Families in the Oireachtas - The big elephant in the Irish sitting room that we never talk about.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Families_in_the_OireachtasPosted Sep 10, 2009, 7:02 PM UTC
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en.wikipedia.org
It is talked about. Fascinating page nonetheless.
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Oh, did you know that Ryan Tubridy is part of the Andrews dynasty? Chris Andrews is his cousin and Ryan's younger brother ran in the local elections this year for FF, but failed to get elected.
And Miriam O'Callaghan has a brother who ran for the Dail for FF in 2007.
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The first time I stumbled across this Wikipedia page, I was as close to speechless as I've ever been. All the talk and criticism about dynastic politics in the US, and Ireland is a hundred times worse. It prints off as a 14 page document.
I can't believe we don't discuss this more, that it's not a prominent topic on every radio and tv show. I don't know which is worse: the fact of the matter, or the fact that it gets so little attention.
I don't agree that it's never talked about, but in the end of the day there's only so much you can say about it. After a few minutes of it being a prominent topic on every radio and tv show I think we'd all get rather bored.
It's a democracy, if you're an adult citizen you can stand for election. The people on that list are about an average sampling of Irish politicians, including the good the bad and the indifferent. I'd never see a family connection as a particular reason to vote for someone, myself, but it's not a reason not to, either.
I think you are overreacting. Certainly an interesting article, and duly upvoted. But while I agree that there is some concern, the fact that there are 100 odd people whose relatives, up to the first cousin,
does not really surprise me. They have people like Cathal Brugha in there.
Gets you from A-C only.
Brian Cowan - inherited his seat. Enda Kenny - inherited his seat. The current Taoiseach, and the pretender to the throne, and neither man can honestly be said to have earned his seat. When I see this, I can't help but think that we really are the architects of our own destruction.
And Brian and Enda, second generationists that they are, don't even come close to the Lennihan dynasty.
I'm surprised you are surprised. I thought most people knew this.
You didn't know Brian Cowen inherited his seat?
The Kitts are perhaps even more interesting than the Lenihans, although they haven't held as much power as the Lenihans who tend to become ministers.
There are more Kitts in government currently than ex-PDs.