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From 2002. Talking about Fine Gael increasing national debt. One news and Six One. Talking about the jiggerary pokery that does not add up.
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Will that be used another sign that George Lee’s commentary has always been historically biased as FF claim? Or will they just ignore it cos it doesn’t suit them…
Dan,
I don’t think any fair-minded person would deny that George Lee is both a consumate professional and a decent human being. Like all decent human beings he appears to find himself in deep shock at the severity of the reversal in our economy, the likelihood that the period of adjustment will be both prolonged and relentlessly painful and the horrific human/social cost that may be involved, particularly for the young. If he believes he may be able to play a more constructive role by opting to get involved in politics at this time – and according to himself that is his main motivation – then good luck to him. I think the argument about whether or not he was biased against the government in his economic commentary is futile. His analysis was hardly infallible and was frequently flawed and poorly judged, as witnessed by his tendency towards an emotional response to economic developments in recent times. But people were entitled to make their own minds up about that: we are not led by the media. If we are, then we are fools and deserve everything that is coming to us anyway.
Where I do think he made an error is in staying on in his RTE role long after he must have known his own mind was moving in a different direction. Not for one minute is it credible that George Lee woke up one fine morning two weeks ago to a phone call from FG and suddenly decided he would like to be their by-election candidate in Dublin South and join their party. He’s far too smart for that.
Veronica – I think you’re very rough in tarnishing the name and reputation of George Lee. I’m sure that he did make the decision over the weekend as on paper he hadn’t a hope in hell of beating Cllr Jim O’Leary. The rules and structure of a convention would mean that unless he really had a strong supporter base, which is highly unlikely for a new candidate, is that he would not have gotten through. I will agree that deals were probably done over the weekend to ensure that Jim will take one now for the team and get rewarded at some future point.
Talking like he could walk into a seat shows a complete lack of knowledge of how Irish political parties work with the exception of FF who managed to avoid the entanglement of conventions in a number of places. A candidate goes forward, in the case of FG you need to be a registered member for two years prior to any convention. No offence to George but I know he has no branch registered for that length so his chances in a real convention would be slim. That being said, I’m delighted he has left a good job to address the failings of the State through public service and I wish him the very best and hope he wins the by-election.
Braz,
Let’s get real here. The fact is that notwithstanding FG internal rules, he did walk into the nomination, as he would have known he would. Various reporters described the ‘jubilation’ within the party when the announcement that he would seek the nomination was made. If George Lee at a different time and place had declared an interest in standing for FF or Labour, then I’m quite sure no obstacle would have been placed in his path by those mainstream parties either. He is an excellent candidate and an asset to any party and the addition of some economic skills to Dail debates is to be welcomed in the public interest, particularly since there is a dearth of such skills amongst our current crop of parliamentarians. I expect he will be elected and personally, I hope he will be.
So far from besmirching him, I applaud him. However, that does not change my concern that someone in such a public position of influence as the Economics Editor of RTE, the national broadcaster, thinks so little of their role in shaping and forming public opinion on the issues of the day that he could abandon it overnight to seek a new role in partisan politics. You might have no problem with that, but I do.
Veronica – I was real, the first paragraph trying to say that internal rules are bollox is just that bollox. I can think of a number of candidates, perhaps not as high profile, who were throw back into the sea after the locals didn’t see eye-to-eye with Mount St. If you want to believe that a party exists on in their HQ feel free, its absolutely incorrect and bears no semblance to the state of affairs for any political party. So if you want to believe the `jubiliation’ of the Dail reporters feed their tidbits from HQ, feel free. Knowing a number of those journos, I questions most of their intentions but that is down to personal encounters and life experience. An eye should be kept to olde Jim to see the payoff but sure that is the grand game of politics.
RTE lost my respect years ago as a national broadcaster, a provincial and jaded news outlet perhaps but its a far cry from the standards and quality of the Beeb. A position of influence, perhaps, I pretty sure that his comments in the near future will show how restrained he was and how muzzled RTE is. I think their role in shaping debates is sadly overstated, however the loss of one of their better reporters will hurt their reporting for a short time. It think its a great exaggeration to say that he can’t easily be replaced – there are plenty of ex-financial staff in Dublin looking for jobs, surely one will be presentable and coherent on TV/radio. I have zero problem with somebody follow their own career path, if RTE really wanted to keep him they could have made a offer to keep him. Considering what they’re paying their personalities and how little they do in forming opinion, I think George would have been a bargain. I don’t believe in some kind of Communist state where my role or career are determined by others, the freedom of movement and career is one of the joys of Ireland and wider Europe.
Oh Yes, Braz, and observing the rulebook is the message the Party Leader wished to convey when he attended the selection convention last night? Or described George Lee’s joining FG as representing some sort of watershed in Irish politics? Pity poor Paschal Donoghue. Hard working fellow, who actually gave up a job (with no prospect of returning to it, unlike George)to plough a lonely furrow for his party in Dublin Central over the last several years. He’s made excellent progress through knocking on doors, following up with his constituents and making a more than respectable contribution to national politics since he became a member of Seanad Eireann. If he doesn’t win this by-election he will assuredly stand a very good chance at the next general election, as he deserves to. What’s most refreshing about him is that he does not give the impression that he feels ‘entitled’ to anything except what he earns through his own hard work on the ground.
I know this may sound prissy and old fashioned, but I do believe that if a person occupies a position that carries a high public profile, that is expected to be politically neutral and that therefore rightly commands influence and power over public opinion, that while they may have the right to make whatever personal career choices they want, they also have a responsibility that goes beyond their personal career choices and particularly how they exercise those choices. Otherwise they risk damaging their own integrity. That is why I believe George Lee is in error and should have allowed a ‘cooling off’ period before he jumped into mainstream politics.
As for his being hard to replace by RTE, I never meant to convey any such impression – nobody is ‘hard to replace’ and as the old adage has it, the graveyards are full of men who thought they were indispensible.
George Lee was 17 years (I think) in RTE telling it like it was but the fact is he changed nothing and acheived nothing except a certain amount of respect and plenty of sneering criticism. To change anything for better or worse you have to be in power and if he feels he can do it and goes for it then his living shall not be in vain.
Listening to the RTE interview in regard to his decision to leave RTE and Join Fine Gael I got the impression that (1) he had no future with RTE (the only time I heard them refer to their statutory obligation to be fair and impartial was in this interview)and (2) his decision seemed to be rushed as if he was looking for somewhere to go. If this is true then the future of RTE is just as bright as the future of Fianna Fail. “You can fool some of the people all the time ……….”