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Castlebar.BIGPolls – 1. Election Dissatisfaction
By M
Jun 28, 2004, 23:26

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Castlebar.BIGPolls –

1. What were the main reasons people did not vote for the Government in the recent elections?

The first online ‘Castlebar.BIGPoll’ offered a plethora of reasons for possible dissatisfaction with the current government. The reasons were suggested by contributors to the Castlebar Online Forum. You were then asked to rank them in order of your preference as to why you thought people voted against the government parties. The results presented in the table below are similar to the election process itself in that the system allowed your votes to be weighted and this gave an overall score and ranking that accurately reflects the voters’ selections.

The results show quite clearly that health issues were the number one reason for voting against the government in the recent local elections. Health came in just ahead of the next nearest source of dissatisfaction, which was broken election promises in general. Planning corruption – i.e. all the Ray Burke, Liam Lawlor tribunal revelations emerged as the third item of most concern. Incompetence including such items as the electronic voting, the iodine tablets, the port tunnel, the Garda pulse system, and so on ranked right up there in the top five too. The rising cost of living came in at number five on your list of most important reasons for dissatisfaction. While some politicians seemed to want to portray the smoking ban as a major item it only came in here at Number 12. Check out the table below – for the real reasons!

As always your comments and contributions are welcome on the Castlebar Online Forum or in articles on Castlebar.News.

Rank

Issue

Score

% Max Score

1

Undiminished Health Waiting Lists Poor Health Care, Ward Closures, Patients On Trolleys for Days

1418

53

2

Broken General Election Promises

1386

52

3

Planning Corruption - Ray Burke, Liam Lawlor, etc.

1140

43

4

Incompetence (Electronic Voting, Iodine, Port Tunnel, PULSE etc)

990

37

5

Rising Cost of Living

940

35

6

Arrogance (Curtailment of Freedom of Information Act etc)

908

34

7

Perceived Corruption/Jobs for The Boys

842

32

8

Better Alternatives Available

804

30

9

Lack of An Orthopaedics Unit at Mayo General

723

27

10

Charlie McCreevy’s Punchestown Funding and Horsey Antics

685

26

11

Total Neglect of Anything This Side of The Shannon

649

24

12

The Smoking Ban

646

24

13

The Cost of Tribunals

642

24

14

The Unaffordable Price of A First Time Home

637

24

15

The Electronic Voting Fiasco

575

22

16

The Failure to Re-Open The Western Rail Corridor

551

21

17

Rising Education Costs (Particularly Third Level)

507

19

18

Failure to Tackle Street Crime and Public Disorder ;

505

19

19

Rightwing Elements (Mc Creevy and Harney) Having Too Much Input in Govt Policy

487

18

20

Bad Road Infrastructure

472

18

21

The Restrictions On Freedom of Information Act

469

18

22

Our Poor Broadband Infrastructure

459

17

23

Social Welfare Cuts

418

16

24

The Cut Backs in Social Enhancement Schemes

409

15

25

Offshore Accounts

404

15

26

Deportation of Refugees

403

15

27

Beverely Flynn’s Court Case

402

15

28

Jobs/Unemployment

401

15

29

Allowing Shannon to be Used for the Iraq War

392

15

30

Northern Ireland

384

14

31

The Decentralisation Debacle

370

14

32

Payments to The Church to Help Offset The Costs of The Abuse Cases

368

14

33

Worsening Traffic Congestion, Delays to LUAS and Improvements to Public Transport and Road Network

325

12

34

Nice Revote Because They Didnt Like The Results

299

11

35

All The Messing That Went On Over The Stadium and Abbottstown

298

11

36

The Cut Backs in Home Help Allowances

295

11

37

Destruction of Archaeological Sites - Poor Selection of Roads

274

10

38

The Sale of Eircom

267

10

39

The Attempts to Buy Two More Government Jets

267

10

40

Celia Larkin

258

10

41

Too Many Asylum Seekers

240

9

42

Attempts to Hobble Knock Airport Because It Requires A "Subvention" From The Exchequer

234

9

43

The Too Low Port Tunnel and Bridging Luas Over The Red Cow Roundabout Fiascos

234

9

44

Lawlor Being Allowed to Cross ExamineTribunal Witnesses Himself

205

8


© Copyright 2006 by the author(s)/photographer(s) and www.castlebar.ie

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