A new political party?

Fentdog84

We need to have a new political party comprising not of politicians but of people who have talent & experience in business & other fields. The michael O learys of this world people who are straight & want to get things done come hell or high water, people with no hidden agendas. The current crop of politicians are way past their sell by date & are not qualified to deal with a crisis of such a large scale as we have now. If not a new party, I would encourage bright, talented & forward thinking people who have or have a desire to acheive something in life to run as independent TD's in the next election and drive the current bunch out ..

Revolution9

Fentdog84 wrote: »

We need to have a new political party comprising not of politicians but of people who have talent & experience in business & other fields. The michael O learys of this world people who are straight & want to get things done come hell or high water, people with no hidden agendas. The current crop of politicians are way past their sell by date & are not qualified to deal with a crisis of such a large scale as we have now. If not a new party, I would encourage bright, talented & forward thinking people who have or have a desire to acheive something in life to run as independent TD's in the next election and drive the current bunch out ..

You want the greediest capitalist in the country to fix a problem created by capitalist greed :eek:

kippy

Revolution9 wrote: »

You want the greediest capitalist in the country to fix a problem created by capitalist greed :eek:

Michael O Leary - No hidden agenda? This guy always has a hidden agenda, sometimes not so hidden.

I do agree with you though, there is an opening for a new political party or parties however the voters have to change how and why they vote for their TD's if these parties are to be successful.

Fentdog84

Revolution9 wrote: »

You want the greediest capitalist in the country to fix a problem created by capitalist greed :eek:

Right, ok. But at least Michael O leary wouldnt take 3 months summer holiidays, be rest assured

Revolution9

Fentdog84 wrote: »

Right, ok. But at least Michael O leary wouldnt take 3 months summer holiidays, be rest assured

No doubt, the man is a great businessman.

But he and his ilk would pillage the general public for every cent we've got.

I'd like to see Labour given a chance before I call for a new party

OhNoYouDidn't

The idea that successful businessmen make good politicians is interesting. Are there any examples of this?

OhNoYouDidn't

Fentdog84 wrote: »

Right, ok. But at least Michael O leary wouldnt take 3 months summer holiidays, be rest assured

And he could be trusted diplomatically, could he?

maynooth_rules

Most of the people in this country wont vote for a new party as their father wont have voted for them for years, or their house hasn't been a supporter of this new party for years. Unfortunatly party support is just bred into so much of the electorate in Ireland that many simply wont consider changing their vote. There is a change amongst the youth now though, thank god

bladespin

Why would any right minded successful business person want to get involved in politics?
More work and no reward, even the best salesman would have a hard time selling that one.

hard to know what to make of o'leary. while he is a very frugal and shrewd man no doubt, i dont like the ryanair flying experience so not so sure id like the country to be like my flights

unit 1

Fentdog84 wrote: »

We need to have a new political party comprising not of politicians but of people who have talent & experience in business & other fields. The michael O learys of this world people who are straight & want to get things done come hell or high water, people with no hidden agendas. The current crop of politicians are way past their sell by date & are not qualified to deal with a crisis of such a large scale as we have now. If not a new party, I would encourage bright, talented & forward thinking people who have or have a desire to acheive something in life to run as independent TD's in the next election and drive the current bunch out ..

Only if Michael promised not to bring in coin operated wheelchairs for the elderly;)

View

Fentdog84 wrote: »

We need to have a new political party comprising not of politicians but of people who have talent & experience in business & other fields. The michael O learys of this world people who are straight & want to get things done come hell or high water, people with no hidden agendas. The current crop of politicians are way past their sell by date & are not qualified to deal with a crisis of such a large scale as we have now. If not a new party, I would encourage bright, talented & forward thinking people who have or have a desire to acheive something in life to run as independent TD's in the next election and drive the current bunch out ..

Ammm, what policies exactly would the new party espouse?

bildo

Fis Nua is a new political party with new ideas. They have an interesting manifesto. I think it's comprised of a number of independents and former Green party members.

Check it out

The_Minister

bildo wrote: »

Fis Nua is a new political party with new ideas. They have an interesting manifesto. I think it's comprised of a number of independents and former Green party members.

