George Lee resigns from Fine Gael
RTE report that Fine Gael new-comer and rising star George Lee has resigned from the party and is to leave the Dáil. Lee, a former economics jourmalist with RTE caused a stir when he joined Fine Gael last year, romping home in the Dublin south by-election.
Per the RTE report -
In the statement released just before lunchtime, George Lee says it has been a very difficult decision, but it is one that he has taken after a great deal of reflection.
He says that he has done his best to play a positive role in contributing to the national debate.
But Mr Lee was disappointed at his lack of input at ‘this most critical time.’
Mr Lee says the role he has been playing within the party has been very limited and he says he found this to be personally unfulfilling.
You have to wonder at the thought processes that led to Fine Gael luring an external, high profile, economics expert and then excluding him from economic policy formulation in the midst of the state’s biggest economic crisis. When the government benches are stocked with solicitors and school teachers, George Lee surely should have been an invaluable asset. All-in-all, a great day for Fianna Fáil.
Mack,
I would expect a journalist to rally to the defence of a fellow journalist….its what journalists do.
The fact is that if Lee did not want to represent his constituents on bread and butter issues…..because he was too good for that kinda thing……sorting out their dustbin collection or dealing with a hospital appointment….he should have mentioned it in his victory speech or maybe even his election literature.
And no doubt he got a generous EXPENSES allowance so that someone in the office could do that kinda thing for him.
This would have enabled Boy George to apply his legendary talent elsewhere in the corridors of power.
Like I said……he has only brought discredit to himself and his supporters.
Well, I’m not a journalist, only a blogger :-0
In fairness to Lee I don’t think he objected to constituency work, it was the fact he wasn’t involved in policy formation that was the kicker. I get the impression he thought he would be involved in formulating economic policy when he joined. Why was he allowed to think that, if it wasn’t to be the case?
It’s a bit like moving jobs, leaving a good job, for a promotion elsewhere, only to find you’ve got less responsibility and less fulfilling job than the one you’ve just left. Sure muck in and after a while things might improve, but that’s not why you left. There’s a breakdown of communication somewhere, and as it’s costly to Fine Gael, it’s reasonable to assume that the commication problem was down to incompetence or a complete lack of understanding on their part..
FitzjamesHorse
The fact is that if Lee did not want to represent his constituents on bread and butter issues…..because he was too good for that kinda thing……sorting out their dustbin collection or dealing with a hospital appointment….he should have mentioned it in his victory speech or maybe even his election literature.
Research published last week showed that the average backbench TD spent over half of their time on constituency work. Did George have ambitions to be fast-tracked onto the Front Bench, and if so what thwarted those ambitions? If George is indeed impartial (which I know is somewhat different to saying he can report economics impartially) then why didn’t he join FF (did he try, I wonder)? The State is crying out for economics expertise in government and it is sad to see George go – as I say I wasn’t a fan but I preferred him being in politics and the Oireachtas than reporting oustide.
David Crookes I’ll check all that out. thanks
Everyone, it Ireland could spreak with one voice, it would say this to England
“We hate you because you don’t love us as much as we love you”
England = Bruce Willis
Ireland = Cybil Shepherd
Let’s have a conference
He probably found out just how boring it is, and just how brain-dead you need to be for a career in politics. Anyway, FG needs accountants and not economists on the front bench since Ireland only retains sovereignty over fiscal policy with sovereignty over the big stuff – macroeconomic and monetary policies – being managed by the ECB/EC. The government does not control economic policy. FG should leave the prima donnas where they belong – in RTE.
I think Fitz’s point is that while the Shinners are undereducated and under-qualified street thugs, at least they’re not journalists.
Mack
Bloggers are on the Journalistic ladder…though admittedly we are more ethical than professional journos.
But the problem here is Lees massive ego.
He got preferential treatment (selected unopposed in South Dublin)……did he really think he had a “nod or wink” from Enda Kenny to be on the Front Bench without even serving a kinda probation.
Just caugght on car radio. RTE News where FG colleagues are expressing surprise and disappointment…..I suspect privately some are very angry.
A female back bencher saying that the first year is difficult.
But saying Lee tended not to mix with colleagues.
