Is it unreasonable to e-mail your local politicans?

Downlinz

Elections in this country are something that I've never been especially happy with how they work. The interaction with politicians tends to be them or their representatives coming to your door briefly asking for a vote, expecting you to complain about something and for them to quote some pre-rehearsed party policy that'll make it all better. And as well something in the post with these same vague party policy outlines.

So I figured, why not try and get more involved this election and engage with these politicians. If I'm taking the time out to vote for them then surely it's not unreasonable to expect some sort of interaction. So with that in mind at the announcement of the election I decided to e-mail each one of my local politicans a simple question. If they were in government in the last campaign how satisfied they were with their performance in that term. If they weren't how satisfied or not they were with the people in that position representing them. It was left very open and really I just thought it'd be interesting for an honest assessment of their term in officer, what they did, what they'd have liked to have done or what other believe they'd have done in their place.

I'm in North Tipp so sent that question to the provided e-mails on the website of local running politicans. Michael Lowry, Noel Coonan, Maura Hoctor, Alan Kelly, Seamus Morris, Olwynn O Malley and Kate Bopp all got that e-mail.

In 2 weeks the only replies I've got were a non-answering"I'll let the people judge that" reply from Coonan and a "I don't understand the question, heres my office details" from Bopp. The other 5 all ignored the e-mail without so much as an acknowledgment.

Wonder if other people think doing something like that is unreasonable? But as someone who only recently reached the legal voting age I'm rather confused as to what grounds I'm supposed to vote on when the only details available are angled propaganda or insult slinging going on and no real means to find out the details and accounts that I'd like.

Especially difficult to swallow the "we advocate political reform and engaging more with people" pill all of the mentioned politicans are preaching when they've apparently no time to answer a legitimate thought out question and yet regularly are updating a twitter account with pointless drivel. :pac:

mikemac

When you contact them you need to give your name and address.
And sometimes when you email, you get back a letter

Downlinz wrote: »

I'm in North Tipp so sent that question to the provided e-mails on the website of local running politicans. Michael Lowry, Noel Coonan, Maura Hoctor, Alan Kelly, Seamus Morris, Olwynn O Malley and Kate Bopp all got that e-mail.

Same area here and I contacted Hoctor, Lowry and Coonan before Christmas with a question on An Post and deregulation. It's a pretty complex subject and talks are still ongoing

Hoctor gave me a list of meetings attended, the next upcoming meetings she was going to, what the union position was and the views from the Party Whips office. A superb letter!

Michael Lowry send me a letter of waffle and he would look into it.
And him a former Minister of Transport, Energy and Communications, would have thought he'd have some knowledge on what's going on.

Noel Coonan sent me a letter of waffle and messed up the spelling of my name :mad:
Lazy and careless to do that.

Feel free to contact them with any question. Sometimes you get great replies, other times they don't seem to care

Downlinz

I have heard a lot of positive things about Hoctor from people who've had personal dealings with her, seems like she does a lot of unseen work that she doesn't seem to broadcast very well. The outside view is that she does very little, which is probably incorrect.

gandalf

In my previous constituency and my current one I have emailed and talked to my local TD's on numerous occasions. Bear in mind that if you get a email back it has more than likely been written by an assistant.

They have also offered to call me about my queries, which they subsequently did.

When you emailed them did you give them your address. I find they can be a bit cagey if they don't know where you are actually contacting them from.

Pure Sound

Downlinz wrote: »

Elections in this country are something that I've never been especially happy with how they work. The interaction with politicians tends to be them or their representatives coming to your .

So I figured, why not try and get more involved this election

Wonder if other people think doing something like that is unreasonable? But as someone who only recently reached the legal voting age .

I'm not sure whether this is a legit post, your first two bolded points kind of suggest you have voted before whilst you say that you only recently reached the legal age. Add to this that this is your first post and I wonder what the motives are.

To answer your question it is not too much to ask to expect a reply from the politicians from your constituency although you must take into account that they are all very busy right now. The best way of checking policies is generally to check out the website of the individual and to question the canvassers that come to your house

Downlinz

No I never thought of giving an address, though I had introduced myself and the town I'm from (Nenagh) so it surely wouldn't have come across as anonymous or anything of the such.
I'd assume given that they list an e-mail address as a form of contact on their website that it'd be acceptable for them to e-mail me back. Answering an e-mail with a postal reply seems like a strange way to operate to me.

Downlinz

We Need Community wrote: »

I'm not sure whether this is a legit post, your first two bolded points kind of suggest you have voted before whilst you say that you only recently reached the legal age. Add to this that this is your first post and I wonder what the motives are.

To answer your question it is not too much to ask to expect a reply from the politicians from your constituency although you must take into account that they are all very busy right now. The best way of checking policies is generally to check out the website of the individual and to question the canvassers that come to your house

By recently I mean the last few years, I had voted in 2007 and the European election though without any special consideration for the candidates beyond the policies their parties stood for.

mikemac

Downlinz wrote: »

No I never thought of giving an address,

You know for next time

Bit offtopic Downlinz but stroll over to the Tipperary forum since you live there , a right old debate going on over there
Some wild accusations about 300 missing posters and dirty tactics are being reported
It's a great thread, very active

Ray Burkes Pension

Personally I think TDs should be concerned with implementing legislation and not employing an office of people at our expense to answer emails from locals.

And local issues should be directed to your local elected Councillors.

Downlinz

feelingstressed wrote: »

You know for next time

Bit offtopic Downlinz but stroll over to the Tipperary forum since you live there , a right old debate going on over there
Some wild accusations about 300 missing posters and dirty tactics are being reported
It's a great thread, very active

Been reading it through it for a few weeks now yea, its a good read.
I don't really have much to add to it, I don't like to comment on things I'm not 100% and finding out the details of what these people contribute or can contribute seems a nigh-on impossible task. But its definitely something I'm keeping tabs on.

meglome

Just emailed my local guy (FG), been meaning to but this thread prompted me. He's complaining that his posters are being cut down but the SF and Labour ones are not. No idea how true that is though.

DonalKiernan

Downlinz wrote: »

No I never thought of giving an address, though I had introduced myself and the town I'm from (Nenagh) so it surely wouldn't have come across as anonymous or anything of the such.
I'd assume given that they list an e-mail address as a form of contact on their website that it'd be acceptable for them to e-mail me back. Answering an e-mail with a postal reply seems like a strange way to operate to me.

I would have thought that an email address is sufficient. Answering queries by post could slow down the discussion and cost quite a bit.

Regards

Donal Kiernan