President Gerry Adams?

[SpabSFW]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comme...334738,00.html

"You have just had a taxing day at work, the bills you lifted from the hall this morning remain unopened and you have spent an hour persuading the kids to go to sleep. To relax you slip into a warm bath and turn on the radio; the hassles of the past 12 hours melt away as you are soothed towards sleep by the dulcet tones of ... Gerry Adams reading from his autobiography.
Cynics might quip that listening to the Sinn Fein President's personal account of a life-never-lived-in-the-IRA would be enough to send anyone off to dreamland; the self-righteous tone and folksy sentiment of his latest book contain enough soporific elements to cure the most acute forms of insomnia. This was what listeners to RTE's Book at Bedtime were offered in the first week of September as part of the station's 'commemoration' of the 10th anniversary of the Provos' ceasefire.

We will never know if these instalments of Adams' personal story induced mass narcolepsy in the Irish nation but one thing we can be sure about is that his presence on the programme provides further evidence of the 'Big Lad's' superstar status in the Republic. He has certainly come a long way from cage 11, Long Kesh and may end up in Phoenix Park - and I'm not talking Garda headquarters but the Irish Presidency.

The idea of President Adams is no longer a fantasy. Given that he is currently the most popular politician in a Republic where he holds no office, there is every chance the Sinn Fein chief could succeed Mary McAleese. And the notion that Adams becomes Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces, while his party colleagues as cabinet ministers control the lives of millions of Irish citizens, is no longer beyond the realms of possibility either. The latter scenario is far more realisable than the former, especially given Fianna Fail's dance-of-the-seven-veils seduction of Sinn Fein.

...

[IFF]

To be president of Ireland, Gerry Adams woukld need either the backing of 20 members of the oireachtas (dail and seanad) or the support of 4 county councils.

currently, sinn fein only has 5 oireachtais members while i think every county council barring one or 2 has worked to keep sinn fein out of control (i think in louth county council, all parties joined together to make sure sinn fein didn't get a coalition together with anyone) but as the next election for president would be in 7 years time (2011) and therefore i don't think there would be a possibility of Gerry adams being able to get even a nomination for the presidency of ireland

of course, if fianna fail wanted power so badly in the dail then there would be a chance of gerry adams being able to pick up even support to get a nomination.

as a note: Eoin O'Murchu (writing in the Village magazine) feels that SF could get 15 seats in the Dail, Mark Brennock (political correspondent with Irish times) feels Sf could get 11 seats and former Fine Gael (once nicknamed The Commonwealth Party)Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald (also writing in the Irish Times) think SF could only get 8 seats in the next Dail election which unless they are in coaltion with the centre right Fianna Fail means that they would have non chance of havin a nomination for president

[Myrddin]

Garret Fitzgerald might be dead the next time the next presidency comes around and he would hardly be an inspiring president. John Hume would have been a great president but he doesn't want the job, Adams might be also but he would be more controversial.

[Dogberry]

How about Graham Norton?

He'd make sure you were in the right camp.

[SpabSFW]

With Irish politics, almost anything is possible. It would be an interesting tenure I'm sure.




*the bit about mass narcoslepsy was good

[SpabSFW]

I was just thinking, if you had to choose only between Dubya or Gerry Adams to be your President, who would you pick?

[Gandalf]

I would have loved to see Michael D Higgans or Senetor David Norris as the next President!!! But alas the "Bridge Builder" stays in the Aras , no where near as good an President as "Big Bird" was.

Infact if Norris got it we could say we had a Queen as well

As for Chuckie Adams there is no way the majority in the Republic would vote for him. Too many unanswered questions in his history and the majority believe that he was a army council member of the IRA at the very least.

[Dogberry]

Originally Posted by Gandalf

As for Chuckie Adams there is no way the majority in the Republic would vote for him. Too many unanswered questions in his history and the majority believe that he was a army council member of the IRA at the very least.

Really who'd have thought it???? Go with graham Norton then, he's your ummm man!

[Gandalf]

Originally Posted by Dogberry

Really who'd have thought it???? Go with graham Norton then, he's your ummm man!

LOL no you can keep him Thanks to his overexposure on De Telly he annoys the living daylights outta me !!!!!

[Dogberry]

He annoys the living daylights out of everyone! Mind you he's funny as hell when he's on form.

How about Terry Wogan? You could do worse.

The President seems to have a very low profile, who is it now?

[Gandalf]

Mary McAleese is the current squatter in the Presidential Residence! Before that it was Big Bird aka Mary Robinson, you know the one thats really popular in the US

[Myrddin]

Indeed, the Mary Robinson that the US forced out as UN commissioner after she disagreed with something’s that they did (which says a lot for the independence of the UN). Mary speaks her mind that’s our Mary .

[Myrddin]

Originally Posted by Gandalf

I would have loved to see Michael D Higgans or Senetor David Norris as the next President!!! But alas the "Bridge Builder" stays in the Aras , no where near as good an President as "Big Bird" was.

Mary McAleese is ok as president, not as good as Robinson but good. I would like to see Higgins or Norris as president (both are liberals), and with Norris we would have our first gay president so that would be a mould breaking presidency also.

[Gandalf]

Yeah David Norris would certainly have put a bit of colour into the Presidency. Shame the poor man is losing his eyesight!!! He is one of the real characters of Dublin. I was lucky enough to meet Michael D Higgins at one of the anti war demo's in Dublin last year, a small frail man but with a strenght of intelligence that shone from his eyes. he would be excellent as well.

I would prefer Martin McGuinness over Chuckie Adams as well, at least he has been honest about his past and seems a geniune man. Gerry just worries me!

[IFF]

Originally Posted by Gandalf

As for Chuckie Adams there is no way the majority in the Republic would vote for him. Too many unanswered questions in his history and the majority believe that he was a army council member of the IRA at the very least.

i agree. he is a figure that people either love or hate so if a person hates him (like i do) then the person will not vote for him.

i really really hate the mcaleese presidency. i feel thast she has been worthless as president./ i also think she is a highly intelligent person and being in a meet and greet position for 14 years is a waste of her talents

the real question is is there anyway a person in a symbolic meet and greet position can have big job dissatisfaction. i see that it is not possible. low would be in the 70's percent range

Norris would have been good. he's very likable but he would also make a divide between the irish people and some people will hate him for his personal life.

I would have also liked to see Mickey D as president