Mary O'Rourke may lose her seat!

El_MUERkO

First counts put her behind her Fianna Fail colleague and out of the dail

El_MUERkO

SHES LOST HERE SEAT!!!!!!!

HAHAHAHA, Happy days!!!

Michael Collins nicked the witches seat

Mountjoy Mugger

It's just been confirmed. She's gone. I wonder if the next Minister will be an improvement.

El_MUERkO

We can always hope

rymus

/places his handbag on the ground and dances around it in celebration.

T'ra Mary!

Cork

There is too much winging on this board. It is either moaning about Eircom or Mary O Rourke. What does all this moaning achieve? Absolutely nothing.

Let me welcome the next govenment & wish Mary O Rourke Well.

Go for the senate Mary. Public life in Ireland will be the worse for your absence.

Mountjoy Mugger

If you want to sing Fianna Fails praises, take it to the Politics Board. You're more at home there.

lynchie

I hope the comminucations bill haunts her!!!!!!!!

dahamsta

Errah, she probably wouldn't have been in charge of the DoPE anymore anyway. I wonder who her replacement will be.

adam

ando

!!!! Mary O Rurke has lost her seat !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *excuse me while I run out to my back garden and shout at the loudest my voice can go and scream YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY !!!!!!!!!!*

Lets hope the person who takes over from her does not take backhanders from eircon !!!!!

sceptre

62.5% turnout in Westmeath. FF actually nearly got their two seats there when you look at the figures.

It would remind me of Brian Lenihan's losing his seat (he was Minister for Finance at the time) in 1973 if I was old enough.

I'm sure there'll be recriminations at some point (given that most people were fairly sure they couldn't pick up two seats there, I'm sure there will be at least one "I told you so" call to Seamus Brennan)

mike65

Mike.

212.2.179.66

I have read posts here where as people asked if anyone in IOFFL or any of their supporters would like to run for the elections. I did not see one person put their hand up and go for it. It is really easy to sit back and let everyone else do the work and take the blame and then shove your 2 cent worth in and come out smelling of roses. Instead of knocking people who try, you try making a change with 100's of bosses telling you what you should and should not do. In fairness to her that lady lost her husband and was never given a chance to grief or even get to grips with her loss. She just battled on through it all. How many of ye armchair supporters would even consider doing that? She has always held an open door policy to everyone who wanted to meet her, (as proved by IOFFL already) lets see if the new Minister whoever it may be will be soo receptive.
You will not be remembered by all the good work you did, people will only remember you for your last mistake. So to all you people that has knocked her, SHUT IT! unless you’re willing to stand up and do something besides sit in your armchairs and pass comment.

dahamsta

Anonymous, I would have stood for election if I thought there was something to be gained from it. But there isn't, besides marketing, which isn't a good enough reason to run for office for me. Single issue candidates are an abuse of the system. Just because it's a right, doesn't mean it is right.

Also, O'Rourke's personal life has very little bearing on her record as Minister for Public Enterprise. The buck stopped with Mary O'Rourke and she dropped the ball. Although I wouldn't gloat about it myself, I won't reprimand others for doing to. They have a right to express their opinion.

adam

212.2.179.66

Originally posted by dahamsta
Anonymous, I would have stood for election if I thought there was something to be gained from it. But there isn't,

adam

That about say's it all. And I am shocked to see that from you above all people after reading all you had to say on the Boards. I am not against people voicing their opinions. I am just against pople that sit in their armchairs like you and force their opinions on everyone else without trying to.... damn who am I to agrue with you? Your right of course.

212.2.179.66

Originally posted by dahamsta
They have a right to express their opinion.

adam [/B]

Tha't sounds good coming from you?

212.2.179.66

El_MUERkO

/continues dancing

I understand she may have left her position in the DoPE but she was useless while there and when she was screwing our transport system before that, she was a bad TD who damaged Ireland by being in a position of power thats why I'm glad shes gone.

sceptre

Originally posted by 212.2.179.66

I am just against pople that sit in their armchairs like you and force their opinions on everyone else without trying to.

Guilty there as well (although Adam does it better:D). I'm an armchair pundit. There are reasons for that though. There's isn't a political party in the country I could join at the moment - I don't agree enough with the views of any party enough to join. And there isn't even one that I'd join and try to change - the difference of opinion is too much. And I wouldn't run for election on one issue & then sit in the Dail and just shut up or support someone after cutting a deal. That's something I'd see as abuse of democracy - appealing to a group based on one single emotive issue. Almost as bad as standing on a hate platform (another emotive issue perversion of democracy kind of thing)

Doesn't affect my right to have an opinion and express it. Or yours. I think most of us would hate to live in the kind of country where Joe Soap couldn't express his opinion. Without resorting to nasty Americanisms, if you thought you could convince someone of something to make the world a better place, you would catch the ball and run with it.

