The Irish Presidential Election - Does anyone give a monkeys?

Denerick

To me the Presidential election is a convenient cover to evade the promise of political reform. Political reform was an issue, if rather a minor one, in the last election. We all knew that the parties would only ever stoop to doing something meaningless and pathetic - abolishing the Senate perhaps, or decreasing the number of TDs - but there is still an appetite for reform out there. I'm still waiting with bated breath for Labours promised 'constitutional convention' - excuse me as I vomit - but in reality nothing will change because we haven't forced the politicians to change anything. But now valuable oxygen and paper space is being consumed by the most irrelevant personality contest in the country - The Irish Presidency. For whats its worth I was preparing to vote for Norris, now that he has been hounded out I'm not going to bother voting at all.

Dirk Gently

who cares - party hacks because they like tribal warfare.

spin doctors / PR people and media because they make a few quid on it.

sollar

I'm going to vote Norris. Spoil my vote by writing Norris on it.

Sand

Its not particularly important - county council elections are probably of greater interest due to planning laws. That said, because the role is powerless and ceremonial it seems to attract all sorts of cranks and old warhorses lacking any achievement who are looking for one last payday.

It would be a mistake to assume it doesnt matter who becomes President, because rightly or wrongly they get a free soapbox, paid for by the Irish taxpayer. I suppose my main interest would be that the wrong candidate doesnt succeed. I've no desire to see another Robinson figure moralise and pontificate, or someone like McAleese abusing their role to launch Nazi jibes at our neighbours.

Scofflaw

The evidence of discussion around here and elsewhere would suggest that people do care. I admit I'm not really sure why.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Trampas

do the people going for the election actually know what the job involves or like to say things people want to hear to vote for them and it isn't go anything to do with the job.

Sunnyisland

solar wrote: »

I'm going to vote Norris. Spoil my vote by writing Norris on it.

Why would you spoil your vote, Norris is not there anymore accept it and move on, By october we will have all the candidates then use your democratic right to vote.

nesf

realies wrote: »

Why would you spoil your vote, Norris is not there anymore accept it and move on, By october we will have all the candidates then use your democratic right to vote.

Someone spoiling their vote is also their democratic right.

Sunnyisland

nesf wrote: »

Someone spoiling their vote is also their democratic right.

And what will spoilt votes actually achieve ?

nesf

realies wrote: »

And what will spoilt votes actually achieve ?

It's a form of protest.

Sunnyisland

nesf wrote: »

It's a form of protest.

Suppose it is, But who ever has the most votes is elected no matter how many are spoilt , unless there were more spoiled votes than not.

Anyway I don't personally believe in spoiling my vote,I will await whatever candidates are put forward and duly pick one as there will be a president of Ireland whether some people agree with having one or not.

nesf

realies wrote: »

Suppose it is, But who ever has the most votes is elected no matter how many are spoilt , unless there were more spoiled votes than not.

Anyway I don't personally believe in spoiling my vote,I will await whatever candidates are put forward and duly pick one as there will be a president of Ireland whether some people agree with having one or not.

Sure, and I don't spoil my votes either but people have a right to do so (and to not vote) if they so wish.

washman3

its just another gravy train. a waste of time and more importantly taxpayers money. we already have an elected leader.

dsmythy

washman3 wrote: »

its just another gravy train. a waste of time and more importantly taxpayers money. we already have an elected leader.

So what to do about it?

Sunnyisland

washman3 wrote: »

its just another gravy train. a waste of time and more importantly taxpayers money. we already have an elected leader.

Maybe but by spoiling or not voting is not going to change that, Now if a candidate went forward on a abstinence platform that if elected he wont take the presidential seat or something similar, that be worth checking out.

Sunnyisland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_Monster_Raving_Loony_Party


People could set up an Irish version that way no votes be spoiled and it would send a very strong message.if your that way inclined.

LeixlipRed

I'm gonna spoil the crap out of my vote.

mike65

That would just be unpleasant.

dsmythy

LeixlipRed wrote: »

I'm gonna spoil the crap out of my vote.

Your lot not putting someone up? Or is it a case of the councils just not going to have it?

LeixlipRed

If the right candidate had come along possibly but in general they would have had to say some fairly critical things about the office itself to even be considered.

Sleepy

None of the existing candidates are likely to encourage me to get to a voting booth... beyond a vote for "Anyone But Dana" of course but it's a very weak field for a pretty trivial role.

