Why is there no official residence of the Taoiseach

antimatterx

Why is there no official residence of the Taoiseach?

As leader of the country should the Taoiseach not be given a place to live. I know that they can use Stewards Lodge on Farmleigh Estate (they shouldn't have to pay €50 a night), but we should built an official residence.

It's a bit odd that Leo Varadkar lives in an apartment in Castleknock, and Enda Kenny had a Dublin apartment near Fenian Street.

CBear1993

Leo was kicked out onto his ars* after he wasn’t voted back in in February. He’s also a caretaker Taoiseach as it stands.

PsychoPete

No , they should all have to live like the rest of us

Rodney Bathgate

CBear1993 wrote: »

Leo was kicked out onto his ars* after he wasn’t voted back in in February. He’s also a caretaker Taoiseach as it stands.

Still waiting for Mary Lou and her grand coalition to take over.

Guy:Incognito

I think it works fine tbh. One of them through the years could have put something together if they want so I assume theres never been a desire.

Youre not guaranteed a set time in office either. Most probably dont want to move their whole life somewhere sort term.
Luckily, we've never had the security issue of the Tasoiseach needing to be hidden away either.

CBear1993

Rodney Bathgate wrote: »

Still waiting for Mary Lou and her grand coalition to take over.

She’s not the right person to lead. Wouldn’t have her as head of SF at all.

antimatterx

CBear1993 wrote: »

Leo was kicked out onto his ars* after he wasn’t voted back in in February. He’s also a caretaker Taoiseach as it stands.

He's still the Taoiseach, and very well may be again over the life time of the next government.

Imagine Mary Lou as Taoiseach. The country would be bankrupt with her seemingly infinite money tree.

Guy:Incognito

CBear1993 wrote: »

Leo was kicked out onto his ars* after he wasn’t voted back in in February. He’s also a caretaker Taoiseach as it stands.

:rolleyes: here we go Facebook and twitter has spilled over to here. Why not throw a notmytaoiseach in there and have a rant about how you didnt vote for him as Taoiseach without acknowledging that the only people that actually vote for the person that becomes Taoiseach is the people in their constituency.

Cookie_Monster

What purpose would having an official residence serve?

Rodney Bathgate

CBear1993 wrote: »

She’s not the right person to lead. Wouldn’t have her as head of SF at all.

I thought it was clear that I was taking the piss...

biko

Give him a flat in Finglas and a leap card.
Once politicians lives like the rest of us they will make decisions for the rest of us.

hynesie08

I'm going to ask what might be an ignorant question, but is the taoiseach still expected to act as a td in there elected area? If so no point electing a td in say Cork only to uproot them for the length of their term?

dundalkfc10

CBear1993 wrote: »

She’s not the right person to lead. Wouldn’t have her as head of SF at all.

She was leader of Sinn Féin in the elections where they had the best result in near a century and is liked alot more than Leo or Martin by a large section of the youth in the country.

Terrible leader alright

rodDaly69

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

She was leader of Sinn Féin in the elections where they had the best result in near a century and is liked alot more than Leo or Martin by a large section of the youth in the country.

Terrible leader alright

Populist.

dundalkfc10

rodDaly69 wrote: »

Populist.

Ask yourself why, maybe because the working class concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.

That is Ireland in a nutshell.

Why shouldn't they have to pay €50/night?

JohnnyFlash

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

:rolleyes: here we go Facebook and twitter has spilled over to here. Why not throw a notmytaoiseach in there and have a rant about how you didnt vote for him as Taoiseach without acknowledging that the only people that actually vote for the person that becomes Taoiseach is the people in their constituency.

Concannonbot

osarusan

I don't see the point of one.

If there had been one going back a century or so, then that would be fine, but there isn't, and there's no need for one now.

There are already plenty of places to entertain dignitaries and the like.

KaneToad

CBear1993 wrote: »

Leo was kicked out onto his ars* after he wasn’t voted back in in February. He’s also a caretaker Taoiseach as it stands.

