Local elections

hardybuck

Wanderer78 wrote: »

The next ge will be interesting, but I also suspect the outcome won't differ much to the current situation, I still think ff and fg will ultimately dominate, but i think it may flip flop more in ff's favour. I also suspect the greens will come out well, but will things change all that much? I suspect not

I'd agree with you broadly, but Waterford seems to be a place that doesn't change its voting habits too much. I'd say the Council must be more or less the same than it was 5 years ago?

I think FF and FG will hold a seat each, and it'll be a case whether either of them can add a second, I don't think both can.

Could someone like Paudie Coffey take Deasy's seat? Or might FG spring a surprise celebrity candidate?

Mary Butler is probably safe enough?Cullinane is probably safe enough for the SF vote in the county?

After that you're left with an awful scrap. Would Halligan get in again - or might a Labour candidate come along. Or might someone like Matt Shanahan take Halligan's independent vote?

I would have thought Grace O'Sullivan would run given her recent success and the 'Green Wave' but I'm not sure if there'd be space for her.

noby

hardybuck wrote: »

Could someone like Paudie Coffey take Deasy's seat? Or might FG spring a surprise celebrity candidate?

Geoghegan is pushing hard to get on the ticket for FG. I imagine he has a good chance if they go for the strategy of one in the east (Coffey) and one in the west, going for two seats. Always poled strongly in Dungarvan, and I think people have finally given up on Deasy.

Wanderer78

hardybuck wrote:

After that you're left with an awful scrap. Would Halligan get in again - or might a Labour candidate come along. Or might someone like Matt Shanahan take Halligan's independent vote?

I'd say halligan is screwed, if he runs again, a lot of people pissed off over him

hardybuck wrote:

I would have thought Grace O'Sullivan would run given her recent success and the 'Green Wave' but I'm not sure if there'd be space for her.

She could be happy enough with her mep seat, she may not run in the national. How did the rest of the local greens do, forget to check in on them?

friendlyfun

hardybuck wrote: »

I'd agree with you broadly, but Waterford seems to be a place that doesn't change its voting habits too much. I'd say the Council must be more or less the same than it was 5 years ago?

I think FF and FG will hold a seat each, and it'll be a case whether either of them can add a second, I don't think both can.

Could someone like Paudie Coffey take Deasy's seat? Or might FG spring a surprise celebrity candidate?

Mary Butler is probably safe enough?Cullinane is probably safe enough for the SF vote in the county?

After that you're left with an awful scrap. Would Halligan get in again - or might a Labour candidate come along. Or might someone like Matt Shanahan take Halligan's independent vote?

I would have thought Grace O'Sullivan would run given her recent success and the 'Green Wave' but I'm not sure if there'd be space for her.

Damien Geoghegan wants Deasys seat. Could be a battle between Paudie and Damien, or who knows

vriesmays

hardybuck wrote: »

I would have thought Grace O'Sullivan would run given her recent success and the 'Green Wave' but I'm not sure if there'd be space for her.

She'll be too busy flying balloon over to Brussels, no true Green would use the aeroplane.

Wanderer78

vriesmays wrote:

She'll be too busy flying balloon over to Brussels, no true Green would use the aeroplane.

Yea!

thesaturdayman

In Order - IMO;

1. Coffey
2. Butler
3. Cullinane
4. Labour / Green candidate / Damien G

Mulligans stunts bringing Cullen out to bat & the tete en tete with Butler at count centre will come against him yet.

It will boil down to who gets the most transfers for the 4th one - there could be a left field candidate for 4th, a decent left option (not too far left just a little!) would poll well - particularly in the city area Seamus Ryan nearly made it swimming against the tide - if he was to run i think he would go damn close, transfer friendly too - i cannot see FF getting 2 in.

Stopitwillya

Think Matt shanahan will get in if he runs. 24/7 is Waterfords biggest issue and has been for years now. Not saying he is going to be able to do anything about it but that won't stop people voting for him. I would normally vote fg/ff but can't anymore due to this issue. Topped the poll with a massive vote in the local elections. Many people such as myself who wouldn't have got the chance to vote for him due to him not being in my area will give him their number 1 in a ge.

curmudgeonly

I don't know what will happen in the next GE, but I do know what Waterford should elect.
Mulligan Coffey are the only potential Senior Ministers any other vote is a waste.

debok

vriesmays wrote: »

She'll be too busy flying balloon over to Brussels, no true Green would use the aeroplane.

Ah stop your a hoot!!

