDUCT IMPROVED. BY BARRY DUGGAN IRISH TIMES . THIS IS NOW FAIRVIEW CRESTENT GARRYOWEN LIMERICK 20 FAMILIES HOUNDED OUT OF THERE HOMES

Why are you typing in capital letters?

Raiser

In my opinoon etc. etc.

Willie O'Dea has never done anything of note for the people of Limerick via the correct and proper channel of diligent political process.

Willie O'Dea has very obviously done countless 'nixers', 'fixes', 'favours' and 'strokes' for every Príck who thought they were crafty and smart enough to 'work the system' over the years.

- Willie O'Dea will be elected in a landslide victory by the same inbred, low IQ, small-time, idiotic, uneducated, feeble People who re-elected Bertie Ahern and as a consequence gave us the present unelected Leadership who are making us sigh, groan and suffer each and every day.

zuroph

I could do a better job. I wouldnt let the DAA kill shannon airport for one thing.

liammur

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

From the Irish Times, fair appraisal of how bad O'Dea has been for his constituents.


Limerick's champion left people powerless

Paradoxically it is the failure of Willie O’Dea’s advocacy for Limerick that makes the city so dependent on him, writes FINTAN O’TOOLE

IN ALL the talk about Willie O’Dea over the last week, one question has scarcely been asked – why did almost 20,000 people vote for him in the 2007 general election? Answering that question gives us some idea of the depth of the problems in Irish political culture.

We know, at least, where the answer does not lie. It is not Willie’s irresistible charm, which teams of intrepid explorers have so far failed to locate. It is not the allure of his sexy moustache. And it is not his inner nobility.

If Willie were the captain of the Titanic, he would have been the first man in the lifeboat, dressed in bonnet and frock. He was, after all, quite prepared to see a journalist lose his job in order to save his own skin. (If Mike Dwane of the Limerick Leader had, as Willie implied, invented the smear that created all the trouble, no media outlet would employ him.) He even suggested in his last-ditch interview with Seán O’Rourke that he would consider naming the garda who allegedly gave him the false information – another potential sacking to save his own job.

So, what is it about Willie that makes him so extraordinarily successful in Limerick? Here we get to the heart of the paradox that is Fianna Fáil. It is not the success of Willie O’Dea’s advocacy for Limerick that makes the city so dependent on him. It is its failure. The relationship between the ultimate clientelist politician and his clients depends on the continuation of powerlessness. Instead of being punished for Limerick’s underdevelopment, O’Dea has thrived on it. The worse the city’s problems, the greater its need of a supposed champion.

I do not wish to indulge in the crude caricatures of Limerick as Stab City. The proportion of the Limerick workforce in professional occupations is higher than the national average. It has an innovative university on a magnificent campus and a very good third-level educational infrastructure. There is a thriving, sophisticated, beautiful middle-class Limerick.

But there is also the Limerick that is a national disgrace, that, for all Willie O’Dea’s supposed prowess as its political champion, benefited least from the boom and has been hurt most brutally by the recession.

Of the 18,900 houses in the city area, 8,000 were built as social housing. Even at the height of the boom, Moyross and Southill had an unemployment rate five times the national average and were among the most disadvantaged areas in the State. (In 2005, just 16 per cent of Limerick City Council’s tenants were in paid employment and youth unemployment stood at 62 per cent.) About a third of the houses in Moyross and half of those in Southill are effectively unfit for human habitation – so much so that John Fitzgerald, in his report on regeneration in Limerick, reckoned that they were beyond repair.

The drug problem in Moyross, O’Malley Park, Ballinacurra/ Weston and St Mary’s Park, both in terms of addiction and of the vicious gangs that feed off it, is worse than anywhere else in Ireland. Intimidation and constant, low-level threats of violence have made life hard for the vast majority of decent people trying to raise good families. A third of those over 65 in O’Dea’s constituency have a disability – way above the national average. There is also a significantly higher proportion of single-parent families.