Now, assuming you thought Mary O'Rourke was not doing as good a job as she should, you can't be blamed for not voting for her. If you thought that as a result of a bereavement, she couldn't do the job you thought she should, you'd be remiss in voting for her. (note: that's assuming. I haven't commented on Mary O'Rourke's job - I'm not going to kick the woman when she's down)

212.2.179.66

Originally posted by sceptre


Guilty there as well (although Adam does it better:D). I'm an armchair pundit. There are reasons for that though. There's isn't a political party in the country I could join at the moment - I don't agree enough with the views of any party enough to join. And there isn't even one that I'd join and try to change - the difference of opinion is too much. And I wouldn't run for election on one issue & then sit in the Dail and just shut up or support someone after cutting a deal. That's something I'd see as abuse of democracy - appealing to a group based on one single emotive issue. Almost as bad as standing on a hate platform (another emotive issue perversion of democracy kind of thing)

Doesn't affect my right to have an opinion and express it. Or yours. I think most of us would hate to live in the kind of country where Joe Soap couldn't express his opinion. Without resorting to nasty Americanisms, if you thought you could convince someone of something to make the world a better place, you would catch the ball and run with it.

Now, assuming you thought Mary O'Rourke was not doing as good a job as she should, you can't be blamed for not voting for her. If you thought that as a result of a bereavement, she couldn't do the job you thought she should, you'd be remiss in voting for her. (note: that's assuming. I haven't commented on Mary O'Rourke's job - I'm not going to kick the woman when she's down)

Nicely put sceptre. If you noticed I never mentioned how good / or bad a Min I thought she was. Frankly I don't care. I just did not like the way everyone put her down without knowing the full facts. I don't, do you? As adam said They have a right to express their opinion. I beleive it is not fair to talk this way about anyone who cannot reply to what is being said. So maby I stepped a bit overboard and stuck my foot in. Sorry for any remarks I might have made that may have been insulting or whatever.

212.2.179.66

Cork

Jim Higgins Mayo has too lost his seat. I would put it down a party without decent policies or aspirations rather trhan his contributions on the Communications bill.

The Corinthian

Mary O'Rourke was an excellent example of the Peter Principle. She was a capable minister of Education during the early nineties, but she eventually got promoted to a role she was totally unsuited to.

Her handling of the privatisation of Telecom Eireann is a case in point and the fiasco that followed will regrettably overshadow much of the good she achieved previously in Education.

dahamsta

Anonymous, I have asked Dan Boyle (Green), Brendan Ryan (Labour) and Simon Coveney (FG) to meet with me after the election, to discuss both IrelandOffline and their parties, with a view to my possibly joining them. However, my reasoning for not standing in the election is simple: I haven't developed personal policies/opinions for many issues that are important to people, such as health, immigration, etc. Standing for election would be hypocritical without those policies, because the only options for me while standing on people's doorsteps would be to either: a) lie; or b) look like a buffoon. Option a) isn't an option for me, because one of the policies I have developed is openess and transparency in Government. And option b) would result in my not being elected. It was a common sense decision for me not to stand.

On the subject of Mary O'Rourke not being here to defend herself, Boards.ie is a neutral environment, she has just as much a right to post here as anyone else. Her not seeing my criticism is her problem, not mine. Please feel free to email her and let her know, so she can come and defend herself. That's if her minister@ email address works of course. Note the irony.

EDIT: On the matter of free speech, I don't recall telling you to stop voicing your opinion, I simply disagreed with you. On the subject of me being an armchair critic, feel free to contact David Long and ask him if he thinks I'm an armchair critic. He's far more qualified than you to make a statement about my contributions.

adam

oscarBravo

Why did Mary O'Rourke lose her seat?

Very simple answer: she alienated the people of Mullingar, and indeed everywhere outside of her own town of Athlone. She always had the attitude that her constituency responsibilities stopped somewhere west of Moate, and the people of Mullingar finally got fed up and voted Donie Cassidy into her seat. The same type of miscalculation by the Fianna Fáil local organisation cost junior minister Tom Moffat his seat in Mayo.

