Girl 26 looking to become a TD- WTF?

MadsL

LizT wrote: »

Hyperbole central in here tonight.

Well it's a valid point of debate; when are TDs "off the clock" in your opinion? I said never. What do you think?

P_1 wrote: »

TBH seeing as she has a degree in politics I'd imagine she already knows how to do that. Hell I have one and I know how that gig works.

A degree in politics prepares her for a debate on Agricultural policy. I see.

And that means? You're not representing anything 24/7

If TDs do not represent the country 24/7 then it explains why they don't resign when caught doing something dodgy. I see your logic there.

Like any job, when you're on the clock you do the gig.

When is she on the clock in your view?

I highly doubt that happened now do you?

Frankly judging by the speed of response from some of them, I'm sure it has without the sentiment being expressed.

P_1

MadsL wrote: »

Well it's a valid point of debate; when are TDs "off the clock" in your opinion? I said never. What do you think?

When is she on the clock in your view?

IMO TDs are on the clock

a) when the Dail is sitting
b) when their constituency clinic is open
c) when there are parliamentary meetings to attend

Anything else and they are on their own time, free to do whatever they wish so long as they are not breaking the law or harming others, like anybody else who is in a job

LizT

MadsL wrote: »

Well it's a valid point of debate; when are TDs "off the clock" in your opinion? I said never. What do you think?

So TDs are never off the clock? Never? If I get the personal number of a TD and ring them at 4am in the morning, that's ok because they're not off the clock? Or if I ring their office on Christmas Day, they should be there to answer because they're not off the clock?

Obviously there's no set hours, I can't definitively say TDs are on the clock at x time and off at y.

I just find it somewhat bemusing that people are actually taking issue with her going surfing for a few hours.

MadsL

Madam_X wrote: »

It is? No, I think they should be on call - within reason. They're obviously entitled to breaks to though - as you know.

I never said they were not entitled to breaks, I said it was politically naive to be crowing about Chilling Out on Twitter.

What emergency could a TD look after on a bank holiday weekend?

Irish national being arrested overseas in dubious circumstances perhaps. Not all countries have the same holidays.

Not much issue with that if they're on holidays - everyone gets holiday leave. It's not advisable for a politician though - looks naff.

I see you agree with me then, @surfergurl26 naff move, dudess! #TDchillout

P_1

MadsL wrote: »

Irish national being arrested overseas in dubious circumstances perhaps. Not all countries have the same holidays.

There's this great invention called the voicemail that means that people don't have to be on call 24/7 these days. I'm sure that she's tech savvy enough to have one of those set up.

Madam_X

People are taking issue with her chilling (and not in the Algarve) though, not just the tweet. I see no issue with her chilling on Easter Saturday. I think it's disingenuous to claim she should be working all through the Easter weekend and not using the internet for personal purposes. There is no evidence that she isn't doing some work.
Why should TDs be working 24/7? If they were on holidays, they should be contactable in case something really scandalous comes up, but they, like any professional, are entitled to holiday time.

MadsL

LizT wrote: »

So TDs are never off the clock? Never? If I get the personal number of a TD and ring them at 4am in the morning, that's ok because they're not off the clock? Or if I ring their office on Christmas Day, they should be there to answer because they're not off the clock?

If it is a national emergency or highly immediate matter, hell yeah. I don't expect them to be answering every call but checking messages and emails? YES. Every day of the year. I know people who work in business who check emails and respond every single day at 4/5am. Why would TDs be expected to work less?

I just find it somewhat bemusing that people are actually taking issue with her going surfing for a few hours.

Not just going surfing but going surfing and crowing about it, when she just pledged to "work as hard as my father" to the electorate. Perhaps Dad was a surfer?

P_1

I wonder if she was attending the opening of a local business as opposed to surfing would people be getting into such a huff.

MadsL

P_1 wrote: »

There's this great invention called the voicemail that means that people don't have to be on call 24/7 these days. I'm sure that she's tech savvy enough to have one of those set up.

How often would you expect that to be checked? Just curious. Other TDs seem to be tweeting and connected to email constantly.

MadsL

P_1 wrote: »

I wonder if she was attending the opening of a local business as opposed to surfing would people be getting into such a huff.