Another male FG poloitician suggesting that “mentoring” had failed but surely THIRTEEN years as a RTE Economics Editor might have given Lee an insight into how Leinster House works and that the failure of communication wasnt the fault of Fine Gael.
After all…..George Lee is a PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATOR.
The male FG person suggested that “he knew” that Lees family was not happy with his political career but the presenter (Mary Wilson I think) did not seem to want to go down that road. In fairness she is an ex colleague and probably friend of Lee.
I take Jaggers point that the nation needs economic expertise……..in journalism in politics and in banks. Lee probably thought that politics was the way for him.
In reality he might have been better employed as a top civil servant in Dept of Finance.
Jaggers gets it right….journalism and politics are different disciplines. Ironically I would trust Lee making a statement on economics in the Prime Time studio in six months…(I dont think a journalist would really compromise his reputation to make partisan statements). But the nature of politics is that a partisan politician would have to compromise on his economic beliefs to toe the party line.
But I really do think this SHOULD NOT be a story where the main focus is the Dáil/Journalists/The Blogosphere.
Its a story about the people of Dublin South.
Alias,
I do not know how I have given the impression that I dont like journalists.
Of course he might have a job lined up in Brussels……the one place a failure can go.
Joe Duffy phone in ten minute vote for or against George’s decision. Almost 16,000 votes cast……85% YES agreeing with his decision!
Will we now get the real truth regarding so called Dail politics, that individuals no matter how talented or expert are handed their script by the ‘ Backroom Boys’, step up to the mark and say their lines.
New Labour party management tactics now apply to all parties in these islands, ‘on message, on cue and f*** all to say!. Good for him, he has walked out proud with his integrity intact. In the elegant words of the poet Joyce Kimler ‘ he carried in his soul the courage of his song’
Thanks, Paul (#22)! Don’t misunderestimate Annalong men. Ferdinand de Lesseps said that the Annalong man Francis Chesney was the father of the Suez Canal. There should be a statue of Chesney in Annalong, and there should be a statue of Amanda McKittrick Ros in Larne.
Of course a reconstituted UK is quite inconceivaable. But certain winds of change are blowing, and certain old hatreds are losing their power. Either our children or our grandchildren may help to create such a form of concord as presently we are unable to imagine.
Munsterview.
Dont you find it surprising that George Lee did not know that this was how politics worked?
Brussels? Maybe
RTE? Awkward for them……and it could even involve their lawyers.
His integrity intact? Right, the muppet assumed that his public profile should automatically translate as the right to dictate his opinions to the party leadership. Perhaps if he had a Nobel Prize in economics or had authored some influencial academic papers or even had a track record of success in any field related to economics, but being an RTE journalist – however self-important they feel they are – carries no entitlement to power.
He is just another example of the dismal careerist muppets who put their own selfish interest ahead of the national interest and who we consistently elect to public office. That is a lamentable but inevitable consequence of Ireland no longer reasserting its national interest, its nationalism, and no longer demanding that only patriots are elected to serve the state.
FJH,
you have a lot to say on this. Most of it could be heard on any bar stool in any crappy pub you care to name tonight.
You say about George Lee…
“He is frankly a selfish scumbag.”
A selfish scumbag, eh?
Do one please.
As a (now former) admirer of George Lee, I am stunned at this egomaniacal performance. He was a new boy; what the hell did he expect after nine months? It is an indictment of his understanding of the politics that he so closely observed for so long. And as an observer who has no axe to grind for either of the two main parties in the Republic, I need someone to ask him (1) why he chose to join Fine Gael in the first place; and (2) why does he now want to damage that party so much, and deliver such a huge gift to Fianna Fáil?
Quitting a career in politics is one thing but then to resign from the party at the same time is a massive F-you to Enda Kenny and his colleagues in the Oireachtas. Plainly there is a lot of emotion beneath the surface and we are getting a small part of the whole story.
According to Lee, he met with FG Finance Spokesman Richard Bruton on three (3!) occasions since becoming a TD, this during a time of NAMA legislation being enacted, a large part of the banks recapitalisation, the Budget in November 2010, the most painful contractions in quarterly output, revelations about the number of vacant homes in the State, negotiations with the EU to agree a plan to bring the deficit back to 3% of GDP, a drastic contraction in lending and seizing up of competition in the Irish retail banking sector. It may be a fact that George couldn’t hack the rough and tumble of politics but the question is begging, who is Richard Bruton relying on for economics expertise in doing his job in calling the govt to account – plainly he is not landing effective punches where there appear to be rich opportunities.
