The Robinson Affair (mod warning: post 5)

POINTBREAK

Sorry if my updates were a bit messy. Any questions from anyone who didnt see it ? I will be on for about 20 more minutes.

lugha

I wonder about Selwyn (?). Why has he only said his bit now? Perhaps he knew the story was likely to out and decided he's look better as the whistle blower?

rovert

Someone on P.ie said Iris Robinson is like a female, white, Clay Davis. I lol'd

2040

Very interesting little affair.

It seems that Peter Robinson found out what had happened and tried to exercise some damage control, trying to get Iris to pay the money back to the property developers.

Obviously, he should have gone public with it but that's easier said than done in the circumstances. Iris imposed all of this on him. She basically ruined his life and his political career.

I expect Sinn Féin to stay silent throughout all of this.

In my opinion

She made a major mistake when she choose her advisor!! Bet he fancied her and was jealous!!!

cjmcork

not many things that I hear these days make my gob drop, but jesus I was shocked by tonight's show................no wonder he was crying on the telly

btw, I'm 34 and that lad would have been too young for me - filthy old woman

POINTBREAK

lugha wrote: »

I wonder about Selwyn (?). Why has he only said his bit now? Perhaps he knew the story was likely to out and decided he's look better as the whistle blower?

To be honest he didnt come across like that on the show. He appeared genuine and felt that he had been decieved and used by both of them. The curruption and dirt didnt come out all at one time and listening to him you got the impression that he was afraid that he was gradually being dragged into the quagmire. I think he left them about a year ago.

dreamer_ire

lugha wrote: »

I wonder about Selwyn (?). Why has he only said his bit now? Perhaps he knew the story was likely to out and decided he's look better as the whistle blower?

Heard today, and it's not confirmed, but that another property developer had a run in with the Robinsons, determined to get his own back he hired a PI for pursue Iris and passed his info to Spotlight.

eigrod

In my opinion wrote: »

Bet he fancied her and was jealous!!!

That theory crossed my mind more than once during the programme too.

POINTBREAK

2040 wrote: »

Very interesting little affair.

It seems that Peter Robinson found out what had happened and tried to exercise some damage control, trying to get Iris to pay the money back to the property developers.

Obviously, he should have gone public with it but that's easier said than done in the circumstances. Iris imposed all of this on him. She basically ruined his life and his political career.

I expect Sinn Féin to stay silent throughout all of this.

People are asking if that was the first 50k she or they had got from these developers. I think its a decent question.

lugha

POINTBREAK wrote: »

To be honest he didnt come across like that on the show. He appeared genuine and felt that he had been decieved and used by both of them. The curruption and dirt didnt come out all at one time and listening to him you got the impression that he was afraid that he was gradually being dragged into the quagmire. I think he left them about a year ago.

But surely the instant he was aware that IR had an interest (can't recall the fancy word they had for it) in the young lads business, and hadn't declared it as she should, that was the time for him to act?
Anyway, he is only a minor player. That was some fine television. See what we won't have if we don't pay out TV license. :pac:

POINTBREAK

In my opinion wrote: »

She made a major mistake when she choose her advisor!! Bet he fancied her and was jealous!!!

You really wouldnt know what is going on , but he came across as not in any way like that. Nothing would surprise me after seeing that....... lol

POINTBREAK

lugha wrote: »

But surely the instant he was aware that IR had an interest (can't recall the fancy word they had for it) in the young lads business, and hadn't declared it as she should, that was the time for him to act?
Anyway, he is only a minor player. That was some fine television. See what we won't have if we don't pay out TV license. :pac:

I think it took him a while to catch on what was happening and when he realised just how currupt the whole thing was and her relationship with Kirk I think he acted pretty quickly.
The show was a great piece of investigative journalism, but they got lucky when Black contacted the BBC. Locally the feeling is that the paper journalists should have had this out a long time ago. The financial scandal was about 18 months ago and the attempted suicide was nearly 10 months ago......... and this is the first mention of it.................big fail if you ask me.

POINTBREAK

dreamer_ire wrote: »

Heard today, and it's not confirmed, but that another property developer had a run in with the Robinsons, determined to get his own back he hired a PI for pursue Iris and passed his info to Spotlight.

Nothing would surprise me. If that is right it wasnt mentioned. I think there is a lot more to come over the next week or so.

sceptre

Thread title changed by me to something more concise, including the probably more important business discussion.

Rebelheart

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Peter is a dead man walking and there is need of strong leadership up there to steer this peace process through to it's safe docking.

Alright, just overlook any financial improprieties connected with a public figure because doing so would undermine the "strong leadership" which the state needed. Yes, "reasons of state". Have some people here not learned anything?

Queen Mary O'Rourke of the Lenihan royal family, with her accusation that anybody questioning the source of Patrick Bartholomew Ahern's finances was guilty of "treason", would be very proud of this sort of thinking.

