Is James Breen running or not?

Lady Chatterton

Has anyone heard if James intends running in the forthcoming election? He seems to be keeping a very low profile these days.

Keano

Have a look at this thread - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056149957

maddogcollins

For a low profile he is the first I have seen with posters up. They were on the Fly over at Junction 12 (clareabbey slip road).

buck65

Is this even legal? Thought that the date had to be announced first.

Lady Chatterton

buck65 wrote: »

Is this even legal? Thought that the date had to be announced first.

The date was announced last week but is now going to be brought forward as a result of the Greens withdrawing from government. The game is well and truly on now!

maddogcollins

Not illegal..


from www.citizensinformation.ie

"General election posters and signs
The law in Ireland forbids the erection of posters/signs on poles or other structures in public places unless you have the written permission of the owner of the pole or other structure in advance of putting up the posters/signs. There are no rules in place regarding how far in advance of a general election that posters and signs can be erected. However, local authorities have the power to introduce bye-laws if they so choose to set down when promotional material can be erected. Local authorities also have the power to remove these items should they disintegrate or cause a litter nuisance.
Following a general election, a party/candidate must remove posters within a seven day period. After that date, an on-the-spot fine of €150 is issued by your local authority in respect of each offence. Your local authority will remove the poster as the fine is issued. If a party/candidate has been issued with a fine and refuses to pay, they can be prosecuted in the District Court by your local authority to enforce payment. The maximum penalty in the District Court following summary conviction for non-payment of the fine is €3,000. "

As above, game on!

golfball37

Posters up for him hanging off the Railway bridge on the Tulla Road yesterday

JavaBeans

didnt he break all records for claiming expenses a yr or two ago,
wont be getting my vote, he learnt his stunts from the ivor callely book of tricks

Lady Chatterton

JavaBeans wrote: »

didnt he break all records for claiming expenses a yr or two ago,
wont be getting my vote, he learnt his stunts from the ivor callely book of tricks

Breen hasn't been in the Dail since 2007!! so I'm not sure how he could have claimed the expenses your refer to. Are you mixing him up with someone else?

Stuxnet

54,348 in expenses breen claimed for in 2007, twice what an ordrinary person might earn in a yr.

Sickening

Lady Chatterton

iPwnage wrote: »

54,348 in expenses breen claimed for in 2007, twice what an ordrinary person might earn in a yr.

Sickening

Was that not Pat Breen?

Stuxnet

No. It was james
And those expenses were racked up in 6 months, dec 06 - may 07,

Now, of course, we understand that all these expenses were proper and legitimate.
But as well as managing to claim handsomely on their expenses, all of the departed also receive an exiting allowance to further soften the blow of losing their seat. Not bad if you can get it.

Lady Chatterton

iPwnage wrote: »

No. It was james
And those expenses were racked up in 6 months, dec 06 - may 07,

Thanks very much for that, it is very interesting. Do you have the expenses for the others for 2007.

Stuxnet

between 2005 and 2008, 3 years, james breen made between salary and "expenses"...on the gravy train that now sees us neck deep in the ****e

came in just under a whopping half a million euros ! 411,466.05 to be exact...:eek:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AmB2HUQaR5vwdE0tVHE4R1pZODVlVmlvUzlvYjRjbXc&hl=en_GB

Lady Chatterton

iPwnage wrote: »

between 2005 and 2008, 3 years, james breen made between salary and "expenses"...on the gravy train that now sees us neck deep in the ****e

came in just under a whopping half a million euros ! 411,466.05 to be exact...:eek:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AmB2HUQaR5vwdE0tVHE4R1pZODVlVmlvUzlvYjRjbXc&hl=en_GB

IPwnage - Thank you for your post. That link makes for very interesting reading. I see that Pat Breen wasn't afraid to lodge expenses either, he claimed €669,201.01 during the same period and made it on to the top 30 for expenses.

I intend challenging both Breens when they arrive on my doorstep!

Claregirl

Is James Breen not just FF running as Independent coz he couldn't get the nod from FF

Lady Chatterton

Claregirl wrote: »

Is James Breen not just FF running as Independent coz he couldn't get the nod from FF

Now you have it!

CptSternn

Pat Breen is the same, but with FG.

Balagan

maddogcollins wrote: »

For a low profile he is the first I have seen with posters up. They were on the Fly over at Junction 12 (clareabbey slip road).

