PD's to meet this afternoon to discuss Bertie's money

Indeed that interview must have confused the great british public...

taung

Yeah, we'll have to wait until 3pm for the Irish hacks to bleed some new information from Bertie.

Wishbone Ash

Tom Parlon, Liz O'Donnell and Mary Harney not at press conference! Row in the camp?

blorg

In fairness to them the PDs are only not leaving government for the greater good of the nation.

The PDs say no purpose would be served by them leaving Government and handing over the Justice and Health portfolios to people who are unfamiliar with the issues.

Akrasia

Tristrame wrote:

Indeed that interview must have confused the great british public...

are you still giving mr Ahern the benefit of the doubt Tristrame?

You do realise that lying to a tribunal is a criminal offence?

Villain

Article 28.11.2 of Bunreacht na hÉireann states:

28.11.2° The members of the Government in office at the date of a dissolution of Dáil Éireann shall continue to hold office until their successors shall have been appointed.

Could McDowell have pulled out if he had wanted to?

Our man in Havana

Prehaps the 2% party knows it's place.

NewsWire

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Tom Parlon, Liz O'Donnell and Mary Harney not at press conference! Row in the camp?

That seemed to be the case , The newstalk reporter said he looked quite lonely up there at the top of the room.

ateam

Won't be surprised if Liz O'Donnell leaves the PD's. Will Bertie be giving a single interview at 3 o'clock?

RuggieBear

blorg wrote:

In fairness to them the PDs are only not leaving government for the greater good of the nation.

sure it's the civil service who run the bloody dept day to day.

NewsWire

ateam wrote:

Won't be surprised if Liz O'Donnell leaves the PD's. Will Bertie be giving a single interview at 3 o'clock?

There is still some speculation on what shape or form this 3pm conference will take-Im sure we’ll find out soon enough. I don’t think Bertie will be there. Is it too early for a rebuttal? , should he think this one out a bit longer?

Akrasia

Akrasia wrote:

are you still giving mr Ahern the benefit of the doubt Tristrame?

Yes if he hasn't been shown to break any laws.

You do realise that lying to a tribunal is a criminal offence?

Well this board isn't a tribunal and I'd respectively suggest that you leave those kind of allegations to newspapers with a bit more of a fund to defend them.

Wishbone Ash

irish1 wrote:

Article 28.11.2 of Bunreacht na hÉireann states:



Could McDowell have pulled out if he had wanted to?

I think that under the Constitution, someone shall continue to hold the post until the successor is appointed - not necessarily that the same member holds it. For example a minister could die in the interim but the post does not remain vacant.

taung

It's a news conference, apparently.

ateam

Bertie is going to be on Newstalk shortly.

Our man in Havana

Wishbone Ash wrote:

I think that under the Constitution, someone shall continue to hold the post until the successor is appointed - not necessarily that the same member holds it. For example a minister could die in the interim but the post does not remain vacant.

Also Bertie can direct the President to terminate the appointment of any minister at any time, so he could sack the PD ministers and simply reassign the depts to existing ministers.

Villain

Bond-007 wrote:

Also Bertie can direct the President to terminate the appointment of any minister at any time, so he could sack the PD ministers and simply reassign the depts to existing ministers.

Can She do that after dissolution of the Dáil though?

LostinBlanch

Bond-007 wrote:

Also Bertie can direct the President to terminate the appointment of any minister at any time, so he could sack the PD ministers and simply reassign the depts to existing ministers.

Isn't she abroad?

Our man in Havana

irish1 wrote:

Can She do that after dissolution of the Dáil though?

Yes. She most certainly can.

Our man in Havana

LostinBlanch wrote:

Isn't she abroad?

Nope!

Lennoxschips

Tristrame wrote:

Yes if he hasn't been shown to break any laws.

I don't care if he's broken any laws or not. It's just not right that the Minister of Finance of a country is meeting up with business men and swapping briefcases full of sterling. Or that the Minister of Finance doesn't have a bank account for half a decade and sees it fit to store his money in a safe. This was the Minister of Finance who collected people's tax. That he can get away with this is a ****ing joke and says a lot about Ireland. If the Dutch Prime Minister had done this he would have been sacked quite some time ago.

Ahern's defence is a piss take too, it makes Father Ted Crilly's "that money was only resting in my account" look plausible. And he keeps saying that the tribunal is only about one specific thing, and not about his other shady dealings which have come up in the process. That doesn't matter, he's the leader of the country, he's not supposed to have any shady dealings, at all.

The president has let us down too, she's supposed to be there to keep check on the government and Taoiseach. If Robinson was president he wouldn't have gotten away with this so easily.

RuggieBear

LostinBlanch wrote:

Isn't she abroad?

she's definitely a broad! badoom ching

Villain

Bertie Ahern has questions to answer and not just questions about the issues the Mahon tribunal are dealing with but all the issues that have come up in the past week.

Why did Michael Wall give him £30,000 to refurbish a house he didn't even own?

*These questions are not a conspiracy theory but questions based on facts that have been made public just incase someone was going to move this post.

Our man in Havana

The president has let us down too, she's supposed to be there to keep check on the government and Taoiseach. If Robinson was president he wouldn't have gotten away with this so easily.

I don't think she has that level of oversight, sadly.

jhegarty

Linky : http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0506/election.html

blorg

Lennoxschips wrote:

Ahern's defence is a piss take too, it makes Father Ted Crilly's "that money was only resting in my account" look plausible. And he keeps saying that the tribunal is only about one specific thing, and not about his other shady dealings which have come up in the process. That doesn't matter, he's the leader of the country, he's not supposed to have any shady dealings, at all.

I was thinking only yesterday "It was only RESTING in my account" would be an easy subsitute for "Now, the next steps" on the ubiquitous bertieposters.

RuggieBear

jhegarty wrote:

Linky : http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0506/election.html

images made me laugh....i wonder if mcdowell can dig up any more juicy gossip from Bertie

Elmo

The PDs say no purpose would be served by them leaving Government and handing over the Justice and Health portfolios to people who are unfamiliar with the issues.

You have been in government for 5 years and ye haven't do very much in either department.

I think Mr. McDowells handling of Serious Sex Crime Issues should have seen his regisnation along time ago.

Anyway in 3 week both portfiolios will be handed over "to people who are unfamiliar with the issues".

It's time to let go Mr. McDowell.

copacetic

Lennoxschips wrote:

The president has let us down too, she's supposed to be there to keep check on the government and Taoiseach. If Robinson was president he wouldn't have gotten away with this so easily.

I think you are greatly overestimating the power of the president. Which is basically none. Can refer bills on consitutional issues but thats pretty much it.

irish1

irish1 wrote:

Why did Michael Wall give him £30,000 to refurbish a house he didn't even own?

Sorry,A house that Bertie didn't own or that Wall didn't own?