Zappone appointment a step too far...


I must have missed this.

I actually really do not care about SF getting into government. I don't hold them in great light either for their performance in the North. But I really dont hold much light for any political party. It mostly one big circus, as this thread is identifying.
At the end of the day once in power they tend to all be very similar. And that is my perception if SF get into power here. Some think the worst, personally I think they will just become part of the political furniture like the rest of them.

I do take exception to the 'maturity' jibes. I think its infantile, arrogant and patronizing. At the end of the day it is the electorate who will decide and if the electorate give them a strong enough mandate then that is it.
SF increasing popularity is good for a UI. Not because SF will deliver a UI, they won't. But because it will wake nationalist Ireland from its slumber and force FF/FG/SDLP into one All Ireland party, taking alot of SF votes with them, including perhaps my own.
At least that is my theory.

And keeping on topic, Im sure Catherine Zappone agrees.
 
The sad part is SF does not have to be cleaner than clean, the bar is set a lot lower than that by the very people who want us to believe they hold themselves to a higher standard than SF,
 
The Media, Commentators and most Politicians I've heard speak on this mess all seem to think Zappone was some sort of genius and that she was more than qualified for the job ! To even suggest otherwise would suggest your a backward gombeen.
 
The sad part is SF does not have to be cleaner than clean, the bar is set a lot lower than that by the very people who want us to believe they hold themselves to a higher standard than SF,

This diminution of standards just gets cemented if FF deputies all vote confidence in Coveney and his fairytales. It really is a big mess.
 
This diminution of standards just gets cemented if FF deputies all vote confidence in Coveney and his fairytales. It really is a big mess.
Diminution of standards?
Are you suggesting that this is worse than Bertie's carry on? Of CJ Haughy? Or Cosgrave's Heavy Gang? Or the Galway tent? Or the issuing of the ESat licence? Or collecting the killers of serving Gardaí from prison? Or funding your party with backhanders from developers or bank robberies? Or spending €50k on printer ink? Or turning a blind eye to child abuse? Or locking up unmarried mothers? Or taking €30,000 in Covid payments meant for small businesses and keeping them in your Party account? Or claiming that your Party members take lower salaries when they don't?

Diminution of standards? Are you joking?
 
You are right, Purple. Diminution was the wrong word to use. What I should of said is something like continuation of very low standards. Me bad. Sorry. [See how it should be done? Make a mistake. Put the hands up. Say sorry. Move on. ----------------------NOT, try to defend the indefensible!!!! ]


We get the governement we deserve

How can anyone seriously have confidence in this guy? Listen to what he said to Bryan Dobson at the end of July? In my opinion, he was lying through his teeth and had the audacity to do so in a tone suggesting that he was genuinely perplexed and frustrated that his integrity was being questioned. Note also the haughty way he tried to lecture Dobson. Not to be missed also is the clip from Zappo at the start - which given what we now know - is both comedy gold and deeply depressing.



Oh what tangled webs we weave, when first we practice to deceive......
 
Interesting tweet from Eric Eckhart

Micheál Martin said on @morningireland he'll sanction Fianna Fáil TDs who refuse to vote confidence in FG's Simon Coveney but won't sanction Coveney who was caught red-handed in cronyism, misleading the Dáil committee & deleting messages on gov't business

There's something really rotten in the body pollythick
 
@WolfeTone
I think that SF being part of this country's government would be an absolute disaster. That is irrespective of any democratic mandate they might get,
The only way to keep SF out of being part of this Country Government
Is for the established parties to hold one another to account,
I am just after reading today's news were the people right at the top of FF are making the case because the position was part-time it is a very minor offense,
In generations past, FF/FG/Lab have been famous for using Pull to get people into positions below their Qualifications into the public service on a part-time basis and then using the internal recruitment system to parachute them into the job they really were after without having to advertise or make it open to the public
I thought all that changed years ago But I suspect not,
I wonder how many of these part-time positions become a full-time position or a launching pad to other full-time positions, without advertising the positions at a later date to other well Qualified people,

The Established parties Including Labour who do not see anything wrong with the present appointment are leaving the door open to SF to awaken the public to how jobs were given out in the distant past,
and wondering is it still going on,
 
And whilst we are discussing SF, look at all the SPA jobs given to convicted terrorists in the North.
 