Speaking of which, I was at the Mayo count until the bitter end (4am!!), and:

Originally posted by Cork:
Jim Higgins Mayo has too lost his seat. I would put it down a party without decent policies or aspirations rather trhan his contributions on the Communications bill.

Put it down to personality politics. In Mayo there are core Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael votes that will never budge, and the rest is local and/or personality politics, hence Michael Ring's performance. Everyone here votes for the candidate that they hope will be able to do most for his/her local area, which means that the successful candidates are required to focus their efforts on the local area.

Which leaves Ballina knackered, as we haven't got a sitting TD for the first time in the history of the state. Bad and all as Moffat was, this morning's outcome makes for a gloomy five years ahead for us...

dahamsta

It's a pity about Higgins. I was very impressed with his contributions when the Communications Bill was being debated. I'm not sure there is anyone in FG capable of replacing him in that regard.

adam

Victor

Dear Mary,

Originally posted by 212.2.179.66
I have read posts here where as people asked if anyone in IOFFL or any of their supporters would like to run for the elections. I did not see one person put their hand up and go for it.

Age profile would have a lot to do with that. Also neither boards.ie not IOFFL are political groupings.

Originally posted by 212.2.179.66
Instead of knocking people who try, you try making a change with 100's of bosses telling you what you should and should not do.

But the problem was the government didn't "try" to do anything other than privatise Eircom. All too often, it did not provide leadership (perhaps too much too expect from government), it followed others initiatives and money. Just who are the "100's of bosses" you are referring to? Eircom managers? greedy unions? FF contributors? selfish interest groups (I won't necessarily include IOFFL in that)?

Originally posted by 212.2.179.66
In fairness to her that lady lost her husband and was never given a chance to grief or even get to grips with her loss. She just battled on through it all.

My comiserations. And in fairness, she should have either taken a break or those around her should have taken up the slack. It is difficult for anyone to make important decisions under pressure. It would appear neither happened.

Originally posted by 212.2.179.66
That about say's it all. And I am shocked to see that from you above all people after reading all you had to say on the Boards. I am not against people voicing their opinions. I am just against pople that sit in their armchairs like you and force their opinions on everyone else without trying to.... damn who am I to agrue with you? Your right of course.

I think dahamsta is one of the last people you can accuse of doing nothing.

Victor

Cork

Moaning and cribbing about Mary O Rourke will achieve nothing.

www.sensibletransport.com does not launch attacks on politicians.



attacks on politicians achieve nothing.
We need to lobby.

Launching personal attacks on Mary O Rourke is 100% crazy.

A

Victor

Originally posted by Cork
Launching personal attacks on Mary O Rourke is 100% crazy.

I see 2 direct references to Mary O Rourke's persona here, one reference to her as a "witch", which while injudicious is hardly that bad, I'm sure she heard many worse things in her life time, especially as a teacher. The second comment is by someone supporting her. As I see it all the other references are to her political record.

212.2.179.66

Originally posted by dahamsta
Anonymous
I do not know why you keep saying that as I leave my IP here every time I reply? This is not the first time I have seen this. Am I doing anything wrong that I should rectify?

, I have asked Dan Boyle (Green), Brendan Ryan (Labour) and Simon Coveney (FG) to meet with me after the election, to discuss both IrelandOffline and their parties, with a view to my possibly joining them. However, my reasoning for not standing in the election is simple: I haven't developed personal policies/opinions for many issues that are important to people, such as health, immigration, etc. Standing for election would be hypocritical without those policies, because the only options for me while standing on people's doorsteps would be to either: a) lie; or b) look like a buffoon.

You have meet the criteria... now what?

Option a) isn't an option for me, because one of the policies I have developed is openess and transparency in Government. And option b) would result in my not being elected. It was a common sense decision for me not to stand.

On the subject of Mary O'Rourke not being here to defend herself, Boards.ie is a neutral environment, she has just as much a right to post here as anyone else. Her not seeing my criticism is her problem, not mine. Please feel free to email her and let her know, so she can come and defend herself. That's if her minister@ email address works of course. Note the irony.

EDIT: On the matter of free speech, I don't recall telling you to stop voicing your opinion, I simply disagreed with you. On the subject of me being an armchair critic, feel free to contact David Long and ask him if he thinks I'm an armchair critic. He's far more qualified than you to make a statement about my contributions.

adam

Actually I was going to make a lenghtly reply. But its not worth it. Is it?. Your one guy I do not want to get into an arguement with from what I have seen. So to make it easy for you.... you win.

