Prime Time: Bringing Home The Bacon

Sully

Prime Time did an interesting piece about 15mins (starting at 1.45) yesterday on parish pump / stroke politics. A particular focus was on Waterford because of our neighbouring constituencies having hard hitting Ministers on Cabinet whereas Waterford has none. It covered various promises by the government pre-election in relation to cutting this out and it talked about the Primary Care Centers being expanded and into constituencies where Ministers were present, including his own (James Reilly that is).

The programme talked about how history / statistics have shown that constituencies with a Minister do much better than those without. It also goes onto show that if a Minister doesn't look after his own than he won't get the votes.

In terms of Waterford, they covered the last protest on the hospital but made it out that the downgrades were a result of Kilkenny & Wexford being "upgraded" - which as we all know is unrelated and is an improvement of existing services which is of benefit to those in those constituencies.

They didn't hold the punches back and show Waterford as a City that is pushing for change however and wouldn't take any heed on such parish pump politics and that's something many here suggest. It showed the investment that Minister Cullen put into Waterford, it showed how the Waterford people rewarded him with votes, and it made it out that Waterford was delighted when we got ourselves a Cabinet Minister and knew we were in for lots of investment. That's how they portrayed it and to be fair, its a rock solid assessment.

People have been going on here about how wrong it is. But they seem to be forgetting that they wont be quick to vote for any of our current TDs because they didn't deliver for Waterford (many of those on here against parish pump politics add that contradicting piece to their posts!). Remember - its not just our politicians at fault but its also a large percentage of the electorate who wont vote for anybody that doesn't deliver for their constituency.

One quick final point - I doubt the upcoming electorate will do any better, seeing as the MRBI did a poll showing that many of youth have no interest in politics. I spoke about this on WLRFM this morning, recalling many a time trying to get students to register to vote for elections, referendums and so on. Trying to get them involved in politics, understand the impact on them and so on. Most didn't care, or take any notice. It wasn't always party political either, but neutral.

Anyway, here is the Prime Time link. Forward to 1.50 onwards. Someone said on Facebook to go into 15mins but that's all about the South African government, very high unemployment and crack down on protesters - a completely different and much more serious issue compared to Ireland. Not sure why someone would draw that comparison!

http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/10114813/

longshanks

Your posts on this topic are boringly predictable.

Sully

longshanks wrote: »

Your posts on this topic are boringly predictable.

As are your responses. If you don't want to read them, or don't want to read any of posts - ignore them.

road_high

Sully wrote: »

As are your responses. If you don't want to read them, or don't want to read any of posts - ignore them.

Mary Roche in particular referred to an office leaving Waterford to be placed in Kilkenny? She didn't specify which one? I know the Ida one went to cork before and the vec with Wexford. Interested to know cos she announced it on national tv and said kilkenny?

Sully

road_high wrote: »

Mary Roche in particular referred to an office leaving Waterford to be placed in Kilkenny? She didn't specify which one? I know the Ida one went to cork before and the vec with Wexford. Interested to know cos she announced it on national tv and said kilkenny?

I'm not sure but she made some valid points in her segment, to be fair to her. Doubt we will see her running for the Council again - id say she has her eyes on bigger things.

O Riain

A lot of people say we benefited under Cullen, perhaps we did slightly but what have we got? We have no decent sport stadiums, only 1 institute of technology, no decent music venue, no industry, no jobs, no decent shopping centre, nothing. They're saying he got us the motorway, every other bloody city got one and it made sense for the region to have a motorway serving it. As for the bypass don't even get me started, what a huge waste of money that hasn't benefited Waterford city one bit.

Now onto Fine Gael, your posts are well written and initially to me you seemed to some good points. But if you can post on this subject and not once criticize your own party and see them for what they are, a corrupt bunch of Fine Fail look alikes then how do you expect us to take you seriously. I just dont understand the concept of blindly following a party, and at this stage in the game, any politician at all.

mecco

road_high wrote: »

Mary Roche in particular referred to an office leaving Waterford to be placed in Kilkenny? She didn't specify which one? I know the Ida one went to cork before and the vec with Wexford. Interested to know cos she announced it on national tv and said kilkenny?

Yeah, she did say something along those lines and it was in a confusing manner. It sounded to me like she was saying stuff has been moved all around us and then mentioned kilkenny by name without a specific example like she had for the other places mentioned.

That particular bit was unfortunate because in my opinion facts alone make the case about waterford and the south east and by getting "us against them" about it, the whole thing becomes emotional and easy to dismiss. (Note: Phil Hogan in radio interviews with a dismissive "i've heard some hysteria from people in waterford....").

But she was far from the only one, the expert on political practises/standards in the studio said her constituency of carlow has suffered because it hasn't had a minister in over 50 years. Pat Kenny then repeated it. Hello, the video had just discussed Phil Hogan at length who is carlow-kilkenny constituency!!

Cabaal

O Riain wrote: »

As for the bypass don't even get me started, what a huge waste of money that hasn't benefited Waterford city one bit.