Overall, sorry to see Lee departing politics. There needs to be a mix of talents in the 166 TDs and Lee brought something clear and specific to the table.
By the way, it seems RTE granted him an unpaid leave sabbatical until May 2010! What was RTE thinking would happen in May 2010? Looks like a blunder on their part.
Jaggers,
agree on the other stuff ‘below the surface’ as mentioned by other(s) above as well, presumably something may appear in the papers soon. Has simply made a bit of a twit out of himself.
DerTer,
also if he had a particular requirement from the Party he should have made that clear from the start. FG seem to have actually made a sensible decision to hold back on moving him through the ranks as he might well have gone later when something else was not quite to his liking.
georgieleigh,
you are perhaps more familiar with bar stools than I am.
Are you perhaps related to George Lee?
FitzjamesHorse,
The Digger Notes that bloggers in the main are members of the ‘free commentariat’ – they are not journalists.
Otherwise they would all be members of the National Union of Journalists and abide by the following principles:
NUJ
Code of conduct
The NUJ’s Code of Conduct has set out the main principles of British and Irish journalism since 1936. It is part of the rules and all journalists joining the union must sign that they will strive to adhere to it.
Members of the National Union of Journalists are expected to abide by the following professional principles:
A journalist:
1. At all times upholds and defends the principle of media freedom, the right of freedom of expression and the right of the public to be informed
2. Strives to ensure that information disseminated is honestly conveyed, accurate and fair
3. Does her/his utmost to correct harmful inaccuracies
4. Differentiates between fact and opinion
5. Obtains material by honest, straightforward and open means, with the exception of investigations that are both overwhelmingly in the public interest and which involve evidence that cannot be obtained by straightforward means
6. Does nothing to intrude into anybody’s private life, grief or distress unless justified by overriding consideration of the public interest
7. Protects the identity of sources who supply information in confidence and material gathered in the course of her/his work
8. Resists threats or any other inducements to influence, distort or suppress information
9. Takes no unfair personal advantage of information gained in the course of her/his duties before the information is public knowledge
10. Produces no material likely to lead to hatred or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation
11. Does not by way of statement, voice or appearance endorse by advertisement any commercial product or service save for the promotion of her/his own work or of the medium by which she/he is employed
12. Avoids plagiarism.
The NUJ believes a journalist has the right to refuse an assignment or be identified as the author of editorial that would break the letter or spirit of the code. The NUJ will fully support any journalist disciplined for asserting her/his right to act according to the code.
Conscience clause
The NUJ has a code of conduct that members are required to uphold. It states amongst other things that journalists ‘shall not mention a person’s colour race or religion unless strictly relevant to the story, shall not write stories which encourage discrimination, ridicule, prejudice or hatred…”
The added conscience clause would give a journalist ‘the right to refuse assignments or be identified as the creator of editorial which would break the letter or the spirit of the code. No journalist should be disciplined or suffer detriment to their career for asserting his/her rights to act according to the code.’
The NUJ campaigns for employers across the industry to adopt the clause.
Public interest clause
Problems over media coverage often hinge on the “public interest”. The Code of conduct uses the concept as a yardstick to justify publication of sensitive material. This is the NUJ’s definition, drawn up by the Ethics council.
1. The public interest includes:
o Detecting or exposing crime or a serious misdemeanour
o Protecting public health and safety
o Preventing the public from being misled by some statement or action of an individual or organisation
o Exposing misuse of public funds or other forms of corruption by public bodies
o Revealing potential conflicts of interest by those in positions of power and influence
o Exposing corporate greed
o Exposing hypocritical behaviour by those holding high office
o There is a public interest in the freedom of expression itself.
2. In cases involving children, journalists must demonstrate an exceptional public interest to over-ride the normally paramount interests of the child.
PS: The majority of bloggers could not report on a sitting of a court, council, education/health authority, local assembly, inquest or parliamentary proceeding!
Nor could they do a ‘death knock’.
They just offer a biased comment.