212.2.179.66

Originally posted by Victor
Dear Mary,

Age profile would have a lot to do with that. Also neither boards.ie not IOFFL are political groupings.

But the problem was the government didn't "try" to do anything other than privatise Eircom. All too often, it did not provide leadership (perhaps too much too expect from government), it followed others initiatives and money. Just who are the "100's of bosses" you are referring to? Eircom managers? greedy unions? FF contributors? selfish interest groups (I won't necessarily include IOFFL in that)?

My comiserations. And in fairness, she should have either taken a break or those around her should have taken up the slack. It is difficult for anyone to make important decisions under pressure. It would appear neither happened.

I think dahamsta is one of the last people you can accuse of doing nothing.

Victor

Your Armchair must be really "Comfortable" for you now Eh?

JabbaTheHut

That about say's it all. And I am shocked to see that from you above all people after reading all you had to say on the Boards

You see,the reason why people here prefer to see the minister gone is because of her performance relating to what this board and IOFFL is here for.She had other mandates in her job,but this board is particularly related to internet access,and the current cost of it.She had the power to change things,and didn't.

She's so fresh in everybody's mind at the moment because she blocked flat rate access for all internet users in the country,during a Dail debate,only 1 MONTH ago.Chances are you are paying per minute to access the net,including reading these boards,and will be for a good while more,unless you have other access,which is available to only a very few.This could have been changed soon,if it wasn't for Mary.OK,it may not be a cut and dried as that,but it would be a giant leap in the right direction.

I've followed these boards for quite a while,and most everybody here are decent people,that don't go knocking everybody when their down.But as it stands,with Mary O Rourke gone,maybe we will get somewhere now with whoever replaces her.

Although,maybe better the devil you know(or knew)

Victor

Originally posted by 212.2.179.66
Your Armchair must be really "Comfortable" for you now Eh?

Armchair no, straight-jacket, yes!

pascall

Originally posted by oscarBravo
Why did Mary O'Rourke lose her seat?

Very simple answer: she alienated the people of Mullingar, and indeed everywhere outside of her own town of Athlone. She always had the attitude that her constituency responsibilities stopped somewhere west of Moate, and the people of Mullingar finally got fed up and voted Donie Cassidy into her seat. The same type of miscalculation by the Fianna Fáil local organisation cost junior minister Tom Moffat his seat in Mayo.

Mary O Rourke never alienated the people of Mullingar or Westmeath lets get a few things straight here, as a person from Westmeath let me comment on this one. 1 if you look at the Mullingar vote for her it is up on the 97 count, she lost out in her neighbouring townslands because they were being asked to give Cassidy the number 1 and O'Rourke the number 2.

O' Rourke lost her seat because Donnie Cassidy took over 70% of the territory within the county. Henry Abbot who won the seat before in westmeath with a Mullingar base did not go out side the boundaries of Mullingar to get votes, Cassifdy was campaigning in places like Moate, Kilbeggan, Glasson all within 10 miles of athlone.

There was never 2 FF seats in Westmeath, if either had a farming base, there was a maybe, but they didn't. FG also has a strong core vote in the county and in fact it was up on the 97 count, so McGrath was always going to hold it.

O'Rourke should feel hard done by, Cassidy is a gangster like lawler and the only person getting Planning around Castlepollard and Mullingar is his companies. He owns the largest Business park in Mullingar at present and maybe a fortune off the farmer who sold it to him at farm acres prices.

He will not hold his seat in the next election as he can never deliever on ho his promises that he made, (If he does fair play I'll be living in probably the most well off county in Ireland)

Occidental

A quick summary of why Mary lost her seat

1. Mary has traditionally relied on transfers from failing FF candidates to see her over the quota. FF ran a second strong candidate in Westmeath, leaving her with no FF transfers.
2. Nicky McFadden did an excellent job for FG in Athlone.
3. Mary was caught lying over the National Transport Museum, which alienated her from many of the voters and worse still, gave further support to Cassidy.
4. Mary has done sod all for Athlone or Westmeath in general, for the last five years.


She did not loose her seat over the Eircom flotation or for anything she has or hasn’t done as Minister over the last five years.

Lastly, she does not need anyone to defend her, or to have pity for her. When backed into a corner she’s as formidable as Maggie Thatcher ever was.

pascall

Originally posted by Occidental
A quick summary of why Mary lost her seat

1. Mary has traditionally relied on transfers from failing FF candidates to see her over the quota. FF ran a second strong candidate in Westmeath, leaving her with no FF transfers.
2. Nicky McFadden did an excellent job for FG in Athlone.
3. Mary was caught lying over the National Transport Museum, which alienated her from many of the voters and worse still, gave further support to Cassidy.
4. Mary has done sod all for Athlone or Westmeath in general, for the last five years.


