Clare election candidates ignore the vocabulory of national emergency

I listened to the Clare FM final election debate this morning. The debate consisted of 15 of the 16 candidates (Ferrigan not present) in a round table format  moderated by John Cooke of Clare FM.

The format was ;

• One minute individual introduction and outline of credentials
• Individual candidates' views on job creation and economy with some follow up discussions
• Individual candidates' views on health and some follow up discussions
• Individual candidates' views on polital reform and follow up discussion
• Brief summary by each candidate

Clare Candidates Don't Mention The National  Emergency

 As previously noted in my blog all candidates;

• Support Shannon
• Support Ennis General Hospital and or support 'review of HSE's Reconfiguration

Given the format and numbers involved in the debate I thought it would be a useful exercise to do an an analysis of the words used by the candidates. Before the debate I selected words that may come up from a national and local local perspective. The analysis should give us a sense of what the total list of candidates see as the issues.

 The words I chose were


Ireland, Health, Unemployment, HSE, Emigration, Banks (or banking), Clare, National debt, deficit, IMF, Bailout, Shannon (or 'airport'), Ennis General Hospital (or 'hospital') , Jobs, Fianna Fáíl, Political Reform, Tourism, Doorstep, Small Business

My assistant then  recorded the occurences of the  above words over the two hours.

 Remember, the candidates had the opportunity to speak uninterrrupted without specific questions on; jobs & economy, health, politiacl reform and on their own philosophy. So the words they used collectively should represent their thoughts on the topics. It would be wrong to say they were asked the 'wrong questions' as the topics were general and they also has plenty of time to mention anything they wished.

Here is the result;

The words 'Clare' & 'Health' (HSE, Hospital & Health) overwhelmingly dominated the debate. Followed by Jobs  &  Shannon
Some of the keywords that are surely  essential to grapple with the country's economic emergency barely recorded;
                   Mentions


IMF ignored by Clare Candidates

 Emigration     1
Ireland           2
IMF               1
Bailout           1
Banks            6
Deficit            0

My conclusion is; the Clare candidates lack the vocabularly to deal with the country's economic problems or feel it is not necessary to address these matters to get elected.

Either way it is distressing to see the result.

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