Bertie Ahern steps aside

Fitzerb

Patri wrote: »

I certainly didn't put them there, and yet I will be paying for their moronic decisions in the years to come. Is that fair? I should think not.

Well if you did not put them there you did not vote. Perhaps you are too young to vote, if so it explains your views. If you are olad enough to vote and did not bother then you dont have say

Fitzerb

jmayo wrote: »

Nice party political broadcast on behalf of bertie there. :rolleyes:

Basically you are syaing that you excuse him because you would have done the same.
Speak for yourself and stop insulting the rest of us who try and behave with a modicom of decency, ethics and honesty in our affairs.

BTW next time besides writing nauseating excuses for a piece of sh** that sold our country out, can you lose the size 3 calibri font.

Sorry about the font.... BTW, next time you are writing could you show that modicom of decency and ethics and drop the foul mouth .

ilovesleep

Fitzerb wrote: »

Well if you did not put them there you did not vote. Perhaps you are too young to vote, if so it explains your views. If you are olad enough to vote and did not bother then you dont have say

One of the tactics FF had was holding elections around exam time. I was 18 entering into leaving cert year. 19 repeating. I can assure you for many young people exams were more important.
That tactic alone prevented many young people from voting and taking any sort of a politicial interest.

maynooth_rules

ilovesleep wrote: »

One of the tactics FF had was holding elections around exam time. I was 18 entering into leaving cert year. 19 repeating. I can assure you for many young people exams were more important.
That tactic alone prevented many young people from voting and taking any sort of a politicial interest.

Students tend to resent Fianna Fail, pensioners tend to idolise them. For that reason FF will insist on elections taking place when it least suits students, and for for that reason FF have pretty much decimated every element of society bar pensioners

JP Liz V1

Lock him away in a cupboard

Fitzerb

ilovesleep wrote: »

One of the tactics FF had was holding elections around exam time. I was 18 entering into leaving cert year. 19 repeating. I can assure you for many young people exams were more important.
That tactic alone prevented many young people from voting and taking any sort of a politicial interest.

I fully understand that your exams are more important and it is great to see young people having an interest in politics. One of the items they should change is to allow a student vote from the college they attend and not have to travel back home to vote.
However I would say to you that if you look back over any "planned" election they will always take place around June. The reason is not to prevent young people from voting it is because of the bright nights and people are more on the move and in better form. My only advice to any person with an interest is to deal in facts. Don’t become a headline reader. There are some excellent journalists who are worth reading but we have a tabloid press that is appalling and just gives the headline with no real detail.
I hope the exams went well for you and do keep the faith. This is a great country with great people and we will work our way out of this mess if we stay positive

Fitzerb

mrboswell wrote: »

Maybe he should commit suicide and then we can close this thread...

You have just proved my point.
Its ok for you to say that about someone but not ok for anyone else to say it.
Why do we expect others to live on the high moral ground when we can’t do it ourselves

Biggins

Fitzerb wrote: »

You have just proved my point.
Its ok for you to say that about someone but not ok for anyone else to say it.
Why do we expect others to live on the high moral ground when we can’t do it ourselves

Will you quit with the large font please, it fills up the ruddy screen continously!

Less of the big font please

Fitzerb

jmayo wrote: »

Nice party political broadcast on behalf of bertie there. :rolleyes:

Basically you are syaing that you excuse him because you would have done the same.
Speak for yourself and stop insulting the rest of us who try and behave with a modicom of decency, ethics and honesty in our affairs.

BTW next time besides writing nauseating excuses for a piece of sh** that sold our country out, can you lose the size 3 calibri font.

I think you name gives it away. Hope the canvass goes well for well for you in Enda land

ilovesleep

@Fitzerb above

That was years ago now. I didnt vote in my early 20s. Began to vote in my mid 20s. Learned a hard and valuable lesson with the events thats happening in ireland recently. Its so important for everyone to vote but its not easy for students when many would have their head buried in books. I know many now in their late 20s who have never voted. Im trying to encourage them all now for voting. Im also pestering my younger brother and his mates to vote.

Patri

Fitzerb wrote: »

I think you name gives it away. Hope the canvass goes well for well for you in Enda land

So what you're saying essentially is that, you are a stubborn fianna fail supporter who believes we as a whole should acknowledge our part in putting the gob****es into power because we voted them in? That's the vibe I'm getting? And anyone i know who is rightfully debunking the government for their actions NEVER voted for them in the first place they voted for the opposition parties.

ilovesleep

With all the FF hatred and the corruption that we can now see that went on in this country it wouldnt surprise me if elections were rigged. Especially Nice and Lisbon treaty. We'll never know - will we?

Biggins

ilovesleep wrote: »

With all the FF hatred and the corruption that we can now see that went on in this country it wouldnt surprise me if elections were rigged. Especially Nice and Lisbon treaty. We'll never know - will we?

