Worst TD ever elected

billyhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118688767#Comment_118688767

Agree. She gets flustered when interviewed.

freshpopcorn

Shane Ross.

Stephen Donnelly.

Louise O'Reilly.

Violet-Anne Wynne.

Eoin Ó Broin.

Roderic O' Gorman.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin.

Maria Bailey.

Noel Rock.

Holly Cairns.

Richard Boyd Barrett.

Clare Daly.

Mick Wallace.

Gino Kenny.

Paul Murphy.

Brid Smith.

Joan Collins.

orecir

Eoghan Murphy.

Quite possibly the worst minister in the history of the state.

Completely out of his depth from the get go and giving a massive portfolio because he was Leo's lapdog.

At least he saw the writing on the wall and retired from politics.

Mike Murdock

Ruth Coppinger

/end

Dakota Dan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118687799#Comment_118687799

As if the 3 clowns there now are any better, MM in government when FF purposely bankrupt the country yet here he is again after spending two years wrecking the economy. As for Cowan have you forgotten about the smug clown that handed him the mess

Sandor Clegane

Didn't see Mattie McGrath mentioned, fair enough not the worst but he's at least one of the most unlikeable.

Anti-gay marriage, anti abortion and staunch Catholic Church supporter.

Craves the dark old days with Church and state and the Magdalene laundries.

Yoozername.

Helen McEntee

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118688908#Comment_118688908

I'm not sure. At first glance she doesn't appear the worst but she could only be keeping her head down for now while she cements her position. She could be serious bad news in years to come

yermanhimself

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118687726#Comment_118687726

A great pension for himself

Finty Lemon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118688891#Comment_118688891

True.

Last time out, the good people of Tipperary afflicted us with Lowry, Mattie McGrath, AK47, Martin Browne and Jackie Cahill, all in one sitting.

Let that sink in.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118687810#Comment_118687810

Looks kind of like a low-rent Paschal Donohoe body double.

Hotblack Desiato

Michelle "Fornication is a leading cause of unwanted pregnancy" "I'm entitled to an All-Ireland Final ticket" Mulherin

Got caught for over 3k worth of calls from her Leinster House phone to her "friend" in Kenya, she did cough up the cash in the end though

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118687726#Comment_118687726

There should be a law against being a career parliamentarian. He would be significantly detached from reality.

I don't even agree with people going into politics in their early 20s, very little real world experience.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118688767#Comment_118688767

Obvious agenda here.

There is far worse than Helen McEntee.

Curse These Metal Hands

Ruth Coppinger once showed up at a charity event at a park, argued with volunteers about the €10 entry fee claiming she was a TD who just wanted to see what was happening, then left in a huff when she didn't get in for free. So she gets my vote.

Pawwed Rig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118688835#Comment_118688835

Harsh including Hollie Cairns among all those others. I always had her as one of the more conscientious if not lumbered with a wishy washy party.

My vote would be Dick Roche. I don't think anyone mentioned him yet.

If you google 'worst TD in Ireland' Brian Cowen's wikipedia page comes in near the top.

zell12

There must be loads of TDs from the early days, severely bending to the whims of Catholicism in a secular State. Causing massive societal problems, that we still have with school patronage, hospital locations, adoption records...

Brendan Bendar

Willie O’Dea……little weasel sucking on the teat of the State for decades and doing fork all

Dempo1

Quite a reaction to my discription of Helen McEntee as being Likeable, Efficient, ability to show empathy, Traits not normally to be found in FG TDs , I felt an honest observation but I equally said she's an enigma and I just wasn't sure about her as in like or dislike (Open minded)

I also mentioned a liitle matter of the Indo chasing a curious story regarding political donations, a Donor and Helen McEntee and the fact if it was anyone else, media generally would be all over the story. I thought the story had quietly gone away, it has not, 3rd Indo story on the matter this morning.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/justice-minister-helen-mcentee-wont-say-if-tayto-boss-ray-coyle-gave-other-donations-41383117.html

I personally prefer King Crisps myself 😉

L1011

The repeatedly nominated Wynne has just resigned from SF citing bullying oddly enough!

