We The Citizens meeting in Langtons

medici

Hi all,

Was wondering if anybody made it to the We The Citizens meeting in Langton's last night? Was planning on going but had to cancel at last minute.

Heard there were about 150 people at it from today's Irish Times and was wondering what people's impressions of it were, i.e. was it worthwhile, was there proper debate or was it just a talking shop for people to give out?

Yes, I was in attendance. Excellent turnout and some interesting debate.Overall impression is that a lot of people are still angry and want real change but......I'll pm you later what my true impressions were.

Just a note for the local Councillors who attended that meeting, it's time to start worrying. The game will soon be up for those of you who have used local politics to serve self interest. #endgame

countryliving

i attended on tues evening and i have to say to the organisers it was very well planned and very well supervised and very professional. the reason i attended was it was non political and it had a lot of academics floating around. i felt it was a middle aged and older crowd with a hand full of students thrown in.
there was 2 focus groups - facilitators were excellent and managed the discussion very well. the 1st focus group i was with was very good but the 2nd was not very enjoyable. the summing up at the end went on for ages. to be honest i came away from the evening slightly despondent and thinking oh my god i think i will just have to get out of this country..i have just been made unemployed again so feeling disillusioned. yes - there was a lot of negativity and all the rest but some good ideas were certainly discussed at my first table. however, we were writing notes on the table. hope this is of use.

ayatollah

can someone like rattle it down to the basics as to what this we are the citizens stuff is all about?

like is it just another load of horsesh1t is basically what i'm asking?

if i see one more bullsh1t politician trying to jump on another political change bandwagon just to appeal to a demographic i'll punch someone in the face - if i genuinely thought anyone was going to affect real positive change i'd get behind them but as our most recent election shows the more things change the more they stay the same especially in kilkenny.

same smell different ar5e.

catbear

ayatollah wrote: »

same smell different ar5e.

Since you mentioned it, does anyone know if Andrew McGuinness turned up with the porter drinking dog for a photo op?
I agree with the general sentiment but I won't be following an Ayatollah.

ayatollah

kinda went off on one there didnt i - apparently i known for it or so my friends tell me when i get drunk and get up on my high horse.

sorry bout that

medici

ayatollah wrote: »

kinda went off on one there didnt i - apparently i known for it or so my friends tell me when i get drunk and get up on my high horse.

sorry bout that

No worries ayatollah!

Thanks for your feedback guys. I'm really between two minds on We The Citizens.

On the one hand, they seem to be a force for good in getting people more involved in national politics but how they're going about achieving that seems a bit blurry to me.

Also, while I thought Vincent Browne's analysis of the group on his show last night was flawed in a number of respects, Dr. Jane Suiter's (We The Citizens' academic team member) contribution didn't convince me they were clear in how they're going to effect political change.

On the subject of how a We The Citizen's national assembly is going to be formed (cannot fathom the randomly-selected aspect of this) I thought Dr. Suiter was especially feeble....

catbear

There is a contradiction in all this. How can any group claim to be pro-citizen and politically impartial at the same time. There will always be losers in an election.

However if they are mostly pro citizenry then any good they may achieve entirely depends on the reaction they get from their fellow citizens. If they provoke debate then that leads to changes in Irish political life then in a sense they are succeeding. Even if it means they don't benefit personally from it in an election, the change they facilitate may lead to a better governance from which everyone benefits. A nation is made up of a people and a good nation must have a good people.

medici

I kinda see what you're saying catbear but I'm not sure if what We The Citizens (WTC) is ultimately aiming for is to end up as an elected party in the Dail. I reckon they are indeed trying to provoke debate but in a way that's from the ground up (i.e. citizen led).

Overall though, I think that given the level of absolute apathy (still!) shown by a lot of people regarding politics in this country, what will end up happening is that an interested few will flourish in We The Citizens. I'm not saying that some "elite" will try to dominate the organisation but if the full spectrum of Irish society is reflected in its make-up (something WTC hopes will happen) then the agenda of the informed and interested will naturally rise over that of those happy to take a back seat to proceedings.

If a good nation must have a good people, then surely an engaged nation must have an engaged people...?