Well the corruption even now is appears, is never ending...

Since the Green Party announced its intention to pull out of government in November, 35 appointments and reappointments have been made to state boards. And according to information dug up by Fine Gael TD Leo Varadkar, the government is to make almost 300 of these appointments before it leaves office in the spring.

While most of the positions are not remunerated and only offer travel and subsistence expenses, they do bestow kudos as they can open up doors for board members.

Jackie Gallagher, a public relations consultant and former special adviser to Bertie Ahern, has been nominated to the board of Trinity College Dublin. Gerry Horkan, a Fianna Fáil councillor in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, was recently appointed to the Dental Council. And barrister Rosemary Healy-Rae was reappointed to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal on 11 November. She is the daughter of independent TD Jackie Healy-Rae, who supported the budget. And the list goes on.

http://www.tribune.ie/article/2010/dec/26/conor-mcmorrow-unlike-britain-we-dont-have-an-offi/

Jobs for the boys (and girls now it seems) for those that did Fianna Fail favours or is connected to them - some by unusual links that can't but draw interest!

Welcome to Irish politics.

mikemac

The good people of Kerry are the most humane and compassionate people in Ireland

Must be as when John O'Donoghue was Minister for Justice Minister the Prison visiting committees was packed with Kerry people

However......Rosemary Healy-Rae is a barrister and she is qualified for that job with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal. So I don't see a big deal over that. But because of her surname people assume they know why she got the job.

Biggins

feelingstressed wrote: »

...Rosemary Healy-Rae is a barrister and she is qualified for that job with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal. So I don't see a big deal over that. But because of her surname people assume they know why she got the job.

Well you will have to allow for a bit of serious suspicion anyway. We can't but wonder who was rejected so that she could get the Criminal Injuries Compensation job. It turned out to be another rung of the ladder of her success.
Now if she is doing it ALL on her own, fair enough!

...That just leaves the rest of the near 300 left to question!

mikemac

Of course it's suspicious

At the same time she is qualified and I've no reason to doubt she's not an excellent barrister

From the 300 examples many will be unqualified people for their roles. This wasn't one of them

Liam Byrne

Fitzerb wrote: »

You have just proved my point.
Its ok for you to say that about someone but not ok for anyone else to say it.
Why do we expect others to live on the high moral ground when we can’t do it ourselves

You're putting the chicken before the egg.

Ahern is being judged by the "standards" HE HIMSELF SET.

That is 100% fair.

Biggins

Ahern won't run for Presidency

Sunday January 02 2011

Former Taoiseach realises chances of winning job have been scuppered by his unpopularity

Bertie Ahern has virtually ruled out any possibility of running for the Presidency.

Sources close to the former Taoiseach say that he considered making that announcement last week when he was declaring the end of his political career, but in the end decided against doing so.

Mr Ahern is understood to have decided some time ago that he would have very little chance of getting the Fianna Fail nomination to contest the election to succeed President McAleese in 2012. And even if he did, he would not win.

When he issued a statement last Thursday night from his Drumcondra headquarters that he would not contest the next General Election, Mr Ahern was asked about the Presidency, but declined to comprehensively rule it out, saying instead: "You never say never."

But the Sunday Independent has learned that Mr Ahern recognised some time ago that his current unpopularity, arising from the collapse of the boom that he oversaw as Taoiseach, has made it impossible for him to succeed in winning the race.

Some of his closest advisers are understood to have strongly urged him to come clean on the Presidency issue last week, but Mr Ahern was of the view that if he was to do so, this would overshadow his announcement about the close of his Dail career.

One source told the Sunday Independent: "Realistically, he knows it is not going to happen. He knows it 99.9 per cent.

"But you can never tell with Bertie. He may be like a guy waiting for the bottom of the housing market -- he's looking for the bottom of his popularity. Maybe he thinks that things could possibly turn around over the next 12 months or so. Then again, he could find that for the immediate future, it's bottomless."

Asked about his enforced retirement as Taoiseach, Mr Ahern said: "I would have liked to have stayed on in 2008 to finish out (as Taoiseach). I always wanted to go at the end of the decade. I always said I would finish when I was 60. I have stuck to that commitment, which I set in 2002."

And in a broadside to his critics he said: " I do believe the experience I have gained during a long time as Taoiseach would have been useful in the downturn. But I did not see the downturn coming. I did not see the collapse of Lehmans coming.

"I didn't see the difficulties of the banks here. I wish that someone would have advised me of it, but no economist did. There's a lot of them now who knew everything about everything, but unfortunately, none of them ever told me."

Mr Ahern said he felt sympathy for young people who had to emigrate.

He said he wished there were jobs for them here, adding pointedly, "as there was when I was Taoiseach, and I hope we can get back to a position of doing that again. But a lot of our good industries are strong -- IT, pharmaceutical, chemicals and financial services -- with the exception of our main banks".