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118687759#Comment_118687759

There is no right or wrong answer to the question of the thread but CJ was around long enough to do a lot of good things in his time as well as bad

Finty Lemon

is_that_so

Posters seem to imagine that we've had bad TDs since about 2000. There were a whole lot of bad ones before that, all those implicated by Mahon for example. It might also be useful to identify what a bad TD is rather than list of every TD people hate. Haughey and Bertie were good TDs, Cowen and Deasy too. It's other parts of their careers that people have trouble with.

Finty Lemon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118689407#Comment_118689407

Another dreamer cast on the pile.

Still, she has done the job of breaking new ground for SF in a general election. They will replace her with 'one of their own' next time out. Happens all the time.

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118689443#Comment_118689443

I think we are showing our age by saying that these were good TDs because we lived through the good & bad. Absolutely nothing wrong with being young, I'm envious of youth myself, but I think younger posters might not know the full history of TDs pre 2000. At one time Bertie was the most popular Leader of all time. To this day no leader has had such a high rating as Bertie. That's not to say they didn't do wrong

Pawwed Rig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118689443#Comment_118689443

I don't think we are looking for a scientific analysis. Most people don't remember obscure TDs from before they were born

HerrKuehn

Really? No mention of David "up the r@" Cullinane? He must be one of the best SF have to offer too if he gets the health spokesman position during the pandemic!

is_that_so

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118689516#Comment_118689516

No, but it should still be a bit more than I hate X so X is a bad TD. Some of them are not that obscure if you look. Most of the TDs down the years in Dublin North East for example, including Michael Woods, a FF minister, were awful and Cosgrave was implicated in corruption as a councillor. If you look at other constituencies up to 2000 and beyond you'll find exactly the same thing; poor quality TDs who did very little for their constituents.

Phil.x

Roderic O' Gorman, he was a very poor fingal Councillor, most people in D15 didn't vote for, I call him the accidental TD/minister.

He got through on the 5th count and because FG hate SF so much he found himself in a position that he's not fit for.

Finty Lemon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118689535#Comment_118689535

The ultimate 'career' politician.

Them hands never did a day in the real world

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118687726#Comment_118687726

I had never heard of Bernard Durkin until now... but the job of a member of any parliament is to represent the views of their electorate, so to enjoy the confidence of the voters for 40 years is a clear statement that he is doing the job he is meant to do. Whether he has the abilities to do another job or meeting your expectations is of no concern. As far as the people that count are concerned he is doing a very good job for them, most politicians don't survive that long.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118689573#Comment_118689573

I tend to agree albeit I suppose I'm at an age (54) we're I can recall quite some Shenanigans from former FFG TD'S that would make many current TD'S blush and indeed those who continually Bash SF TD'S for events that happened decades ago.

I'm no fan of SF incidently, but by a long mile some of their TDs have performed far better than the current shower of government TD'S, some of whom are utterly dreadful.

HerrKuehn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118689642#Comment_118689642

What have they actually achieved other than shouting though?

Floppybits

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118689617#Comment_118689617

hmmm Would you include Enda Kenny, Willie O'Dea, Michael Martin in these ultimate 'career' politicians? Another one would be Helen McEntee.

As for worse TD's surprised no one has mentioned Sean Haughey, How long has he been in the Dail and you barely hear anything from him? Happy to sit back on the back benches, if he evens turns up, and get the cash. Not even sure how active he is in the constituency.

murpho999

Some people just naming names as they're anti-government or a TD such as Varadkar may have an unappealing personality is not a reason to name a politician bad.

For me corrupt politicians like Liam Lawlor, Michael Lowry, Charles Haughey and Ray Burke have to be up there.

Also, I'd go right back and put Eamon de Valera up there for handing power in Ireland to the Catholic Church.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118689535#Comment_118689535

When their elected TDs offered such wonders as the charity defrauder Wynne, gone on holidays for the election Ryan, bomb maker Ellis, twitter-history-eraser Cronin etc it doesn't leave much to be considered one of the best.

Brendan Bendar

Don’t forget Wardy16 …got in on the surplus of O’Broin…

who?????