To be fair, I like Michael D, just despise his parties protection of the unions vested interests.

View

washman3 wrote: »

its just another gravy train. a waste of time and more importantly taxpayers money. we already have an elected leader.

If you mean the Taoiseach, we don't. The Taoiseach is appointed to office by the President (after securing majority support in the Dail).

This is not to dispute that the Taoiseach isn't an elected TD but the Oireachtas and the Government are two separate bodies, even if the Oireachtas has allowed itself to become enfeebled over the years.

washman3

View wrote: »

If you mean the Taoiseach, we don't. The Taoiseach is appointed to office by the President (after securing majority support in the Dail).

This is not to dispute that the Taoiseach isn't an elected TD but the Oireachtas and the Government are two separate bodies, even if the Oireachtas has allowed itself to become enfeebled over the years.

yes,we know,and we've heard this nit-picking before.
the taoiseach is the elected leader of the party that was elected by the majority of irish people. that makes him our leader.
my point is,we dont need a president,along with a taoiseach and we certainly cant afford the €330k wages plus the €300k expenses per year that go with it.
Outside of McAleese and Robinson can we honestly say that any of our presidents have made any meaningful contribution to this country.

RMD

washman3 wrote: »

yes,we know,and we've heard this nit-picking before.
the taoiseach is the elected leader of the party that was elected by the majority of irish people. that makes him our leader.
my point is,we dont need a president,along with a taoiseach and we certainly cant afford the €330k wages plus the €300k expenses per year that go with it.
Outside of McAleese and Robinson can we honestly say that any of our presidents have made any meaningful contribution to this country.

The President does a lot of meeting with large companies / industry leaders on their tours of foreign countries and also here. The investment this leads far exceeds what we pay in relation to the president.

View

washman3 wrote: »

yes,we know,and we've heard this nit-picking before.
the taoiseach is the elected leader of the party that was elected by the majority of irish people. that makes him our leader.

It doesn't - the appointment by the President is what makes him the Taoiseach. The Dail is entitled to nominate any of their number to be Taoiseach - there is no obligation that the person nominated for the position be either the leader of the largest party (we have had very many who haven't been) or even the leader of any party (we have had one Taoiseach, who headed two governments, in which the leader of the Taoiseach's party was the Minister of Education). The Dail could nominate Michael Healy-Rae if they so choose!

washman3 wrote: »

my point is,we dont need a president,along with a taoiseach and we certainly cant afford the €330k wages plus the €300k expenses per year that go with it.
Outside of McAleese and Robinson can we honestly say that any of our presidents have made any meaningful contribution to this country.

The role of the President is in practice essentially that of a roving diplomat. Diplomats typically do their best to avoid been seen, in public, as making a "meaningful contribution" - it gets in the way of them doing their job which is a behind the scenes representational one.

washman3

RMD wrote: »

The President does a lot of meeting with large companies / industry leaders on their tours of foreign countries and also here. The investment this leads far exceeds what we pay in relation to the president.

Give us a few examples.
We've been hearing this line for years.
Did the president travel to Texas to meet Michael Dell when rumours that the Limerick plant might close with a loss of 1900 jobs first surfaced.
Or better still,did the president even know Dell had a factory in Limerick.

Lord TSC

Despite always arguing everyone should vote in the past, I'll likely give this one a miss. The only candidate I was remotly interested in basically screwed himself over so I'm not going to vote for the sake of voting.

scholar007

We need someone who has experience representing Ireland internationally in front of a large audience.

Bring forth Dustin!!!

RMD

washman3 wrote: »

Give us a few examples.
We've been hearing this line for years.
Did the president travel to Texas to meet Michael Dell when rumours that the Limerick plant might close with a loss of 1900 jobs first surfaced.
Or better still,did the president even know Dell had a factory in Limerick.

I don't know, but that's not the president's job. If someone were responsible for that, it would quite likely fall on the Minister for Enterprise. In the grand scheme of things roughly 500-600k spent on the president is a tiny amount considering 1 successful investment resulting from the presidents role can lead to millions in revenue for the Irish economy for years to come.

DJCR

Sure isn't the Presidential election supposed to be a bit of Craic...

Everyone gets away from the issues and we elect someone who is Guarenteed not to wreck our heads for 7 years!!

I mean the Mary's were grand.......... We should make it a rule that you have to be called Mary to run.