And whilst we are discussing SF, look at all the SPA jobs given to convicted terrorists in the North.
Back in the 1990s, I had a daughter who needed limb-sparing surgery after cancer, I was put in touch with victims of the trouble up north who had limb-sparing surgery as a result of the violence I traveled up there and I know from the conversations I had the came from different backgrounds,
My first thoughts were how lucky I was not to have been born into such a festering environment,
I remember thinking I would never vote for the UUP for allowing such a festering environment to develop,
I also remember thinking I would never vote for the DUP or SF/IRA because they were stroking the fire of hate, resulting in people going out and killing and injuring other human beings up the road from me,

I was glad to be back on this side of the fence so to speak, I care deeply about high standards in public office

in my lifetime I saw lots of low standards of TDs pulling strings and strokes getting people jobs,
one of the biggest strokes pullers was for TDs and Co Councillors along with local union reps getting people jobs part-time and then filling the full-time positions limiting the applications to people already in employed including part-timers,

I am not sure you understand the memories that are being awakened by the present controversy and the bad light it is shining on the main political parties past down here,

I am just after seeing on RTE Mr. Martins statement A man I have great respect for I will quote you a section of it,
Are we seriously suggesting that the appointment of a part-time envoy in itself justifies a vote of no confidence in a Minister, I think that is not proportional or balanced,
Sadly he is out of touch with peoples view of FF past,
It reminds me of the last time FF was up every tree in a certain part of Dublin and could see no wrongdoing,
 
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I was born and raised in the Orange state. I guess that dulls one’s sensibilities. I just find it hard to be scandalised by Zapponegate.
 
I was born and raised in the Orange state. I guess that dulls one’s sensibilities. I just find it hard to be scandalised by Zapponegate.
I was born the other side of the fence, Over the last 25 years lots of things that dull ones sensibilities got removed,
I want to keep it going in that direction,
The Zapponegate scandal was started by a FG Minister breaking cabinet Confidentiality to damage a rival Minister from the same party,
Nothing to do with SF except to give a dig out to a possible future leader of FG,

GOOGLE Minister rumbled in an extraordinary leak,

The question in peoples minds is how many more Zappongates scandals and taxpayers money get squandered we never hear about where the main political parties cover up for one another,

SF thrives on awakening people whenever the main political parties get caught out still using pull and creating nonexistent jobs to reward their own, SF are getting two for the price of one out of Zapponegate,+ an added bonus from the Duke and others using your above quote find it hard to be scandalized by Zapponegate,,
 
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I was born and raised in the Orange state. I guess that dulls one’s sensibilities. I just find it hard to be scandalised by Zapponegate.

I guess our moral compasses point us in different directions. Personally, I think that a Minister clearly lying and lacking in integrity is a big deal. If your mileage varies, fair enuff.
 
Boxer Moran was in the exact same position as K Zappone with regards to the last government, he supported the government the same as Zappone did and lost his seat in the last election. I wonder if Boxer Moran rang Coveney or Varadker from "Sean's bar" in Athlone, rather than "the piglet" looking for a made up job with regard to the shannon , how would he be received ? He would not be entertained because he was not in the golden circle that Zappone was even though they are the exact same position politically
 
He had no job after the election, couldn't collect social welfare as they don't qualify, and only for family and friends would probably have come to a bad end. He's an ordinary bloke, did his best and there's a good few in Dáil Eireann who do similar. Like every job, there's others there who for whatever reason always get elected and might not be as hard working. The majority of TD's today though, in my opinion, do a job that's thankless. As I say, it's my opinion, others disagree and that's fine, but getting personal and verbally attacking them should never be accepted in any walk of life.
 
Hi
I think this was the first poster on the tread about increasing the pension age If I am wrong I am sorry,
are you sure it is Boxer you are quoting,
not only do I know Boxer I also know some of the taxi drivers who worked for his taxi company He always made sure they were on the books correctly and paying PRSI,I knew Boxer as a hard-working businessman long before he went into politics and a very hardworking politician even before he got elected,
Boxer would not be winging he would have known he was paying a total of 4 % payroll to the Government while the taxi drivers working in his company seen around 18.5% of payroll going to the Government falling to around 14% after the TROIKA arrived,

Boxer went out to serve his time as an apprentice carpenter in the building Industry knowing well most of the people he worked with started working at 14/15 or at a push16 years of age and will have worked and paid PRSI for 50/51 years by the time they reach 65 I know well he would not like to be connected with expecting them to work another two years before receiving the contributory pension,
 
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This whole Zappone mess is playing right in to Sinn Fein hands. It should be over at this stage but it rumbles on and on.
The shinners are lapping it up, whether we like it or not.
 
This whole Zappone mess is playing right in to Sinn Fein hands. It should be over at this stage but it rumbles on and on.
The shinners are lapping it up, whether we like it or not.
I heard Mary Lou on Morning Ireland getting her usual armchair ride of an interview.
Contrasted to the hatchet job they did on FG yesterday it's laughable how the Shinners have become the darlings of the unionised media.
 
You can't have it both ways, Purple!

Meaning you can't yourself be completely ambivalent about the skullduggery here and somehow expect standards generally to improve. That would be like expecting you to post outside the working week - it ain't going to happen! [Just teasing.......a little]

Joer's central point is correct - the shower that benefits most from this are sinners.
 
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