John Cummins on FG performance ' we are doing very well'

Max Powers

Page 6 of last weeks Munster Express: ''We're doing well'' (talking about FG)...... do people on here think we are doing well here in Waterford. Sad to see a young councillor and presumably future TD hopeful lose sight of issues like unemployment rate of 20% in Waterford. I would have thought this issue would weigh the heaviest on his political mind, Ah sure, FG are weathering the storm just fine.

jad2007

Big thing on his facebook this evening saying how he got the speed limit changed on the ringroad after 4 years of campaigning. At least people will be able to get to the dole office quicker.

BlaasForRafa

If by "doing well" he means "appallingly badly" then I agree, they're doing very well.

kensutz

Welcome to the weekly Waterford politics thread.

Deise Tom

Lets see how long this section will remain open.

Sully

Mod Note

Lads, we are all for local politics threads. But only if they are actually local and not local based on a technicality (ie "Its Waterford because it affects us and Cllr Cummins is from Waterford"). We have a dedicated Politics Forum that is there for debate on the governments overall performance.

If there is a specific Waterford related political issue, fire away. Ill give the thread a chance to see which way it will go.

Max Powers

Sully wrote: »

Mod Note

Lads, we are all for local politics threads. But only if they are actually local and not local based on a technicality (ie "Its Waterford because it affects us and Cllr Cummins is from Waterford"). We have a dedicated Politics Forum that is there for debate on the governments overall performance.

If there is a specific Waterford related political issue, fire away. Ill give the thread a chance to see which way it will go.

Its completely a Waterford political issue, how can it not be? It would get zero interest on the politics forum as its not a national issue.
The political issue here is that a Waterford councillor is happy to talk about how great polticially FG are doing/everything is rosy when Waterford is in a jobs crisis in which his party has done nothing concrete to help fix. When a politician says something like that, it infers that he is more interested in the party than those he is meant to be serving.
We all know a politicians main priorities are: oneself, onesparty, ones constituents and then the rest. I find it surprising to to see it put down on paper so clearly where the prioroties lie.It says a lot about our local councillor, not to mention the 20-30000 he probably costs us so we can have the pleasure of hearing about his party doing well.

Justin_Brophey

All I can say is this chap is goin to do really well for him self as he is a really good politician. Only concerned about issues that effect him and and his party and it makes me sick to be honest that there is not more young councilmen / women in Waterford . Have another pint in the back of the Munster lads and give each other another slap on the back.

mecco

Is there any context to this pronouncement? I havent seen last weeks Munster but was it an interview where he was asked "how do you think your party are performing?" or did he just venture forth with the opinion "all's grand lads, keep her lit!"

Because the first would be far less outrageous than the second to be fair.

Max Powers

mecco wrote: »

Is there any context to this pronouncement? I havent seen last weeks Munster but was it an interview where he was asked "how do you think your party are performing?" or did he just venture forth with the opinion "all's grand lads, keep her lit!"

Because the first would be far less outrageous than the second to be fair.

even if the conversation was about party, I wouldnt go spouting off that 'we're doing a great job', who here thinks they are doing a great job, head down to the dole office to ask them, ask the people who have had SNAs cut, home help and hospital beds cut etc, sure its grand, the politicans, councillors, judiciary and highly paid public servants (not all public servants) are happy, to hell with the rest

mecco

Max Powers wrote: »

even if the conversation was about party, I wouldnt go spouting off that 'we're doing a great job', who here thinks they are doing a great job, head down to the dole office to ask them, ask the people who have had SNAs cut, home help and hospital beds cut etc, sure its grand, the politicans, councillors, judiciary and highly paid public servants (not all public servants) are happy, to hell with the rest

I wouldn't say they are doing a great job either.

I'm just curious about the context because it'd be rare to see a politician stick their head above the parapet for no reason.

And the point I was trying to get at originally was if he was asked how he thinks his party is performing in government, he's hardly going to say anything else, because it'd reflect poorly on him and them.

Sully

Max Powers wrote: »

Its completely a Waterford political issue, how can it not be? It would get zero interest on the politics forum as its not a national issue.
The political issue here is that a Waterford councillor is happy to talk about how great polticially FG are doing/everything is rosy when Waterford is in a jobs crisis in which his party has done nothing concrete to help fix. When a politician says something like that, it infers that he is more interested in the party than those he is meant to be serving.
We all know a politicians main priorities are: oneself, onesparty, ones constituents and then the rest. I find it surprising to to see it put down on paper so clearly where the prioroties lie.It says a lot about our local councillor, not to mention the 20-30000 he probably costs us so we can have the pleasure of hearing about his party doing well.

Judging by how the thread has gone to-date and the thread title, people are discussing the governments performance which is (and has been discussed already) for the Politics Forum. Not the governments lack of performance here in Waterford (which would be Waterford specific), which would be (or should be anyway) pointing fingers nationally at the elected TDs of Waterford seeing as that's their job.

Cllr Cummins is a member of the Fine Gael party for a long time and Young Fine Gael before it. His father has been in the Seanad since 2002 and is Leader of the Seanad since May 2011, having been a City Councillor since 1991 and was Mayor of Waterford in 1995–96. Do you expect him to do anything bar support the party?

Judging by the state of our economic affairs and the overall lack of jobs in this country at the moment, its hardly fair to expect Waterford to be doing very well on the jobs front. The Minister has dedicated time towards Waterford and kicking the IDA into shape for Waterford, which is as far as one can go. Its not his job, nor is it Cllr Cummins job, to create the jobs. Its to encourage people to setup in Waterford and make Waterford a good place for companies to invest in. We cannot force them here.

Max Powers

Sully wrote: »

Judging by how the thread has gone to-date and the thread title, people are discussing the governments performance which is (and has been discussed already) for the Politics Forum. Not the governments lack of performance here in Waterford (which would be Waterford specific), which would be (or should be anyway) pointing fingers nationally at the elected TDs of Waterford seeing as that's their job.

Cllr Cummins is a member of the Fine Gael party for a long time and Young Fine Gael before it. His father has been in the Seanad since 2002 and is Leader of the Seanad since May 2011, having been a City Councillor since 1991 and was Mayor of Waterford in 1995–96. Do you expect him to do anything bar support the party?

Judging by the state of our economic affairs and the overall lack of jobs in this country at the moment, its hardly fair to expect Waterford to be doing very well on the jobs front. The Minister has dedicated time towards Waterford and kicking the IDA into shape for Waterford, which is as far as one can go. Its not his job, nor is it Cllr Cummins job, to create the jobs. Its to encourage people to setup in Waterford and make Waterford a good place for companies to invest in. We cannot force them here.

I think this 'we cannot force them here' is the latest line from IDA/FG with regards to FDI in Waterford. I reckon they havent been giving Waterford a fair crack of the whip when FDI comes calling, they were quick to forget about us when they supposedly visited for PayPal. We then got a series of excuses.....first it was office space, then it was language skills. A report to sit on a shelf; useless. a few other visits from IDA is good news, once they are pushing us the same as other regions who seem to be weathering the economic storm a lot better and getting more jobs announced.

Anyway, we are digressing off the issue that I felt just needed to be highlighted, the complete lack of tact/judgement and awareness of the biggest issue for our citizens...jobs