Clare election candidates face hefty fines for early election posters
26 January, 2011 - 09:21

http://www.clare.fm/news/clare-election-candidates-face-hefty-fines-early-election-posters

CptSternn

Balagan wrote: »

Clare election candidates face hefty fines for early election posters
26 January, 2011 - 09:21

http://www.clare.fm/news/clare-election-candidates-face-hefty-fines-early-election-posters

James Breen has his up now on the Kilrush road right past Social Welfare if you are heading into town.

The fine is €150. I wonder how many candidates will just leave them and pay the fine. Thats the sort of thing you will find with most candidates in Co. Clare, they are dodgy and happy to work in the 'grey' area.

Putting up posters early and paying the fine is nothing new - most all the candidates did that last election. Then there are the other two things that really irk me they do (I wrote a letter that was printed in the Clare Champion last election time about this) -

Having 'private citizens' put a big billboard on a lorry trailer and park it in a car park - like the church car park in Clarecastle (Timmy Dooley). He left it there parked sideways taking up half the car park - people attending funerals had to park on the street. Scumbag.

Then you had the general FF posters that were placed in the market illegally, but again, since they were put there by 'private citizens' it was allowed. The top floors of the businesses in the market had huge FF posters in the windows well before the election, and due to their proximity to the town centre there were not supposed to be there to begin with. Again, FF claimed they had 'nothing to do with' the posters in those 'private residents homes and offices' therefore couldn't be held accountable and the person(s) couldn't be forced to remove them, even though they violated many election laws.

I wonder if those 'private citizens' will be doing the same this time around?

Either way it's pretty dirty to try and slip around the election law and give yourself an unfair advantage over the other candidates if you ask me. If thats the type of behaviour one engages in during the election, what does it say about a candidates morals and what they will be engaging in once elected?

Looking at the state of our country and economy one can draw their own conclusion about those people in question today sure.

CptSternn

Oh, while I'm in a ranting mood, I have to mention the financing and record keeping issues involved.

In local elections a candidate is limited on how much money they can spend based on the number of seats available in that constituency. In a general election in Clare the top limit is €15,000 - or at least that was the ceiling in the previous election.

In my previous post I mentioned all those 'private citizens' putting huge billboards on lorries and huge posters in shop windows - FF claimed they had nothing to do with any of that and those costs did not get added to their budget.

Where exactly did a private citizen get such signage? Did they do it up themselves in Photoshop? How is it they look exactly like the 'official' posters and billboards we saw in other constituencies?

They got those signs from FF. To think anything else is just plain ludicrous. The fact that all of the FF candidates played dumb and acted like they had no idea where all of those signs came from boggles the mind. Then again the election board who reviewed these actions were mostly FF members and supporters should be no big surprise.

I worked on the SF election team for the past three elections. Our books got reviewed TWICE. They even tried to claim some posters for a RSF candidate were ours, because they looked the same. Forget they weren't even for our candidate. We were no where near the €15,000 limit, yet they called us in and went over the books meticulously, at the same time not even reviewing the fact large lorries were carrying their candidates signs all over the county. They also claimed the FF team came in right at €15,000 exactly. Seriously? How did that happen?

Then you had them running some candidates (Daly) whose posters had all three FF candidates on them - but they claimed it was all on Dalys budget so it didn't count against Dooley or the other FF candidates.

Seriously diluted and dodgy, that is the only way to describe the experience of running a candidate in Co. Clare. I have never seen so much cronyism and outright criminal behaviour. Sad thing is, the appeals process is long and costly and guess who has the final say? You guessed it - FF members and supporters, so why even bother filing a complaint?

Clareman

Some top quality posting/questions/ranting their Cpt, shame to see it lost in a regional forum, there's an Election forum setup here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1431 that you would get some great debate going on I'm sure

5h4mr0(k

I hope that they aren't all going to go and break the law by putting the posters on the side of the motorway, usually by exit 13. Since it's illegal to stop on the motorway or to be a pedestrian on the motorway, you'd have to break the law to put them there....

I would think that the €150 fine would be accumulative. If the poster isn't taken down in a specific period, then another fine would occur.

CptSternn

5h4mr0(k wrote: »

I hope that they aren't all going to go and break the law by putting the posters on the side of the motorway, usually by exit 13. Since it's illegal to stop on the motorway or to be a pedestrian on the motorway, you'd have to break the law to put them there....

I would think that the €150 fine would be accumulative. If the poster isn't taken down in a specific period, then another fine would occur.

They can only be cumulative to a point, then they are legal. Once the election is called, they will be legal, its a waiting game.

Besides, bigger picture, those fines don't count against his budget and right now he is getting free press while all the local papers write about it.

finbarrk

He is 13/8 in the bookies to get elected. I think he will.