Sunday 26th SBP RedC Poll - FF 26% (-10) FG 33% (+5)

[markspark08]

thats the thing he never has had any real job, he sat on backbenches for so long,

[wombat]

thats the thing he never has had any real job, he sat on backbenches for so long,

So what did Cowen work at?

[markspark08]

he has been in several important positions in government, where as kenny has never, im just sayin i think he wouldnt be a good leader where as others would be such as richard bruton, kenny lacks a set of testicles

[Myles_per_hour]

thats the thing he never has had any real job, he sat on backbenches for so long,

Yet more FF smears, I see.

For the record Kenny has been

• a school-teacher and acting principal
• Minister of State for Education
• Minister of State for Labour
• Minister for Trade and Tourism
• directly involved for the relaunch of the St Patrick's Day parade the St Patrick's festival
• Chaired EU Council of Ministers meetings
• co-chaired WTO talks
• Member of the New Irish Forum
• Fine Gael Chief Whip
• Fine Gael spokesman on Education
• Fine Gael spokesman on Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands

He led Fine Gael to

• the first ever victory over Fianna Fáil in a nationwide election in the Europeans in 2004
• near parity with Fianna Fáil in the 2004 locals
• the highest comparative increase in Dáil seats of any political party since independence, beating the records of Jack Lynch in 1977 and Dick Spring in 1992
• the first ever outpolling of Fianna Fáil in an opinion poll

Within 6 years he turned his party from being the brink of collapse to beating FF in one election, parity in another, and now overtaking them in the polls.

Cowen, in contrast, has been

• Minister for Health (where he was seen as a disaster)
• Minister for Foreign Affairs (where he was seen as one of the worst)
• Minister for Finance (where he screwed up the Celtic Tiger)
• Taoiseach (where he plunked the state into an economic crisis, presided over a government whose budget fell to pieces within 2 weeks, lost Lisbon, and has been completely accident prone, seeing his party plunge to the lowest support level since 1927).

[corkscribe]

if there was an election 2moro i still dont think the people would like to see enda kenny lead the country, the man is incapable

And you base this assumption on what, exactly?

The fact of the matter is that Enda Kenny took a party that had been cut to shreds and left for dead by the electorate at the 2002 election, and brought it to within a few seats of power five years later. In the interim that party won five out of thirteen seats in the European elections and took control of a number of major local authorities following the local polls. Surely this must point the man posessing a definite political nous and skil. I for one would not object to seeing those skills at least given a chance in Government..

[Demosthones]

as much chance as there would have been a productivity increase associated with the original benchmarking aggreements you mean ;-)

perhaps benchmarking was only ever going to be supported if it increased the amount of money going into the public servants pocket regardless of it being an accurate comparison with the private sector.

ffs most public libraries close at lunch time and bank holidays!! how about the public at least get improved service levels from their public services.

Some libraries close lunch times, these are usually smller branches with lower staff numbers where it is more efficient to have all lunches out of the way rather than have poor quality service created by not enough staff to help customers.

Larger branches will be open six days a week not closing for lunch, with a certain number of late evenings eg. from 10 in the morning to 8 at night usually. Part-time branches in smaller communities and villages have shorter opening hours usually in the morning and evening when people ave time to attend the library with elderly relatives and chidren. On average nationally full time libraries are open 38hrs per week and part time libraries are open for 16hrs on average. These part-time branches are staffed by one person.

Can you tell me were you would like to imrove service levels accross the board?

LGMSB - Local Government Management Services Board

Why exactly sould library staff forego their entitlement to a bank holiday off exactly, if we worked a bank holiday we would presumably get the same entitlements with regard to bank holiday working than others get so that would be a false economy in my opinion.

[markspark08]

i just like many many others think that there are people even in his own party more capable of leading this country, hence why there are rumors about coveney and co looking for his head

[Activist Aido]

Re: short memories - yes, historically that's been the case. But remember the outfall from the Budget Fiasco will drip on for months because we've yet to have the Finance Bill (20 Nov., I think) and the concrete consequences of change will only take hold in early 2009, a few months before the June elections.
Taking a wider, sociological view, my sense of it is that's there's an emerging new zeitgeist in the country. This is one in which there'll be a transition to a more communitarian and socially just society and less 'mé-feinism': the party's over and we'll be forced to be prudent to in both our private and public finances. Admittedly, such an transition is a minority sport, but as most changes starts on the margins, I'd expect the more, reflective responsible Irish citizen to shift voting patterns towards the Oppostion. The tipping point will, I guess, hinge on the 'adolescent' Greens, who's ongoing self-delusion and naeivety will catch up with them, when parents, teachers and kids remind them of the (excellent) General Election committments!

I say that as a former, very active Green Party member who was proud to campaign for an enlightened manifesto; but one whose social conscience has been jettisoned in the interest of dubious power. In government, but not in power.........?

[wombat]

i just like many many others think that there are people even in his own party more capable of leading this country, hence why there are rumors about coveney and co looking for his head

I think FF would be better off worrying about their own leader

[goosebump]

Some libraries close lunch times, these are usually smller branches with lower staff numbers where it is more efficient to have all lunches out of the way rather than have poor quality service created by not enough staff to help customers.

In fairness, that's a load of crap.

I use my local library and the only time I interface with a member of staff is when they take the 50c from me for the book I want to take out. How much more 'customer service' can you put into stamping a book? I'd much prefer if the library was open during the lunch hour.

Libraries aren't the worst, however.

Now County Enterprise Boards, and VECs, that's a different story altogether.