Check it out

They are basically just radical watermelons.

Heroditas

Fís Nua eh?

Their first point on energy and transport:

Energy & Greenhouse Gas Emissions

■ Seek an all-party approach to cut Ireland’s carbon emissions by 5% annually.

Plans are already underway to meet the 2020 challenges and reduce emissions by a minimum of 20%. Political consensus is there and we've signed up for this with the EU. :rolleyes:

A tax on industrial scale carbon dioxide & other greenhouse gas emissions.

Have they heard of the ETS?

jock101

A new political system rather then a new party!

CoalBucket

bladespin wrote: »

Why would any right minded successful business person want to get involved in politics?
More work and no reward, even the best salesman would have a hard time selling that one.

100,000 grand a year basic plus unvouched expenses, free car, driver, "work" 9 months a year................. seems an obvious business decision to me then again maybe i'm not the best salesman

Fentdog84

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

And he could be trusted diplomatically, could he?

Well I'd trust someone like him before any politician because there would be no spin involved. To listen to Brian Cowen speak is like trying to figure out a cryptic crossword..

Thomas Bateman

Fentdog84 wrote: »

We need to have a new political party comprising not of politicians but of people who have talent & experience in business & other fields. The michael O learys of this world people who are straight & want to get things done come hell or high water, people with no hidden agendas. The current crop of politicians are way past their sell by date & are not qualified to deal with a crisis of such a large scale as we have now. If not a new party, I would encourage bright, talented & forward thinking people who have or have a desire to acheive something in life to run as independent TD's in the next election and drive the current bunch out ..

Why would we want a capitalist muppet like O' Leary selling off everything in the name of profit? If his ruthless methods of elimiation in the airline industry is anything to go by, then as a politician he would surely destroy us all.

Your thinking, but put this one back in the oven, its not done yet.

Fentdog84

Look I know Michael O leary might be an extreme example to use but we need someone who have the know-how, will roll up their sleaves & take responsiblity. The govt at the moment havent got the ability & not willing to do that. We need as many new TD's as possible running in the next election. Its the only way to get to bring in new blood & to get the current govt out, as soon a possible!

youcrazyjesus!

All of the establishment parties suffer from the same problems. We do need a new breed of politician and a new political party. A new party should be concerned primarily with political and democratic reform. We're a small country in every sense, not China, we should be able to respond quickly politically and economically to the world around us and stay ahead of the curve on a whole range of issues. We should be able to govern ourselves efficiently. We're drowning in a cesspool of councillors, TDs, senators, boards, quangos, forums, authorities, agreements. Where do they find all these people to staff these things? It's unbelievable. Where possible we should give responsibilities to accountable individuals. Pay them what they're worth and hold them accountable. Not pay them more than they're worth and just shrug when they rob us blind and do a terrible job.

We can do this by increasing the democratic power of the electorate while at the same time ensuring elected officials & representatives have the power to do the job we want them to do. We should allow for recalls in some instances, have the direct election of some officials; maybe county/city managers, some other regional government officials who head services and a small number of national offices, defining which power belongs to which office and just generally reducing the complexity of the system where possible. It will encourage candidates and parties to be bolder; candidates who propose a unique program and then have the ability to carry it through will be rewarded and we don't just get a bunch of politics-by-numbers gombeens who simply tell us what we want to hear every 5 years and spend the rest of the time blowing hot air.

We don't need 166 TDs, we don't need 60 councils and 800 councillors, we don't need the Seanad, it should be disbanded. All of these spurious boards and committees and quangos and authorities should be gutted. Whatever kick up the arse we need to give to any prospective President to have them glance at the odd bit of legislation that comes their way should be given.

We don't need more than 120 TDs.

It should become a crime to, as Bertie Ahern admits freely he did, appoint people to State boards for reasons other then merit. There should be a register of candidates.

The practice of awarding national resources to a local candidate in order to ensure his vote the Dáil should be stopped. Viewed as normal in the political system, it's called bribery in other walks of life and it should become a criminal office.

The Dáil should have the power to bring before any public official, retired or otherwise, before it like any court in the land.

