CARL O'BRIEN's sideways look at election count weekend
O'Rourke reveals a little too much of post-election plans
Defeated Fianna Fáil TD Mary O’Rourke has revealed that she’s going to bare all – in a new book of political memoirs.
By all accounts it sounds like she’s started early. Yesterday, during a radio interview, she told listeners that she was wandering around the house in her underwear.
"When I got up – and I'm still running around in underwear – I jotted down chapter headings that I could write my book about. My mind is just click-clicking away," O'Rourke told Matt Cooper on The Last Word's election special yesterday.
Of course, she isn’t the first politician to admit giving interviews in her underwear.
Former Progressive Democrats TD Liz O’Donnell said that “interviews were often done in my underwear, contrary to the professional impression”.
QUOTEOF THE DAY: ENDA KENNY
'The incoming government is not going to leave our people in the dark. Paddy likes to know what the story is'
Party leader Enda Kenny pledging a new era of openness (and, presumably a new policy of referring to Irish people as ’Paddy’)
TDs decide to downsize Dáil salaries for good of country . . . and party
Many of our new TDs are already doing the State some service – by pledging to take home just a fraction of the salaries they’re entitled to.
At least 20 TDs in the new Dáil say they will take a salary equivalent to the average industrial wage of €33,000. They include all the Sinn Féin TDs, the United Left Alliance members, as well as Kerry South’s Fine Gael deputy Brendan Griffin, among others.
Given that TDs earn a basic salary of about €100,000 (minus the pensionable top-up bonuses, long-service rewards, enhanced payments for Oireachtas positions . . . the list goes on), the total foregone will be in the region of €13 million.
Sadly, though, the taxpayer isn’t saving anywhere near that much. Sinn Féin deputies, for example, “donate” the maximum legally allowable amount to the party. Most of the remainder goes on constituency services such as hiring constituency workers, running their local offices.
TWEET OF THE DAY: 'I'm looking forward to Ming's five-joint plan'
One tweeter welcomes the arrival of Luke “Ming” Flanagan to the Dáil yesterday.
Dylan's online expertise fails to net voters
Those in the know gushed that this would be the Facebook election; that Twitter was poised to be the new frontline for votes; that YouTube would be where prospective politicians would slug it out.
Well, it looks like there’s nothing more effective than the old-fashioned approach of working the doorsteps.
The fresh-faced Dylan Haskins in Dublin South East caused a stir with his YouTube video (watched 30,000) times and Facebook page (with 2,692 fans), but it didn’t translate into votes.
In the end, the 23-year-old received just 1,141 first preferences despite his energetic and inventive campaign.
It prompted some cruel observers at the RDS count centre to comment that Haskins had more Facebook friends than voters.
ELECTION ONLINE: THE BEST BITS FROM YOUTUBE
Mario Rosenstock’s latest take on Vincent Browne, this time interviewing Michael Noonan. As ever, there are tonnes of choice one-liners. Our favourite is this from the soon-to-be Minister for Finance: “Feck your Honda Civic, Vincent, I’ve a Merc outside.”
http://tiny.cc/ltvl6
Enda Kenny had better get used to being lampooned. This are countless skits of him online and this is one of the better efforts. Based on the soon-to-be taoiseach’s performance during the last leaders’ debate, “Big Phil” is giving directions to Enda via a carefully hidden earpiece.
http://tiny.cc/u259l
Dinners, funerals and the Mafia
“I won’t be attending the funerals of people I don’t know”
Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams speaking to RTÉ yesterday. The irony of the comments seemed lost on the new TD
“Maybe I can’t change it. Maybe it would be easier to take the Mafia out of influence in southern Italy”
Mick Wallace, property developer and new Independent TD for Wexford, on the culture of Leinster House
“I don’t care what they call us, we’ll eat our dinner in the middle of the day all the time”
Independent Jackie Healy-Rae rejecting allegations that he and his newly elected son Michael represent “gombeen politics”