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.
what exactly did he expect??
I know a lot of people who voted for him, and most of them expected more. Lee was / is a respected expert. He’d called the property boom and bust right, the politicians were held in much lower esteem economically.
Given that he’d given up his career for this move, I think he expected, I expected, and the people who voted for him expected, that he would have high level input into shaping policy (that would ultimately impact economic policy across all the parties as they respond – forcing them to up their game). He wasn’t yer average clientelist yokel TD, he shouldn’t have been treated as such..
Was in he in it for his own personal fulfillment or to perform a service to the public?
Well, he was prevented from using his skills to serve the public, by the sounds of things.
mack .
The others did’nt know how to deal with him nor apparently he with the others . FG lost a potential ‘taoiseach’ back when Ivan Yates quit .
The ‘wheels’ of the FG party organisation move very slowly . The party is fat , lazy , and soft arsed . No lean hungry ambitious men about .
Calling the ‘property boom and bust ‘ is all very well -Actually formulating and implementing economic policies to deal with it is a horse of a different colour . Not that Brian Cowan and his team are any better . They all have to wait to see what happens /will happen in Washington DC and/or Frankfurt and the outcome of the British General Election .
“He wasn’t yer average clientelist yokel TD, he shouldn’t have been treated as such..”
I disagree. He entered politics, he became a politican. Degrees etc. mean nothing in the game.
Politics is a craft in itself, a trade. His expertise would count for nothing if he could not consolidate power in his party.
A lesson hard learned.
He’s on liveline now -
http://www.rte.ie/radio/liveplayer2_av.html?1_real,http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/live/radio/radio1.smil,real,200
An immensely satisfying blow to the Blueshirtistas.
Fianna Fáil might just win the next election yet – some good economic news and more OGs among the opposition parties and who knows?
Gael gan Nire – nothing to do with degrees. But let’s see..
Economics expert
Polished media performer
Able to take complex economic concepts and demonstrate their importance to a mass audience
In an economic crises he had ‘star quality’
What did we see George Lee do over the last 9 months? Make a public complaint about clamping in Churchtown.
What did FG do? Made the best they could of Lee’s star quality, the incumbents were afraid of the rest..
Complete and utter waste – ultimately this is a disaster for FG, looks like they are completely incompetent..
George Lee on Liveline – Kenny offered him a front bench position to stay! Too late..
“Make a public complaint about clamping in Churchtown.”
All politics is local.
None of his qualities matter Mack if he cannot get power in his party.
Maybe they were afraid of him? maybe they thought – where have you been up to now?
I am not a FG supporter, I have just seen countless ‘stars’ failing in political parties as they could not adapt to the game that is politics.
Not defending it.
Fine Gael’s natural partners must surely be the UUP and perhaps they have already been exchangning ideas as suggested by both managing to miss every political opportunity that has landed in their laps and both being blessed with outstandingly incompetent leaders.
mack ,
‘he was prevented from using his skills to serve the public,’
translation
FG did’nt want to be embarassed by the fact that they do don’t have answers or none any that George Lee might have wished to promote .
Shades of the Just Society of Declan Costello versus the Old Guard of Conservative Right Wing reaction which was always FG’s mainstay bar Fitzers few desultory years trying to prove the opposite ?
Yes that’s right folks -we don’t have an opposition and our government has the look of a rabbit stuck in the headlights .
As for ‘economic experts’. I believe Stiglitz’s tome on the recent chaos in the world economy titled ‘Free Fall’is soon to hit the bookstores .
After about 70 or so various ‘interpretations’ from all sides of the political and economic divided Stiglitz’s take on the ‘free fall’ may be the definitive one ?
I wonder if our Georgie has read it yet
? I’m sure none of the FG front bench have ever even heard of Stiglitz 
Perhpas they should merge with Reg’s lot to form a new All Ireland Party of Incompetence.
I quote from Othello, “he has done the nation some service” and shown how inept that FG are. Sinn Fein are looking for him.
All-in-all, a great day for Fianna Fáil.
At least until they look outside the windows of Leinster House at the state of the country that they’ve governed for the last thirteen years…
Interesting to note that Lee states he on RTE (http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0208/leeg.html) that he may go back to RTE. I think the man is demonstrating either very flawed judgement or an out of control ego.
Firstly, is their not a recruitment embargo in the public services, so there shouldn’t actually be a post at RTE for him to go to? Secondly, when he left RTE he was heavily criticised over the blurring of his politic affiliations and his role as economic editor on the state broadcaster. Thirdly, (despite the fact that he may have been more valuable to FG in the role as economics editor for RTE) having been in FG, does he think it is appropriate to have an economics editor in the state broadcaster with political associations?
