Sean O'Rourke Today Show

P. Breathnach

Callan57 wrote: »

You are neither listening or reading obviously ... what I object to is the SAME individual being given disproportionate airtime - way in excess of her constituency rivals or anyone else in a similar position.

That's akin to saying that if I listened more to you, I would inevitably agree with you.

No.

A radio programme needs people who have relevant things to say, who have the ability to say those things clearly, and who are available at the appropriate time. In addition, it should have a range of points of view represented and (because it's radio, not TV) distinctive voices so we can figure who is speaking.

Mary Hanafin ticks a lot of the boxes (in relation to some issues, all of them) so she is suited for programmes like Today with SO'R.

serfboard

P. Breathnach wrote: »

A radio programme needs people who have relevant things to say, who have the ability to say those things clearly, and who are available at the appropriate time.

Yep. A former TD and former Minister who lives close to Montrose. That oughta do it.

I'd add who are interested as well to your list. There might be other former Ministers who are not interested. Mary, who is back in politics again clearly is.

The point about balance is also relevant. They had both Nora Owen and Mary Hanafin on.

Which former Fianna Failer minister would be acceptable to you? Mary O'Rourke? Mary Coughlan? Or, to go non-Fianna Fail, Mary Harney? (I'm running out of Marys now )

Harry Angstrom

serfboard wrote: »

Which former Fianna Failer minister would be acceptable to you? Mary O'Rourke? Mary Coughlan? Or, to go non-Fianna Fail, Mary Harney? (I'm running out of Marys now )

Mary Geoghegan Quinn?

Although, she's far too busy these days. Most of her time is taken up with collecting pensions.

Callan57

P. Breathnach wrote: »

That's akin to saying that if I listened more to you, I would inevitably agree with you.

No.

A radio programme needs people who have relevant things to say, who have the ability to say those things clearly, and who are available at the appropriate time. In addition, it should have a range of points of view represented and (because it's radio, not TV) distinctive voices so we can figure who is speaking.

Mary Hanafin ticks a lot of the boxes (in relation to some issues, all of them) so she is suited for programmes like Today with SO'R.

OH absolutely ... and noone better than Hanafin to represent her own point of view

P. Breathnach

serfboard wrote: »

...
I'd add who are interested as well to your list. There might be other former Ministers who are not interested. Mary, who is back in politics again clearly is.
...
Which former Fianna Failer minister would be acceptable to you? ...

There are a few former ministers who I imagine are quite unavailable. I suspect the list of the unavailable includes Bertie Ahern, Brian Cowen, Noel Dempsey, Dermot Ahern, Mary Coghlan, Martin Cullen, Dick Roche and some others whose names escape me at the moment.

But I did hear Pat Carey's voice recently.

P. Breathnach

Callan57 wrote: »

OH absolutely ... and noone better than Hanafin to represent her own point of view

Which is what is expected of participants in studio discussions. When Fergus Finlay is on, he represents his point of view; when we hear Fionnan Sheahan, we expect to hear Fionnan Sheahan's point of view.

Callan57

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Which is what is expected of participants in studio discussions. When Fergus Finlay is on, he represents his point of view; when we hear Fionnan Sheahan, we expect to hear Fionnan Sheahan's point of view.

We also expect diversity of opinion not the same old insider guff from the same old hasbeens
BTW being convenient to RTE is a nonsense - RTE is supposed to be the NATIONAL broadcaster not the Dublin southside local radio.

P. Breathnach

The programme has quite a few regular contributors. Only a few of them attract the ire of participants in this forum. Why should Mary Hanafin regularly be selected for opprobrium when Fionnan Sheahan rarely (if ever) is?

snubbleste

P. Breathnach wrote: »

The programme has quite a few regular contributors. Only a few of them attract the ire of participants in this forum. Why should Mary Hanafin regularly be selected for opprobrium when Fionnan Sheahan rarely (if ever) is?

Because she has a brass neck, five pensions, no accountability for mistakes made etc

CountyHurler

P. Breathnach wrote: »

The programme has quite a few regular contributors. Only a few of them attract the ire of participants in this forum. Why should Mary Hanafin regularly be selected for opprobrium when Fionnan Sheahan rarely (if ever) is?

