Green Party senator does a George Lee
Jim Carroll
Groundhog Day on Kildare Street: Déirdre de Burca has resigned from the Green Party and Seanad Eireann citing a long list of reasons as she walks through the door.
Headlines from de Burca’s blame report include loss of confidence in Green Party chief John Gormley and loss of the party’s “political values” and “integrity” as it has become “no more than an extension of the Fianna Fail party” and “an obedient ‘add-on’ to Fianna Fail”. Bet John Gormley wishes he could ship her off to some incinerator or other.
Best of all, this zinger: “from stonewalling us and trying to unravel key aspects of our policy initiatives being implemented, to ignoring our input into the preparation of new legislation, to reneging on two key agreements made between Party Leaders, the Fianna Fail Party continues to ‘run rings’ around us and to take advantage of our inexperience and our very obvious fear of facing the electorate.”
“Two key agreements”? Did Brian Cowen renege on a promise to buy a box of Fairtrade teabags or something? Nothing about the minks, though. Assume they’re OK.
UPDATE Very timely post on irishelection.com last night by Veronica McDermott on what’s left for the Green Party in government.
The Green Party TDs and senators (all eight of them) have issued the following statement. Interesting line about how “our policies have created tens of thousands of new, valuable jobs”. Will they also take credit for these jobs?
Was it de Burca’s inexperience to blame when she ran into the Seanad to cast the deciding vote on the re-poll on the blasphemy bill.
Her resignation letter does a much better job of resigning than George Lee’s, and there’s a whole lot of truth in what she says, but in light of that fiasco it comes across more than a little hypocritical.
PS Rumour mill suggests she was angling for a job in Europe she didnt get…
Joe – watch as everyone forgives and forgets her sins in government because of that sharp letter full of digs. Wonder will more windy Greens take a leaf from her book?
And as a footnote, I remembered this piece from the Trib last weekend about how the Greens have learned quickly from their masters about political cronyism – http://www.tribune.ie/news/article/2010/feb/07/green-party-gifts-plum-positions-on-state-bodies-t/
Tribune article sources a “blistering attack by Leo Varadkar”.
Can’t they drop the “blistering” adjective from all his attacks? We know they are all blistering.
God do we know.
Steve K – and he shall be known from here on in as Blistering Leo Varadkar
Scheesch, the Greens can’t get anything right, not even resignations.
She should have resigned last September or October when the government was looking truly dodgy and on the verge of a possible collapse – her resignation might have sparked the eventual withdrawal from government by the Greens, thereby leading to an immediate general election being called.
Instead, we get this now when it really will make no difference to anyone or anything.
If she’d resigned over the Green’s disgraceful backing of NAMA I’d have some respect for her. This merely smacks of opportunism. Resignation is so hot right now.
According to the most recent edition of Phoenix, the Greens were pushing for her to be appointed to Maire Geoghegan Quinn’s cabinet as some sort of compensation for losing her deposit at the European elections. However, that prospect evaporated after rumours about de Burca’s appointment started appearing in the newspapers and the local Wicklow paper (where de Burca is from).
Next thing she resigns as a matter of principle, not that I am suggesting there is any connection between the two incidents.
“an obedient ‘add-on’ to Fianna Fail”. Ouch!!
Just pointing some grammar mistakes Move along now. Mixing up yer loses/losses.
“…..report include LOSS of confidence in Green Party chief John Gormley and LOSS of the party’s……….”
Christ, it’s a Valentine’s massacre. Three’s a trend no? Like three socialists in the Dáil. Can we hope for one more? Maybe a pool should be started, a Dáil death pool. Use these words to construct a sentence: rats, ship of state, deck chairs.
The only thing I’m seeing incinerated at the moment is the Nirvana head shop down the road which has produced more smoke today than it could sell in a year.
seamus – noted and changed, thanks
Major – Loads of smoke and hot air in the capital today
By the way, de Burca was only in the Seanad because Bertie Ahearn put her there as one of his Taoiseach nominees.
MDR – she didn’t have a great track record at the aul’ vote-getting, did she?
Misread the headline there for a second, Jim. Didn’t see the ‘a’ to begin with…
Jaysus, they are dropping like flies over there, who is next I wonder?
I would concur with the comments above, she could have made a stand when it mattered. Not this half hearted, stab at political scruples when nobody really cares anymore.
I was just reading about the Nirvana thing, a strange coincidence, so much bad press about head shops then before you can say “Molotov mixdrink” the most prominent one is lit up like a spliff from hell.
Isn’t it strange that a few sticks of incense and some funky bongs can provoke what looks like arson, yet being robbed blind by NAMA provokes only withering comments and sighs of how futile it all is.
Well back to work for me in my smoke free environment.
Totally with you on the Stevie Wonder thing, though I am not sure I would sell the old man for it…
I hope to god It’s not arson. “a few sticks of incense and some funky bongs” was not what was irritating people, what was irritating people, particularly residents in the area was that the shop was selling legal highs to very young looking customers until well after the last of the last pubs had shut the door. (By the way, completely off topic half price Sunday in Pantibar is crazy busy). It’s been sitting there for years selling “a few sticks of incense and some funky bongs” without bothering anyone. I doubt very much that the people who were most upset by this, immediate neighbours, would go and firebomb the place. If there is a suggestion of arson then I’d be more inclined to think that someone was trying to muscle in. Reminds me of the General burning down a hotdog stand on Leeson St many years ago.
Dont be too hard on the Greens after all they helped to get free BBC and RTÉ digital TV services to households across the island, following the switchover to digital television. This will benefit hundreds of thousands of people – especially those without access to paid-for cable and satellite services.” Councillor Cadogan Enright said in a statement
)))
I think they are a brilliant party
@16
I see. Well what is sold to children should always be regulated in some way, like tabacco and alcohol etc. So I can understand the fears some parents may have. I think the neighbours and owner suggested that arson might be the cause. I am sure the fire brigade will investigate. I hope its not…it could have killed someone.
I already know about half price Sundays at Pantibar,
I will be sure to try it out sometime ;o)
First Patricia McKenna, now Déirdre de Burca… jeeze, the Green Party are starting to look a lot better now.
If they keep losing crazies, I might even end up voting for them.
(Well, maybe that’s going a bit too far….)