I think a reality check is in order here. George may register with FAS for the time being.
JohnJoe -
He is still and RTE employee. Public sector workers (teachers and the like) tend to have their jobs held for them when they enter politics.
Jesus, when the State has just had the worst economic contraction in its history, with bank capitalisations and the NAMA rubbish (the IMF even saying that NAMA won’t get credit flowing again), spiralling deficits and a shakey Budget in November, unemployment at nearly 13% and a Live Register at 20% of the working population, spiralling emigration, 300,000-plus vacant homes, public sector unrest at 10%-plus reductions in income, new taxes in the shape of 2nd home taxes, carbon taxes and an income levy, the assertion that we are now the ‘I’ in PIGS, cross-border trading madness (NI imported 10% more fuel last year to meet demand from Southern drivers, I wonder how much more Tescos and Sainsburys sold) and yet after all of this FF are moving up in the polls !!!
I never had much time for George Lee, he is in my view a reasonably competent economist and a so-so communicator, but it says something about the abilities of FG that they have failed to land any punches on FF when they’ve had nothing but open goals for the past 12 months. As for George, he seems under-utilised at best and at worst negligently abandoned.
What a self-regarding wally who did not even do a probationary year.
Fas are looking for failed Td’s to be on their board, The Greens just recently apppointed their failed Local councillor who broke his leg in the last election onto the board of FAS.But they are a very ethical party.
It shows the danger of celebrity candidates.
paddy matthews ,
‘until they look outside the windows of Leinster House at the state of the country ‘
The view is’nt all that different from the windows of the White House or Westminster or from the Reichstag or the Elysse Palace .
The ‘economic order’ is breaking down . A ‘second’ wave of unemployment induced mass foreclosures in the USA could be the trigger . Greece , Spain and Portugal may be nearing widespread civil disruption and Ireland will not be ‘immune’
They don’t have answer’s and they are all scared s***less of the banks and the financial services sector particularly in the USA .
Lee did’nt have the answers either but he was asking the right questions . A bit like a RC priest back in the 1960′s trying to raise a debate on paedophile clergy and cover ups in the ONE TRUE HOLY etc
“He wasn’t yer average clientelist yokel TD, he shouldn’t have been treated as such..”
Not sure what you are saying Mack, except of course that being a journalist made him smarter than a politician.
This is actually the recurring theme thru every post on “Slugger O’Toole”
Journalists (Malachi, Newt, Suzanne, Darwin, Eamonn etc) are intelligent and those who quote them Mr Fealty, Mr Walker etc are also smart). It must be nice to be a journalist sitting around all day telling each other how intelligent they all are.
“Your very intelligent Malachi”
“Not at all Newt, youre much more intelligent than I am”.
In Britain, quite a few journos have gone overtly political. Norman, Fowler, Roy Hattersley, Jonathan Aiken, Ben Bradshaw.
And George Lee looked like quite a catch for FG. On TV screens every night pontificating like a guru……must have been a dream to get him elected and now it goes pear shaped. Personally I think its hilarious.
Are there any local journos who want to go into politics locally instead of just being part of the mutual admiration society that passes for journalistic integrity in Norn Iron.
Probably not.
It would be the surest way to get shafted by other journos.
Journalists in Norn Iron are the elite…..er in their own eyes anyway.
They believe themselves to be morally and intellectually superior to politicians.
And of course the voters.
And now local journalism can surround themselves with “bloggers” who see themselves in the same light.
So one of your own…..George Lee….left the Journalistic tribe to become a politician…..to give them the benefit of his wisdom….and and and……heaven forfend…FG thought he did not deserve instant award of a front bencher. Poor George had to behave like an ordinary back bencher.
What lunatics……the wisdom of a journalist in their midst……and they did not recognise it.
Boohoo George.
You know what the elderly managing director is supposed to have said to his secretary. ‘Go through the whole company until you find an intelligent, competent, and articulate man who is ready to step into my shoes right now. When you find him, sack him.’
Years ago I was in the room when a number of Annalong gentlemen were reacting to the news that Enoch Powell had been selected to stand as UUP MP for South Down. ‘I hear ‘e’s supposed tae be a wile smart boy,’ said one man tentatively. ‘Far too damned smart for here,’ said another man. Growls of approval. ‘Eenick Pile is Greek Orthodox,’ the second speaker continued. No, I said, Powell is an Anglican. He was once professor of Greek in the university of Sydney. ‘There you are,’ said the second speaker. ‘That’s where ‘e got it from. Studyin’ the Greek , an now ‘e’s Greek Orthodox.’ More growls of approval.