Fionnan Sheahan is a political correspondent, he gets paid by a private company and is not elected nor paid for by the public purse... I'm not a big fan of his cynical, smart ar$e, dour brand of reporting but tbh this does not make him unique amongst the political correspondents.. who all report in a similar manner.

Mary Hanafin was recently elected to the local council, having previously said that she was retired. She ducked out of the tough election, took her 140k a year until the storm blew over... She should not have been given air time with Marian Finucane when she knew herself that she was going to run in the local elections... She was elected, and should not be contributing to panel shows unless there is somebody there to represent the opposition party.

RTE brought her on this morning as if she was an independent, retired person with no agenda... and of course Mary cant help but respond to every question with some anecdote about what a great person she is... no doubt with a view to getting herself re-elected to the big house again...

Callan57

P. Breathnach wrote: »

The programme has quite a few regular contributors. Only a few of them attract the ire of participants in this forum. Why should Mary Hanafin regularly be selected for opprobrium when Fionnan Sheahan rarely (if ever) is?

What a silly comparison!
Fionnan doesn't have both hands in the taxpayer's pocket and he didn't form part of a cabinet that drove the economy over a cliff either.

P. Breathnach

CountyHurler wrote: »

Fionnan Sheahan is a political correspondent, he gets paid by a private company and is not elected nor paid for by the public purse... I'm not a big fan of his cynical, smart ar$e, dour brand of reporting but tbh this does not make him unique amongst the political correspondents.. who all report in a similar manner.

But we could make an issue of the fact that he tries to influence our views on politics while not submitting himself to an electoral process.

Mary Hanafin was recently elected to the local council, having previously said that she was retired.

That's the nature of politics. People can change their minds about being candidates, and it is for the electorate to decide whether they get to hold public office again.

She ducked out of the tough election, took her 140k a year until the storm blew over...

She ran in the 2011 General Election.

She should not have been given air time with Marian Finucane when she knew herself that she was going to run in the local elections...

What fundamental principle underlies that position?

She was elected, and should not be contributing to panel shows unless there is somebody there to represent the opposition party.

It's for RTÉ to create balance, not for an individual participant in a programme.

RTE brought her on this morning as if she was an independent, retired person with no agenda...

RTÉ are not that blind, and I don't think they are biased. She was brought on as an experienced politician who was involved in cabinet re-shuffles. As was Nora Owen who, although no longer holding or seeking public office, is still strongly identfied with FG.

and of course Mary cant help but respond to every question with some anecdote about what a great person she is... no doubt with a view to getting herself re-elected to the big house again...

I don't see an election on the short-term agenda.

What I see here is people who dislike Mary Hanafin as a politician and, I suspect, as a person, and who want her off the radio permanently. I don't think their case is made.

[And just in case anybody misreads my motives in posting, I will say that I do not support her party and, if I were in her constituency, I would not give her a high-preference vote.]

Paddy Constable

Me ..I don't blame Hannifin for coming on and airing her views on National Radio.

I blame the silly fools in Dun Laoire for electing someone who was part of the most gombeen govt we ever had and consigned generations of children to austerity and forced emigration.

For shame.....

CountyHurler

I still can't get used to hearing Ciaran Murphy on RTE Radio... It just doesn't seem right.

Harry Angstrom

CountyHurler wrote: »

I still can't get used to hearing Ciaran Murphy on RTE Radio... It just doesn't seem right.

His conversations with his Uncle Jim Carney on Sunday evenings are surreal.

HeidiHeidi

Jesus lads STOP SHOUTING AT EACH OTHER :eek:

Bit early in the morning for a screaming match.

Callan57

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Jesus lads STOP SHOUTING AT EACH OTHER :eek:

Bit early in the morning for a screaming match.

I don't understand why FG feels so threathened by SF ... Labour & FF yes but I can't see many (if any) FG votes being poachable by SF

Woodville56

Just been listening to the debate on Sean O"Rourke between MEPs Matt Carthy SF and Brian Hsyes FG over the nomination of Big Phil Hogan to the EU Commission. Wouldn't be a fan of any of the parties involved but not impressed with Carthy"s indignation - did SF really think Kenny was going to send a Shinner to Europe . There's 3 of them there sent by the electorate and if their level of contribution on our behalf is of the Carthy standard just now, name calling and cheap shots won't cut it in the EU parliament , and to think we sent Ming as well !!! Dunno how our motley crew will be regarded by our European neighbours ! As for Big Phil, good riddance - just a pity that he gets such a handsome purse (over €300k pa) as a reward from Kenny for introducing water tax, property tax etc etc..