Serious news journalists do not pretend to know all the answers to a particular issue but they have the knack to know someone who does.
the digger notes……
why am I being told this?
Alias,
during the time when the property bubble was inflating and it was obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of finance and history that the bubble was going to burst, George, like Mc Williams, was a consistent voice in predicting what was going to happen and the devastation that it would cost current and future generations.
Was he heeded? was he f**** ! Bertie Ahern even singled him out at a national conference, identified him as a ‘doom and gloom’ soothsayer and wondered aloud as to why such people did just not go away and commit suicide. Indeed it is to the singular credit of R.T.E.’s Director. General. that George was left in place to be such a strident, contra, unpopular voice.
So all pervading was this Celtic Tiger, money no object, ethos, that would be comedian in the country was certain of a stage laugh just by repeating George’s dire warnings and contrasting these with the so called success all around.
Fianna Fail or Fine Gael are but the choice tweedel dum or tweedel dee! George maintained the same honesty inside politics as outside and he is to be commended for that.
Since McWilliams have mentioned:
“G Lee’s resignation tells us all we need to know about traditional politics. Those blackening him on radio today are part of the problem.
about 7 hours ago from web”
“He is exposing pathetic nature of Dail.more interested in grubby politics, promoting “team” players rather than those who can change things
about 7 hours ago from web”
“all i am saying re GLee is that it reflects on the inertia. Its like signing Rooney and not playing him! Who wd go to it now – bar sleeveens
about 7 hours ago from web”
“@drrrop i think it is a disaster for all but I know G, he is a brilliant mind, decent man also. not a narcissist. could’ve changed things
about 7 hours ago from web in reply to drrrop”
“i know that some people think he bottled it, but why are we defending a system that has failed? the system is broken. he is the evidence
about 5 hours ago from web”
“so what to people want? the useless gobsite whose dad had the seat and who has been eating chicken dinners for years to get the top job?
about 5 hours ago from web”
You know what Mr McW – I think that’s exactly what people want.
“George, like Mc Williams, was a consistent voice in predicting what was going to happen”
Posted by Munsterview on Feb 08, 2010 @ 10:59 PM
He certainly didn’t predict the collapse of Stamp Duty revenue…
Pat Kenny “…which means that the cash flow from stamp duty’s gonna stop?”
George Lee “It won’t stop; it’ll just stop expanding at the rate at which it was expanding…”
(From a Late Late Show prior to last election)
Lugs
And he was right ! Left to natural forces that is what would have happened. A few or the bigger players had already taken their profits and moved on to the Asian markets and where ever. There is one milestone interview in the Irish Times with one of these ‘ Old Money’ players and indeed a radio interview where he said that the game was up in Ireland and why he was cashing out!
The tipping point in the housing bubble came when ‘Mick The Mouth’ tried to do one last favor to his P.Dl pals and buy votes by promising to abolish stamp duty. McWilliams had long claimed that the principle economic activity in the South were people buying and selling houses to each other on readily available money.
Naturally everyone at the bottom stopped this activity to wait until stamp duty was abolished, people stopped exchanging deck chairs in the Titanic for ever bigger ones and too late people began to sober up to reality. The market froze and did not get moving again before the International crash. This was our ‘Daffodil Bulbs’ moment that emulated the famous Dutch Disaster and all the other ones since!
In 2005 I went to Poland to see the Death Camps for myself first hand. I met an unemployed Dublin man there, he was from one of the poverty areas, yet he was over and back regular and had two properties there and was buying a third that weekend! That is how far the madness had gone.
For Goodness sake this is not ancient history, this was only the last Southern election…….. do anyone read and remember what was in the bloody papers up there, it is all there in black and white and in the case of the property bubble property ads in full glorious color!
Before the collapse Fianna Fail were proud to be the natural party of Builders, Bankers and W*****rs, Fine gale wished there were and Labour God help them ( and us) campaigned on the radical slogan…….. but are you happy. ?…. !
George had certain professional training, he consistently called most of the shots right, he identified the problem, he wanted to contribute to a solution yet he was only used by Fine Gael as Jedyards Poster Boy to dray crowds to venues to the same tired old faces that people otherwise would not cross the road to see.
