By Pat Kelly.

A new Irish Medical Times poll has shown that IMT readers voted more or less in accordance with the general population, with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party the biggest losers.

The poll, which asked the question, ‘What party will get your first-preference vote in the upcoming election?’ provoked the largest response to any IMT online survey to date, with 510 readers expressing their opinions. Of these, Fine Gael notched-up 211 votes, or 41 per cent of first preferences. This differed by 5 per cent from the national vote for Fine Gael, which was recorded at 36.1 per cent of first-preferences.

Readers indicated that they intended to give the Labour Party 18 per cent of first-preferences, represented as 90 votes. This differed only slightly from the national average, which was 19.4 per cent. As with the Labour Party, Sinn Féin fared well with 68 votes, or 13 per cent, which differed from the percentage of first-preference votes for the party nationally, which was recorded at almost 10 per cent.

However — and perhaps reflecting feeling among IMT readers regarding the health service — Fianna Fáil did considerably worse among online voters than nationally. The party received only 12 per cent of first-preference votes among readers — 59 votes — compared to 17.4 per cent across the country. In comparison, readers showed a slightly higher rate of first-preference votes for the Green Party at 3 per cent, or 17 voters. This compared to a devastating 1.8 per cent average nationally.

Readers also differed from the national average when it came to Independents, with 8 per cent — or 42 votes — going to Independents among readers, compared to 11.8 per cent among the general population. Only 5 per cent said that they intended to spoil or decline to use their vote.

Readers can now make their opinions known on a new poll at www.imt.ie, which poses the question: ‘What should the new Government’s immediate priority be in terms of the health service?’ The options are: 1) Tackling hospital waiting list backlogs; 2) Restructuring/dismantling the HSE; 3) Emergency Department waiting times; 4) A new GMS GP contract; and 5) Developing primary care centres/teams across the country.

pat.kelly@imt.ie

On September 10, calls will go out once again to policy-makers to “think globally, plan nationally, and act locally” as the World Health Organization holds World Suicide Prevention Day.
It’s a simple message, but finding a coherent strategy across ‘education, health and criminal justice’ to help the vulnerable, as TD Dan Neville has requested, is inevitably as complex as any multi-disciplinary, cross-departmental and society-wide action.

Vulnerable people are aware of the mixed messages – simply type “how to commit suicide” into an Internet search engine and you’ll see what society has to offer.
The Internet is beyond regulation. Policy, however, can and should provide a coherent approach to offering all necessary support to those in their hour of need.

Bad news for Cavan residents hoping the new super-hospital in the northeast will be anywhere near Cavan: Bertie Ahern doesn’t even know Cavan’s in the Republic.
Speaking in the Dail yesterday, the Taoiseach incorrectly identified Co. Cavan as part of Northern Ireland.

While the rest of us were learning Irish geography, he was probably taking secret classes in how to keep large amounts of money safe without a bank account.
I bet that class was great fun, and included tips on denying things, where best to stash the money (safes and the like) and, when confronted with questions about the cash-stashing, detailed diagrams of the expression into which you should arrange your face.
During a debate on the lack of broadband availability in Ireland, during which Enda Kenny produced figures showing Ireland comes 33rd in a list of 35 “good broadband” countries, Bertie started blustering about the technology companies Google and Apple.
“They all use this country as their research and development base,” he said.
“Not in County Cavan,” shouted Deputy Seymour Crawford, delighted for the chance to get his constituency into the conversation, even when it has nothing to do with the subject at hand.
The three-times-elected Taoiseach then said … wait for it … “I am talking about the Republic of Ireland.”
Silence.
Perhaps in an attempt to gloss over this embarrassment, Fine Gael TD James Bannon continued the broadband rant, saying, “It is patchy throughout Ireland.”
Next, in a childish “so’s your face” style of retaliation, a TD shot back: “Fine Gael is patchy throughout Ireland.”
Bertie, meanwhile, did not take this chance to change the subject but actually repeated his previous slight on Cavan.
By “slight” I mean giant, unbelievable display of ignorance.
“While the House can discuss County Cavan another day, I am discussing the Republic of Ireland and Members should keep to that,” rumbled Bertie importantly.
“County Cavan is not in the North,” an anonymous TD said (I imagine) wearily. Or maybe, he whispered to Bertie, reminding him of what everyone else learned in primary school.
But we shouldn’t blame our Taoiseach for his alarming lack of Six Counties geography knowledge. It’s not really his fault – he was just paying extra attention in Money Gathering 101.

Mobile phones with quirky ringtones are fun, especially in the hands of middle aged men and women. Even more so when the people concerned are the democratically elected representatives of the people of the Republic of Ireland.
During her first ministerial question time since the recent election, Mary Harney got a bit mixed up and started answering the wrong question. When opposition TDs rather helpfully pointed out she should have been addressing a question on waiting times in accident and emergency departments, the Minister fumbled around with her files for a while.
It was at this point that somebody decided to ring one of the TDs present in the chamber and set off their ring tone, which was apparently the Mission Impossible theme tune.

The boys and gals on the opposition benches, concentrating on the Minister’s fumblings, missed the significance of the ring tone and, with it, the chance of firing off a few quips about her attempts to reform A&E services being mission impossible.
Nonetheless, there was an element of joviality about the Minister’s fumblings, with Deputy Harney laughing and looking up at the press gallery.
Anyway, there were only about 15 TDs present to witness the Minister’s slight embarrassment. Indeed, there was much comaraderie with everybody and their mother congratulating the new Leas Cheann Comhairle, Deputy Brendan Howlin, for being appointed to that position.
Meanwhile, Minister Harney welcomed back opposition TDs to the Dail, who regained their seats, having lost them in previous elections. Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin congratulated the new Ministers of State at the Department of Health, but then the Sinn Féin TD dumped all over the political hug fest by telling Mary: “I’m sorry Minister Harney but I won’t be offering the same welcome back to you in the health portfolio”.
As the question time drew to a close, Jackie Healy Rae was leaning over the the last row of back bench seats at the top of the stairs on the government side of the chamber. The Kerry South TD looked like an aul fella watching a local GAA match, or like a farmer at a cattle mart havin a good look around.
Forget the rhetoric and the debates. If you’re ever in the Dáil as a journalist, guest or member of the public; ‘people watch’. It’s much more fun.

With the apparent Irish wedding of the century the soon-to-be-announced nuptials of Fianna Fail and the Green Party led by Trevor Sargeant (pictured above), it is probably appropriate to look at how some other media commentators look at people with Green-tinged beliefs.
The comments of a well-known UK restaurant critic, AA Gill, on Greens and their view of air travel and food, are not so much a rant but more of a thermo-nuclear eruption of vindictiveness. I really enjoyed his comments, such as:

Let me tell you, you Peruvian-hatted puritan apostles of grassy nihilism, the single hottest problem facing the planet is not global warming, but the viciously smug fundamentalist prohibitionists of the green movement. Those wholemealy-mouthed ecologists, who devoutly wish to reduce everyone else’s existence to a self-righteous nose-drip probity that never moves more than four miles from the communal yurt, never eats anything that hasn’t been grown in the communal dung and never thinks anything that isn’t collectively miserabilist, are going to destroy life as we know it faster than an equator of traffic jams, a continent of unlagged lofts and a squadron of circling jumbos.

He really gets warmed up doesn’t he? I must say I like his style. I can’t take credit for locating this outpouring of vitriol but was pointed in his direction by another blogger I like, Tim Blair. Tim is also worth keeping an eye on.