That would be constituency work as she is making herself publicly available, unless you feel the local mackerel in Dublin Bay are constituents.

Madam_X

MadsL wrote: »

If it is a national emergency or highly immediate matter, hell yeah. I don't expect them to be answering every call but checking messages and emails? YES. Every day of the year. I know people who work in business who check emails and respond every single day at 4/5am. Why would TDs be expected to work less?

Depends on the nature of the business. I know of someone who does that (well they mostly SEND mails at those hours rather than reply to them) at 5/6am because they're running a chain of shops, so in order to have things kept on top of before 9am, this is required. I don't think it's necessary to respond to someone immediately at 4/5am - what could be done at those hours? I don't think anyone would have an issue with waiting until 8am to have such a mail replied to - apart from someone who argues that it should be done at 4/5am for the sake of arguing.

P_1

MadsL wrote: »

How often would you expect that to be checked? Just curious. Other TDs seem to be tweeting and connected to email constantly.

Well tbh you pretty much answered your own question there. Most voicemail systems either generate a text or email when a new message is left. No reason to assume anything different here.

MadsL wrote: »

That would be constituency work as she is making herself publicly available, unless you feel the local mackerel in Dublin Bay are constituents.

Do we know she was surfing in Dublin? For all we know she could have been at Bettystown or Laytown, two areas within the constituency

Anynama141

Part of the problem - a large part - is that Irish people expect TDs to be there to do them favours and dig them out of holes. That should not be their job - they are supposed to be legislators, creating the legal framework to better run the country. Instead we get idiots who spend their whole time attending funerals, writing letters for people and doling out favours with the sole aim of gaining enough votes to win a seat at the next election. No wonder the FF clowns didn't notice their party marching the country into bankruptcy, or if they noticed, didn't care.

A national legislator should not be on call 7 days a week to do anything but consider and vote on legislation. All the other stuff TDs do is for their sole benefit, not ours, and ultimately it's bad for democracy.

MadsL

Madam_X wrote: »

Depends on the nature of the business. I know of someone who does that (well they mostly SEND mails at those hours rather than reply to them) at 5/6am because they're running a chain of shops, so in order to have things kept on top of before 9am, this is required. I don't think it's necessary to respond to someone immediately at 4/5am - what could be done at those hours? I don't think anyone would have an issue with waiting until 8am to have such a mail replied to - apart from someone who argues that it should be done at 4/5am for the sake of arguing.

Point is that I know people who work 15 hours a day 7 days a week. Why do we have such a low standard for how hard politicians are expected to work?

Madam_X

MadsL wrote: »

Point is that I know people who work 15 hours a day 7 days a week. Why do we have such a low standard for how hard politicians are expected to work?

Saying that they don't need to be working non stop is having low standards for them? I don't see any reason to believe that she wouldn't be working from 7am to 8pm on weekdays, plus being on call outside of that, which is good graft IMO.

A tweet = a dosser? Whatevs.

MadsL

P_1 wrote: »

Well tbh you pretty much answered your own question there. Most voicemail systems either generate a text or email when a new message is left. No reason to assume anything different here.

Waterproof phones FTW.

Do we know she was surfing in Dublin? For all we know she could have been at Bettystown or Laytown, two areas within the constituency

Hard to hear constituents with your head under water.

4zn76tysfajdxp

MadsL, do you really think TDs should have no recreational time at all? Like, they can't even take an hour or two for themselves off on the weekend?

MadsL

Madam_X wrote: »

Saying that they don't need to be working non stop is having low standards for them? I don't see any reason to believe that she wouldn't be working from 7am to 8pm on weekdays, plus being on call outside of that, which is good graft IMO.

Being a TD is a five day a week job? And 92k is an acceptable salary to sit on the backbenches?

Do you realise UK MPs only earn €77k (65k GBP) a full €15k less than TDs.

No wonder Ireland is in a mess.

P_1

MadsL wrote: »

Waterproof phones FTW.

They're great aren't they
Joking aside I'm sure she could well have checked for anything urgent after she got out of the water.

Hard to hear constituents with your head under water.

Ah does that mean that our poor TDs aren't allowed to go for a swim then

Madam_X

MadsL wrote: »

Being a TD is a five day a week job? And 92k is an acceptable salary to sit on the backbenches?

