Waterford General Election 2011: The Great Debate (WIT, Tuesday @ 7pm)

Sully

The WIT Political Society are hosting a 'Great Debate' on Tuesday, February 8th at 7pm. We have invited five candidates who are running for the General Election in Waterford to take part in a debate on campus. Four candidates from the main political parties (Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Fein) along with Independent John Halligan have been invited to partake in this debate which will see them set out their stall to the students and the Waterford Electorate.

This event is open to everyone - members of the public, students, staff - anybody and everybody can attend the debate.

We will announce the full event plan over the next few days.

So be sure to come along on Tuesday, 7pm in the WIT Auditorium on the Main Cork Road campus (don't worry - it will be fully signposted from all major entrances) for the first Waterford Candidates Debate!

For more info visit our Facebook page. Don't forget to accept the Facebook Invitation!

ziedth

You expecting a big crowd Sully? I was gonna pop in and see what's what.

Sully

ziedth wrote: »

You expecting a big crowd Sully? I was gonna pop in and see what's what.

Hopefully, hard to tell with these events. But if those who say they are coming do come - it should be.

scico rocks

Well done on organizing this!

I'll try and pop down. Heading over to your facebook link now!

Sully

Fianna Fail have refused to attend - doesn't have the time. We will work on getting his place filled.

Sinn Feins David Cullinane has been the first to officially say yes. Three other candidates are still a maybe.

So if you see them on your door step - ask them to respond to our invitation.

To everyone else - please attend! The event wont be a success unless you, the members of the public, come along!

Yes Boss

Sully wrote: »

Fianna Fail have refused to attend - doesn't have the time. We will work on getting his place filled.

Sinn Feins David Cullinane has been the first to officially say yes. Three other candidates are still a maybe.

So if you see them on your door step - ask them to respond to our invitation.

To everyone else - please attend! The event wont be a success unless you, the members of the public, come along!

What would you expect?

Sully

Yes Boss wrote: »

What would you expect?

Would have thought that since FFs most popular TD has left, if he wanted to fill his place he would have came and debated and spoke to the mass and told them what he will do.

The event will be fully recorded by a camera crew and audio also.

deise blue

Sully wrote: »

Would have thought that since FFs most popular TD has left, if he wanted to fill his place he would have came and debated and spoke to the mass and told them what he will do.

The event will be fully recorded by a camera crew and audio also.

Or equally you could accept his reason that he has previous commitments during what must be a hugely busy pressurised time for him .

The amount of notice you were able to give him may also have been a prohibiting factor.

Or of course he may be running scared !:)

AdMMM

I would imagine that most candidates are worried about missing a night of the canvassing. If the weather forecast looks bleak for the night nearer the time, I have no doubt we'll have a full house of candidates.

nkay1985

Well if I was any of the other candidates I'd be hammering Kenneally for refusing the invitation. I'd shout it as loud as I could to anyone who'd listen! Scared to face his public. Scared to put forward his failure of a party's policies against other candidates etc.

deise blue

nkay1985 wrote: »

Well if I was any of the other candidates I'd be hammering Kenneally for refusing the invitation. I'd shout it as loud as I could to anyone who'd listen! Scared to face his public. Scared to put forward his failure of a party's policies against other candidates etc.

Indeed I totally agree with you and hope that FF are decimated in the forthcoming election.

However Mr. Kenneally may have a genuine previous commitment that prevents him from participating in this debate particularly given the rather prohibitive time factor in notifying him of the debate.

Certainly not defending him or his party but perhaps he deserves the benefit of the doubt re his non attendance at the debate.

Sully

Anyway, no fear, Green Party candidate Jody Power has agreed to take his place in the debate.

Seeing as the Green Party were in government, I think its the most suitable choice.

On a side note, any candidate who is not lined up to speak is more then welcome to attend anyway, and will be able to comment.

nkay1985

deise blue wrote: »

Indeed I totally agree with you and hope that FF are decimated in the forthcoming election.

However Mr. Kenneally may have a genuine previous commitment that prevents him from participating in this debate particularly given the rather prohibitive time factor in notifying him of the debate.

