TG4 had the best moderator at the GE debates also (poll taken after the election). Doubt TG4 presenters are paid over half a mill a year unlike the RTE crowd – but that’s a different conversation…

Totally agree! Páidí Ó Lionáird was very fair and was in full control of the debate at all times!! Matt Cooper also did a good job on the radio – at the Today FM debate in the Sugar Club. Some of the other moderators, being more concerned about their egos, were disastrous!! Certain elements of the media need to “cop on” that this election is not about their needing to get a “piece of the action”!!! :(

Totally agree; he allowed all the candidates to speak without constantly interrupting to give his own view, unlike O’Callaghan, DuFFy, Kenny & the other overpaid oafs in RTE.

MOST definitely!!

It is by random draw, and while I wouldn’t trust RTE to any degree, I would believe that TG4 would be fair.

Thought David Norris played a blinder last night!! Martin McGuinness was good also. Full marks to the moderator for conducting a very fair and dignified debate!!! Loved his last question!!!! :)

I found myself asking myself the same question after watching this programme. Who can fill the shoes of President McAleese – and those of her husband?!!

Bertie ahern Might be help you there as he brought her and him into being

David Norris was also impressive!!

And what would you like put to Michael D.

I had replied to your comment with a couple of issues, but they deleted it.

Saw it John and replied along with someone else and they seem to be deleted too. I’d say one of your points was seen as libel.

The trouble with Higgins, from that point of view, is that he’s remarkably dirt free. It’s extraordinary that for someone with such a long life in politics the worst anyone in the media or any of the other candidates have been able to come up with is his vote on the tax amnesty.

But, there you go.

I have a list of items i woul like Mr Higgins to answer :
1) How does he reconcile his support for Hamas vs his apparent hatred of SF (even though he was a member of “SF the workers party”.
2) How can we trust anyone who was a member of FF? How come he has no problem making public statements against China (delibeately to antagonise the country, and end up costing Iris export firms jobs)
3) How come he has not disowned the Labour party after they supported the abhorrent cuts on the lowest income families in this state?
4) How come he has never publicly called for an inquirey into the murder of 32 people (and 200 injured) after the Dublin/Monaghan bombings?
5) How come he is taking multiple pensions (state funded) even though he is still being paid a wage as a senator?
6) How come he wont give leadership and ask for the Presidents salary to be cut to less than 100k (seeing as the President doesnt have any expenses, everything is paid for by the state)
7) How come as a democrat, he wanted to restrict the debates to himself and Gallagher, and deny the country their democratic right to hear all the candidate inputs?
8) How can we trust anyone who jumps from Political party to political party as often as he has done?

A few answers on these questions, live on TV would have been good up to this point. But seeing as how he is an establishment party candidate, the Media must let him off… who in their right mind is going to bite the hand that pays teir salary.

How about MDH’s claim for Dail expenses in Dec 2008 when he was in fact in Oslo on a junket, this is a matter of public record, I’ve seen the FOI’d letter, I’m sure the media have too yet never mentioned by them.

That sounds like a fair question, Richard, and one that should be raised; as does Cal’s about the bilateral debate (which was really a very foolish proposal in more than one way). I suspect that last one may well be raised yet on The Frontline. The rest of Cal’s, I don’t think most people really consider them issues – certainly on many of them Higgins is simply in line with the apparent feelings of the Irish people so they’re quite difficult to use against him.

I mean, I’ll certainly say that if there are skeletons in Higgins’ closet they need to be examined and perhaps the media need to be doing a better job of chasing them down (though certainly any failure in that regard isn’t down to him being ‘establishment’ — Mitchell’s gotten a bit of a beating on *his* record, after all)

Did Higgins propose the two way debate? My understanding is that when asked he said he would be open to such an idea. If my understanding is correct then there is a difference.

Open to correction on the above as i genuinely dont know for sure how the 2 way thing came about

Cal. as for your Fianna Fail question, he joined as a mature student for a short while before he got into politics, i don’t think he ever stood for election or did anything political with FF, and half of the Labour ministers were in the workers party with him including Gilmore so i don’t think there’s anything particularly strange about that.
Also, I could be wrong but I think he only draws an average wage instead of a full senators one.

I don’t think the two way debate thing is a big deal either…people had no dirt on the man so that became the big controversy for everyone to get all up in arms about..

John !!! You have to respect your elders !!!!!

I feel Charlie Bird will want to shine! I would also have liked to have seen/heard more discussions about the 2 referendums to be held same day.

