Are Donegal people embarrassed about McDaid

After today Yes i answered wrong sorry

donegal produced this guy and you are asking are they embarrassed about mcdaid

lol

rossie1977 wrote: »

donegal produced this guy and you are asking are they embarrassed about mcdaid

lol

He has more money that you do and people choose to listen to him McDaid just takes end of

MungoMan wrote: »

I don't know much about McDaid, or about politics in general.

But every time I hear about McDaid in the news, it's never something great, it's never something to make me proud about an elected representative.

He won't give up his pension (because in his words, it would be bad for democracy)

And then today, I read he attended only 1 in 6 votes in Leinster house (basically he turned up only about 15 times to Leinster house during the year)

And a few years ago, he was driving the wrong way down a dual carriageway (or was it motorway), over the limit with alcohol.

Are Donegal people proud of McDaid, do those who voted for him feel let down ?

He certainly has his faults but at the same time it's refreshing to see an independently minded politician who is not afraid to speak his mind. He doesn't just say what he thinks either the people or his Chief Whip want to hear. Remember he was effectively thrown out of the FF parliamentary party for voting against the government on the cervical cancer vaccination vote, which none of his colleagues did.

Degag wrote: »

I haven't read or done to much interest into this but I can say for a fact that

a) Nobody should be allowed draw a pension while they still work.
b) Nobody should be allowed draw more than one pension.

Disgraceful IMO.

The Ministerial pensions system is generous but as a result of his work he is entitled to it. I agree the system has to change but it's not up to the begrudging Irish public to decide who they don't like this week and demand they give up their pension/salary/car etc.

If someone is entitled to a pension they should be allowed to draw it whether they work or not. If someone works in the civil service and takes early retirement after 35 years they are entitled to a pension. Whether they decide to work in their local Centra for the next ten years is their own business.

Fair play to McDaid for not giving into the witch hunt like Maire Geoghan-Quinn and the others.

paulanthony wrote: »

The Ministerial pensions system is generous but as a result of his work he is entitled to it. I agree the system has to change but it's not up to the begrudging Irish public to decide who they don't like this week and demand they give up their pension/salary/car etc.

If someone is entitled to a pension they should be allowed to draw it whether they work or not. If someone works in the civil service and takes early retirement after 35 years they are entitled to a pension. Whether they decide to work in their local Centra for the next ten years is their own business.

Fair play to McDaid for not giving into the witch hunt like Maire Geoghan-Quinn and the others.

Come on, there is a huge difference. First of all if Joe Soap takes early retirement after 35 years and works in a Centra for the next 10 as you said, it's probably because his pension may not be good enough to last into his later years, therefore it may be simple necessity. Also, the pittance he is likely to be earning in Centra compared to the salary earned by the ministers plus expenses etc. makes the point pretty moot.

Also, afaik, a td is able to draw a pension after only two years service in the Dail, not 35. These guys are earning three times the average industrial wage plus expenses. Alot of them sit in the Dail a handful of times a year. They should not be allowed to do this, plain and simple!

Degag wrote: »

Come on, there is a huge difference. First of all if Joe Soap takes early retirement after 35 years and works in a Centra for the next 10 as you said, it's probably because his pension may not be good enough to last into his later years, therefore it may be simple necessity. Also, the pittance he is likely to be earning in Centra compared to the salary earned by the ministers plus expenses etc. makes the point pretty moot.

Also, afaik, a td is able to draw a pension after only two years service in the Dail, not 35. These guys are earning three times the average industrial wage plus expenses. Alot of them sit in the Dail a handful of times a year. They should not be allowed to do this, plain and simple!

I know what you're saying and I agree that it's too generous, lenient etc for both TD's and Ministers in terms of remuneration and benefits after their term.

However, the fact remains that this is the deal they signed up for when they were elected. It should be altered for future ministers but it's not right, in my opinion, to penalise politicians simply because they are politicians and some tabloid journalist or Joe Duffy caller decides to start spouting populist waffle about politicians being too well paid.

The fact remains that these people, like other public servants and private workers are entitled to the remuneration and benefits they signed up for and shouldn't be forced to individually give up these benefits because of a media driven public witch hunt.

If they want to decide themselves to take a break in pay, fair play to them.

However, the idea that they are somehow morally corrupt because they refuse to give up what they are entitled to is unjust and, frankly, a worrying sign of where this country's attitude is heading in terms of how it views people with money and decent incomes.

MungoMan wrote: »

Are Donegal people embarrassed about McDaid?

If not, they should be.

As someone mentioned earlier in the thread, I live in Dublin and was embarrassed when Bertie was re-elected.

Did anyone hear McDaid on Newstalk earlier today?

http://www.newstalk.ie/news/news-headlines/mcdaid-defends-dail-attendance-record/

He insists he represents his constituency well and says many of the votes don’t matter.

“We’ve got to change, because the whole thing has become irrelevant” he said.

“The second point that I would say there with regards to the votes, most of them are to do with pow-wows in the order of business – kicking people out and the order of business”.

“Things that are totally irrelevant, they’re not actually to do with the legislative process; and I’m not trying to make excuses for myself” he added.

If the political system is irrelevant Jimbob - fuck off, leave the pay packet, leave the pension, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

FunnyStuff wrote: »

Yr right..... how dare we expect our rich overlords to give up all their lavish accessories that we so generously bestow upon them. Perhaps we should all write a nationwide letter of apology, promising to give up the remainder of our own unwarranted life's savings, so that our loving masters can bathe themselves in the glow of their eternal divinity.

If that's your way of saying you pay tax, therefore you pay (or generously bestow upon them) TD's* salaries, therefore you should be able to decide when it's time to take it back, then I'm afraid thats not how it works.

Should you be allowed to decide to cut teachers, nurses and ambulance drivers back to the minimum wage because you pay their wages?

We live in a capitalist society. Different people get paid different salaries, benefits, pensions etc for different jobs. Just because people have suddenly decided, in this post celtic tiger era, that the system of politicians pay isn't to their liking then by all means write a letter to the Dept of the Taoiseach or the Irish Times urging a review and overhaul of this system. But leave individuals alone.



*or rich overlords