So. A lot of us spent two hours in front of the box last night, watching the gladiators. Did anybody lose a limb? Suffer a head-wound? Flatten their enemies?
- Lucinda Creighton. She came across as smart, clear in what she wanted, reminded the audience she’d resigned a ministerial position on grounds of principle. And promised that she’d sort out the criminals with three-strikes-and-you’re-out: three serious crimes and you get life. Articulate in her message, except that the message was definitively right-wing. 7.5/10
- Stephen Donnelly. He should sue RTÉ for framing his bald head with a black backdrop. But he still managed to looked dapper, spoke with authority and conviction, and the audience liked him . 8.5/10
- Joan Burton. Oh dear.Regardless of what she says, Joan had two dead-weights tied to her: body-language and voice. Somebody on Twitter suggested anyone looking to get the truth about Gerry Adams and the IRA should put Joan in charge of the interrogating – he’d crack inside twenty minutes. Joan pointed too much, particularly with a distracting index finger which curled at the top; and while she spoke of a great number of plans to address national problems, she looked like a hand waving desperately as its owner starts to sink. 5/10
- Enda Kenny. Enda was, as so often, wooden. He has a pursed-mouth look of indignation and talks a bit like John Major in a grey forgettable voice. He gear-changed through all the improvements in employment figures and investments in health and the rest, but he did nothing to reassure those who clearly haven’t benefitted from the ‘recovery’. A steady but boring performance. 7/10
- Micheál Martin. He started with the disadvantage that most commentators thought he shone in the TV3 debate (I didn’t think he did), so there was no way to go but down. He still talked machine-gun style, and made the mistake of trying to damn Gerry Adams for having been in the IRA. Yawn. Martin in general is a lively if too-wordy debater but last night wasn’t his finest hour. 7.5 /10
- Gerry Adams. Gerry had a debate of two halves (actually a third and two thirds). In the early stages he stuttered over garda figures and looked as they say uncomfortable on financial questions. On the other hand he used his final speech to tie in the Easter Rising and its aspirations with those of his party (the rest didn’t even mention the Rising). He also produced the most memorable image of the night: the three amigos – Martin, Kenny and Burton – riding off into the sunset on their donkeys. 8/10
- Richard Boyd Barrett. He was the first to bring the debate to life, producing figures with which he flayed the coalition. For most of the debate he was animated, incisive and informed – reminiscent of a young Eamonn McCann. Towards the end he began to flag, and his closing statement was halting and unconvincing. But overall, an outstanding performance. 9/10
Will it all matter? A bit, I think. It’ll confirm in their conviction those who lean towards the left and maybe those committed to things right-wing. Enda didn’t do anything to give the FG 28% figure a fillip. Micheál Martin likewise didn’t do a lot for Fianna Fail. Despite his economics stumble, I think Gerry Adams will have given fresh heart to his troops and may even have won some converts with his amigos line. Oh, and Boyd Barrett and Stephen Donnelly have done themselves an unexpected and considerable amount of good.
you have been very fair in your assessment there Jude. Like many others I find the endless tirade against GA & SF very tiresome as it does not add to the issues, mud slinging disguised as politics.
3.strikes yer out will sway a lot of undecided.
What if they’re told it cost £80,000 approx per year to keep a prisoner?
80,000 were do they pluck their figures from.you could sail the world over on that.
put them on full time production work 6am start wont be many coming back after their first stint.
You’ve a good point there billy.If they had to knock in their pans on a production to pay for their keep it might get a different result. discipline building exercise too.
€120k for adult and €140k for juveniles. I’m sure Lucinda would make them earn their keep.
3 strikes and your out? I’d say the bankers in the South (and all over Europe) have had thousands of strikes and still none of them have seen the inside of a prison cell. Instead they got bailed out, an increase in salary and bonuses at the expense of the taxpayer.
Have to agree with you there Billy, prisoners shouldn’t be allowed to sit in idleness all day long, playing snooker, playing PS4, watching TV, etc (I’m sure foreigners from the likes of Turkey or China are amazed at how prisoners in Ireland/Europe are treated, its literally more like a holiday camp than a prison).