Certainly not defending him or his party but perhaps he deserves the benefit of the doubt re his non attendance at the debate.

That'd be of no consequence to be honest! If it would have been of benefit to him, you can be sure he'd "have the time".

Sully

Labour candidate Ciara Conway has another engagement, from her response to me on Twitter, so waiting to hear from Seamus Ryan!

STIG83

Will definitlely go to this!! see what our candidates have to say for themselves, pity Brendan Keaneally wont attend

dlofnep

Good stuff. I hope I'm not working - I'll pop by if I'm off.

Sully

Fine Gael Paudie Coffee has confirmed he will attend. John Deasy was not available and Paudie will represent the Fine Gael party on the night.

Labour Seamus Ryan is unable to attend at 7pm, due to the canvassing constraints, but hopes to attend around 8pm where we will attempt to fit him into speak.

Sinn Feins David Cullinnane was one of the first candidates to confirm his attendance.

Green Party Jody Power has also confirmed his attendance.

We have extended an invitation to Joe Tobin of the Workers Party to step in for Labour candidate Seamus Ryan, as he is the next most high profile figure. If Seamus does arrives late we will try fit him in to speak if possible.

That leaves Independent John Halligan to confirm his attendance.

As we always maintained, other candidates are more then welcome to attend and speak in the Q&A session.

AdMMM

John Halligan sends his apologies. He had prior commitments to a meeting that night and cannot guarantee that he'll be able to make it in time. He'll try make it to the end of the debate to observe but will answer questions if asked of him.

Sully

AdMMM wrote: »

John Halligan sends his apologies. He had prior commitments to a meeting that night and cannot guarantee that he'll be able to make it in time. He'll try make it to the end of the debate to observe but will answer questions if asked of him.

Joe Conway was invited as a result of above, alonng with Joe Tobin. As of yet, we haven't had any responses.

The audtiorium is being setup this evening to be prepared for recording the event.

nkay1985

Is the auditorium the sports hall or somewhere else?

Looking forward to this, even if not all of the candidates show. I think those that do make the effort should be applauded as they're supporting a really good idea and a different way of looking at politics.

ziedth

It's in the main (or oldest) building just walk in the front door and keep to the left past the stairs through the doors and it's over on your right as you walk into the hall. The enterance to the auditorium (if it's still there) is beside a small AIB branch.

Sully

We shall have signs with arrows up around the two main buildings guiding people, but yeah ziedth has it spot on.

Justin Collery (Independent) has agreed to attend, since we have two seats free following Labour Seamus Ryan and Independent John Halligan possibly being late. Joe Conway (Independent) was unable to attend due to the short notice we gave him (Sorry Joe!).

It starts at 7pm sharp, and please note that the event will be fully recorded so if you walk in the doors of the auditorium you are agreeing to being recorded.

ziedth

Can you pixelate my face? I have always wanted that to be done.

I'll be there anyway, although I may have to slip out before the end. Will the door up top be open? I don't wanna look disrespectful walking out the bottom door if someone is speaking.

Sully

ziedth wrote: »

Can you pixelate my face? I have always wanted that to be done.

I'll be there anyway, although I may have to slip out before the end. Will the door up top be open? I don't wanna look disrespectful walking out the bottom door if someone is speaking.

Yup!

MoodRacer

AdMMM wrote: »

John Halligan sends his apologies. He had prior commitments to a meeting that night.

Sully wrote: »

Fianna Fail have refused to attend - doesn't have the time. We will work on getting his place filled.

I think this speaks volumes about Halligan and Kenneally.

Halligan is way out of his depth on national issues. Coffey or Keneally (if he was there) would tear him asunder and he knows it. That`s the real reason he is not attending. Candidates do not have meetings, as claimed above, two weeks before a general election - a poor excuse. How can he expect to compete on a national stage when he is afraid to compete with national politicians on a local stage?? He obviously realises that it will be a policy driven debate. Does he have any policies (besides the usual populist crap).
Are people in waterford really buying into the parish pump politics of this man. I have nothing personal against Halligan but he just doesn`t have the knowledge or the resources to deliver for waterford compared to a party candidate.