HerrKuehn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118689773#Comment_118689773

If it was any other party doing something similar, SF would massacre them, no pun intended. Imagine a FG TD being elected and doing a blueshirt salute! There would be no way they could not resign.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118689661#Comment_118689661

What does any opposition TD achieve, in Opposition, the same question about shouting could easily be asked of the Governments best ever Spokespeople, Alan Kelly and Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, indeed if you want to discuss shouting, I'd wager the decibels alot higher coming from the independent benches, albeit most of it incomprehensible.

Ultimately, wether its liked or not, SF have successfully raised far more issues that affect the lives of many ordinary peoples than government TD'S, who appear oblivious as to what is going on in the real world.

I believe the above one of many reasons, SF polling numbers high and I might add, their support base growing daily and not as is often perceived from a left wing looney cohort.

the kelt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118688835#Comment_118688835

Good God when you see them all in one list it really is utterly depressing.

Whats even more depressing is trying to work out how many tens of thousands of people actually voted for these people and in some cases more than once!

Pawwed Rig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118689714#Comment_118689714

I am in his constituency and he is absolutely anonymous. You have a certain cohort that will elect him for his name. There is another generation of them in councils most recently claiming credit for some voluntary organisations getting grants. Absolutely shameless family.

We have a poor track record in our constituency with TDs. 3/5 current crop are awful

bureau2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118688843#Comment_118688843

I was just about to mention Eoghan Murphy. Mega disastrous appointment at a time when we had/have the worst housing crisis in the history of the state. Yes, he has left public life but his appalling performance will have grave consequences for Irish citizens for decades.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118690063#Comment_118690063

I'll second that his arrogance only surpassed by Leo

Dempo1

Has Heather Humphries been mentioned , utterly dreadful , two questions

How was she elected

How was she appointed a minister

Actually, I'll squeeze in another, am I alone in not understanding a single word that comes out of her mouth 🤔

HerrKuehn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118689960#Comment_118689960

They have changed the way the shouting is done though. It isn't just that the government have different ideas about how issues should be resolved, they are corrupt and evil. They are introducing a style of discourse that is more similar to what you have in the US at the moment. I think this will be ultimately damaging long term to democracy in Ireland. But then they probably don't really care about that as democracy is a relatively new concept to them.

Added to this you have SF and their supporters holding other parties to extremely high standards and themselves to almost none. Heads should roll over golf gate, but its perfectly fine for Mary Lou et al to attend the Bobby Storey funeral against guidelines as an example. "Rules are for thee and not for me" comes to mind.

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118689220#Comment_118689220

No other single politician has caused the issues that are coming down the road for Ireland than McEntee, Roderick the plonker a close second.

Pawwed Rig

Mary Harney once stated that she would deem her career a failure if she didn't fix the health service. She has to be a contender considering that she actually made it worse and the changes she made are still hindering fixing it decades later.

Quite noble that she refused her pension due to her failed career

Oh wait

jmayo

With the times that are in it, I can't believe no one has mentioned Joe "we'll send out your iodine tablets in a few months" Jacob.

I mean what are the chances we get some nuclear fallout coming from the East sometime soon?

Some poster asked what are the criteria for claiming a person is a bad TD.

Is it they come across as buffoons that can't strink a coherent sentence together? Danny Healy Rae

Is it they are buffoons whose ideas are nonsenical and will cost us dearly? ryan, all the greens, all sinn fein

Is it that they are grossly out of their depth on topics they are in charge of? Cowen, Varadker, Harney, Donnelly, McEntee, O'Brien, Murphy

Is it that they couldn't give two fecks about the national well being, but do huge work for their constituents? Healy Raes, Gregory.

Is it that they were corrupt and just fill their own pockets? lawlor, haughey, callely

Is it that they were very probably corrupt (can't be proven in court)? ahern, flynn, lowry, martin

Is it that they contribute nothing anywhere and just collect a salary and pension? Durkin, Coppinger, flynn jnr, Murphy, etc

Is it that they wrecked things and cost the taxpayers and citizens lot of money? cowen, ahern, coughlan, martin, ryan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118688311#Comment_118688311

Infinitely punchable face

boardise

From what I see here the Irish electorate could be considered the worst electorate ever since it alone is responsible for projecting the hapless individuals listed above into the County Council Confederation ..oops sorry, I mean the national parliament commonly referred to as the Dawl. 🙃