Re Gallagher comment – haha! Get the point, though!!! :)

Well said. The media have certainly forgotten the last 17 years, as has the government. We were told to look to the future when the Queen came over, now we can’t forget the past. Double standards.

well said!

Seamas, an excellent analysis of this media driven (establishment driven), and largely shoddy, campaign! Your conclusion I heartily agree with……….. Mr. Martin McGuinness is THE standout candidate in this election. ANY person who takes a stand against oppressive establishment forces and then has the sincerity to extend the hand of peace, and develop that peace FOR ALL is worthy of not just the office he currently seeks……… the man should be Taoiseach!

Well said and explained.I will correct you on one thing one had to be a Property Owner/Rate payer to get a vote in Northern Ireland back in the day when Martin mc Guiness joined the IRA.If you owned 1 house you got one vote if you owned 100 houses you got 100 votes,now guess who would own a 100 houses ? It was not the likes of Martin Mc Guinness and people from Nationalist working class area’s that’s for sure.Its no wonder they went down the road they did.
When Stephen Speilberg made the movie “Schindlers List” he was asked why he made such an
horrific movie ? He replied “Least We Forget”.We must all move on but never forget the sacrifices these men and women made to bring us to were we are today,for that alone Martin Mc Guinness deserves to be acknowledged.

Doesn’t our current President come from Northern Ireland and she and her husband have never been linked to any of the troubles up there , also her Husband has done alot of work towards the Peace talks!!! Vote No 7 for McGuinness .

In answer to Jimmy Dunphy you have in a roundabout way agreed with me.All people who went out on a limb to bring the conclusion of the horrors in Northern Ireland to an end deserve credit,that includes Martin McGuinness.I don’t know what age group you represent but as the saying goes ,you have to be standing in the shoes of the a Nationalist person particularly during the 70′s to really understand what it was like.Have you ever had to stay awake all night or sleep in shifts so as to protect your family and property from a demented gang at the end of the street that had Carte Blance from the security forces to do what they pleased ? No I didn’t think s and lucky you.Do you not get it that Martin Mc Guiness and co were the ONLY protection the Nationalist community had ?As for the current president,do you think it was a coincidence that she was the first of her family tree to go to third level education ?
And last but not least were where all the descending voices when our former leader Bertie Ahern had Ian Paisley in bear hug love on the Banks Of The Boyne a few years back.Ya see Jimmy opinions without all the facts is just ignorance parading as moral outrage !

i believe thats call “the shinner-bot” move

just tryed logging in and out and voting again it dose not work. your lying

Try clearing your browser cache…

which canditate isn’t a republican?

giv a guess

Oh really, you have new facts to report ? Because i`m just way behind the news, i foolishily thought that Dana`s car had a blowout like thousands of drivers do each year. Well lets hear what you know which makes you so sure this was “attempted murder” ? and not another ridiculous stunt for more attention. Do tell ?

Not a Dana fan myself but it appears that the tyres may have been slashed / interfered with. I hope we haven’t sunk top a new low in this country.

We should have a Pole on here about Danas near miss.
Do you think the perpetrator was right to slash Danas tyres ?

Ken, perhaps the Garda investigation and expert anecdotal evidence that this was an abnormal event might raise some concern in your narrow mind?

@Conor.” Lowest of the low” springs to mind! Witness all the reds so far!! :(

Hi @Burned Toast,
We covered the tyre incident yesterday after it first emerged, link here: http://www.thejournal.ie/dana-lucky-to-be-alive-after-100kmh-tyre-blowout-258207-Oct2011/

glad the media didnt fall for another sad attempt from an irrelevant candidate to attract attention. Her hero husband was driving around with a flat tyre:

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/experts-dana-tyre-damage-consistent-with-car-driven-on-flat-tyre-525029.html

Hey lets blame Martin Mc Guinness for the Dana assassination attempt he seems to be fair game for all thing negative in this state since 1921.Bet he was in the GPO also on Easter Monday 1916

Paul, with respect, the Northern Irish candidates were not taught Irish in the schools when they were young. In fairness to Gerry Adams, he did learn Irish during his time interned at HRM pleasure. But the very very vast majority of the Irish in the North, were not taught Irish. So, i do think it is unfair to expect Irish fluency to be a pre-requisite, iotherwise you are advocating deliberately excluding folks brought up North of the border from running in these elections.

and thank God we can say good by to Gay “Jack Boots” Mitchell and Mary “Air Brushed” Davis

Maybe they learned it in PRISON from RAMBO BURKE the ex FF minister for JUSTICE who about 10 years ago did a stretch in Mountjoy.Now that one thing no one can say about Martin McGuinnes,he has no criminal record like BURKE, LAWLOR . Thats a fact not an opinion

What has your comment go to do with anything I said.