The boom passed most of these people by. Even property mania did not take off in Limerick’s estates – people who put everything they had into buying their council houses got nothing back on their investment. Uniquely in Ireland, commercial rents in Limerick city centre remained substantially lower than those in the suburbs – a pattern more typical of devastated American cities like Baltimore.

John Fitzgerald, who was hardly an innocent abroad after his years as Dublin city manager, found conditions in the Limerick estates “quite shocking” and described the overall quality of life as “extremely poor”.

As “Mister Limerick”, therefore, Willie O’Dea has been a spectacular failure. The State that he embodies has not produced the goods for those of his constituents who most depend on it. The Fitzgerald report pointed out, damningly, that “it would be hard to conclude that public funding is achieving an acceptable, let alone optimum, level of direct benefits to the communities concerned”.

Time and again, Willie O’Dea, for all his local bluster, failed to deliver for those communities. The function of his moustache has always been to prevent anyone seeing that he is talking through both sides of his mouth at once. Just a few days before he was overtaken by the scandal that did for him, O’Dea was letting it be known, in his usual sidling manner, that the desperately needed regeneration programme for the city will not be delivered.

And yet O’Dea will probably get his 20,000 votes again. Our political culture is such that the worse things get, the more we look for a fixer to do us a few little favours. The more powerless we feel, the more we cling to those who keep us that way.

Very good article, well done.

I always felt O Dea appealed to the working class or those with little initiative.

molard

he looks after his pal cathal. gave him 13000e for delievering leaflets. nothing done in our estate for ages .could it be that those doing the work got fed up with cathal taking credit.

RonMexico

Interesting to see that 25 people who voted in this poll don't care one bit for the unethical conduct of our politicians.

Reaganomical

The man's an embarrassing gombeen. A qualified barrister who doesn't know how to swear an affidavit...:rolleyes:

Raiser

schnellimbiss wrote: »

The man's an embarrassing gombeen. A qualified barrister who doesn't know how to swear an affidavit...:rolleyes:

Will Limerick stand for him standing for re-election?

Damn right they will, they'll be queuing outside the Polling Station from the crack of dawn in their thousands to support the little Fcuk.

- All excitedly thinking how handy it will be to have their own personal Pocket Politician to do their bidding & how they won't even have to leave the Pub to ask him.......

liammur

I see O dea is only 1 of 8 FF tds to be deemed safe in the next election.

When will we learn in Limerick :mad:


ONLY eight Fianna Fail TDs are 'safe' after the collapse in support for the party, as revealed by the latest TV3 opinion poll.
The implosion in the party's support means that none of its other 63 TDs can be sure of being re-elected. On the basis of last week's poll, Fianna Fail is poised to lose a minimum of 40 seats.
At the party's present standing in the polls, the only TDs whose seats are safe are: Taoiseach Brian Cowen; former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern; Tanaiste Mary Coughlan; Finance Minister Brian Lenihan; Social Protection Minister Eamon O Cuiv and Limerick TD Willie O'Dea.
The Ceann Comhairle, Seamus Kirk, would be automatically re-elected and this would mean that his running mate in Louth, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, would also be safe.
Amongst Fianna Fail ministers, those who are seen to be in dire trouble include possible leadership candidates Micheal Martin, who has fared poorly in private polls in Cork, and Mary Hanafin in Dublin.

flutered

it seems aherne b is not as home and dried as dff would like to think.

anti_c

anti_c wrote: »

"IRISH INDEPENDENT MONDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2010 .THEIR DREAM HOUSE TURNED INTO A TERROR TRAP.IN SEPTEMBER 2004 A LETTER FROM LOCAL TD AND THEN JUNIOR MINISTER "WILLIE O"DEA " TOLD THEM THOSE RESPONSIBLE HAD BEEN WARNED OF THE REPERCUSSION"REGARDLESS OF THEIR CIRCUMSTANCES UNLESS THEIR CONDUCT IMPROVED. BY BARRY DUGGAN IRISH TIMES . THIS IS NOW FAIRVIEW CRESTENT GARRYOWEN LIMERICK 20 FAMILIES HOUNDED OUT OF THERE HOMES

o my god what a horror story and willie o dea did nothing to help this poor old women shame on you .