Garrett Fitzgerald

G

"It's nice to see a few FG supporters on AAM.
I thought it was all Labour party members here!"

Click to expand...

Garret was the lefties' greatest stooge.

Re: G

Garrett Fitzgerald, a gentleman for whom I hold the highest regard.

An honest straight talking man, unlike CJH.

2.82%

> I thought it was all Labour party members here!

Us non-aligned individuals haven't gone away you know...

Re: G

The only problem with G was that he was a pure true gentleman and also, a very rare breed... an honest politician.

long live the blue shirts!!!
god bless u garrett

Re: G

As for whether he was the best Taoiseach ever.
Lemass might also deserve a nomination. I'd certainly put him top of the list, with Garrett possibly second. I think Lemass got more done.

Even the much maligned Haughey had his fair share of success while in power. The IFSC and Temple Bar have had a fairly dramatic impact on the economy and appearance of Dublin. Free travel for pensioners, Tax exemption for Artists. etc.

-Rd

What about Bertie

Surely Bertie's the greatest Taoiseach we've ever had. During his stint in charge we've had almost full employment, sustained low inflation, a number of years sustained growth. The Luas got built, the railways got enormous capital injections and are transporting more people on a daily basis then ever before in the history of the state. The national roads are constantly being upgraded. Huge efforts have been made to upgrade our Health and Education.

On the international stage he's held in very high regard. He's helped broker the new EU constitution, very nearly got himself elected President of Europe. He's been enormously involved in the peace process up north. He even speaks with a Northside accent.

He's leagues ahead of Garrett and CJH. Dev was a different man for a different time. I can't compare him to Lemass.

Hate the way people in this country are so easily lead, the man was an extremely intellegent man but was surround by not so intellegent men, he ran the country through hard times when very little growth was occuring, as for his attempt at the peace process, i say were is it now... a country covered in ex bomber and total scum... well done bertie and his bunch of spanners.

Wise up and realise if he was in charge now we would not be loaded with forgein nationals and one of the worst transport systems ever...... not to metion the omagh bombers walking the streets.

...

Is there really a place on AAM for this sort of racist crap as issued by owensy above? "if he was in charge now we would not be loaded with forgein nationals"

Garrett Fitzgerald is a great man who worked wonders in what was a very different Ireland than we have today. I firmly believe that Bertie and the lads can only take a very small amount of credit for the progress Ireland has made over the past 15 years. With the world economy growing at the rate it did, it would have taken a fairly foolish government to mess it up, but using Luas whose development was a case study for how to screw things up is not a good way to persuade me of this government's competency...likewise with the quote of "efforts" to upgrade Health and Education...they are just that, efforts, the results are not evident as yet. A more competent government would have delivered everything this one has done and much more.

Credit where it is due though, they did an excellent job of the EU presidency and Bertie is a highly regarded statesman now as he performed admirably throughout. Let's hope his domestic performance can mirror this.

Racist!!

Did FG not want a No Vote in the referendum on citizenship!!
Judging by your comment it seems you are just a small minded racist bigot who wants everything your own way and feck the rest of us!!
Get your facts right about Garrett Fitz. He only signed the Anglo Irish sellout to try inhibit the growth of Sinn Fein.
He may have even wanted them to further the armed struggle seeing as though he didnt want them involved in politics.

Re: Racist!!

Actually FG wanted a yes vote.

I don't know what Garrett would have liked us to vote.
I didn't read any public comments by him on the issue.

-Rd

what about Bertie..?

Hi Almost30,

Ah the impetuousness of youth!! Sorry, but if you are what your ename implies, you can't simply IMAGINE what the early 80's were like. I was in school and college for the vast majority of it,but even I have some sort of a grasp as to how bad it was.

God knows how people who actually worked throught it were like... or didn't if I'm to be more accurate.

I think the point is that Bertie didn't really have to make too many tough choices during his tenure to date and that a lot of the good times can be put down in no small part to previous governments.

My main gripe against Bertie, is that he had the best chance of promoting greater equality in Ireland and he muffed it bigtime! Ok. he did well on the Eu presidency side, but he's tarnished himself in my eyes for previous failings.

Garret was a better Taoiseach then Bertie, no question.

OpusnBill

Re: Racist!!

I don't know what Garrett would have liked us to vote.
I didn't read any public comments by him on the issue.

Click to expand...

I think I heard him say that he didn't believe we should have had the referendum at all, but given that it was happening, his heart wanted to vote no, but his head overrode and voted yes.