Not going to waste my time responding to most of your post because its pretty much nonsense, but none the less....no benefit?
So you'd rather ALL traffic just goes through the city?

The points raised in the prime time programme are spot on, if people didn't feel they were getting a return off of Cullen he would not have been reelected. It doesn't matter how much people dispute this, it is true.

When the economy went down (remember it went down WORLDWIDE), people blamed FF and went in for the kill (even though it was a worldwide issue). This blame meant that the votes specifically in Waterford were splintered amongst much less powerful party's which meant Waterford not longer had a meaningful TD.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, nobody votes for anybody to get into power within thinking it will somehow benefit them in a positive way. This is a worldwide thing with all governments.

I'm not defending any specific decisions or plans but it raises the issue of had Waterford voted in a more powerful minister then I don't think people would be complaining if that minister then in turn got benefits for Waterford. To claim otherwise is a lie and we all know it.

mike65

O Riain wrote: »

A lot of people say we benefited under Cullen, perhaps we did slightly but what have we got? We have no decent sport stadiums, only 1 institute of technology, no decent music venue, no industry, no jobs, no decent shopping centre, nothing. They're saying he got us the motorway, every other bloody city got one and it made sense for the region to have a motorway serving it. As for the bypass don't even get me started, what a huge waste of money that hasn't benefited Waterford city one bit.

A nonsensical post from start to finish. Were you expecting a minister build you a sports stadium or a concert venue is that their job? The RSC does its job well enough, we're a bit small for a Croke Park or Olympic Stadium. Music venues are a private business kind of thing. The shopping is as it is because of failings by local interests (and now recession) again what do you want? A Dundrum experience? IKEA? One bog standard IT is enough for Waterford, what we need is something better than that. We only got the motorway because of Cullen, the original plan was to "upgrade" the N9 (as if that were possible!). The by-pass does what a by pass does - it takes traffic away from the centre or are you saying it should create jobs and sunshine as well.

Sully

O Riain wrote: »

A lot of people say we benefited under Cullen, perhaps we did slightly but what have we got? We have no decent sport stadiums, only 1 institute of technology, no decent music venue, no industry, no jobs, no decent shopping centre, nothing. They're saying he got us the motorway, every other bloody city got one and it made sense for the region to have a motorway serving it. As for the bypass don't even get me started, what a huge waste of money that hasn't benefited Waterford city one bit.

Watch the report. The ByPass, Outter Ring Road, Lottery Funds, Viking Triangle, Waterford United and so on got funding from Cullen. Its not his job to build shopping centers or other development as they would be private (and I doubt any government would approve a stadium for Waterford!!). The motorway apparently was supposed to stop at Kilkenny and he got it down to Waterford. The bypass isn't booming but its still popular, useful and was badly needed for Waterford - I love it.

Now onto Fine Gael, your posts are well written and initially to me you seemed to some good points. But if you can post on this subject and not once criticize your own party and see them for what they are, a corrupt bunch of Fine Fail look alikes then how do you expect us to take you seriously. I just dont understand the concept of blindly following a party, and at this stage in the game, any politician at all.

Why would I create a thread that is negative towards Fine Gael if I blindly follow them? My post might not directly knock them, but reading the post would show that I am not justifying what they do and I am highlighting the negativity in the post. In addition, I know this thread is going to get people commenting on negative aspects of Fine Gael and broken promises. Plus, I did point out that our politicians were at fault.

Smiley Burnett

did mary roche make any mention of the fact that under phil hogan's proposals to reform local government that WATERFORD is to remain as HQ for the regional assembly? did she mention that serious lobbying is taking place by Cork-based politicians to have it located in the second city? did she mention that, despite this lobbying, Phil Hogan is adamant that it will remain in waterford?

no??!! i wonder why?

Sully

Smiley Burnett wrote: »

did mary roche make any mention of the fact that under phil hogan's proposals to reform local government that WATERFORD is to remain as HQ for the regional assembly? did she mention that serious lobbying is taking place by Cork-based politicians to have it located in the second city? did she mention that, despite this lobbying, Phil Hogan is adamant that it will remain in waterford?

no??!! i wonder why?

It was supposed to be negative towards the government. There hardly going to talk positive!

Anyway, where is the link about above?

Roanmore

Cabaal wrote: »

When the economy went down (remember it went down WORLDWIDE), people blamed FF and went in for the kill (even though it was a worldwide issue). This blame meant that the votes specifically in Waterford were splintered amongst much less powerful party's which meant Waterford not longer had a meaningful TD.

.

People understood the global downturn, what they blamed FF for was the mess they made with the banks (no regulation etc), blanket guarantee scheme, IMF having to come in, the massive pensions they awarded themselves and then ran away when they knew they had no chance or re-election, the over reliance on stamp duty to pay the countries bills, relations with Developers, etc.
The global downturn affected nearly every country in the industrial world but only a handful went bankrupt.