He was the second elected candidate in his constituency. Not great for a sitting Taoiseach but far from being kicked out. This country is a FF voting country, except when $hit hits the fan - that's when FG get their chance. It was too soon for people to return to FF but they couldn't bring themselves to vote FG, hence the strong SF performance. It won't last. Next GE will be a stronger FF showing.

Sinn Fein received 24% of the national vote. 76% of the cast vote did not vote for Sinn Fein.

(Incidentally, I'm not a FF or FG supporter).

KaneToad

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

Concannonbot

Indeed 🙄

He setup his account in 2003 and posted 35k times so that he could shill for FG...

KaneToad

KaneToad wrote: »

He setup his account in 2003 and posted 35k times so that he could shill for FG...

Christ they play a long and devious game don't they :pac:

pwurple

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

Ask yourself why, maybe because the working class concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.

That is Ireland in a nutshell.

Working class concerns like employment, pension, education and healthcare is it?

Guy:Incognito

biko wrote: »

Give him a flat in Finglas and a leap card.
Once politicians lives like the rest of us they will make decisions for the rest of us.

I'd have thought getting a job and buying (i assume) or renting his own place was living like the rest of us? Isnt that the point of the thread?

titan18

Cookie_Monster wrote:

What purpose would having an official residence serve?

What does it serve for the president? Taoiseach probably deserves one more than the president does for us.

Allinall

biko wrote: »

Give him a flat in Finglas and a leap card.
Once politicians lives like the rest of us they will make decisions for the rest of us.

The rest of us don't live in Finglas.

fly_agaric

antimatterx wrote: »

Why is there no official residence of the Taoiseach?

He's the Taoiseach, not the president (head of state).

Higgins is the president + gets the fancy official "gaff" even if he has no real power.

Having 2 people with large official residences like that would seem to be a massive waste of money for a very small country that is also democracy [vs a sort of tin-pot dictatorship].

It would annoy me (and lots of others I'm sure).

Redgirl82

biko wrote: »

Give him a flat in Finglas and a leap card.
Once politicians lives like the rest of us they will make decisions for the rest of us.

Once your in fingles you can never get out, the leap card is a waste of time

Muahahaha

Well Farmleigh House is an official residence but he just chooses not to live there until now. Its fully set up for a Taoiseach to live there and handle foreign guests.

Bertie Ahern paid IR£23m for Farmleigh back in 1999. Him and Fianna Fail basically used it for after hours piss ups when they got kicked out of the Dail bar at closing time. You'd have a fleet of ministers cars driving up to Farmleigh in the Phoenix Park in the wee hours so the drinking could continue. And no Fianna Fail piss up was complete until you had Brian Cowen slobbering Guinness all over his white shirt while giving a rendition of the Offaly Rover along with Mary Coughlan gazing on in admiration. Good times.

Guy:Incognito

Allinall wrote: »

The rest of us don't live in Finglas.

Samll mercies, eh

road_high

CBear1993 wrote: »

Leo was kicked out onto his ars* after he wasn’t voted back in in February. He’s also a caretaker Taoiseach as it stands.

Perhaps but none of the great “change” mongers are queuing up for the job.
That’s the problem with SF, great at elections and saying what should happen. Nowhere to be seen once the real work beckons

JohnnyFlash

Muahahaha wrote: »

Well Farmleigh House is an official residence but he just chooses not to live there until now. Its fully set up for a Taoiseach to live there and handle foreign guests.

Bertie Ahern paid IR£23m for Farmleigh back in 1999. Him and Fianna Fail basically used it for after hours piss ups when they got kicked out of the Dail bar at closing time. You'd have a fleet of ministers cars driving up to Farmleigh in the Phoenix Park in the wee hours so the drinking could continue. And no Fianna Fail piss up was complete until you had Brian Cowen slobbering Guinness all over his white shirt while giving a rendition of the Offaly Rover along with Mary Coughlan gazing on in admiration. Good times.

It was Heineken. Not Guinness.

osarusan

It was Guinness. I should know. I was there, gazing in admiration.

road_high

Muahahaha wrote: »

Well Farmleigh House is an official residence but he just chooses not to live there until now. Its fully set up for a Taoiseach to live there and handle foreign guests.