Crusty Blaa

thesaturdayman wrote: »

In Order - IMO;

1. Coffey
2. Butler
3. Cullinane
4. Labour / Green candidate / Damien G

Mulligans stunts bringing Cullen out to bat & the tete en tete with Butler at count centre will come against him yet.

It will boil down to who gets the most transfers for the 4th one - there could be a left field candidate for 4th, a decent left option (not too far left just a little!) would poll well - particularly in the city area Seamus Ryan nearly made it swimming against the tide - if he was to run i think he would go damn close, transfer friendly too - i cannot see FF getting 2 in.

Doubt Labour will run two candidates. Pratt seems to be their main man and the Mayoralty will boost his profile. I think they’ll throw all their eggs into one basket with him.

Wanderer78

Crusty Blaa wrote:

Doubt Labour will run two candidates. Pratt seems to be their main man and the Mayoralty will boost his profile. I think they’ll throw all their eggs into one basket with him.

Labour in general are in big trouble, I expect their decline to continue into the ge

hardybuck

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Labour in general are in big trouble, I expect their decline to continue into the ge

They grew in the local elections though.

friendlyfun

hardybuck wrote: »

They grew in the local elections though.

They grew in Waterford. They didn't have much success outside of Waterford.

blackwhite

friendlyfun wrote: »

They grew in Waterford. They didn't have much success outside of Waterford.

They actually increased their seats by 6, despite their overall vote share dropping by nearly 1.5%

Part of that will be down to them running fewer candidates than last time, so it's hard to call it as a decline, or just settling at their "new" level of support (new compared to where they were holding steady for 20-30 years prior to 2011)

Longer term they have to be worried though - they're growing old as a party. They're now seen as more interest in identity politics than in "classical" Labour politics, and even then the broad spectrum of the far-left parties are eating their lunch in that regard as well. On their current path they aren't going to be winning over many young people

somahoney74

curmudgeonly wrote: »

I don't know what will happen in the next GE, but I do know what Waterford should elect.
Mulligan Coffey are the only potential Senior Ministers any other vote is a waste.

I 100% agree with you. It's a shame the electorate in Waterford never vote to have a senior minister. It should be demanded by the electorate.

sunnysoutheast

somahoney74 wrote: »

I 100% agree with you. It's a shame the electorate in Waterford never vote to have a senior minister. It should be demanded by the electorate.

It was sheer folly not to vote in Paudie Coffey last time. I wouldn't be John Halligan's biggest fan but at least he's trying to do something positive with the hand he's been dealt.

Siberian Husky

Christy Browne wrote: »

Christ, carbon taxes is the new buzzword for the knuckle draggers. I suppose climate change is a hoax too? Ireland should leave the EU? Soros and the Illuminati are secretly running the world and 5G is going to microwave all of our brains?

Is there an thought in your head that hasn’t been brainwashed into you by Gemma O’D, Nigel Farage, Tommy Robinson, Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro et al? Your bull**** Americanisms don’t apply to this country, and you will never win over any significant amount of people. The likes of Renua and GOD are nowhere near winning a seat for a reason. 95% of Irish people are satisfied in the EU.

Keep screaming into the void though, if it gives your life a small bit of meaning.

The only ones screaming into the void are the half dozen loonies on this corner of the iInternet, who think they know what's best for everyone. Climate change". Yeah:rolleyes::D

Siberian Husky

friendlyfun wrote: »

Racism is a buzzword? First I've heard of that.

It is when used by some.......

vriesmays

Siberian Husky wrote: »

The only ones screaming into the void are the half dozen loonies on this corner of the iInternet, who think they know what's best for everyone. Climate change". Yeah:rolleyes::D

You do realise Waterford's best and brightest are still there; the rest have left.

friendlyfun

vriesmays wrote: »

You do realise Waterford's best and brightest are still there; the rest have left.

And you're probably the same person logging in and out to give you views more credibility.

The vast majority of people would probably find your views insane and hysterical.

vriesmays

As hysterical as an airport with no planes or a recently-elected councillor who was in Stubbs Gazette last year.

mooseknunkle

Vote of no-confidence in John Deasy by Waterford FG

The Fine Gael organisation in Waterford has passed a motion of no confidence in its sitting TD, John Deasy.

The vote was passed unanimously at a constituency meeting in Dungarvan attended by about 60 people, comprising councillors, local election candidates and ordinary party members.

Mr Deasy was not at the meeting which was called to discuss the party's recent performance in the local elections.

Fine Gael's national executive will now be notified of the vote, while the local membership are also looking for a meeting with the party's general secretary and chair of its national executive.