Am I saying prisoners should be held in chains and orange suits like in the USA? No. But they should be taken out into the community (under armed guard if need be) to do work that would cost the state too much to pay workers for. Like, for example, doing manual labour to build up sea defences, flood defences, etc. Schooling and workshops should still be available for prisoners in order to better their prospects when they leave prison but they should be working from 7am to 5pm at least 5 days a week like most law abiding people do.
Its said that the average prisoner in the UK costs £30,000 a year to care for. That money could be used to send gifted children from disadvantaged backgrounds, who could be the next Einstein, Hawkings, Mozart, etc, to the likes of Eton and other fantastic schools/colleges/university’s. But no, they spend it on a criminals to lay about doing nothing and will more likely be in prison again within 6 months of being released.
Near enough spot on Jude. But i think Gerry stole the show and won the debate. The IRA debate is old hat especially coming from the same party that gave us De Valera and Lemass amongst others. Get over it FG.FF and Labour. From Collins to Lemass to Gilmore et al you all have your past.
Very.fair.jude
G.R.M.A.J.I.M.
If the Three Amigos riding off into the sunset, Esteemed Blogmeister, was the defining phrase of last night’s second dunkey derby of a debate, oops, conversation then a different, though not unrelated but unspoken one fitted the first.
That would have been, of course, Two Mules for Sister Sara.
Now while the Yawnaiste (for it was she !) is no Shirley McLaine nonetheless there was a distinct impression given last week that the two packmules of the political portmanteau known as Fine Failure were there primarily to cover (gulp) her ass. Even as they attempted to ambush if not indeed bushwhack in triplicate, El Gringo Gerry.
The Yawnaiste’s inner Mother Superior tends to come into, or rather out of its very own during public conversations (phew! got that term right at last) to smother the opposition.
And while that unique way of her’s in which she, as the ultimate Blue Collar (sic) coloratura/ definitive Burro-crat, inundates all within a Dollymount strand-alone distance of her in any chosen venue with her tidal wave of a contralto, nevertheless she , sadly, still contrives to cut a rather unconvincing Sara Eire.
-Dear Mary, Mother of God, allow this no-good atheist go shoot straight !
Much in the way her new dunkey-jacketed ally in the Six Degrees of Separation, north of the Black Sow’s Dyke would hardly or indeed seamlessly fit the role of Hogan. While there are undoubted similarities on paper between the two C. Eastwoods, nonetheless there is no gainsaying the fact that Colum is no whatchamaycallim, Clint.
A legitimate background in acting (especially on the amateur drama-festival circuit) is a sine qua non pre-requisite / reamhriachtanas to becoming the El Chapo of the political cartel known as the SDLP (cf the Not as famous as he would like to be Seamus). One suspects C. Eastwood the Second will require all his inner thespian skills to pass the Stoops off as a party not entirely indistinguishable from the political provenance of the (gasp) P-troops.
-I ride from sunup to sundown. You either keep up or you don’t. You’ll feel better after a few hours on your mule.
But then, Enda is no Ennio, either. Somewhat unlike his near-namesake Enda has singularly failed to fill the halls or cinemas of his stateen with the melodies of paradiso; more like the sounds of ennui.
Coincidentally – just who precisely is responsible for all these concurrences? – who was conducting a concert of his own work in Dublin in the last few days only el maestro e fein, Ennio Morricone (87) himself.
Ennio, ar ndoigh, is the protean genius who composed the score for Two Mules for Sister Sara, and what seems like about a million other movies besides.
Despite his incomparable and prolific output of standout soundtracks Ennio M. has never been awarded a real Oscar as distinct for a bogus honorary one. (For honorary, look under b for bogus and Byrne, as in Gay.) He is not without hope that his superb, shortlisted score for the masterly Tarantino, movie The Hateful Eight will right that wretched wrong this year.
Ennio has more than one reason for optimism..
For, In more than one way, he is the Diarmuid Connolly of Motion Picture Land.. After been disgracefully overlooked by the prejudiced pinheads of the judging panel for many years, this Dublin footballer who is truly Poetry in Motion on the field of play, was at last awarded with a long overdue All-Star award last year.
It is not the only quality Ennios shares with the Marino Magician. For Ennio Morricone implacably refuses to be interviewed in any other language but his native Itallian. Ditto, Diarmuid Connolly who does not do media, lan stad/ full stop.