She did not loose her seat over the Eircom flotation or for anything she has or hasn’t done as Minister over the last five years.

Lastly, she does not need anyone to defend her, or to have pity for her. When backed into a corner she’s as formidable as Maggie Thatcher ever was.

Some very valid point OC but if you look at the votes Nicky McFadden did not do any better than any FG canidate before her. Her votes was more or less the same as in 97. O'Rourke lost out because her vote was DOWN in Moate, DOWN in Glasson, Down in Kilbeggan, all because the FF party asked those cumman's to vote Donnie 1 and Mary 2.

Athlone is propably one of the best of areas in the Ireland at present, it is in the early stages of being made a city, companies like ELAN and Erikkesson and countless others place Athlone as a thrieving employment sector. O'Rourke single handedly brought Athlone and its area into the BMW region when most wanted to keep Athlon out.

Mullingar has done very well for itself by the likes of Tom Bourke and Cassisdy, and O'Rourke has seen that it has gotten its fair share of wealth that was going out, in terms of roads infrastructure, railway's etc.

My beef is up is that the FF party could allow a gangster like Cassidy get perferential treatment over O'Rourke. Cassidy has being parading himself in front opf ever lens that took its cover off in the 18 months before the elections.

I agree that Eircom did not effect O'Rourke's seat, as most of the cute Iarmhi whores who bought the shares sold them with 5 days as we were told.

Occidental

Pascall,

The original deal was that the county was to be split down the middle, with everything Northeast of Ballymore going to Cassidy and everything Southwest to O'Rourke. If Cassidy or some of the local FF party campaigners didn't stick to this rule then Mary was more than capable of taking them to task over it.

The local feel in Athlone seems to be that McFadden did take a lot of No1’s from O’Rourke. Don’t forget it’s her first time running and as such her vote was a lot higher than FG expected, even before the FG disaster unfolded across the rest of the country.

Of course with Cassidy being one of Aherns best mates, it’s very possible that many of the local FF party had seen the writing on the wall and dumped O’Rourke for the new meal ticket on the block.

Still can’t understand why the lying over the transport museum, as I think if she had endorsed it she would have left Cassidy dead in the water.

pascall

Originally posted by Occidental
Pascall,


Still can’t understand why the lying over the transport museum, as I think if she had endorsed it she would have left Cassidy dead in the water.

very true.

I was looking at the Westmeath Examiner and I see that the Bookies didn't even give O'Rourke a price for her to lose her seat she was that sure.

Were you disappointed that the Mullingar count didn't even warrant a live braodcast, seeing as it was a crucial seat for FF if they got it?? Typical of RTE overlooking the county.

As a Kinnegad Man i will find it very interesting to see if Cassidy even comes near fulfilling half his promises?

Occidental

Pascall,

RTE did have a live interview with Mary when it was down to her and McGrath. They were about to go over to the final count in Mullingar when something else got in the way and by the time they got back to it, the result had already been pasted across the screen.

Agree that Cassidy has a lot to do, although I think finishing off Longford-Westmeath General will be enough to get him back in. If he delivers the museum and the oft mentioned government offices I can see him in a safe seat for the next twenty years(providing he doesn't turn up in too many tribunals).

Be interesting to see if/where Cassidy features in Aherns government, as I've a funny feeling he doesn't intend to hang around on the back benches. Plenty of stepping on fingers and in party fighting to come?

pascall

Which to you think will come sooner occie,

Doonie being linked to a tribunal or a Character based on him in Bull Island????

Occidental

I'm sure a wig on a lead character is already being planned. As for the tribunals, he's a member of FF and he knows lots of builders, nuff said.

212.2.179.66

From what I have seen so far I must take it that everyone here has been in a Political Shoe at one stage or another and that everyone knows what goes on behind the closed doors of Polo tics. If this is true then I can't wait for all the changes ye are going to make for the better. (don't get me wrong) If everything your saying here is true then things can only get better now that she is gone.... right? I mean let's face it.... people are not remembered for all their achievements.... just the 1 thing they do wrong even if it is not their fault. So let's see how far we get with the new Minister (whoever).


212.2.179.66

212.2.179.66

Originally posted by Victor
Armchair no, straight-jacket, yes!

It show's