Local elections in Waterford 2009

[Partizan]

i said at best all you could hope for was walsh to keep his seat.thats what you got.
if your beaten by 1 vote or 1000 votes doesnt matter.wp in waterford has gone from 3 seats to 1 seat over the last 5 years.this thread is about waterford and i couldnt care less about cork.davy walsh will be 70 next time out and probably wont stand again.that seat has been left down a cul de sac.
who will be the wp candidate in the next general election?i think the answer is nobody.

You had to get a pathetic pop at the WP there didnt you. Talk about begrudgery. Davy Walsh comfortably held onto his seat in the end beatinig Joe Kelly of SF. It is a testament to his hard work on the ground that he is once again representing his constituency. Willie Moore was unlucky to lose out in the final count to Cha O'Neill where we knocked out Tom Murphy and Joe Tobin lost by a mere 8 votes in a predominantly middle class ward (Waterford East). Tobin picked up alot of votes and transfers from Labour, Davy Daniels and FG. This shows that the WP is a) palatable to voters unlike SF and b) is addressing the concerns of the voters and working hard on the ground on local issues. The votes reflect the strong performance of the WP in Waterford. We beat SF soundly in 2 of the 3 city wards. I think we can draw many positives from our election in that we have a very strong base to work off given what has happened to us down through the years.

Many like you had us written off. You were writing the Party's obituary yet we are still here. Regarding the leaflet, it didnt hurt us 1 bit. We were right before the election, we are right now and when water and further refuse charges will be introduced, we will be proven to be right. Davy Walsh will do his upmost to defend the working people of Waterford like he has done for 30 years by opposing resoultley the unjust service charges - double taxation that are imposed on the PAYE worker. Our detractors time and time again will be wrong and come the general election which will happen sooner rather than later, the WP will have a strong candidate.

You can put your gaff on that.

[cityvoter]

[QUOTE=Partizan;1751926]You had to get a pathetic pop at the WP there didnt you. Talk about begrudgery. Davy Walsh comfortably held onto his seat in the end beatinig Joe Kelly of SF. It is a testament to his hard work on the ground that he is once again representing his constituency. Willie Moore was unlucky to lose out in the final count to Cha O'Neill where we knocked out Tom Murphy and Joe Tobin lost by a mere 8 votes in a predominantly middle class ward (Waterford East). Tobin picked up alot of votes and transfers from Labour, Davy Daniels and FG. This shows that the WP is a) palatable to voters unlike SF and b) is addressing the concerns of the voters and working hard on the ground on local issues. The votes reflect the strong performance of the WP in Waterford. We beat SF soundly in 2 of the 3 city wards. I think we can draw many positives from our election in that we have a very strong base to work off given what has happened to us down through the years.

Many like you had us written off. You were writing the Party's obituary yet we are still here. Regarding the leaflet, it didnt hurt us 1 bit. We were right before the election, we are right now and when water and further refuse charges will be introduced, we will be proven to be right. Davy Walsh will do his upmost to defend the working people of Waterford like he has done for 30 years by opposing resoultley the unjust service charges - double taxation that are imposed on the PAYE worker. Our detractors time and time again will be wrong and come the general election which will happen sooner rather than later, the WP will have a strong candidate.

You can put your gaff on that. [/QUOTE

fact-from 3 seats to 1.
fact-transfers cost moore badly because of the leaflet
fact-little party effort put into tobin cost him the seat
who are the wp going to run in a general election davy walsh?

[waterford FG]

This is for all those who didnt give young John Cummins a chance....

Clearly the people have spoken and wanted new faces, not only did he poll 539 1st preference votes he picked up solid transfers across the board which shows he was a popular choice.

To all the WP, Joe Tobin's vote in East was not a WP vote it was a personal vote, he is a genuine nice man, this shows that people are now voting more for the person rather than party. Willie was very unlucky but he wont run again from what I gather, WP will have to find new candidates for all 3 wards next time!

[Eddie Batt]

I would have bet heavily against John.Fair play to him.

[petronius]

Good to see the Workers Party linger on with Davy Walsh (and Tynan Returned in cork) will John Halligan consider linking up with the Shinners or Labour?

[Partizan]

fact-from 3 seats to 1.
fact-transfers cost moore badly because of the leaflet
fact-little party effort put into tobin cost him the seat
who are the wp going to run in a general election davy walsh?

1. The stats do tell us that however they hide the fact that the WP in Waterford has had to contend with the growing influence of SF (up to local elections) not to mention with John Halligan leaving the Party in February last year. Those 2 negative factors would have killed any small party but the fact that we are still alive and kicking is a testament to the true vitality of the WP in Waterford and the hard work of Davy Walsh who has proven to be an great stalwart for the Party as well as an excellent local representative.

2. The leaflet did not effect us 1 bit no matter what spin you put on it. We simply told the truth and on the issue of service charges, the WP will be proven right. I was talking to Davy Walsh yesterday and he is adamment that additional service chrages will be introduced along with Water Charges. I think we will gain here as the WP will be seen by the public as being bang on the button. With the WP, you get what you vote for, honesty.