He might be described as one of the three amigos of the G.A.A. – the Gaelic Aesthetic Association. It may be remarkable that the three magi of Gaelic football – Mick O’Connell (Kerry), Ciaran McDonald (Mayo) and Diarmuid Connolly (Dublin) – allowed their on-field, erm ,skill-sets do the talking. NONE of this gifted trio did media interviews, vacuous or otherwise, if there is an otherwise.
Or, it may not be so remarkable at all.
This is the identical same media, after all, who would convince us that Los Tres Amigos of last night ought not ride off into the sundown on their dunkeys.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?
Close, amigo, but no cigar.
As Ennio would put it; il buono, il brutto, il cattivo.
Have to agree with your analysis Jude. Gerry Adams won the debate, in my opinion. Micheal Martin wasn’t the same as in the first debate. When the topic was economics Micheal boringly referred to the IRA in order to distract peoples attention. People know when southern politicians refer to the IRA they are only doing it because they feel uncomfortable with the topic at hand and cant give suitable answers. It really is quite pathetic. Micheal definitely didn’t shine last night and Enda/Joan a number of times brought up the fact Fianna Fail caused the crisis in the first place, which I believe did Micheal damage.
Joan/Enda were in a tag team again last night. Both were even urging their voting to give 2nd preferences to each others parties. Was I the only one who noticed that Enda was behaving very similar to how David Cameron behaved during his TV debates back before May? Enda thanked the questioner for their question (Cameron did that) and then kept attention on buzzwords like “recovery” and “stability” and “growth” and “jobs”. He kept repeating those buzzwords, just like Cameron did. I think Cameron has been given Enda some tips! Two tories sticking together!
Joan, I think, had a better night compared to the other debate on TV3 but it was still bad for her. She wasn’t intimidated by Gerry Adams index finger this time (how brave….) but she did get hammered by Gerry and the others on Labours broken promises. Its all politics, its not personal, I’m sure Joan is a nice lady in real life but her voice alone is very off putting. I think Joan knows herself that her political career is nearing its end, she and her party choose to be a mud guard for Fine Gael for 5 years and now they are about to pay the ultimate political price.
Gerry Adams was better in this debate than on TV3. He did stumble on his figures but it was nothing to cry about. He was prepared for the inevitable references to the PIRA. Again, I was surprised Thomas Murphy wasn’t mentioned and nor was Jean McConville but that was maybe because there was more people on the debate this time and there wasn’t enough time or opportunity for Enda/Micheal/Joan to do so. Gerry aggressively hammered Enda/Joan on their austerity policies and bashed Micheal on Fianna Fail’s track record. Gerry was, again, the only one to reference the 1916 Easter Rising leaders, something which I think will gain him voters.
Without a doubt the line of the night was Gerry’s message to the electorate to (by chance Joan, Enda and Micheal stood next to each other and the camera image was great in showing Adams pointing at the 3) “send the three amigo’s on their donkey’s off into the sunset”, which got an applause from the audience. It was a light, funny and memorable quote which I wouldn’t be surprised if it is trending on twitter on the eve of the election. #The3Amigos
Richard Barret and Stephen Donnelly were very impressive, particularly Richard, he spoke very well. To be fair also though, there’s very little for anyone on panel to attack Richard and Stephen on, so its not surprising they both had very good nights. Until Gerry’s “amigo’s” comment, Stephen had won the line of the night when he bashed Joan and said “The Irish Labour party are the only left wing party in Europe asking its voters to vote for a right wing party (FG)”, which deservedly got an applause. It was a very accurate statement. Richard was great the whole way through the debate but kinda tripped up at the end when he was giving his closing statement, it was as if he was caught unawares. But overall both were impressive. I might be wrong but both didn’t attack Gerry once.
Overall, it was great TV, all you needed was to suit them up in Roman style gear, hand them brutal killing weapons and that would’ve made it even better. I can picture Joan’s screeching voice having Micheal down on his knees covering his ears in agony. Enda cowering with a Spartan shield while Gerry Adam’s swings a club trying to smack the austerity out of him while yelling “Taoiseach, We haven’t gone away you know!” and Richard & Stephen teaming up on Lucinda and her right wing philosophy. All the while the crowds cheer. Now THAT would be entertainment 🙂