It was ever thus.
Are you sure Mack – given the job did he not have paid leave until the election but then would have to officialy resign?
John Joe -
Yep. He’s on Joe Duffy now, he’s said as much himself. They were talking about what he might do. He won’t get the same job, but he still has a job of some description..
http://www.rte.ie/radio/liveplayer2_av.html?1_real,http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/live/radio/radio1.smil,real,200
I am not sure how Boy George can do next.
He is seemingly a nop notch economist. Might get a job under a FG administration running a Bank or some such.
Difficult to see how he could work as Economics Editor at RTE again.
Spending ten years of your life as Economics Editor and coming into the nations living rooms every night as a respected and impartial voice.
Then becoming a TD as Fine Gael member and appearing on Prime Time as a partisan voice.
Difficult to turn back.
There are precedents…Sean Dignam (sp) went from RTE Political guy to PRO for Charles Haughey or Bertie Ahern.
I note from Wikipedia George Lee is 47. I thought he would have been younger.
Nine months in Dáil ÉIREAN……probably a mid life crisis.
Cheers Mack. Seems that George is an integral part of the gilded system he was ‘opposed’ to, then. Still think it will be difficult for senior management to put him back into an editorial role.
George might be ‘intelligent’ but some of the stupidest people I ever met either worked or studied with me at universities.
Cheers Mack. Seems that George is an integral part of the gilded system he was ‘opposed’ to, then. Still think it will be difficult for senior management to put him back into an editorial role.
George might be ‘intelligent’ but some of the stupidest people I ever met either worked or studied with me at universities.
Somebodys got something on George and he had to commit political Hari Kari to keep it quiet.
I wonder what it is ? ?
This will deflect the attention away from the serious issues that are not being addressed.
It has served FF well. The scandal that has taken place in Limerick will be forgotton about whereby the Government has gone back on its word about regenerating that deprived City. Its Local rent a mouth TD Wee Willie O( I ‘ll shout louder than you) Dea let that cat out of the bag the other day, by saying the Government can’t afford it.
How much more will the people take take of this shit.What we need a a good riot , smash a few windwos, turn over a few buses, you know the noramal crack the french get upto. A Then they will do soemthing.
Fitzjameshorse For once, I agree with you. You’re more intelligent than me. (cue..)
Seriously though, this is what happens when you throw the pearl of Mr Lee to the sty of FF/FG swillery, I mean politics.
Its only in Ireland and GB is the sentiment ‘too clever by half’ used as a pejorative. He was too good for them.
A benign coup, an appointment of several technocrats to serve a fixed term of 10 years and no more to put the house right and hand power back to the people. People can be like kids, ok to leave them for an hour but anything after that, they find the matches and set light to the finery.
David Crookes The reign of Patriarch Powell I was wasted on the UUP, wasn’t it?
This will deflect the attention away from the serious issues that are not being addressed.
It has served FF well. The scandal that has taken place in Limerick will be forgotton about whereby the Government has gone back on its word about regenerating that deprived City. Its Local rent a mouth TD Wee Willie O( I ‘ll shout louder than you) Dea let that cat out of the bag the other day, by saying the Government can’t afford it.
How much more will the people take take of this shit.What we need a a good riot , smash a few windwos, turn over a few buses, you know the noramal crack the french get upto. A Then they will do soemthing.
There is something wrong with Slugger at the moment, its freezing up and submitting several copies of postings.
“He is seemingly a nop notch economist.”
He would be the fella then that predicted the fall of the Celtic Tiger; the destruction of the Irish economy; the collapse of the banks; the rise and fall of cute-hoorism etc, etc etc….
It was just such a pity that he kept it all to himself, and decided to take the political route…
Scaramoosh,
I have no idea whether or not he is a nop notch economist which is why I used the qualification “seemingly”.
If economists were laid end to end they wouldnt reach a conclusion.
Or indeed if they WERE laid end to end……would anybody be surprised?
All FG need to do now is put Enda Kenny back on the Late Late again and really make a B…S of the thing .
‘I don’t know 100% what I am going to do now…I think I will be probably going back to RTÉ.’
From the RTE news report
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0208/leeg.html
I look forward to him commenting on government economic policy with a straight and impartial voice …
Marcionite, Powell’s chief legacy is extra representation for Northern Ireland at Westminster, and increased leverage for NI MPs in the event of a hung parliament. Two smaller parts of his legacy are a mistrust of the Conservative Party, and a propensity to be friendly towards the Labour Party. Lady Sylvia Hermon is the sole legatee here so far as I can see.