Rebelheart

cjmcork wrote: »

btw, I'm 34 and that lad would have been too young for me - filthy old woman

'The older the fiddle the sweeter the tune', as the saying goes in Ireland's more sophisticated areas.;)

blackiebest

Hah, what a news day. It really is amazing, brilliant tv and the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. She has made me feel good about my worst moments! Anyhow I do have sympathy for her, much more than I had this time yesterday, she was/is some 'walter mitty' type character and I absolutely believe she is suffering mentally. Her homophobic comments are not as sharp when one realizes she was not in the real world. Imagine the meeting with Kirk, Selwyn and Iris, and Selwyn realising that the relationship had a sexual nature. Anyhow I hope all those who listened and endorsed her comments regarding homosexuals now realize she had a touch of the crazies. How naive of her with all the txts and the information they contained... Sad but at the same time the funniest news story I can remember!

Peter will have some dancing to do but he will survive IMO, at least until a full financial investigation into the relationship between Iris and developers re planning etc is complete.

Posted on another site by a gay man;

*Iris where have you been all my life!? We both love young peen, are happy to pay for it, and are touched by the crazies. Please get in touch, we'll hang out at the local college and play "let me help you with a financial venture" to any hot piece with his jeans hanging below his crack. Love ya sweetie, call me pet…"

ateam

Ironic thing at the moment is that Sinn Fein are hardly in a moral position themselves to seek the resignation of Robinson after the Gerry Adams' recent scandal.

In all seriousness, I hope he does resign and resign quickly. The Northern Ireland Assembly is so fragile and we forget how important it is to the peace of the North.

Has this been mentioned, but surely there is a policing matter here with regard to Iris Robinson?

2040

ateam wrote: »

Ironic thing at the moment is that Sinn Fein are hardly in a moral position themselves to seek the resignation of Robinson after the Gerry Adams' recent scandal.

In all seriousness, I hope he does resign and resign quickly. The Northern Ireland Assembly is so fragile and we forget how important it is to the peace of the North.

Has this been mentioned, but surely there is a policing matter here with regard to Iris Robinson?

I doubt Sinn Féin will say anything about any of this and i doubt they will seek his resignation.
a) because of the Adams thing
b) because they don't want to destabilise things.

ateam

2040 wrote: »

I doubt Sinn Féin will say anything about any of this and i doubt they will seek his resignation.
a) because of the Adams thing
b) because they don't want to destabilise things.

Yes, calls for his head will have to come from within his party or else he will come to the conclusion himself and see the writing is on the wall. I suspect the latter - he's not stupid.

His career and that of his wife, Iris, lies in tatters tonight. One must also believe that their marriage is now a sham.

It just really is amazing given his prominence in Northern Ireland politics for so many decades that such a thing could happen.

sceptre

cjmcork wrote: »

btw, I'm 34 and that lad would have been too young for me - filthy old woman

As long as they're both over the legal age of consent (and as it happens they appear to be), the only wrongdoing specifically to do with the affair itself (as distinct from any other possible legal wrongdoing associated with it or the say one thing and do another by Mrs Robinson) outside of the adultery/betrayal/<call it what you will> is judged merely by your own sense of moral outrage.

Put shortly, they were two consenting adults. Ironic as it seems (and this actually is ironic bearing past Robinson statements in mind), moral judgements about purely moral things say more about us than they do about those we judge.

It's perfectly reasonable to have a view on Iris Robinson's actions based on her past statements and stated sense of morality. As I'm not a Hollywood producer, I'm not interested in the moral struggle and stated return to the light. I don't like her (see below). She doesn't deserve my admiration or respect (though I genuinely wish her well with the depression thing, assuming it to be true).

But regarding it as wrong and her as "filthy" merely and solely because she's nearly 60 and had an affair with someone who was about 20 is rather myopic, unfair, unprogressive and pretty darned puritan.

Throw the relevant stones (and within reason that's perfectly OK here), not the silly muddy ones. They stick but they also leave the stone thrower a little more dirty as well.

I don't like Iris Robinson. Not at all. From what I can see she's a bigot, plain and simple. Not that this would be unusual in Northern Ireland, where bigots have long thrived on both sides of the political divide. Her bigotry was at its most obvious with her comments about homosexuality (and pseudo-ironically for those who regard her as "filthy" for getting it on with a younger type, she effectively said that paedophilia was better than homosexuality). That's plenty of a big stone to be able to toss. And she's had specific publicly stated moral views in the past as an elected representative which have been contradicted by this. That's plenty of a big stone to be able to toss as well. That's two big stones to legitimately toss.

