Seanad election

Having spent four years in the cerebral environs of Mountjoy Square, I have secured my place in the intellectual elite and, unlike much of the riff-raff on this site, will be voting in the Trinity constituency of the Seanad election (DIT didn't have degree-awarding power). It's wonderful to know that my democratic voting rights are greater than the rights of most of the country.

Many of you dislike the workings of the upper house, but it's well for you that you don't have to agonise over which of the many fine candidates to favour for the duty of orating about highbrow ideals, calculating expenses and attending funerals. I was particularly struck by the election literature I received from one candidate last week and thought that some of the anti-Seanad plebs would enjoy it. Bart Connolly describes himself as a "homemaker from Sutton" who plays "cricket and croquet in Trinity" and holds "a Yachtmaster qualification and sails from Bray Sailing Club". He also claims that he will be "an intelligent voice" in the Seanad, but then so do all of the candidates. I think it's essential that this man with his life experience and worldview represents me in the Seanad in this difficult economic time. Either that or I could vote for the disabled, gay Traveller woman.

I'm a mere NUI voter and am amazed at the number of candidates sending me stuff. At least printers are getting a boost in these tough economic times!

How do I go about becoming eligible to vote (I've graduated from two universities here) so I can give more informed abuse to candidates?

Contact the electoral registrar at those universities, and apply. AFAIK it's too late to register to vote, but the right to abuse candidates is inalienable, and not confined to graduates. It gets even better: like everybody else, we have the right to abuse all the candidates, even the ones on the vocational panels!! But informed abuse is just showing off - and most of the candidates wouldn't understand it anyway.

Meantime, Bart Connolly on the Trinity panel just proves that for some people the world really is divided into the nots and the have yachts....

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Originally Posted by bluemovie

I was particularly struck by the election literature I received from one candidate last week and thought that some of the anti-Seanad plebs would enjoy it. Bart Connolly describes himself as a "homemaker from Sutton" who plays "cricket and croquet in Trinity" and holds "a Yachtmaster qualification and sails from Bray Sailing Club". He also claims that he will be "an intelligent voice" in the Seanad, but then so do all of the candidates. I think it's essential that this man with his life experience and worldview represents me in the Seanad in this difficult economic time. Either that or I could vote for the disabled, gay Traveller woman.

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Either option sounds better than Ronan feckin Mullen, who the NUI elected.

Anyone watch VB on Monday night? WOW!

ABOLISH ABOLISH!

Because that makes sense to those of us that didn't. Care to elaborate?

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Originally Posted by Macy

Either option sounds better than Ronan feckin Mullen, who the NUI elected.

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I will actually be giving a vote to Rosaleen McDonagh (the disabled gay Traveller woman) as usual. At least she's had some life experience in the real world. And it would p#ss off loads of people if she was elected (which she won't be).

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Originally Posted by dahamsta

Because that makes sense to those of us that didn't. Care to elaborate?

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I didn't see it, but I heard there were 4 election candidates on and that they would make you despair for humanity let alone the future of the Seanad to hear them speak. Supposed to have been completely clueless.

I've been utterly swamped with campaign leaflets. What gives: there seems to be a couple of dozen candidates for the 3 NUI seats.

Sure it's a cushy number. Who wouldn't want to run for it? I've had 19 leaflets so far for Trinners. A few of them are contemptible gobsheens, most are unelectable and a small few are worth bothering with.

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Originally Posted by bluemovie

Sure it's a cushy number. Who wouldn't want to run for it? I've had 19 leaflets so far for Trinners. A few of them are contemptible gobsheens, most are unelectable and a small few are worth bothering with.

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I see Marc "soft landing" Coleman is a candidate. It'll be a damning indictment of the quality of graduates from this state if both him and mullen get elected on the University panels.

I'm eligible to vote for both NUI and TCD and have also been bombarded with post from candidates. However, some of them haven't bothered to say on their leaflets if it's NUI or TCD they're running for. Surely that should be the first thing you put down on the leaflet after your name?

Maybe, but you're probably one of a small enough minority of graduates eligible for both and these incredibly clever people looking for our vote wouldn't even be thinking of that.

Fair play to you for reading on past their name in the first place!

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Originally Posted by Eminence Grise

Meantime, Bart Connolly on the Trinity panel just proves that for some people the world really is divided into the nots and the have yachts....

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I think this is a very unfair comment.

I bought the yacht with a credit union loan which I pay off over five years.
I paid for my education while working as a security guard in Ballymun.

Yaching and boating is not a "haves" sport and I am not an elitist! In the harbour the yacht is moored are many other small yachts and fishing boats and few if any of the owners are "haves"!

I made hay and turf by hand as a child in Connemara and lived in a house with no running water or flush toilet. The fact that I sail or play cricket or croquet may seem snobby to you but it they are minority sport in which many from all walks of life participate.

A professional soccer player in comparison is much more wealthy today. In fact my uncle played for Everton and Ireland back in the sixties and made little money from it.

So please park your bias outside when you make comments about me.