Bertie Ahern paid IR£23m for Farmleigh back in 1999. Him and Fianna Fail basically used it for after hours piss ups when they got kicked out of the Dail bar at closing time. You'd have a fleet of ministers cars driving up to Farmleigh in the Phoenix Park in the wee hours so the drinking could continue. And no Fianna Fail piss up was complete until you had Brian Cowen slobbering Guinness all over his white shirt while giving a rendition of the Offaly Rover along with Mary Coughlan gazing on in admiration. Good times.

Poor aul Brian Cowen. Bertie really did land him with the ****e.
Think he’s recovering after his illness. Wonder how he’d have handled this crisis? Very differently to Varadkar I’d think

fly_agaric

Muahahaha wrote: »

Well Farmleigh House is an official residence but he just chooses not to live there until now. Its fully set up for a Taoiseach to live there and handle foreign guests.

Could he just decide to live in there full time...?
Always thought expenditure on it was sold to us as being specifically for hosting foreign guests + their entourages.

Guy:Incognito

fly_agaric wrote: »

Could he just decide to live in there full time...? .

Theres a daily charge for him to use it, going by reports yesterday

Is there two houses?

Wiki tells me there Farmleigh house (official state guest house) itself and the Stewards lodge for the taoiseach on the grounds.

Guy:Incognito

Topgear on Dave wrote: »

Is there two houses?

Wiki tells me there Farmleigh house (official state guest house) itself and the Stewards lodge for the taoiseach on the grounds.

It's a stately home. These places dont just have "a" house. Your home only having one building is for peasants.

Muahahaha

fly_agaric wrote: »

Could he just decide to live in there full time...?
Always thought expenditure on it was sold to us as being specifically for hosting foreign guests + their entourages.

He could yeah but I think its about optics, no politician wants to get that lord of the manor tag from the media that Haughey had with his pile in Abbeyville. Also Leo already has has a penthouse apartment just 2 kilometres away from Farmleigh next to Coolmine train station. Bertie never lived there either, again optics as he had a house in Drumcondra.. Enda could have legitimately lived there being from Mayo but the optics of that when he was implementing austerity would have had him hounded by the media.

Leo has just moved in there for the video conferencing but he has used it for piss ups in the past, the Fine Gael cabinet held their Christmas party up in Farmleigh, iirc the bill came to 4,500 for a 3 course dinner and wine, nice.

Otherwise it is used for foreign dignitaries who are visiting Michael D, its just the media dont report on minor stuff like the president of Malta flying in for a visit but it goes on all the time- just look at his diary and theres a fair few minor dignitaries passing through there.

StackSteevens

biko wrote: »

Give him a flat in Finglas and a leap card.
Once politicians lives like the rest of us they will make decisions for the rest of us.

Are you claiming that "the rest of us" all live in Finglas?

If so, may I gently suggest that you visit your GP and tell him/her that you urgently need help.

StackSteevens

road_high wrote: »

Poor aul Brian Cowen. Bertie really did land him with the ****e.

Cowen was foolish enough to take the poisoned chalice, even though he knew - or should have known, if he's half as intelligent as was claimed at the time - that the sh1t was heading straight for the fan.

Muahahaha

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

It was Heineken. Not Guinness.

He was usually on the Guinness in Doheny and Nesbitts anyway. He loved the stuff so much he couldnt even wait for a pint to settle properly, he was straight in there like a savage.



A true pintman has patience to admire his pint while its settling. Not with Cowan, get the fcuk in there in case they close the bar was his kind of style.

StackSteevens

road_high wrote: »

Perhaps but none of the great “change” mongers are queuing up for the job.
That’s the problem with SF, great at elections and saying what should happen. Nowhere to be seen once the real work beckons

They're getting great, uncritical coverage in the media at the moment as they have been given the role of official opposition spokespersons so are being contacted for a quote about everything under the sun!

Meanwhile, the hapless Alan Kelly and the fence squatting Soc Dems are trying their very best to try to seem relevant over all the SF grandstanding!