In the same way a director is legally required to act in the best interests of his/her shareholders, any public representative should be legally required to act in the best interests of his/her citizens. It should be a catch all offence.

A high percentage of expenses should be vouched and expenses should be a matter of public record

Disband the Seanad.

Pay deals should not be done nationally but on a sector by sector basis.

There should a clear, clear division of local and national governance. The national parliament should be concerned with national issues and the traditional power of the TD to "take care of" minor local issues should be ended. To do this you'd need an elected, visible, accountable, full-time regional/local government. Local taxes on water, waste, cars, property should fund local services like everywhere else in the world. New regional councils should be put in place to administer local services, the cities would account for 4/5 councils, you could have maybe another 4/5 regional councils. Maybe 20-40 heads per board. Keep the county councils simply for administrative purposes and amalgamate their management at a higher level. Towns and rural areas will still have power by electing their candidate locally to go to the regional council.

thebman

Revolution9 wrote: »

No doubt, the man is a great businessman.

But he and his ilk would pillage the general public for every cent we've got.

I'd like to see Labour given a chance before I call for a new party

Ah yes the union funded Labour, you have seen the recent union scandals discovered in the HSE?

Taking millions and going on holidays to Australia, getting found out and claiming they knew nothing about it...

Labour themselves seem to lack policies on how they would tackle our deficit and given they are slaves to the unions and have denied public sector pay cuts, we are left with very few areas we could actually cut if they got to power leaving us at the whims of the IMF.

youcrazyjesus!

thebman wrote: »

Ah yes the union funded Labour, you have seen the recent union scandals discovered in the HSE?

Taking millions and going on holidays to Australia, getting found out and claiming they knew nothing about it...

Labour themselves seem to lack policies on how they would tackle our deficit and given they are slaves to the unions and have denied public sector pay cuts, we are left with very few areas we could actually cut if they got to power leaving us at the whims of the IMF.

So many points wrong in such a short post...

maxwell smart

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

The idea that successful businessmen make good politicians is interesting. Are there any examples of this?

Michael Bloomberg as Mayor of New York? He ran an economy larger than Ireland and did a good job turning a $6billion deficit into a $3billion surplus.

Laois_Man

maxwell smart wrote: »

Michael Bloomberg as Mayor of New York? He ran an economy larger than Ireland and did a good job turning a $6billion deficit into a $3billion surplus.

Interestingly, there's talk of Donald Trump running in the 2012 US Presedential Election!

Shoould be fun!

bladespin

CoalBucket wrote: »

100,000 grand a year basic plus unvouched expenses, free car, driver, "work" 9 months a year................. seems an obvious business decision to me then again maybe i'm not the best salesman

You really think the likes of Michael O'Leary would get out of bed for that :rolleyes: That's what got us into this, those that can do, those that can't became politicians.

ILA

I wish people who have nothing to do with politics would stop moaning about political parties.

If you want a new political party then go off and set it up, get the required 300 members to participate in the Oireacthas or stand alone as an Independent candidate if you're not happy with the way the system works.

/thread

bladespin

ILA wrote: »

I wish people who have nothing to do with politics would stop moaning about political parties.

If you want a new political party then go off and set it up, get the required 300 members to participate in the Oireacthas or stand alone as an Independent candidate if you're not happy with the way the system works.

/thread

If you don't express your disgust/disappointment in the current parties they'll never improve, maybe if some of the high and mighty took some notice of the more constructive comments here there wouldn't be a demand for a new party.

problemchimp

So having business men or women running the country eh? Larry Goodman as minister for agriculture, Seanie Fitz or Michael Fingleton in finance. You see the problem over the years is that businessmen ran the country and that's why we are in such shiite. IBEC, bankers, developers and politicians who owned dog food factories or a chain of bookies shops. These people do not understand social inclusion for people with special needs. 1. politicians should only have one income to reduce conflict of interest. 2. the president of our country should have no salary, just expences and the house. Every president had their money made before taking office. It should be an honour to serve your country.

ILA

bladespin wrote: »

If you don't express your disgust/disappointment in the current parties they'll never improve, maybe if some of the high and mighty took some notice of the more constructive comments here there wouldn't be a demand for a new party.