Do you realise UK MPs only earn €77k (65k GBP) a full €15k less than TDs.

No wonder Ireland is in a mess.

Never said five days a week, said on call at the weekends, so essentially working at the weekends too. Plus five days a week of far more than standard hours each day.

Yeh... "No wonder Ireland is in a mess" - the cat-call of the unthinking Liveline caller.

MadsL

Marina Sticky Dough wrote: »

MadsL, do you really think TDs should have no recreational time at all? Like, they can't even take an hour or two for themselves off on the weekend?

I think a bit of discrete downtime is fine, but TDs are there for one electoral term. They should be working their asses off to keep the seat. Holidays and hobbies should wait, they are meant to be serving the country - hence the €€€ salaries.

I really think waving 'downtime' in the electorate's faces, two days after winning, is very, very poor form.

MadsL

Madam_X wrote: »

Yeh... "No wonder Ireland is in a mess" - the cat-call of the unthinking Liveline caller.

In reference to TDs salaries; you think they deserve 15k more than MPs?

P_1

MadsL wrote: »

In reference to TDs salaries; you think they deserve 15k more than MPs?

IMO they are paid too much, but whining about somebody going surfing in their free time isn't exactly going to change that now isn't it

Madam_X

MadsL wrote: »

In reference to TDs salaries; you think they deserve 15k more than MPs?

I guess not, but I don't know much about the area. Are you converting sterling to euro?

MadsL

P_1 wrote: »

IMO they are paid too much, but whining about somebody going surfing in their free time isn't exactly going to change that now isn't it

I think it behooves us to question why they feel the fact that they are off surfing to "Chill Out" when they haven't done work yet is worthy of our attention.

Clearly, the expected response to this tweet from our new TD is "Dawww, you have earned it, chicken."

In my view, she hasn't earned shit yet, so I'd appreciate her having some cop on. Especially being a "communication" expert.

Madam_X wrote: »

I guess not, but I don't know much about the area. Are you converting sterling to euro?

Yes. You already quoted me converting 65,000 GBP into Euros (77,000k)

P_1

MadsL wrote: »

I think it behooves us to question why they feel the fact that they are off surfing to "Chill Out" when they haven't done work yet is worthy of our attention.

Clearly, the expected response to this tweet from our new TD is "Dawww, you have earned it, chicken."

In my view, she hasn't earned shit yet, so I'd appreciate her having some cop on. Especially being a "communication" expert.

TBH what somebody does in their own free time that causes no physical, monetary or emotional harm to others is frankly none of anybody's business.

MadsL

P_1 wrote: »

TBH what somebody does in their own free time that causes no physical, monetary or emotional harm to others is frankly none of anybody's business.

Funny how they feel the need to make it our business #inthepubliceye

dxhound2005

MadsL wrote: »

If it is a national emergency or highly immediate matter, hell yeah. I don't expect them to be answering every call but checking messages and emails? YES. Every day of the year. I know people who work in business who check emails and respond every single day at 4/5am. Why would TDs be expected to work less?



Not just going surfing but going surfing and crowing about it, when she just pledged to "work as hard as my father" to the electorate. Perhaps Dad was a surfer?

MadsL wrote: »

I never said they were not entitled to breaks, I said it was politically naive to be crowing about Chilling Out on Twitter.

Why are you using the word "crowing". The tweet reads. Chillout time! Happy Easter everyone. How is that crowing?

P_1

MadsL wrote: »

Funny how they feel the need to make it our business #inthepubliceye

So somebody posting something on twitter makes it our business. All she did was to wish a happy easter. Would you have preferred if she posted a stock image of a rabbit or something?

MadsL

dxhound2005 wrote: »

MadsL wrote: »

I never said they were not entitled to breaks, I said it was politically naive to be crowing about Chilling Out on Twitter.

Why are you using the word "crowing". The tweet reads. Chillout time! Happy Easter everyone. How is that crowing?

You missed out the image. And a lot of people are not "chilling" this Easter, they are sweating where the money is going to come from.

Feels like I'm reading the FB of some young one, rather than someone entrusted with the future of the nation.

If that is the Govt you want, so be it.

I'm done.