Delighted to see your blog is still up and running, how dare Glenn and James claim that this was just an election tool! though on reflection you have been a little quiet lately, in any case i was wondering what you are doing in relation to one of your key objectives, TRANSPORT! Now that the Maynooth Line has been dubbed the Calcutta express, what changes are you proposing to ease the pain of the commuter. I don’t suppose you use the service yourself?

Looking forward to your answer,
Liam.

Sorry but I cant reconcile the fact that you are “committed to public service” (point 4), “hundreds of people that I have met in my work on the ground in Kildare North” (what “work on the ground”? point 5), “I am passionate about politics and serving the public” (point 7) with the fact that you are not and havent been a member of the county council or any town council in County Kildare. I do support the present government, but wasnt sure if I’d give my #1 to yourself or Micheal, but I think I’ll vote for Micheal are you the #2.
Again, thanks for the reply,
Brian

Unfortunately for many FF candidates, they have some campaigners or other people who don’t really understand the way in which new social media works doing a bit of work on blogs and websites - candidates should do their research themselves so that they don’t end up posting comments like that above and showing how little they know about what is going on.

In the Irish case, I think we’re simply in a situation where the political system has become disconnected from the reality we live in to an extent to which it has become incapable of engaging with issues. Plenty of examples can be taken. One might be the whole folderol over the decentralisation programme - -ultimately an irrelevant policy, which does nothing for regional development, but fumbling on for no apparent reason. At the same time substantial issues go unanswered - for example, the need to put some kind of rationality on regional development. Like many, I think the National Spatial Strategy cast the net too wide to be meaningful. But the political system seems incapable of implementing even that.

We could go on (and on and on), but I think the key point I want to make is that what I tend to see in Irish online debates are the neglected agendas that the political system seems incapable of grasping. That’s a very different reality to that depicted in the BBC article, and I’d hate to thing that article was being taken as comfort for believing that Irish voters are ‘increasingly unwilling to be governed but not yet capable of self-government’. I think the reality is the opposite. Irish people are waiting to be governed. They are waiting for a Government that, for example, will negotiate from a position of strength as the funder of education to help primary schools evolve from Church management to community management in response to our changing lives.

The currency of Irish politics used to be clientelism - asking you local TD to advocate your case and, frequently, getting no more out of the transaction than a polite letter from the relevant Minister. That kind of old nonsense is hardly of any relevance now. Do politicians still have a nostalgia for that kind of thing?

“Is the Web fuelling a crisis in politics?”

No , Aine . In my opinion , politicians like yourself are fuelling that crisis .
And here is what I intend to do about it -
http://11sixtynine.blogsome.com/2007/05/10/send-a-message-on-may-24-spoil-your-vote/

Sharon.

Bear in mind that the traditional media, BBC included, are still apprehensive about, perhaps even fear, blogging, and dismiss it as ‘amateur journalism’. Hence they are not an unbiased source.

http://eastmeath.org/blog/?p=215

What is needed to generate quality of life is proper planning and development. In parts of Meath and Kildare poor quality of life is DIRECTLY ATTRIBUTABLE to councillors ignoring regional planning guidelines and zoning land in the absence of funding for infrastructure or local employment generation.

If people weren’t commuting 3 hours a day then maybe they would have the time and energy to engage.