And in a parting shot, he seems to suggest that his legendary negotiating skills might have been effective against the men from the IMF, the EU and the ECB who came here to decide our future.

"I always enjoyed negotiating. I'm still involved in conflict resolution both in the North and outside the country.

"But listen, it's no good me saying I could have done better or worse when I don't have all the facts. I'm sure people did their best, but I would have loved to have been doing the negotiating," he

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/ahern-wont-run-for-presidency-2480893.html

maynooth_rules

Damn. I personally want him to run for the Presidency as it will wake up the clown to how unpopular he has become. Plus it would give us all a view of what stupid people would actually still vote for this disaster of a politician.

Liam Byrne

Serious pro-Ahern bias there - "legendary negotiating skills" = Croke Park Agreement and "the boom that he presided over" with no mention of the fact that it was caused by unsustainable and ill-advised policies; they seem to try to imply that someone else screwed up all his hard work afterwards.

And in a parting shot, he seems to suggest that his legendary negotiating skills might have been effective against the men from the IMF, the EU and the ECB who came here to decide our future.

That's rich considering he's the one who backed us into the corner......not to mention the fact that he's almost never at work and never contributes!

Sick, twisted, deluded, lazy AND smug......where are all those people who claimed this twit had "charisma" ?

funnights74

I see bertie in his article in the notw today laying into cowen the goverment, imf bailout etc etc, ha ha who would have thought that there were backstabbers in politics lol :eek:

Biggins

funnights74 wrote: »

I see bertie in his article in the notw today laying into cowen the goverment, imf bailout etc etc, ha ha who would have thought that there were backstabbers in politics lol :eek:

Amazing to see him within 24 hours turn and have a go at a man that hours before praised him to the hilt still!

There's no love or loyalty it seems when it come to try and rescuing ones reputation!

Mr.Micro

I find this bit hilarious from a man who appeared to have great difficulty in telling the truth and had a cabinet within a cabinet so secretive and furtive was he, talking about openness. Breath taking.

"Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern has criticised his successor Brian Cowen's failure to communicate regularly with the public during the economic crisis.

In an interview with the Irish News of the World, for which Mr Ahern writes a column, the Dublin Central TD said that when he was Taoiseach he had decided it was best to talk to the media regularly."

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0102/politics.html

irishh_bob

maynooth_rules wrote: »

Students tend to resent Fianna Fail, pensioners tend to idolise them. For that reason FF will insist on elections taking place when it least suits students, and for for that reason FF have pretty much decimated every element of society bar pensioners

true but most studenty types are full square ( as prooven by the simultaneous anti medical card and college fees protests in 2008 ) behind maintaining boom time pensions and various benefits to the elderly regardless of individual wealth

as for the argument about what day elections are held , ive never bought the argument that some people cant vote at certain times , ireland is very small , if you feel strong enough about voting , you wont mind taking a bus ride after school from dublin to cork , better still , dont go to school that day

Het-Field

Mr.Micro wrote: »

I find this bit hilarious from a man who appeared to have great difficulty in telling the truth and had a cabinet within a cabinet so secretive and furtive was he, talking about openness. Breath taking.

"Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern has criticised his successor Brian Cowen's failure to communicate regularly with the public during the economic crisis.

In an interview with the Irish News of the World, for which Mr Ahern writes a column, the Dublin Central TD said that when he was Taoiseach he had decided it was best to talk to the media regularly."

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0102/politics.html

The final three lines of the report by RTE highlight how economically incompetent Bertie Ahern was. The damage was done between 2004-2007. Little could have been done which could have mitigated the damage he caused. Further, he was the sole reason behind the redundancy of the August 2007- June 2008 Dail Term. He spent the first months of the Dail term wandering up and down to the Mahon Tribunal, which deflected attention from the real business of Government. When his position had become untenable, he decided to resign, but also decided that he wanted a futher month to distract attention from pertinent matters, and focus on Bertie. He swanned around telling everybody how great Ireland was, but failed to mention that most of it was built on quicksand.

Magi11

Fitzerb wrote: »

Well if you did not put them there you did not vote. Perhaps you are too young to vote, if so it explains your views. If you are olad enough to vote and did not bother then you dont have say

I voted for Clare Daly from the Socialist Party in the last election. Could you explain how I "put them there"?

mikemac

funnights74 wrote: »

I see bertie in his article in the notw today laying into cowen the goverment, imf bailout etc etc, ha ha who would have thought that there were backstabbers in politics lol :eek:

I thought he only wrote a sports article

Seth Brundle

According to Aertel teletext, Bertie was interviewed by the same toilet paper that he writes for.

PeterIanStaker

Good riddance to the weasel. I hope nobody read Harris's article in the Sindo about St. Bartholomew de Ahern, its a cringefest even by that rags standards. Sad.