Keneally won`t attend because he won`t be able to answer genuine questions i.e. his high expenses, why he denied the electorate in waterford their constitutional right to full representation in the dail etc etc. He obviously isn`t great at speaking, he only spoke 9 times in the dail in the last year:) Plus he knows he will be slaughtered by the audience (students, opposition party members) nevermind the other members of the panel.

Sully

Thought I posted earlier but Justin Collery (Independent) and a member on Boards.ie is speaking at this event also.

Sully

Plan for the night including candidate profiles can be downloaded from here.

Cant attend the event? We are going to put questions from Boards.ie Waterford City folk who cannot attend, but would like a question directly asked. So just post here who you want the question posed to and the question.

Ill give them to the chair, so deadline 6pm for submissions. Not every question is guaranteed to be asked, sorry!

deise blue

As I am currently in Dublin and therefore unable to attend I should be grateful if you could raise the following :

1. To Mr. Coffey - can he confirm that it is still FG policy that collective bargaining rights for Irish workers will be enshrined in Irish law as well as being guaranteed by the European Charter as this will make it easier for Unions to recruit and make it more difficult for employers to avoid negotiating with unions.
I am aware that Leo Varadkar promised that the above would indeed happen if FG entered into Government but that statement was made in Sept. of 2007 & I just wish to see this position reiterated.

2. To Mr. Coffey and Mr. Ryan ( if in attendance ) - what is the time frame for reversing the cut to the minimum wage ?

3. Again to Mr. Coffey and Mr. Ryan - although both FG & Labour say that they will honour the Croke Park agreement there is a large difference in the amount of voluntary redundancies being sought ( 30,000 by FG & 18,000 by Labour ) - how will the parties be able to reconcile such a huge disparity if they form a coalition ?

I am aware that there are time restraints which may prevent these questions being asked , if such is the case I really would like precedent given to question no.1.

ziedth

I was going to post question two that deise blue just mentioned so that saves me. So time frame for min wage if you can please.

Sully

Thanks lads. Not coming ziedth?

STIG83

What the reason the debate been recorded?

Sully

STIG83 wrote: »

What the reason the debate been recorded?

So people who missed it can watch it back. The audio will be for the media.

It will go up on the website, Boards, Facebook, Twitter, etc. a couple of days after the event.

AdMMM

Sully wrote: »

Thanks lads. Not coming ziedth?

I think he mentioned he would have to head away early.

ziedth

Sully wrote: »

Thanks lads. Not coming ziedth?

OhI will I just don't think I'd ask a question. I had to do presentation once when the place was full and it nearly killed me with worry so public speaking infront of a large crowd is like my kryptonite and Admm is correct in that I might have to head away.

AdMMM

Have a few bottles in The Dome before you head over

old gregg

.. looking forward to this later and thanks to Sully and the organisers for making it all happen.

For me it's a shame John Halligan won't be there for the main debate, I'd been looking forward to what he had to say. Someone had suggested that he'd be useless once the focus was on the bigger picture which is a bummer cos I was leaning in his direction but who knows.

Sully

John and Seamus may be arriving late, so fingers crossed

Trotter

Now theres to be no nerdiness when the boards.ie gang meet up.. I'll be there with a few friends and I don't want them to hear me talking to people and mentioning being "in" places like Politics and After Hours.

"I was in After Hours but I left straight away.. They're all mad.." etc.

Wheres "After Hours"?? Nightclub?

No.. its an... internet forum..

You were.. in.. an internet forum?




Cue years of slagging and abuse. :P

nkay1985

Where's best to park for this thing lads?

ziedth

If say the front car Nkay, afaik it's all free at night but ya shouldn't have that much of an issue finding a spot. Back car park across from enterance to lismore park is biggest but you might find it dodgy finding the debate if you don't know the college.

ziedth

Trotter wrote: »

Now theres to be no nerdiness when the boards.ie gang meet up.. I'll be there with a few friends and I don't want them to hear me talking to people and mentioning being "in" places like Politics and After Hours.

