Warren G. Harding is widely acknowledged as one of America’s worst Presidents – which is quite an achievement for a term that lasted barely two and a half years. During his political career, which spanned state and federal office over a 25 year period, he left virtually no legacy of achievement. He is a classic example [...]
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There are few things worse than wasted potential. George Lee as an individual and as a symbol had a tremendous potential to shift our expectations of politics, and to open the door for a new type of TD. He was more than just a celebrity candidate. He was trusted by the ordinary citizen, as his thumping 27,000 vote [...] After all of the recent controversy and discussion in the local media on conference expenses, I thought it might be worthwhile to give a breakdown of how councillors are paid and the expenses that are available to us. Members of City and County Councils are paid an annual representational allowance set at a quarter of the salary [...] As part of the current ethics legislation, I made a statutory declaration of interests at the end of last month. These declarations are a matter of public record, however, I don’t know if they are automatically published online anywhere. My own declaration states the following: Other Employment\Directorships * Employee of SAP BusinessObjects, Citywest * No other directorships (apart from those [...] Two local Fine Gael councillors have called for urgent reform of the system of conference expenses. Cllrs. Tony O’Donnell and Emma Kiernan have used recent meetings of KCC’s Protocol Committee and Newbridge Town Council to highlight the need for a more transparent, accountable and relevant conferences system. At present councillors are allocated an annual budget for conferences, which [...] Serious concerns exist over the future of the Newbridge and Curragh Family Resource Centres (FRCs), according to local councillor Tony O’Donnell. Under the recommendations of An Bord Snip Nua, the state Family Support Agency may be abolished and with it the source of funding for over 100 resource centres across the country. Speaking after attending a meeting of both groups at [...] Colm McCarthy’s report raises an interesting point regarding the fantasy that is the Government’s PhD strategy. In the past decade, the Government has invested hundreds of millions in third-level research. However, one has to wonder how much of this was down to image and prestige, and what economic return was generated for the taxpayer. A taxpayer-funded PhD should [...] Senator Boyle looking for an issue and a microphone Tuesday’s Seanad grandstanding by Green Senators Boyle and De Burca was a craven example of gesture politics. The chamber was debating the new crime legislation, which the Government comfortably passed thanks to the support of Fine Gael. It was at this moment that the two unelected (and unelectable, if [...] The last few weeks have seen the annual rumblings of discontent in the media over the parliamentary recess. The Dáil will soon rise, and will not return until September at the earliest. Given that our elected representatives are not school children, this generous summer break is a little hard to fathom. Perhaps it would be interesting to consider [...] Last Monday, I was giving a lecture to the Kill Historical Society on the life of Gerry Sweetman. Sweetman first contested a general election in 1937, the last election to take place under the old Irish Free State Constitution. The members were curious about the adoption of that new constitution, and it gave me an opportunity [...] |
Tony O'Donnell is a Fine Gael member of Kildare County Council in the Kildare LEA. He is a 30 year old engineer living in Kildare Town. You can read more by clicking About Tony O'Donnell. |
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