McDowell - A Legacy?

[jayblue]

Ok now that he says he is out of politics has Michael left Ireland a legacy as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and if so is it good, bad or indefferent legacy, and what would the general public say it would be. Was he a good minister, did he make a difference. Well in my opinion I will start with the bad legacy
1. The Minister who sponorsed the Citiztenship Referendum
2. Yellow Pack Garda
3. Thornton Hall
the good legacy.
1. Taken on Sine Finn and their links to Criminality
2. Breaking the Prison Officers
3. His appointments to the Equality Authority

Other than the above is there anything which could be classified as his legacy.
Apologies if there is already a thread on this

[CJH]

He wasn't a complete failure, though he didnt fulfill the promise many people (including myself) thought he had.

The Referendum was a good idea, and he was right to put it through. The only people who behaved badly were the No side who accused everyone else of racism.

Jury still out on the Part time cops, ditto Thornton Hall

You are right about SF - history may well show that his attitude helped to greatly quicken the pace of developments in the north vis-a-vis SF/DUP

Dunno about his appointments to the Equality Agency, though as long as that tool Niall Crowley is the head I wont have much time for the quango

You didnt mention his two huge Criminal Justice Acts. Time will tell how they play out, though in general I prefer to see governments helping the guards to use the powers they have, rather than give them new ones in the heat of the moment. And the greatly increased detention times for ordinary arrestable offences are worrying

Disagree with you about the prison officers - at the time it seemed a good idea, but it meant he closed Spike Island which has resulted in a total lack of prison spaces

[Norfolk Enchants]

Ok now that he says he is out of politics has Michael left Ireland a legacy as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and if so is it good, bad or indefferent legacy, and what would the general public say it would be. Was he a good minister, did he make a difference. Well in my opinion I will start with the bad legacy
1. The Minister who sponorsed the Citiztenship Referendum
2. Yellow Pack Garda
3. Thornton Hall
the good legacy.
1. Taken on Sine Finn and their links to Criminality
2. Breaking the Prison Officers
3. His appointments to the Equality Authority

Other than the above is there anything which could be classified as his legacy.
Apologies if there is already a thread on this

1.Disillusionment of the electorate, a further entrenchment of the view that there is no politician who will fight corruption.

2. A battering of civil rights and freedom of expression, abuse of position, greying of the lines between self/political party interests and the Ministry of Justice.

3. An end to the popularity of pole dancing in Ranelagh

[rockofcashel]

he'll ultimately be remembered as the man who destroyed the PD's, and walked from the field of battle, leaving his soldiers behind

He wouldn't be the first of his line to leave his soldiers down when they needed him most

[The Earl of Desmond]

He - more than anyone in the PDs - personifies how elitist they are/were and how despite all the wealth created that there are still children who go hungry, who are abused and don't have the social support to get help, where people from the same areas still end up in jail for the same reasons now as in the 80s. That's the legacy of 10 years of the PDs and 5 of McDowell but as Rock said the defining legacy is that he walked away at the very moment his colleagues needed him to show some character and in doing so he revealed himself to be the absolutely most selfish and shallow person in Irish political life.

[Scribbler]

A self-centred arse who believed so much in democracy that he couldn't accept the people's decision and turned around in a huff, abandoned his troops and ran back to his base in Ranelagh. At the end of the day he put himself before his country and his party. A selfish self-centred git who has retired with his massive pensions to the four goldmines. Hopefully one day he'll have to answer to a President of the High Court who was born in Nigeria. Now that would be satisfying.
The left, the hard left, the left behind and the feckin left out. Get it right up you McDowell.

[iago]

I voted against the citizenship referendum, thought it was hypocritical considering that Irish people gained citizenship in the US/Australia in the same way for generations, but it has resulted in a dramatic decrease in asylum applications by pregnant women with a family in toe so maybe he was right.
the reserve Garda force will be borne out as a fantastic legacy. it works in many other jurisdictions to cement relations between the police and the community. it also reduces corruption and abuses amongst police forces when there is a civilian witnessing events.
thornton hall will be a fantastic prison, representing international best practice in both the location and standards for a prison. if a society is judged on how it treats its prisoners I think McD will be responsible for a far more favourable judgement of our society in the future.
I only wish he could have taken on the gossip media as he had wanted with a privacy bill. this would not have removed our right to free speech, simply tempered it with the manners we should all expect of our neighbours. mutual respect is not a facist belief. but it does explain the vile attacks on McD by some sections of the media which survives by peddling gossip.

[The Earl of Desmond]

My God you should be a FF member IAGO as you ability to delude yourself is exactly what oen would expect from an FF supporter.

[iago]

he'll ultimately be remembered as the man who destroyed the PD's, and walked from the field of battle, leaving his soldiers behind

He wouldn't be the first of his line to leave his soldiers down when they needed him most

we didint have soldiers on a battlefield ROC. we had candidates in an election. you just cant let it go can ye?!!

[Coles]

I must admit I haven't really missed him. He was a pompous fool, and the abuse of his priveleges undermined our Justice system. He did nothing meaningful to reform the legal profession, and hopefully that's the end of him. Having said that, I'd love to hear a reaction from him to Berties pre-election lies...

BTW RoC, I think Parlon has to take most of the blame for the destruction of the PDs, pre- and post-election. McDowell just couldn't lead.