The National Patient was on the operating table needing financial open heart heart surgery. Theater Sister Enda Kenny had a First Class trained surgeon at her disposal and she insisted in consulting the same inner coterie of G.P.s Cleaning Staff. Auctioneers and Teachers etc, to gobble on about about what needed to be done while the patient was flatlining.
Nothing new in that…… look up the Great Kerry Trainer Mick O’Dwyer and how he was shamefully shafted by Fianna Fail in his first Council meeting. Lee is well out smothering party politics.
So George for President anyone?
“Alias,
during the time when the property bubble was inflating and it was obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of finance and history that the bubble was going to burst, George, like Mc Williams, was a consistent voice in predicting what was going to happen and the devastation that it would cost current and future generations.”
Guess what? So was my dear Jewish mother, yet I hardly think that qualifies her to be finance minister. But then you already say that “it was obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of finance and history” who what makes George’s prediction especially prophetic?
“Was he heeded? was he f**** ! Bertie Ahern even singled him out at a national conference, identified him as a ‘doom and gloom’ soothsayer and wondered aloud as to why such people did just not go away and commit suicide. Indeed it is to the singular credit of R.T.E.‘s Director. General. that George was left in place to be such a strident, contra, unpopular voice.”
Guess what? George Lee was a Fine Gael supporter so he probably had an agenda to undermine a Fianna Fail government. It is not at all to RTE’s “credit” that they failed to spot his longing to be a partial player rather than an impartial reporter. However, he didn’t have what it takes to be a player either.
“So all pervading was this Celtic Tiger, money no object, ethos, that would be comedian in the country was certain of a stage laugh just by repeating George’s dire warnings and contrasting these with the so called success all around.”
But I thought you said it was obvious to anyone with “basic understanding” that it was a bubble and that bubbles are not capable of infinite expansion, so why would they now find it so incredulous that the very idea that a bubble might burst would cause general hilarity?
“Fianna Fail or Fine Gael are but the choice tweedel dum or tweedel dee! George maintained the same honesty inside politics as outside and he is to be commended for that.”
George Lee chose tweedel dee. Was he a bit thick to do that? It hardly sounds like something that a genius would do.
“The tipping point in the housing bubble came when ‘Mick The Mouth’ tried to do one last favor to his P.Dl pals and buy votes by promising to abolish stamp duty.”
Now forgive for pinching a line from your response to Lugs, but as it happens I dealt with this europhile fallacy on another thread:
“However, the tax breaks for developers simply means that they were able to retain circa 20% more profit from development than would otherwise have been the case. It doesn’t mean that there would not have been as much development as if those developers only retained 600 million out of every billion instead of 800 million. 600 million retained profits per billion would still have been more than enough financial incentive to supply the consumer demand that was created and sustained by the ECB’s expansionist monetary policies. So your argument, like the ECB policies, is a bust.”
Incidentally, the same argument holds for stamp duty on consumers as holds for tax breaks for suppliers: the incentives to speculate dramatically exceeded the disincentives, so paying a typical 20k stamp duty offers no deterrent to speculation when offset against a typical 200k profit.
That’s not quite true – you still have to be able to afford the tax (stamp duty) & mortgage repayments – the more outgoings you have in that regard the lower your borrowing capacity becomes. A once-off €20k may not make much difference, but if your getting €20k or €5ok or €1m a year in tax breaks and they go.. it makes a huge difference..
Alias
George’s view of the boom was not unique, he was however one of the few economic experts that consistently went against the prevailing view.
Covert Blueshirt undermining F.F ? Aside from the fact that they are expert in doing that for themselves,any glaring examples of where G. was not objective ? if there was the F.F. spin doctors would have immediately nailed him on it.
So all pervading…… public mood, march of the property lemmings, consensus hard times no more view etc. Only point made that he consistently articulated a contrary view.
Genius….. your term ! Jagger 1/20 gave a good concise summary of G and issues that hits the nail on the head.
Tax breaks etc. Point made that Mick the Mouth indulged in opportunist, ill thought out populist politics by promising to modify stamp duty in the next government resulting in an immediate buying pause pre election, then once people reflected a stall and then collapse in the market. Since people were just buying and trading up to ever bigger chairs on the property ship Titanic, this would have happened anyway, he just brought date to that point and time.