TG 4 Debate

bleg

It's horrible, each candidate taking turns to look into the camera and speak some badly learned off basic Irish. Dunno why they agreed to this.


Michael D can get away with saying whatever he wants in Irish I'd say, none of the rest of them will understand him.

Dirk Gently

A recording is being broadcast now for anyone who's interested. I wonder how many takes it took for the opening Irish statements.

hotmail.com

It's comical!

drunkmonkey

Did Micheal D just back Martin McG on the 32 county republic?

Gay mitchell wants to celebrate 1916 by stopping bullying:)

dammitjanet

I like that Higgins will answer every question in Irish so no one can argue him

Funny how everyone is attending classes and learning Irish and be fluent very soon- except for McGuinness who estimated he'd be fluent in 2015

bleg

Is anybody else sick of Gallagher saying he's going to "work with the government" to do this or that? The government are bad enough without a President sticking his/her nose in.

Galwayguy35

I think anyone going for the Presidency should be already fluent in Irish

parrai

bleg wrote: »

Is anybody else sick of Gallagher saying he's going to "work with the government" to do this or that? The government are bad enough without a President sticking his/her nose in.

I get the impression that he'll be glad when it's all over so he can stop regurgitating the same ****e different ways

bleg

Norris got a dig in there!



Once again it's not a debate.

dammitjanet

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

I think anyone going for the Presidency should be already fluent in Irish

I wouldn't say fluent but I'd like them to have a decent knowledge of Irish and learn it when elected

bleg

I don't really care but it's hilarious how they're speaking English on a TG4 debate. How did they agree to it?

Toto Wolfcastle

I love that they have their little prepared bits in Irish. It's like in the Leaving Cert where they've learned something off and they're saying it whether it's relevant or not.

Galwayguy35

dammitjanet wrote: »

I wouldn't say fluent but I'd like them to have a decent knowledge of Irish and learn it when elected

Im surprised Gay Mitchel isnt fluent, most politicans are able to converse reasonably well in it.

bleg

Also find it hilarious that they really want to become fluent in Irish now that they want to be President.

Ridiculous.

laoch na mona

talking about changing the national anthem wtf??

drunkmonkey

laoch na mona wrote: »

talking about changing the national anthem wtf??

Sean just lost any tick from me after that....mad, the man is mad. Leave it alone.

hotmail.com

They seem to be reflecting a notion that those that can speak Irish are the true Irish...nonsense.

dammitjanet

Is it just me or is Dana is getting a lot of add-on questions so far?

Dirk Gently

bleg wrote: »

Norris got a dig in there!



Once again it's not a debate.

In fairness it's pretty difficult to debate when most of them dont speak the language. I think this is more a case of answer individual questions and hope Michael D isn't slagging some ones ma when he speaks. I'd imagine the last thing they want is to go off script and get involved in a debate. I'm pretty confident no one will be challenging anything Michael Higgins says anyway.

Apparently this was only recorded this afternoon, if so I'm impressed with TG4 in fairness, there must be a lot of translating to candidates going on between recording. I noticed the sub titles guy didn't seem to have as much time as maybe he would have liked at the start of the programme. I'm surprised Martin m.G isn't fluent actually.

laoch na mona

hotmail.com wrote: »

They seem to be reflecting a notion that those that can speak Irish are the true Irish...nonsense.

not exactly sin é an teanga duchais

hotmail.com

Dirk Gently wrote: »

In fairness it's pretty difficult to debate when most of them dont speak the language. I think this is more a case of answer individual questions and hope Michael D isn't slagging some ones ma when he speaks. I'd imagine the last thing they want is to go off script and get involved in a debate. I'm pretty confident no one will be challenging anything Michael Higgins says anyway.

Apparently this was only recorded this afternoon, if so I'm impressed with TG4 in fairness, there must be a lot of translating to candidates going on between recording. I noticed the sub titles guy didn't seem to have as much time as maybe he would have liked at the start of the programme. I'm surprised Martin m.G isn't fluent actually.

Why are you surprised? He grew up in Derry where Irish wasn't taught.

hotmail.com

laoch na mona wrote: »

not exactly sin é an teanga duchais

What

ultain

Pre-recorded...and the circus continues:rolleyes: Micheal D an fear amhain don phost

Dirk Gently

hotmail.com wrote: »

Why are you surprised? He grew up in Derry where Irish wasn't taught.

because shinners are very vocal in promoting the language and encouraging others to learn it.

laoch na mona

hotmail.com wrote: »

What

it is our native language

Dirk Gently

Michael D doesn't want to be rude to other candidates so he'll answer in english. Great line tbh. No doubt a mischievous PR guy told him to drop that into the conversation at some point. :pac:

Teclo

They're all having a dig at Gallagher, don't they know he's a black belt?