"I was in After Hours but I left straight away.. They're all mad.." etc.

Wheres "After Hours"?? Nightclub?

No.. its an... internet forum..

You were.. in.. an internet forum?




Cue years of slagging and abuse. :P

We should have all worn boards tshirts

nkay1985

ziedth wrote: »

We should have all worn boards tshirts

Am I the only one wearing one??? :eek:

ziedth

I wonder will this be the largest collection of boardsies in a room without us all being pissed

jonnyfingers

nkay1985 wrote: »

Where's best to park for this thing lads?

Park in my house and walk ya lazy sod! Just bring the umbrella though....

ziedth

I wonder will this be the largest collection of boardsies in a room without us all being pissed

ziedth

Good work tonight lads,

I was sorry I had to head before the very end. Decent turn out considering the weather and all. Must say Paudie Coffey impressed me.

Sully

Thanks for attending folks, hope you all enjoyed it. We didn't finish until about 09.45 so getting the audio and video sorted is going to take sometime, so bare with us. Not finished yet really, myself and adam have to prepare for media interviews tomorrow and then press releases for general media.

Good crowd

MoodRacer

ziedth wrote: »

Good work tonight lads,

I was sorry I had to head before the very end. Decent turn out considering the weather and all. Must say Paudie Coffey impressed me.

I agree, to me there were 2 genuine contenders (coffee and cullinane) and 2 pretenders (collery and power). The later two just weren`t at the races. Arguably good move by Halligan as he would have been shown up as much as power.

Well done to Sully and the other organisers, great initiative.

merlante

Congratulations to the WIT Political Society (in particular Jennifer for chairing) for holding this well run debate! Turned out to be very engaging, holding people's attention for the duration. All of the participants came out very well, I thought.

I would say all four will rise up in the preferences of those who attended, particularly the less well known candidates, such as Jody Power and Justin Collery. We have more talent running for election in Waterford than we thought -- it's a pity in some ways it wasn't a bigger (televised) forum so that others could make the same discovery.

It's a pity Labour weren't represented, but ultimately, it's their loss. As to Kenneally, does anyone really care? (He's been in for donkey's years already and we haven't heard a word from him.)

lizzyxox08

thanks for a great one tonight! it was a real eye opener.. Coffee and Cullinane stood out a mile and really know what they are talking about!

Well organised aswel !

great job

Trotter

Excellent work lads! I was tryin to get over to say hello but ye were gettin swamped and I was giving lifts to a couple of friends.

My impressions..

Jody Power - Im sure he's a nice fella, but he was very 'airy fairy' about most things. I think his idea of getting people to pay for our university directly was a bit off the wall. There aren't that many pants with arses in them in the South East to put it bluntly.. so I don't see those financiers arriving on their Harleys any day soon. I giggled at his Individual Retirement Account idea.. and so did David Cullinane Im pretty sure

David Cullinane - David comes across as a decent sort of chap. I think his heart is in the right place but his party's economic policies are just a bit too far off what I think is possible or correct among other SF objections that I have.

Justin Collery - Justin did well! At first I thought he was going to be a bit preachy to us 'politician loving' types, but his head is well screwed on and he seems highly motivated. He'll get a vote from me, but he'll need to make a hell of a lot of noise to be noticed over the next couple of weeks. He'd do well I think.

Paudie Coffey - I think Paudie may have underestimated the abilities of the microphone to get his volume out there, but none the less he's a strong willed chap. I liked how he pointed out areas where he isnt in agreement with his party and Id have loved to had the cop on/time to ask him would the whip system silence him on issues where he does disagree with the party line. Strong performance from him anyway, and I dont think he'll leave anyone down. Steady as she goes and I think he'll be one of our TDs this time.


Im very disappointed in Brendan Kenneally in not showing up or in not sending a message or a statement at least. I think its wrong for a chap to avoid the people and expect to be re-elected.. although I fear he will.

Im also disappointed that Labour didnt send a candidate or at least a councillor to talk on their behalf, and where was John Halligan?

Again, Well done lads.
Excellent stuff!