George Lee resigns from Fine Gael and as a TD

[Fantasia]

Well said.
You will allways be the the real Taoiseach in my eyes.

[Fantasia]

Well said. quote=FutureTaoiseach;2440896]So elitist to expect to be running the show after nine months. Tut tut. [/quote]oops..

You will allways be the the real Taoiseach in my eyes.

[Pabilito]

George is a hero.

He had a nice cushy public service number earning around 150K plus a free pension but he threw it all up for his principles.

Here's to you George. I salute you, you showed up irish politics for the sham it is!!.. small letters until the English capital letters are earned.

Your day will come.

[uriah]

George is a hero.

He had a nice cushy public service number earning around 150K plus a free pension but he threw it all up for his principles.

Here's to you George. I salute you, you showed up irish politics for the sham it is!!.. small letters until the English capital letters are earned.

Your day will come.

I was under the impression that he is giving up his Dáil seat to return to his higher-paid job in RTE where his true brilliance and superiority is recognised and he gets the star treatment he (thinks) he deserves.
Brian Dobson thinks he's a 'thoroughbred'.

[myksav]

Perhaps...Myk.....though if you're serious about making a difference...(when all about you seem to be chugging along)...you go out of your way to stir things up...with well researched proposals...and you keep pi**ing people off till they take notice!!

Seems to work for me!!

Apparently, and unfortunately, that doesn't work in politics. A Party member gets too irritating and they get sidelined. Nothing so crass as being kicked out of the Party, just political inertia until the offender leaves 'of his own accord', not by will of the Party.

Can't remember if it was Bruton or Kenny today that said that Fine Gael's position has to be one of reacting to what the Gov't does or says, which I find amazingly dim. They should be pre-empting what the Gov't say/do, instead of dancing to the tune FF picks.

How many times has Kenny brought Fine Gael into Gov't since he became leader?

[FutureTaoiseach]

Great GL song on VB just now.

[constitutionus]

Great GL song on VB just now.

yeah caught that just now, great craic

[spidermom]

Apparently, and unfortunately, that doesn't work in politics. A Party member gets too irritating and they get sidelined. Nothing so crass as being kicked out of the Party, just political inertia until the offender leaves 'of his own accord', not by will of the Party.

Can't remember if it was Bruton or Kenny today that said that Fine Gael's position has to be one of reacting to what the Gov't does or says, which I find amazingly dim. They should be pre-empting what the Gov't say/do, instead of dancing to the tune FF picks.

How many times has Kenny brought Fine Gael into Gov't since he became leader?

Will have to stop posting if I keep saying pos things about FG....but they also said they were working hard researching and discussing and brainstorming to come up with alternative and productive counter policies to the government...(and for their manifesto)


I just felt from all of Georges media appearances yesterday...and pat kenny fluffed on the "well what policies or ideas did you come up with George??" question....one of the FGers today said he didn't even convene a meeting of the commitee he was chair of....(.might be spinning)....but one thing is for sure...you need to persuade,cajole,hastle,flirt and annoy if you want your ideas heard!!

[Pabilito]

I was under the impression that he is giving up his Dáil seat to return to his higher-paid job in RTE where his true brilliance and superiority is recognised and he gets the star treatment he (thinks) he deserves.
Brian Dobson thinks he's a 'thoroughbred'.

I admire George for taking a risk. Not normally associated with someone in a Public Service job... I agree that the RTE bunch seem to regale him as if he had done somthing unusual.

Seems in RTE that you get the star treatment if you are part of the furniture. However, I think George has gone beyond the norm and shown us all that we can individually make a difference by breaking the mould..

[hiding behind a poster]

Having been out of the country since last Thursday (and thank you to those who showed such concern as to my whereabouts), there I was enjoying a nice getaway, until my phone started to combust around lunchtime yesterday. So anyway, rather than read through 1,300 posts, this is my opinion:

Firstly, its obviously a bad story for FG. Lee was a big asset, with name-recognition that many Ministers would lose a limb for, and a great media asset. He'd have been a star attack dog at the next election, so losing him is a blow in that respect, as well as knocking a hole in the "look at us" strategy of Bruton, Lee, Varadkar and O'Donnell embarrassing the FF economic team of Lenihan and, er, Coughlan..... So there's no good way of looking at that side of it. Having said that, the whole affair tells us something about Lee - namely that, with an attitude like that to the people around him, he'd be a disaster either on the front bench or in Cabinet. And that would even apply to a majority government - because like all teams, cabinets and front benches have to take decisions, with varying levels of agreement or enthusiasm amongst its members. If Lee is gonna flounce out every time his view isn't automatically accepted as the only one, then he won't go far in any team-orientated environment. So while Lee would have been a great asset in getting us to government, he could have been a right pain when we got there.

The seond issue is obviously about Enda Kenny - and again, there's simply no way of saying this is good for him, because it isn't. TDs of all parties, but especially the big two, have always been an extremely hard-nosed bunch, and the current FG parliamentary party are no different. If they feel that Kenny as leader puts winning the next election at risk, then they'll do something about it - but in this respect, I'd caution the likes of KeithM and friends that TDs are capable of seeing a much bigger picture than obsessing over a few media interviews and Dail performances. The next RedC poll will almost definitely see FG down a few points - but just as the MRBI poll taken in the immediate aftermath of Lee's selection (showing FG at 38%) was misleading, then so too will this one. But Kenny undoubtedly has to up his game, there's no doubt about that. And how he performs in the next couple of months are critical to his future as leader.

Finally, I noticed on an early page of this thread (before I'd decided that life's too short to read 1,300 posts) that some posters were claiming that this whole thing shows that FG are just a time-servers party - that you put in your years, you don't rock the boat, and eventually, "when its your turn", you get onto the front bench. And that thus, FG were unable to handle someone with talent who wasn't gonna hang around. And quite frankly, thats boll0cks. If it was true, then the front bench would include PJ Sheehan, Paul Connaughton, Padraig McCormack and John Perry, while there'd be no Leo Varadkar, Olwyn Enright, Brian Hayes or Simon Coveney on it. There's also a notion that somehow businesses are so much better at promoting people than political parties, but its a false notion. Businesses are in a position to headhunt people who are already a proven success in the field that business operates in, and obviously they then put them where their talents are best deployed. But NO-ONE gets promoted to the board on their first day on the basis of their exam results, or what they said in the interview. And Lee, while proven in one area, was new to another one, and thus needed to time to find his feet. That was shown with his suicidal PQ that he almost asked, about the potential savings in chopping 10 weeks off maternity leave. It doesn't matter how good you are, or how much conviction you have, if you do things that are just plain stupid, you won't get anywhere. And that was. That kind of thing, if produced by a potential minister during an election campaign, would be a seat-loser with bells on - and without the seats to be in power, you can't use your talents in the service of the people. So taking a bit of time to learn the basics of your new job, before insisting you should decide company strategy, isn't always such a bad thing.

Just one last point - on the flight home today, I nearly fell out of my seat when I heard that the pilot in command was..... Captain Mike Noonan. Honestly. Of all days. I swear that happened. If you don't believe me, ask Aer Lingus.....

But not an omen, I hope.