One senior member present at the meeting said that Mr Deasy, who has held a seat in Waterford for Fine Gael since 2002, "came in for severe and sustained criticism" from those present, and that none spoke in support of the backbencher.

"Speaker after speaker came out strongly against John Deasy and his workrate as sitting Fine Gael TD," the member said.

A motion of no confidence was proposed by one member - not an elected representative - and seconded before being passed overwhelmingly by the meeting which was held in Lawlor's Hotel in Dungarvan.

Mr Deasy was appointed special envoy to the United States, to work for undocumented Irish emigrants, by the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in 2017.

He recently attended a dinner in Doonbeg Golf Club which was hosted by US President Donald Trump during the president's visit to Ireland.

However, he did not put his name forward to stand at the next general election when Fine Gael held its selection convention in November of 2017, at a moment when an election seemed imminent.

He was recovering from hip surgery at the time and the party decided to run Senator Paudie Coffey as a single candidate.

Mr Coffey won a Dáil seat, alongside John Deasy, in the 2011 General Election and was a minister of state during the subsequent Dáil term but lost his seat in 2016.

It has been unclear if Mr Deasy hoped to be added to the Waterford ticket by party headquarters before the next national election.

Attempts to contact him tonight for comment were unsuccessful.

https://www.rte.ie/news/munster/2019/0624/1057322-john-deasy/?fbclid=IwAR0ToU7uaaOuskphhrLgvoIFlUSCyqBRahx5mbg1GLqCX0gu2ZqBVPyWNrM

Harry Palmr

That job in the States should be the work of a senior civil servant not an elected politician.

That a meeting held in his back yard was so hostile suggests he is in trouble, not that he'll care much. No doubt he is making contacts for a cushy private sector job.

Christy Browne

Harry Palmr wrote: »

That job in the States should be the work of a senior civil servant not an elected politician.

That a meeting held in his back yard was so hostile suggests he is in trouble, not that he'll care much. No doubt he is making contacts for a cushy private sector job.

It was an absolute disgrace and shows Fine Gael's contempt for Waterford.

Our representation in the Dáil has been reduced by 25% since 2016. An effective 3-seater constituency surrounded by 5 seater constituencies in Kilkenny/Carlow, Wexford and Tipperary. No wonder we keep getting shafted.

Limerick for example has 7 TD's, 4 for the city and 3 for the county. Galway have 8, 3 for the East and 5 for the West.

hardybuck

Christy Browne wrote: »

It was an absolute disgrace and shows Fine Gael's contempt for Waterford.

Our representation in the Dáil has been reduced by 25% since 2016. An effective 3-seater constituency surrounded by 5 seater constituencies in Kilkenny/Carlow, Wexford and Tipperary. No wonder we keep getting shafted.

Limerick for example has 7 TD's, 4 for the city and 3 for the county.
Galway have 8, 3 for the East and 5 for the West.

Inaccurate. I don't know what his attendance or voting record is, but he has definitely been at home to attend committees and vote in the Dail because they're so tight for numbers.

Tarzann

An amusing anecdote from election day a few weeks back.

Two female candidates in the mid-Waterford electoral area had got their cars transformed into election adverts for their campaigns but a dispute arose when one of them parked in a prominent parking space outside a supermarket in a mid-Waterford village, where voters who would have seen the car as they turned off the main street towards the polling station. The other candidate arrived later and proceeded to park on the outside of the first car, to place hers in the prominent eyeline of drivers, and blocking the first car. An argument ensued, which resulted in the Gardai being called to deal with the situation.

Without naming names, these 2 candidates finished 8th and 9th of the 9 candidates who took part.

One of these 2 candidates had tried to gatecrash events run by other candidates including a non-political annual Cycle against Suicide in the preceding weeks, luckily the local electorate saw her true colours and voted accordingly.

Christy Browne

hardybuck wrote: »

Inaccurate. I don't know what his attendance or voting record is, but he has definitely been at home to attend committees and vote in the Dail because they're so tight for numbers.

Keeping up appearances to make up numbers for Fine Gael does not equal representing the people of Waterford and fighting for Waterford causes.

hardybuck

Christy Browne wrote: »

Keeping up appearances to make up numbers for Fine Gael does not equal representing the people of Waterford and fighting for Waterford causes.

I'd agree with you on many fronts, and if anyone did have stats they'd be very helpful, but it's inaccurate to say he's not been there since 2016.

Christy Browne

hardybuck wrote: »

I'd agree with you on many fronts, and if anyone did have stats they'd be very helpful, but it's inaccurate to say he's not been there since 2016.

I didn't say he hasn't been here, I said he hasn't been representing the people of Waterford.