Micheal Martin - society to blame for a "lazy" consensus over how the country was run

bonerm wrote: »

Under Fianna Fail the stadium doesn't even get built in the first place.

And that is their biggest regret...

Sure me ma voted for them, I am not going to change now.

They are to blame though.

They managed the country's finances, not us.
I don't expect them to have a crystal ball, but the country should be run like a business, don't overstretch or you will go bankrupt.

How he can say anything like that after all the money that was thrown around is nonsense.

The amount of quangos they created was outrageous.

"Do we really need another seperate body for that?"
"Sure we do, don't worry we're loaded, let the good times roll."

The brainless mob mentality that is shown in threads like this is the same brainless mentality that contributed to the downturn. People were not just idly enjoying the boom, there were many who were actively upset that the government was not being generous enough. Every budget was not complete until newspapers, TV etc had the usual "a great opportunity wasted" whingebag stories.

Basically some people can be short sighted, selfish and ignorant of what is the right thing to do. Sadly we have a political system which rewards short term politics and panders to these short sighted, selfish and ignorant traits. Of course FF made disastrous mistakes. Of course they should have made the right decisions and ensured the country remained somewhat stable. Of course they should have responded to warnings of a property bubble which were flagged as early as 2000. The failure to implement sufficient regulation and accountability in the financial sector is a terrible, terrible error which we will suffer from for a long time.

But to do the right thing all the time would have meant political suicide and brought in a different set of similar self-serving politicians who would have made similar poor decisions. Maybe not the same poor decisions, but they would have responded to the whims of the public or suffered defeat in the next election.

Until we get true electoral reform and get local BS out of national politics, we won't have true change. There should be more people coming up with arguments like the one Dermot Desmond recently published and which was reprinted in Saturdays Irish Times.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0212/1224289635945.html

parker kent wrote: »

The brainless mob mentality that is shown in threads like this is the same brainless mentality that contributed to the downturn...........

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0212/1224289635945.html

Read the article. Mr Desmond makes alot of changes and dosn't seem to notice that the politics we have wouldn't work in any bluddy parliament. There is no debate, all decisions are made behind closed doors among party members and then statements are released in a performance piece in the Dail. The Dail has little or no real function anymore, that's the fault of the people who keep electing corrupt cronies.

The answer to our problems is to stop electing these bluddy cronies. Judging by the polls people have not learnt one iota in the last few years.

squod wrote: »

Read the article. Mr Desmond makes alot of changes and dosn't seem to notice that the politics we have wouldn't work in any bluddy parliament. There is no debate, all decisions are made behind closed doors among party members and then statements are released in a performance piece in the Dail. The Dail has little or no real function anymore, that's the fault of the people who keep electing corrupt cronies.

The answer to our problems is to stop electing these bluddy cronies. Judging by the polls people have not learnt one iota in the last few years.

His suggestions are an effort to change the way we think about politics and to lead to less cronies being elected. If you make the political changes that many people are suggesting (not just Desmond, but he was the most recent so I used his article) then we would have a completely different environment. There would be debate and public decisions.

You are projecting your problems with past mistakes onto possible future solutions. It is understandable to think it will never change, but it never actually will change if people keep thinking that!

skelliser wrote: »

Tell me what makes Desmond an authority on political reform considering his past relationships with FF?

Have you read the article? Do you agree with what he has said or not?

A friendship with Charlie Haughey does not mean that in 2011 he could not write an article that has some ideas that are useful. I don't care where good ideas come from, I just want to hear good ideas. Not that AH is exactly the place I expect to read good ideas.