Yurt2

I'd have no objection to Farmleigh being used as the Taoiseach's residence full time. Better it be used as a home for the most important executive office in the land than a venue for pissups.

Amirani

biko wrote: »

Give him a flat in Finglas and a leap card.
Once politicians lives like the rest of us they will make decisions for the rest of us.

He does live like us, he lives in an apartment in Castleknock.

Are you saying Finglas is somehow more representative of Irish society or are you just having the usual dig at those of us from Finglas?

fly_agaric

Muahahaha wrote: »

He could yeah but I think its about optics, no politician wants to get that lord of the manor tag from the media that Haughey had with his pile in Abbeyville. Also Leo already has has a penthouse apartment just 2 kilometres away from Farmleigh next to Coolmine train station. Bertie never lived there either, again optics as he had a house in Drumcondra.. Enda could have legitimately lived there being from Mayo but the optics of that when he was implementing austerity would have had him hounded by the media.

That's interesting. Not sure if would be a very good idea even if there's a smaller property that the Taoiseach actually would be living in. How much use might they end up making of the staff there, the generous facilities available at the main residence etc. if living there full time as a matter of course?
Could quickly become defacto "An Taoiseach's Mansion"/Big House. As per my other post IMO we have 1 politician provided with a big fancy house to live in by the state and that is enough. Optics can be important. We are not US/UK/France etc.

Muahahaha wrote: »

Otherwise it is used for foreign dignitaries who are visiting Michael D, its just the media dont report on minor stuff like the president of Malta flying in for a visit but it goes on all the time- just look at his diary and theres a fair few minor dignitaries passing through there.

That's what I thought it was supposed to be for alright.

Muahahaha

fly_agaric wrote: »

That's interesting. Not sure if would be a good idea even if there's a smaller property that the Taoiseach actually would be living in. How much use might they end up making of the staff there, the generous facilities available at the main residence etc. if living there full time as a matter of course?
Could quickly become defacto "An Taoiseach's Mansion"/Big House. As per my other post IMO we have 1 politician provided with a big fancy house to live in by the state and that is enough. Optics can be important. We are not US/UK/France etc.
.

Theres the Stewards lodge on the grounds which is a lot smaller than the main house itself and thats where Leo is staying at the moment.

Id have no problems with him or any Taoiseach living there permanently while in office. The house has to be constantly maintained and cleaned anyway by the Office of Public Works while it is mainly lying empty so those costs are incurred regardless. Once they paid benefit in kind tax for living there like the rest of us would have to then I dont see the issue really.

Though I suspect it could be a headwreck for a Taoiseach to be living there next to the main house. After a hard days work the last thing you'd want is some minor Dutch royal who is 8th in line to the crown knocking your window wanting to shoot the breeze. Let Michael D deal with that sh1t.

Beechwoodspark

Just on enda Kenny as far as I know he has a centrally located apartment within walking distance of Leinster house. (I know the exact location but don’t want to put it on this)

Muahahaha

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Just on enda Kenny as far as I know he has a centrally located apartment within walking distance of Leinster house. (I know the exact location but don’t want to put it on this)

Its on Fenian St and has been widely reported in the media and by himself to the register of members interests. The nearby Gingerman pub was his local in the evenings where Enda would have the laugh with students from Trinity. It might have even been the location where he met the man with two pints in his hand.

jippo nolan

Muahahaha wrote: »

Its on Fenian St and has been widely reported in the media and by himself to the register of members interests. The nearby Gingerman pub was his local in the evenings where Enda would have the laugh with students from Trinity. It might have even been the location where he met the man with two pints in his hand.

I thought yer man had 2 pints in each hand!

Heart Break Kid

PsychoPete wrote: »

No , they should all have to live like the rest of us

Off you go to and kick the old man in Phoenix park out.

StackSteevens

PsychoPete wrote: »

No , they should all have to live like the rest of us

Have you ever seen Mary Lou's mansion on the Navan Road? It's no wonder that Sinn Fein are so keen to abolish the Residential Property Tax!