The large political parties don't care what their members think in a lot of cases, so they sure as hell don't give a crap about what a few members of the public think.

maxwell smart

As opposed to McCreevy in Finance or Smith in Agriculture?

Is it just a case that we are not happy with the politicians we have so we look at people who are successful in their own right in an "associated" area?

In fact what we need to face up to is that the whole system is screwed up and that not only do we need new kinds of minister but new kinds of civil servants in the departments. The kind that are accountable.

irishh_bob

Revolution9 wrote: »

No doubt, the man is a great businessman.

But he and his ilk would pillage the general public for every cent we've got.

I'd like to see Labour given a chance before I call for a new party

and you dont think labour would pillage the general public for every cent in order to look after thier public sector base ??

dan_d

Actually I think what we need are ordinary people who actually care about the state of the country they live in. People who have worked in different jobs. Teahcers are all well and good, but at the end of the day, they've only ever worked for the public system - they don't know any different. And lawyers are trained to find loopholes, to find ways around things. We need people like doctors, businesspeople, engineers, financially trained people (not just accountants)...people who've worked in private industry, have seen a bit more of the world.

Preferably people who have a proper understanding of how the recession affects people.

And preferably people who aren't affiliated to any of our current political parties. People who have a bit more vision...

OhNoYouDidn't

irishh_bob wrote: »

and you dont think labour would pillage the general public for every cent in order to look after thier public sector base ??

Did they last time they were in...?

OhNoYouDidn't

maxwell smart wrote: »

Michael Bloomberg as Mayor of New York? He ran an economy larger than Ireland and did a good job turning a $6billion deficit into a $3billion surplus.

That was the only example I could think of and is kind of the one that proves the rule.

The only example in Ireland I can think of recently is Ganley.

bladespin

ILA wrote: »

The large political parties don't care what their members think in a lot of cases, so they sure as hell don't give a crap about what a few members of the public think.

The large parties, as you call them, do care (really) for one but also they're shrinking, if you believe the recent press, and need to do something to stop the ship sinking (might be too late for FF though, no loss), the likes of FG have to respond to the public's concern or be lost, they know it.

Look at what's working for Labour right now, the big 2 lay out their opinions, the public flock here and there with their distaste and Labour make comment based on this, their polls are soaring.

The_Minister

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

Did they last time they were in...?

Labour's official policy (post-last conference) is that the public sector paycuts need to be reversed, and the public sector's pay be increased back to where it was.

Last time they were actually quite good but they had a strong FG to counter-balence them.
This time things could be very different.

T runner

Fentdog84 wrote: »

Well I'd trust someone like him before any politician because there would be no spin involved. To listen to Brian Cowen speak is like trying to figure out a cryptic crossword..

O'Leary is all spin. Having no spin is one of his spins.

T runner

maxwell smart wrote: »

As opposed to McCreevy in Finance or Smith in Agriculture?

Is it just a case that we are not happy with the politicians we have so we look at people who are successful in their own right in an "associated" area?

In fact what we need to face up to is that the whole system is screwed up and that not only do we need new kinds of minister but new kinds of civil servants in the departments. The kind that are accountable.

We need to open up politics to a larger proportion of the population.Get the talent out so to speak. Also we need to restructure the political system so that these better politicians are not wasting our time trying to get re-elected by concentrating on non-national issues.

bildo

ILA wrote: »

I wish people who have nothing to do with politics would stop moaning about political parties.

/thread

That is the entire point in democracy! This is essential otherwise it just stops working altogether. What are you a Lord or a Baron or something?

ILA

ILA wrote: »

I wish people who have nothing to do with politics would stop moaning about political parties.

If you want a new political party then go off and set it up, get the required 300 members to participate in the Oireacthas or stand alone as an Independent candidate if you're not happy with the way the system works.

/thread

so in what way does the system work well if we are just moaners? :rolleyes:

Deise Tom

bildo wrote: »

Fis Nua is a new political party with new ideas. They have an interesting manifesto. I think it's comprised of a number of independents and former Green party members.

Check it out

Enough said in the eyes of many.