The UUP will have to be careful with the said lady’s constituency. Whatever unionist ‘gospel’ may prevail elsewhere, North Down always has a Craigavadgita of its own.
In late 1974 some leading UUP men wanted Powell to be leader of the party, but he was disqualified in the eyes of most party members on two counts: being English, and being intelligent. Ian Paisley later called Powell ‘an Englishman and a foreigner’. It’s hard to know what some people mean when they say that ‘Ulster is British’. If you go back and read Ian Paisley’s warm tribute to Alec Salmond, you may wonder if you’re hearing one monarchist nationalist addressing another.
David Crookes some good points there. Did Paisley really say that? hmm.
I know Paisley did say that Salmond was his kind of nationalist as he wanted to keep the Queen should Scotland go independant. Which led me to think, was that all there was to being a Unionist?
I also sometimes wonder if the RoI underwent a 21st century voluntary reformation, would that change the dynamic too?
Panic you’re a cynic but I think you might be onto something. 9 months is curiously short. If he was left out, he doesnt strike me as the kind of boy who would sit in quiet desperation, surely the FG caucus is small enough for him to muscle into the positions that mattered to him?
Didn’t Ian Parsley leave the Alliance with indecent haste recently, only to pop up as a Tory some weeks later?
Mr Lee may reappear as a PD so that Mary Harney no longer has to eat her lonely lunch in the Dail canteen.
Garrett Fitzgerald, Fine Gaeler, Blueshirt and son of an arch Civil war scumbag, was an economist and arguably, the worst taoiseach who ever graced Leinster House.
Different era but same sense of scumbag entitlement.
What a petulant self-regarder and egoist. A show horse, not a workhorse. Reminds me of Mary Robinson talking of resigning when she found the UN bureaucracy hard to bear, after all the lobbying the Irish govt. did to get her the job. Act like an adult, George and get real. Pathetic moral conceit here. He was hardly out of his probation period. If he didn’t have the political skills to advanced himself sufficiently then he shouldn’t have run in the by election.
Marcionite (#17), there are funny noises coming out of the RoI: you hear talk from younger persons about rejoining the Commonwealth (last week’s speech from Sonny Ramphal must have been ‘cleared’ with at least some people in Dublin), or about a new British-Irish federation, or about linking up in some kind of cultural forum with the Irish disapora in Brtain. There was even a thread on politics ie recently about apologizing to the Queen and rejoining the UK! Kites are being flown. Unionists in NI would be wise not to shoot these kites down impolitely.
David
Not a chance in hell of that happenning.More chance of Annalong winning the Down Gaa Senior Championship
FF should absolutgely refuse to take part in any interviews he conducts or programmes he takes part in. He has demonstrated his political bias.
Eejit.
Its a pity nobody seems to care about the people of Dublin South…the actual people in the constituency but since when did journos think about ordinary people when they can sit in “journalists bars and slap each other on the back and give each other awards.
The by election last summer was caused by the death of Seamus Brennan.
When Lee (unopposed) got the FG nomination and subsequently won the bye-election, I think the people of Dublin South had a reasonable expectation that George Lee would serve the constituency for more than nine months…up to a General Election.
I daresay he made a speech on that Victory night pledging to serve them.
Manifestly he failed to do so.
Fast tracked into Dail Éireann George Lee thought his mighty intellect was enough to get him fast tracked onto the FG Front Bench and into the Cabinet.
The least important people in all of this in the mind of George Lee are the people of Dublin South.
He is frankly a selfish scumbag.
So the country will be put to the expense of another bye-election and the same FG camvassers will be knocking on the same doors in Ballyboden singing the praises of another FG candidate….while distancing themselves from George Lee.
Meanwhile without irony…….George Lee…..will continue to earn a good living from pontificating on good economic practice.
FitzjamesHorse -
I think the people of Dublin South had a reasonable expectation that George Lee would serve the constituency for more than nine months…up to a General Election.
While that much is true, they voted overwhelmingly for Lee (52%) in the expectation that he would make a real difference. They weren’t, as I said earlier, voting for your usual clientelist TD. George Lee was well known to the electorate for telling like it is on economic issues (including warning that a huge bust was coming Scaramoosh!). On a poll on Liveline today 83% or so who voted in backed him.
I know Dublin South pretty well, and a lot of people who voted for Lee (many of them lifelong FF’s). None were voting for him to fix potholes – they wanted an economic heavy hitter, landing heavy blows..