F. Gael Senator Fidelma Healy Eames and the small Gaeltacht schools

pog it

For anyone who wasn't listening to Iris Aniar on RnaG this morning, Senator Fidelma Healy Eames, who I hadn't heard of before this, was interviewed in relation to upcoming cuts to small, vulnerable Gaeltacht schools.

She refused to visit one of the schools concerned on the basis that pupils, parents and teachers were protesting outside and weren't indoors and she said she would only visit schools where there was no protest going on.
She sounded arrogant as hell.

The interviewer brought back the teacher from the school again for them to defend once again why they were protesting in the first place, then brought back on Fidelma and asked her again would she visit the school, and she said she already had another appointment scheduled and would consider visiting at a later date when there was no protest ongoing.

This is complete and utter bull and how she could go on the radio and give the protest as an excuse for not going is pathetic. It's manipulative, trying to get across the idea that there is nothing to be gained from protesting which of course she as a FG senator doesn't want to see and anyway it is clearly not the case that protesting is a waste of time as we saw last week when Ruairí Quinn backtracked on cuts to disadvantaged schools.

I hope the next election sorts this one out.

dambarude

She's widely known for being arrogant. And that's part of the reason she didn't manage to get elected in Galway West in the last election, despite it being FG's best showing in years.

deirdremf

dambarude wrote: »

She's widely known for being arrogant. And that's part of the reason she didn't manage to get elected in Galway West in the last election, despite it being FG's best showing in years.

And she is unlikely to ever get elected, so, as they will lose lots of votes and seats the next time round.
By the way, she's one of those primary teachers who can't speak Irish, if stories I have heard about her are true.
If that's true, I wonder how she taught it when she was in the classroom?

Although she seems to have spent her working life in the public sector, I think she is also one of those who are in favour of decimating the sector.

dambarude

After pog it posted here I went back and listened to the podcast of Iris Aniar. Her Irish is rusty, but it's not the worst. She got a bit tongue tied at times during the interview, but as she wouldn't have much practice at speaking lately I wouldn't hold that against her.

deirdremf

pog it wrote: »

For anyone who wasn't listening to Iris Aniar on RnaG this morning, Senator Fidelma Healy Eames, who I hadn't heard of before this, was interviewed in relation to upcoming cuts to small, vulnerable Gaeltacht schools.

And I see she wants to be able to vote in the Seanad without actually bothering to be there.
http://fidelmahealyeames.ie/2012/01/21/remote-voting-should-be-a-feature-of-a-family-friendly-oireachtas-healy-eames/
Now, in this article, she says she wants to be able to vote when she's not in the oireachtas. She gives 1 "good" example (when she is travelling abroad on Oireachtas business, usually known as junkets).
She also gave several bogus & "family" reasons - her daughter's confirmation, writing reports and visiting prisons "which I could only do during a Seanad sitting day".
There is a system called "pairing" in place for genuine absences, where a member of the opposition abstains to make up for your absence - although with the government's huge majority, it shouldn't actually be needed for any votes.

I can't see for the life of me why we should agree to this, and I can certainly see how it could be misused. Just imagine a senator going into Leinster House, signing on for the day, and then heading off to do their shopping, or spend a day with a close friend.

Yes, she appears really, really arrogant.