Dave O’Brien correct me if I’m wrong but are you not saying that SF are rigging the voting ?

Sure there are more electrodes in Google than other places though?

Lol

Haha!! :)

Fair point,sorry about the misspelling but glad the point wasn’t missed !!

Indeed, electrodes are *always* pointy.

And lets not forget in the “POOR OULD BERTIE” days he was prepared to have the Irish language omitted as an official European language for translation purposes.The more I think of the likes of Ahern and his Cohorts the more I’ll canvas for anyone but Sean “Mr Nice Guy”Gallagher.

Hes a ULA/PBPA supporter- well he publically supported Eamon McCann in the Assembly elections

Ya Fiachra for now he supporting whoever is in Vogue,that Christy Moore for ya.But should Matin Mc Guinness win the bold Christy Moore will be the first one out with a song about it and in so doing fill another pot of money for himself.I cannot stand these armchair republicans.

For now Fiachra,till the next big name comes calling.Thats the bold and brave Christy Moore an Armchair Republican the type few of us can stand.

I don’t know how the ULA/People before profit crowd are ‘Vogue’ as you said…their reputation amongst most people (myslelf not included in this) is pretty much as low as SF’s is.

To all those who didn’t get my “Armchair Republican”jib about Christy Moore let me explain as during the mid eighties while I was living in London the bold Christy Moore would arrive in his Mercedes up to The Dominian Theater on the Tott’ Court Road in London ,give a concert ,almost insight a riot and get into his Mercedes and vanish while the rest of us where left to pick our way through the police lines.Ya good old Christy to work up the crowd and vanish leaving us holding the “baby”.Bear in mind we were in our late teens early twenties at the time.

you dont get it Mel. cop on. Christy is a legend. dont like it when ppl use personal anecdotes to judge someone else’s life and creative journey. Christy sang about many issues that a lot of ppl wouldnt touch with a barge pole. what did you want him to do after a gig where a load of fools, as you claim, wrecked the gaff? bash the cops with his guitar?!

Quick Reply to Gary Roche. Firstly we didn’t wreck the venue or Gaff as you put it (Gaff being a slang Cockney word for house that origionated in an early 80′s TV series called “Minder”).
Christy Moore a Legend ! your joking me.Christy Moore is and was a parasite who lived off other great singer song writers.Christy Hennesesy,Jackson Brown,Bob Dylan,Jimmy Mc Carthy,Shane McGowan,Luke Kelly to mention a very small few.He an average guitar player (try Jimmy Smyth for a real Irish Guitar player) and he spent most of his life breaking into the influential but closed circle at RTE.He mates are Bono,Harry Crosbie and formally Charles Haughey,need I say anymore .Moore tapped into a lonely and desperate group of emigrants (including myself) desperately trying to hold on to anything that would remind them of home (how in gods name do you think The Saw Doctors gained such a following,music talent ?).Two things Christy Moore loves is himself and the money,I don’t mean to be offensive to anyone but saying Christy Moore is a Legend is just to much for me.Do you really think that “Don’t Forget Your Shovel” stands along side “Thousands Are Sailing”(The Pouges) when it comes to a true picture of Irish Emigration ?The most dangerous thing in the world is Blind Loyalty,which alas all of Christy Moore fans seem to suffer from.

well Mell you’re certainly very bitter about him but in as much as you wrote, you still haven’t really explained, at least to my satisfaction anyway, why.
some of the people to whom you ascribe friendship with Christy are fairly odeous to my taste, but thats one of the things i like about him and one of the qualities that allowed him to support ppl like the hunger strikers and others when ‘it was neither popular nor profitable to do so’.
i’m sure if you write to him he’ll give you your £2.50 back for that gig back in 1975 for failing to live up to your revolutionary expectations.

Replying to Gary Roche below,I’m not but I am angry for the very reasons you express in your comment.He high jacked the Hunger Strike in 1981 all to his own benefit.(he never played one gig in Northern Ireland throughout the hunger strike).Were was he when he was asked to attend a demonstration outside the embassy in Ballsbridge against the Hunger Strike when the rest of us had the Sh*t battened out of us (o sorry he was in Boston USA,a fairly safe haven I would think)and last but not least where did all the money go after Work Aid in the RDS in 1986 (if you can remember that).I could write a book on this guy as I lived through that time but I’ll just park it there as its not my idea to be offensive to you or anyone else but check all of the above out,I love Irish music and all things Irish, but that does not include Christy Moore in a previous life I’d hazard a guess that he was a Banker !