3. I dont have to tell you the fact that we are a small political party and our resources are stretched to the limits in terms of manpower etc. We ran 3 candidates, 1 getting elected and 2 very narrowly missing out and i think that on that performance and the factors mitigating against us, Joe Tobin did excellent as did the WP in general in Waterford. If we had more resources at our disposal as FF had, Joe Tobin would have been elected. Joe Tobin was not left hanging I can assure you. He received the best support that the WP could given the resources at our disposal. A proportion of Joe Tobin's vote was personal but you have to remember that there is a sizable WP core vote in Waterford East in around the 200 mark. When Olga Redmond ran a very lacklustre campaign in 1999 she nearly received that in 1st preferences. To claim that the 345 votes that Joe got was all down to his personality would be disingenious to him and to the Party.

4. That remains to be seen but you can rest assured that the WP will be ready come the next GE and will gain back alot of the votes lost to SF in recent times and John Halligan as his true colours will be shown. As I said to you before, many people have written the political obituary of the WP, only for the WP to come back every time and confound the critics, Halligan, De Rossa, Rabbitte, Harris and yourself included. Get ready to taste some humble pie.

[Partizan]

Good to see the Workers Party linger on with Davy Walsh (and Tynan Returned in cork) will John Halligan consider linking up with the Shinners or Labour?

Who knows. If he wants to be a serious contender in the next GE, there could be an opening there for him in both parties but I think if he does rejoin a national party it would be Labour as they are more in line with his own personal political views. He will need the backing of a party machine to fund his campaign and organisation and so on if he does chooses to run and have any impact in the shakeup.

I heard rumours that he might join the pact on the city council if FG & Labour offer the carrot of the mayoralty. With Independents taking up a sizeable chunk of the new City Council, there will be jockeying for votes and positions on local bodies.

[cityvoter]

1. The stats do tell us that however they hide the fact that the WP in Waterford has had to contend with the growing influence of SF (up to local elections) not to mention with John Halligan leaving the Party in February last year. Those 2 negative factors would have killed any small party but the fact that we are still alive and kicking is a testament to the true vitality of the WP in Waterford and the hard work of Davy Walsh who has proven to be an great stalwart for the Party as well as an excellent local representative.

2. The leaflet did not effect us 1 bit no matter what spin you put on it. We simply told the truth and on the issue of service charges, the WP will be proven right. I was talking to Davy Walsh yesterday and he is adamment that additional service chrages will be introduced along with Water Charges. I think we will gain here as the WP will be seen by the public as being bang on the button. With the WP, you get what you vote for, honesty.

3. I dont have to tell you the fact that we are a small political party and our resources are stretched to the limits in terms of manpower etc. We ran 3 candidates, 1 getting elected and 2 very narrowly missing out and i think that on that performance and the factors mitigating against us, Joe Tobin did excellent as did the WP in general in Waterford. If we had more resources at our disposal as FF had, Joe Tobin would have been elected. Joe Tobin was not left hanging I can assure you. He received the best support that the WP could given the resources at our disposal. A proportion of Joe Tobin's vote was personal but you have to remember that there is a sizable WP core vote in Waterford East in around the 200 mark. When Olga Redmond ran a very lacklustre campaign in 1999 she nearly received that in 1st preferences. To claim that the 345 votes that Joe got was all down to his personality would be disingenious to him and to the Party.

4. That remains to be seen but you can rest assured that the WP will be ready come the next GE and will gain back alot of the votes lost to SF in recent times and John Halligan as his true colours will be shown. As I said to you before, many people have written the political obituary of the WP, only for the WP to come back every time and confound the critics, Halligan, De Rossa, Rabbitte, Harris and yourself included. Get ready to taste some humble pie.

leaflet did effect you look close at the transfers.
i agree davy walsh has pulled it out for the wp over the years but the wp should have introduced a running mate.i predict davy will hand the seat over in 4 years but that will leave someone with a huge task to keep it.
you seem to measure yourselfs against sinn fein when it suites.
as for taking halligans vote back in a GE you talked of taking 40% in this local election and his vote went through the roof.halligan like rabbitte and de rossa have prospered by leaving the WP.
halligan got more votes then the 3 wp candidates put together.
yes tobin and moore came close but they hadnt the first pref votes to be elected.yes this might give you a lift but lots of candidates came close and 5 years is a long time to wait.
as i said before the wp 5 years ago had 3 seats now they only have 1.

[Partizan]

leaflet did effect you look close at the transfers.
i agree davy walsh has pulled it out for the wp over the years but the wp should have introduced a running mate.i predict davy will hand the seat over in 4 years but that will leave someone with a huge task to keep it.
you seem to measure yourselfs against sinn fein when it suites.
as for taking halligans vote back in a GE you talked of taking 40% in this local election and his vote went through the roof.halligan like rabbitte and de rossa have prospered by leaving the WP.
halligan got more votes then the 3 wp candidates put together.
yes tobin and moore came close but they hadnt the first pref votes to be elected.yes this might give you a lift but lots of candidates came close and 5 years is a long time to wait.
as i said before the wp 5 years ago had 3 seats now they only have 1.

so selling out on your principles and moving head long to the centre ground is the way forward then, is it?

The fact of the matter is that despite the crap that the WP has endured over the last number of years, we still pulled in a very strong performance.

Regarding the service charges issue, we will be proven to be right.

[Maby]

so partizan where did 40% of John Halligans 1st pref go as you predicted?

your leaflet cost you another seat

john halligan has not been approached about joining a pact!