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Politicians who never made it to the big time despite high profile starts

  • 12-01-2022 3:43pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 381 ✭✭


    Ciaran Cannon famously took over the leadership of the PDs in 2008 and pledged to rebuild the party from grassroots up, It wasn't long after that he jumped ship to FG but all he's ever had is a couple of Micky Mouse Junior miniseries.



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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 6,484 ✭✭✭Allinall



    Post edited by Allinall on


  • Registered Users Posts: 544 ✭✭✭Yakov P. Golyadkin


    Justin McAleese. Tried a run in Dublin Rathdown with FF but never gained any traction.



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,370 ✭✭✭lawrencesummers


    Sinead shepard

    Dan Boyle



  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    George Lee



  • Registered Users Posts: 5,189 ✭✭✭Brucie Bonus


    Ivan Yates



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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,194 ✭✭✭hawley


    Royston Brady. Thought he was going to be the next Taoiseach



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,768 ✭✭✭Odelay


    Ivan Yates did quite well. 20 years in politics and was Minister for Agriculture.



  • Registered Users Posts: 11,286 ✭✭✭✭Collie D


    Sean Haughey. A TD for 25 of the last 30 years. Genuinely never hear of the guy other than when the election posters go up. Probably someone who was elected on the same family name that has also held him back from higher things.

    Think he was Junior Minister for School Buses once.



  • Registered Users Posts: 40,060 ✭✭✭✭ohnonotgmail


    he only got to be as high as TD because of his name. how many times did he fail to be elected as td? he always came across as wet and spineless.



  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Lucinda Creighton, was always viewed as potential Taoiseach material but destroyed self by creating that Renua mess.



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  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 47,995 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    an ex colleague of mine was very active in FF years ago; IIRC one of the reasons he left was that it became clear to him (because his home constituency was what is now dublin bay north) was that it was considered that to be loyal to FF meant being loyal to the haugheys, and thus sean haughey.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,615 ✭✭✭El Tarangu


    Averil Power was very high-profile there for while, seemed destined for great things in FF at the time.



  • Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,084 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Never even got elected as a TD. Her profile was heavily assisted by her husband being senior in INM.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,615 ✭✭✭El Tarangu


    Noel Rock - out of politics now, but still finds time to get in the occasional spat with Maria Bailey on Twitter.



  • Registered Users Posts: 2,108 ✭✭✭CGI_Livia_Soprano
    Holding tyrants to the fire


    He was great. A real Celtic Tiger mayor and glossy magazine stalwart.



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 47,995 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    do you mean he's out of politics in that he currently doesn't hold an elected seat, or has he actually left politics?



  • Registered Users Posts: 381 ✭✭Ballycommon Mast


    Back around 2006 when I first started to hear young FG Cllr Leo Varadkar as a frequent guest on Sam Smyth's Today FM Sunday show, I thought he'd soon vanish into obscurity like John Deasy had.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,615 ✭✭✭El Tarangu


    I heard him on a radio piece on the theme of 'life after politics', and he said that he had entered into business and was happy with the extra time for his family, etc.

    He's still young, so who knows, stranger things have happened.



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 47,995 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    i chatted with him once on the doorstep. a friendly, affable guy, as most politicians are when they're looking for your vote. he left when he realised i had no intention of voting for him.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,615 ✭✭✭El Tarangu


    Terrence Flanagan - was young candidate, had an enormous grassroots machine behind him. I don't think he had been much in the eye of the wider public until he had disastrous radio interview that the interviewer cut short out of pity - not 'disastrous' in the conventional sense that they had him on the ropes on a policy issue or anything, but he literally could not form a sentence, very uncomfortable listening. Last seen joining Renua.


    Brody Sweeney, of O'Briens Sandwiches fame, had a bit of fanfare when he joined FG about 10-15 years ago. I am not sure he was elected to anything in the end.



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  • Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,084 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Sweeney didn't get elected.

    FG have a slight habit of "celeb" candidates, they often get elected too. Lord Mountcharles (didn't get elected), Mairead McGuinness (TV presenter, got elected), Peter Fitzpatrick (GAA manager, got elected), Kenny Egan (got elected), Yemi Adenuga (Gogglebox, got elected). Seems common in Meath/Louth particularly for some reason!



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,232 ✭✭✭FintanMcluskey


    As well as being the youngest TD elected at 21.

    He left politics of his own accord



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,615 ✭✭✭El Tarangu


    I never realised that Mairead McGuinness had been a television presenter - she is certainly far from a political lightweight, which I (perhaps uncharitably) would expect these sort of candidates to be.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,615 ✭✭✭El Tarangu


    Also John O'Leary to add to the list, former Dublin goalkeeper (though he ran in Wicklow).



  • Moderators, Politics Moderators Posts: 38,412 Mod ✭✭✭✭Seth Brundle


    She did a degree in UCD in Agricultural Science and moved into media where she became a presenter for Ear to the Ground. If my memory is correct, she also wrote for the Farmers Journal. I met her in UCD long before she moved into politics and she did come across as quite astute.



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,370 ✭✭✭Brussels Sprout


    This was going to be my reply. I remember visiting Dublin in 2004 and his face was on every lamppost as he was running for Europe at the time. There was a few different poster variations but all in the same style - they had a big picture of him and then some nonsense, meaningless, word on top like "Energy", "Passion", "Drive". This was the Celtic Tiger era so pretentious guff was all over the place but this was another level. He was the Lord Mayor of Dublin at the time and it seemed like he was going to be the next big star of FF. His campaign ended up flaming out though and according to wikipedia he lives in the USA now.



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,768 ✭✭✭Odelay


    Having heard her speak, she may well be considered as a presidential candidate.



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,370 ✭✭✭Brussels Sprout


    Kate O'Connell: She was tasked with taking out Lucinda Creighton in 2016 and she did just that. Got plenty of media appearances as a young, attractive pharmacist with good communication skills. The sky looked to be the limit for her. Things went wrong pretty quickly though. She backed the wrong horse in the 2017 leadership challenge, said some stupid things and made a mortal enemy of Leo Varadkar. Losing her seat in 2020 was bad but getting passed over for a Seanad nomination and then, worst of all, being completely overlooked for the nomination to run in last year's by-election.

    She claims that she hasn't ruled out a return to politics but she's burned a lot of bridges in FG so it's difficult to see a path ahead for her especially while Varadkar is still leader of the party.



  • Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,084 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Wouldn't be the first presidential candidate, or indeed president, to have been a TV presenter if so - McAleese also was!



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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,615 ✭✭✭El Tarangu


    In more recent times -Saoirse McHugh.

    I know that presidential candidates garner quite a lot of coverage as a rule, but she really did receive enormous exposure in television interviews and panel shows - on a whole range of topics, aside from the presidential election - for someone who never been elected to any position, not even councillor.



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