HeidiHeidi

Callan57 wrote: »

I don't understand why FG feels so threathened by SF ... Labour & FF yes but I can't see many (if any) FG votes being poachable by SF

Woodville56 wrote: »

Just been listening to the debate on Sean O"Rourke between MEPs Matt Carthy SF and Brian Hsyes FG over the nomination of Big Phil Hogan to the EU Commission. Wouldn't be a fan of any of the parties involved but not impressed with Carthy"s indignation - did SF really think Kenny was going to send a Shinner to Europe . There's 3 of them there sent by the electorate and if their level of contribution on our behalf is of the Carthy standard just now, name calling and cheap shots won't cut it in the EU parliament , and to think we sent Ming as well !!!

I'm glad you both heard what was actually being debated - all I heard was NOISE and SHOUTING.

Classy parliamentarians we have here, no doubt about it.

redtelephone

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

I'm glad you both heard what was actually being debated - all I heard was NOISE and SHOUTING.

Classy parliamentarians we have here, no doubt about it.

I have no love for SF but a lot of what I heard seemed to be

O'Rourke shouting at Carthy. I reckon Sean is watching too much Bill O'Reilly.:D

Callan57

redtelephone wrote: »

I have no love for SF but a lot of what I heard seemed to be

O'Rourke shouting at Carthy. I reckon Sean is watching too much Bill O'Reilly.:D

Maybe it was just that Sean decided the time had arrived to start treating SF reps the same as anyother politician and abandon the "softly softly" interviews they normally get.

neris

Just turned radio on to hear the repulsive sounds of paddy ogorman snoring his head off. Glad to know rte are inventive with wasting the rte tax money

Harry Angstrom

redtelephone wrote: »

I have no love for SF but a lot of what I heard seemed to be

O'Rourke shouting at Carthy. I reckon Sean is watching too much Bill O'Reilly.:D

Sean seems to be very narky these days. The early morning starts must be getting to him. He seemed to take it as a personal slight last week that the GB concerts had been cancelled.

Callan57

neris wrote: »

Just turned radio on to hear the repulsive sounds of paddy ogorman snoring his head off. Glad to know rte are inventive with wasting the rte tax money

Pity the didn't send MLOD off with Paddy - maybe he would have dropped her in a bog hole somewhere

HeidiHeidi

Callan57 wrote: »

Pity the didn't send MLOD off with Paddy - maybe he would have dropped her in a bog hole somewhere

Or her him

mrsdewinter

I honestly can't take another 6 weeks of light-hearted dispatches from Brian O'Connell/Valerie Cox/Marie Louise O'Donnell/Whoever this lady interviewing Mná Tithe is.
And I love Paddy O'Gorman but between himself, Valerie, BOC and MLOD, it's just turning into the Marantz Show.

snubbleste

What was that interview?
Paddy's voice was going into the right ear only and the woman's voice was going into the left ear only - very annoying!

Ciaran

snubbleste wrote: »

What was that interview?
Paddy's voice was going into the right ear only and the woman's voice was going into the left ear only - very annoying!

I'd have thought half as much Paddy O'Gorman would be an improvement.

CountyHurler

I dont think anybody is buying Frank Flannery's little act any more... the soft polite little voice, the slight croak in his voice so as to make him sound ill and illicit sympathy... Sort of like Cyril Cusack really... I dont think that anybody would have expected that a well known political figure would be getting paid by a charity to lobby his old friends. It's just wrong and it's underhanded...

And why does he keep saying "oh, I left Rehab years ago"... He was on the payroll until recently..

Callan57

CountyHurler wrote: »

I dont think anybody is buying Frank Flannery's little act any more... the soft polite little voice, the slight croak in his voice so as to make him sound ill and illicit sympathy... Sort of like Cyril Cusack really... I dont think that anybody would have expected that a well known political figure would be getting paid by a charity to lobby his old friends. It's just wrong and it's underhanded...

and brazen arrogance ... what a load of bull