George Lee resigns from Fine Gael and as a TD

[O'Loingsigh]

If nothing else we have confirmation that the Blueshirts do not discuss economics and have no ideas for the future. How the hell can the public be asked to vote confidence in such a shallow and empty party !!

Here trolly trolly trolly!

[David Cochrane]

My personal view in this, is that Fine Gael have completely messed up - they got a heavy hitter to inject a bit of fresh blood into their party nine months ago, and rather than make use of him they confined him to the back-benches. Fine Gael have gotten into a remarkable genre of arrogance of late, they feel the next election will see them on the Government benches, as if it's their right.

If Fine Gael want to lead this country, they have to show leadership, and provide solutions. There are hundreds of thoroughly impressive comments on this thread that FG hacks should take note of.

I do think that it's time for Enda to go. I personally think there's been too much time for Fine Gael to show leadership, yet it's utterly lacking, especially by Enda Kenny. There are so many unemployed and so many more to come, yet FG are simply riding the wave of unpopularity of Fianna Fail. That's no way for Enda Kenny to run a party.

But George Lee is partially to blame too. He's treated politics as his play thing, firstly he took a leave of absense of a job we were paying for (in RTE) to run for the Dail and we paid for the by-election, he got elected, we were paying his salary and that of his staff who are now obviously unemployed, and if he returns to RTE we'll be paying his salary again as well as another byelection in Dublin South - for a man who's talked about waste, he's surely set an example at that. That is the most utterly pathetic thing of all. If he has any decency, and meant any single word he uttered before, (especially) during or after his election he'll resign his safe cushy RTE job and slum it like the people he so passionately claimed to want to help (before getting elected).

There are many today who are saying that George Lee's resignation from politics makes them more cynical about politicians, that may be the case, but it leaves me deeply cynical if the man ever meant a single word he said in the first place.

There were enough egos in Leinster House before June of last year, it needed better than that, I don't think it got it.

[riker1969]

Who will win By election and Will FG vote be higher than FF?

[Edo]

Missed it. Was it that good?

Well KN,

I watched the interview in the company of 2 die hard FFers ,who naturally are laughing their heads off, my ma who is in the Labour party and my auld lad who is in the golf club........

The first reaction from all of us was "Who the F. does he think he is?" -

If he has resigned and doesn't want to comment anymore on it - why is he on every station and why come on the 6.1 news?

I have no idea what the fallout is going to be in regard to this - most FG people I know are still on the smelling salts coming around.................if anything - I first heard about it at lunchtime and my gut reaction was - the leadership have dropped the ball big time here - now after watching the interview - Lee did himself no favours at all - if anything , in true Irish style - Kenny actually comes across as a human being and George as a total prima donna and Kenny might get some sympathy out of this .........bizarre...........

he said his reason for going was that he was getting no input into economic policy - I don't know - he does a valid point in regard to that - but in that FG is no different than any other of the mainstream parties....surely to god he could see that Rome wasn't built in a day.........................

Then again..............this is me with me devious hat on...................Maybe Lee was expecting the Gov to fall last year.............it doesn't look likely to fall before the end of 2011 now.......Did George read the runes..........no gov position for 2 years...........2 more years of politiking and trying to get a word in edgeways in the media from the opposition benches............leave of absence coming to an end soon...............Charlie Bird will be rescued from the USA.................position available in DC and you can comment all you like....................I dont know...............If I had actually resigned everytime I threathened to quit unless somebody listened to me - Hell I would have been looking for a new job every year................he got what he wanted politically from Kenny last week..................Ah something doesn't weigh up here - or else he is the most naive individual I've ever met............

[Breadan O'Connor]

FG are hoist by their own petard on this one!

They made a big deal of George Lee to begin with

Now he's walked and they are left looking like fools!

This is the best gift FF have got in a long while but maybe the real winners, at least in Dublin, might be Labour!

[O'Loingsigh]

Why couldn't you have put that on the first page? would have saved the rest of us 80 odd pages of rubbish....

We should have known better than to hope for change.

(re DC's post on last page)

[Craiced]

I had high hopes when Lee declared for FG:




I was puzzled afterwards as to why he hadn't had impact... now it turns out he was muzzled

The people saying "only 9 months in the job, what did FG owe him ?" are missing the point

After 6 weeks in a job I was qualified for: I'd be expecting to make impact... by 6 months I'd expect to be totally at home. Lee was exceptionally well qualified for politics in the current climate

• Proven polished media commentator
• Solid economics credentials (Msc from LSE, epxerience with Central Bank etc)
• Track record of working in commercial sector (Riada Stockbrokers)
• Track record of being right with his predictions
• Solid trust with the public
• ... but most of all: a true sense of public duty

Fine Gael owed it to the country to use him better... they should have been falling over themselves trying to figure out how to use him... instead they muzzled him.

George should have hit the ground running, been given major responsibilities commensurate with his experience and proven ability ... instead he was made toe the part line, a sad ethos of mediocrity, parochialism and nepotism. We all know now: there's no room for true professionals in Fine Gael: just hacks.

cYp

+1

It is utter nonsense to talk of "bedding in time", "learning the ropes" and all those other clichés.

People voted for change. Change starts now .

The Change must be radical. Fine Gael's blend of populism does not fit the bill.

[O'Loingsigh]

Well KN,

I watched the interview in the company of 2 die hard FFers ,who naturally are laughing their heads off, my ma who is in the Labour party and my auld lad who is in the golf club........

The first reaction from all of us was "Who the F. does he think he is?" -

If he has resigned and doesn't want to comment anymore on it - why is he on every station and why come on the 6.1 news?

I have no idea what the fallout is going to be in regard to this - most FG people I know are still on the smelling salts coming around.................if anything - I first heard about it at lunchtime and my gut reaction was - the leadership have dropped the ball big time here - now after watching the interview - Lee did himself no favours at all - if anything , in true Irish style - Kenny actually comes across as a human being and George as a total prima donna and Kenny might get some sympathy out of this .........bizarre...........

he said his reason for going was that he was getting no input into economic policy - I don't know - he does a valid point in regard to that - but in that FG is no different than any other of the mainstream parties....surely to god he could see that Rome wasn't built in a day.........................

Then again..............this is me with me devious hat on...................Maybe Lee was expecting the Gov to fall last year.............it doesn't look likely to fall before the end of 2011 now.......Did George read the runes..........no gov position for 2 years...........2 more years of politiking and trying to get a word in edgeways in the media from the opposition benches............leave of absence coming to an end soon...............Charlie Bird will be rescued from the USA.................position available in DC and you can comment all you like....................I dont know...............If I had actually resigned everytime I threathened to quit unless somebody listened to me - Hell I would have been looking for a new job every year................he got what he wanted politically from Kenny last week..................Ah something doesn't weigh up here - or else he is the most naive individual I've ever met............

Wood from trees and such...

[Marcos the black]

Could FF call a snap election?
"You can't trust them, they're falling apart, and look the economy is turning a corner... we're over the worst"

[Gimpanzee]

and rather than make use of him they confined him to the back-benches

it looks like there was an attempt made to house-train him

As for Lee's honesty - his move last year seemed very idealistic and it looks like he was being very naive. I remember Olivia O'Leary saying that she was worried about this when he announced he was running. Looks like she was right.

The one thing that doesn't hang is that Lee stated that it was all about public service. If that was the case, then how did turn his back when offered the position by Enda Kenny? If it was all about public service then pragmatism would have ruled - but quitting was clearly something very personal. And he needs to get off the airwaves pronto.