Not particularly necessary to regard her as "filthy" merely because she had an affair with someone over the age of consent who was (presumably) non-saggy and was nice to her (and is Roman Catholic as it happens but that's an entirely different stone that a small bunch of crazies will want to throw). That's a secondary cause for lots of people to have affairs. I'd hold on to that stone.

People these days...


That's my entire view of the affair (entire of itself) by the way, I'll wait for any financial revelations to make comments there. As people know, I have very strong views on financial impropriety by elected representatives.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Anyone know when the spotlight show will be on iplayer?

Max001

I have absolutely no sympathy for either of the Robinsons. Seems to me, their public statements or lack thereof are purely damage control. If its true that they both have financial irregularities to answer for as MPs/MLAs/Councillors, after living well on the public purse, then I hope they're both investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law, which no one should be above. There was a time when public service didn't mean lining your own pockets at every opportunity, though for the life of me I can't recall when that was. Then again, we get the politicians we deserve don't we :rolleyes:

Is it true Iris's favourite position was missionary?

flickerx

What I dont get, for the life of me:

Why would Iris R, as an MP, MLA, and Councillor, and the wife of a man in similar employment, both extremely well paid (practically swimming in money if you ask me), risk her entire political life over a kickback for £5,000?

OK so £5000 isnt a small amount, but its hardly enormous either. Whats the salary of any of the above jobs?

Madness. Sheer madness.

I've no sympathy for her. She's the Northern Ireland version of Sarah Palin, a complete evangelical bigot, her comments on homosexuality would have forced any politician in a modern secular republic to resign. Norn Iron I guess is a basket case with its own lunatic history.

Pride comes before the fall, as they say. Good riddance.

Mad Finn

sceptre wrote: »

she had an affair with someone over the age of consent who was (presumably) non-saggy and was nice to her (and is Roman Catholic as it happens but that's an entirely different stone that a small bunch of crazies will want to throw).

A Catholic called Kirk McCambley? Are you sure? Sounds like a 100 per cent Prod to me. But then guessing a Nordie's religion by relying on their name is a bit like relying on a condom: only 97% effective.

Frankly this whole business is disgusting. Not because an attractive older woman is playing Cougars with a hot young stud 40 years her junior.

Nor that she is giving her young lover a leg up, as well as a leg over, in business to support his recently bereaved family.

Nor that a devout God-fearing, Homo-hating, born-again Bible basher is falling foul of the Good Book's rulings on adultery.

It's that a good loyal British exponent of the Protestant work ethic and bitter opponent of priest ridden Rome rule is taking money from developers, pulling strings in council to get the beneficiary of that money a start in business, not declaring her pecuniary interest to the relevant authorities and then trying to launder it back to an organisation run by her sister in law.

Dammit the woman's behaving like a bloody Fianna Failer!

Terrontress

His name is Kirk, his late father was Billy, a shop-keeper from East Belfast. There are far too many 97%s there to even consider that he's a taig.

There has been a conflict of interest. Iris was an MP, MLA and Councillor simply because she is Peter's wife. Those within the party who voted her into candidacies did so based on their respect for her husband.

There is no doubt that Peter would have been trapped between a rock and a hard place when it ccomes to whether to remain loyal to his wife or infiorm on her to parliamentary standards. He could not act objectively. Even now, his key lament is that his wife was doing the dirt.

It's the same with Nigel and Diane Dodds, Ian Paisley Jr and I wouldn't be surprised if there are other familiy ties within the party, not to mention that all the Robinsons' kids are on the payroll.

Sponge Bob

Max001 wrote: »

I have absolutely no sympathy for either of the Robinsons. Seems to me, their public statements or lack thereof are purely damage control.

After the Kirk McCambley programme and the revelations about the £50k of loans that Iris seemingly guaranteed (and which has not been paid back) I believe that their antics are damage limitation now and have been for some months. The Robinsons with their 4 x MP/1 x NIPM salaries pull about £600,000k a year out of the UK Exchequer and employ about 3 or 4 further familiy members. This 2009 revelation was accompanied by the tag line the "swish family Robinson"

Peter can see severe cashflow problems coming up with Robinson Inc. By claiming mental illness I think she deliberately attempted to evade the scrutiny of the media. In short it was an attempt to kill this story Max.

I will leave the last word to Iris herself ...from mid 2008

"I cannot leave my Christian values hanging at the door when I go into politics.”

Spiritoftheseventies

Mark Durkin of the SDLP says Peter Robinson's position will come under scrutiny. This may impact on peace process as hardliners in DUP dont want to share power with Shinners and they think Robinson is too soft on them. This according to a reporter on Morning Ireland this morning. I think it comes down to fact that Peter Robinson did not make a full disclosure although he did urge his wife to pay the money back to the developers one of whom has since passed away.

stuartfanning

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Anyone know when the spotlight show will be on iplayer?

No it's not on BBC iPlayer but here is an extract on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoKjTST0HeI