Re. No or Yes

but given that it was happening, his heart wanted to vote no, but his head overrode and voted yes.

Click to expand...

I think he got it right so...
He was/is;
A nice man.

An honest man (but didn't he have debts written off by the bank as well as CJ?)

A leader who found it impossible to delegate and thus was not a great leader.

Hamstrung by the reds while in office and so not able to do what he wanted to, the things which others here (wrongly IMHO) are giving him credit for doing.

Not really able to work in the real, hard world he found himself in at the time.

I agree that Bertie has an easier ride. Now it's a case of "Where will we spend it". Then it was a case of "where will we get it."

Re:

Surely Bertie's the greatest Taoiseach we've ever had. During his stint in charge we've had almost full employment, sustained low inflation, a number of years sustained growth.

Click to expand...

I think you'll find that those issues have more to do with the Minister for Finance than the Taoiseach. It's hard with Bertie to point to Anything other than Northern Ireland that he has put is personal stamp on.

The man either can't or won't give a straight answer to a question. On rare occasions when he has been unequivocal he has done U Turns. (E.g. We won't join Partnership for peace without a Referendum)

I honestly don't think he stands for anything except compromise. Which has it's place, e.g. In the North, in Pay Talks, etc. But if you want someone to pick up the country by the scruff of the neck and knock it into shape, Bertie is the wrong man for the job.

Lemass transformed the economy and changed the kind of work that was available. He basically industrialised the country.

Fitzgerald can take some credit for the promotion of the Liberal agenda, again not to everyones taste, but it's hard to believe how conservative the country was as recently as the 1980s. That was a transformation.

The seeds for the Celtic Tiger were sown before Ahern became Taoiseach, McCreevy in my opinion deserves the credit for keeping the economy growing in the recent downturn. Ahern's job was to use the fruits of the Boom to transform the country, and on that I think he's failed.

What's different about Ireland today?
We've become a nation which demands and get's a tribunal for every contentious issue. Which pays €2000 a day and more to lawyers for years and years, while hospital wards lie empty because we don't allocate money to run them, after spending the money to build them.

Tribunals are the Ahern way. If there's a problem, lob it into a committee, a task force, a tribunal. Hopefully that will keep it out of the way until I win the next election.

-Rd

Garrett Fitzgerald.

An honest man (but didn't he have debts written off by the bank as well as CJ?)

Click to expand...

No. Garrett sold his house to pay off his debts.

Re.Slash

I thought he sold his house to pay off the debts he incurred when he stupidly put all his money into GPA. (an astoundingly inept thing for a great economic mind to do).
As far as I remember the bank wrote off his debts due to tears rather than threats on his part.

Garrett

Sorry OhPinchy, but where in my text did you think i was calling Garrett a racist, i firmly agree with you on the point of that Bertie and Co can only take so much credit. As stated if Garret where in charge now maybe this place might be a little better to live in.

Wise up lad.!

Re: Garrett

Not quite true owensy. In fact what you stated was

"Wise up and realise if he was in charge now we would not be loaded with forgein nationals"

I think OhPinchy was referring to your racist remarks and further more I could'nt agree with him more when he says there is no place on AAM for those kind of remarks !!

In fact "this place" would be a lot nicer to live if we had less narrow minded xenophobes like yourself.

So in your own words Wise up lad!!

Garrett

Clearly Prometheus2 you are yet another one of the leminings
aka sheep living in Ireland. By this i mean follow the crowd..
The country is being over run with foregin nationals without any good intentions. By all means open the doors to the world if they are prepared to work and no scam the system, if this scaming continues this great place that we once knew will have fallen in a city of robbing thieving gangs of foregin nationals like many a city accross the world. No Longer will dublin be a place of beauty and enjoyment but it will become a no go area thanks to these people you want in our country.

Just clear up a few points. If people flee a war torn country by all means let them apply for asylum and welcome them with open arms, they should recieve all benifits. But not the robbers and credit card scam so called people who are currently benifiting from our kind goverment.

So stop being sheep and see what is happening.......

Re: Garrett

owensy,

Your remarks represent the type of comments you hear in the back of a taxi...ignorant and mis-informed.

They're quite blatantly racist. You just can't see that. Racism stems from fear.

Back up your theory with facts. Where are we being over-run???

By the way, people who take a much more informed perspective on the issue of immigration and asylum seekers are exactly what this country needs. Blatant, ignorant racism is what we're desperately trying to rid ourselves of. So calling people lemmings and sheep really doesn't add any weight to your argument.