Dirk Gently

did Mitchell just have a pop at Michael D for addressing the nation in Irish?

bleg

Gay Mitchell missing the point

Michael D speaks in Irish again and Gay Mitchell in the middle of an Irish debate shouts out "Not everybody speaks Irish Michael!"

Facepalm.

bleg

Think Mary Davis did very well tonight to be honest.

dammitjanet

bleg wrote: »

Gay Mitchell missing the point

Michael D speaks in Irish again and Gay Mitchell in the middle of an Irish debate shouts out "Not everybody speaks Irish Michael!"

Facepalm.

Oh god I missed that- coffee break. Did he say that before or after Michael D said he'd answer in english when possible to not be bad mannerly?

bleg

dammitjanet wrote: »

Oh god I missed that- coffee break. Did he say that before or after Michael D said he'd answer in english when possible to not be bad mannerly?

Nope!

dammitjanet

Davis juggles.
She's got my vote

partnership

Shows them all up that they can't speak the language - except of course for Michael D. Even though I can' speak it myself I think it is important that the President is able to. I thought the moderator was good.

hotmail.com

partnership wrote: »

Shows them all up that they can't speak the language - except of course for Michael D. Even though I can' speak it myself I think it is important that the President is able to. I thought the moderator was good.

So you want the president to speak a language you can't speak yourself.... Bizarre.

hotmail.com

I missed the Mitchell mistake...why did he say "we can't all speak Irish"?

Ald

hotmail.com wrote: »

So you want the president to speak a language you can't speak yourself.... Bizarre.

There's nothing wrong with that at all. Ever hear of ideals? :rolleyes: I think the majority of the country would have the ideal that we be bilingual in Irish and English.

nesf

hotmail.com wrote: »

So you want the president to speak a language you can't speak yourself.... Bizarre.

Nothing bizarre about really. We all have things we desire in candidates that we ourselves lack.

bleg

A debate in Irish that was neither a debate nor in Irish!!

Liam Byrne

One other thing that amused me - McGun repeatedly claimed that he had "experience on a national level" and failed to point out that that experience was in a different state.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

JohnFalstaff

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Top 200? Seems slightly disingenuous... would it fall within your top 500?

juuge

hotmail.com wrote: »

I missed the Mitchell mistake...why did he say "we can't all speak Irish"?

The man is a clown - simples!

LordSutch

I hope you have all voted in tonight's Aras 2011 - 'TG4 Debate Poll', and if you haven't here is the Link . . .

Click here to vote > http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056424836

Enjoy.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Wolfe Tone

I enjoyed the debate, I thought it was the best tbh, I would have liked to have seen more Irish and less 'airbrushed' subtitles!

TG4 is really a great channel.

Did anyone notice how much MDHs hands shook He's getting my number 2.

RubyRoss

hotmail.com wrote: »

So you want the president to speak a language you can't speak yourself.... Bizarre.

Why is that bizarre? I vote for politicians not because they have the same skills as me but because I think they have the skills I believe necessary for doing a particular job - a job I'm not running for.

I also want a president that is diplomatic - that expectation doesn't mean that I myself am diplomatic.

EmeraldNK

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Really? So what DOES fall into your list of top 500 traits? Good handshaker? Expert bulls**ter? Snappy dresser?

It wouldn't matter at all to you that the person elected as someone to represent this country, it's people and it's culture at home and abroad doesn't actually speak it's oldest and primary language? Language being one of the defining traits of countries the world over.

Barring the obvious, please... what DOES fall into your top FIVE HUNDRED desired traits?

hotmail.com

RubyRoss wrote: »

Why is that bizarre? I vote for politicians not because they have the same skills as me but because I think they have the skills I believe necessary for doing a particular job - a job I'm not running for.

I also want a president that is diplomatic - that expectation doesn't mean that I myself am diplomatic.

But what does the Irish language have to do with diplomacy!

RubyRoss

hotmail.com wrote: »

But what does the Irish language have to do with diplomacy!

I didn't imply there was any relation between the two.

Diplomacy was just an example of a quality I expect in a president - a quality which I don't necessarily exhibit.
By the same reason, I expect the minister of finance to have a good grasp of economics eventhough I don't understand economics.

I was just saying that to support the person who doesn't speak Irish but believes the president should know the langauge.

bleg

When's the next opinion poll?