Mayor doesn't understand what a disabled parking space is for.

brownej

alan partridge aha wrote: »

Not genuine in that the person who posted the pic might not be disabled.

Is it only diabled people that can observe this sort of behaviour.
If a disabled person didn't see it then it didn't happen?

brownej

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Alleged photograph? That a real quote? Oh dear...

In his defense he was getting a little carried away and probably articulated his point a little clumsily.

alan partridge aha

brownej wrote: »

Is it only diabled people that can observe this sort of behaviour.
If a disabled person didn't see it then it didn't happen?

No, but that is what the article said.
The car was seen by a female wheelchair user, who reported the offence.

The woman, who did not want to be identified, also contacted Limerick Anti-Austerity Alliance Councillor Cian Prendiville, and stated: "I recently visited county hall to pay monies to cash office.

"I am wheelchair-bound and was horrified to see the wheelchair parking bay occupied by a car.

"The car did not have any disability sticker and on making enquiries I learnt the car was belonging to the head of [Limerick] Council Mayor Sheahan."

alan partridge aha

The man said he wanted to apologise to the person, but she is anonymous so he can't.

Busted Flat.

alan partridge aha wrote: »

The man said he wanted to apologise to the person, but she is anonymous so he can't.

To make out he wanted to apologize to the person who took the picture, he should apologize to all blue card holders for his selfish actions.

phog

myshirt wrote: »

Yeah... particularly harsh one considering Ulster Bank are the only bank with face to face customer contact at front desk. A feature used mostly by those who need assistance, including older folk who like to bank that way.

Where can they park now?

AFAIK, a disabled driver can park in any parking spot without the need to use parking discs.

pigtown

On morning Ireland he said that he needed to run into the office for a short period and that there were a few disabled parking spots free so he parked in one. When he came out again the other spaces were still free so no-one was inconvenienced.

I know it's fashionable to criticize everything a politician says or does, and to always assume they are lying, but is it possible he was telling the truth?

Did this story really warrant articles in the Examiner and Breakingnews, and an interview on morning Ireland?

Is it possible that he regularly parks in this carpark and notices that the disabled spaces are rarely used ?(speculation on my part, don't know how used these spots are). I know that in the carpark on the North Campus of UL, near the Pavilion, there are about 10 disabled parking spots and in the 3 years I used that carpark there were never more than 4 spaces being used.

myshirt

Pigtown, please do not insult people. This man is going around behaving as though he is Rod Stewart or something. This was a legitimate complaint, not one that is just fashionable. I was only a minute just doesn't cut it. This is 2015, not 1965. It is not acceptable.

pigtown

Who did my questions insult?

893bet

pigtown wrote: »

On morning Ireland he said that he needed to run into the office for a short period and that there were a few disabled parking spots free so he parked in one. When he came out again the other spaces were still free so no-one was inconvenienced.

I know it's fashionable to criticize everything a politician says or does, and to always assume they are lying, but is it possible he was telling the truth?

Did this story really warrant articles in the Examiner and Breakingnews, and an interview on morning Ireland?

Is it possible that he regularly parks in this carpark and notices that the disabled spaces are rarely used ?(speculation on my part, don't know how used these spots are). I know that in the carpark on the North Campus of UL, near the Pavilion, there are about 10 disabled parking spots and in the 3 years I used that carpark there were never more than 4 spaces being used.

Sorry Pigtown, balanced and well thought out posts are not allowed.

vkid

Not sure there is any defence for this. Other vacant spaces or the length of time he was there for are completely irrelevant. Those excuses would not wash if it is was me or anyone else... And it is no different for any local politician..

The hard done by, out to get me schtick is nauseating..

myshirt

Apologies lads, but the attitude is appalling. Not well balanced and thought out. If I had a few pints and drove like a f#cking lunatic down the backroads and said sher it's grand, everyone was in bed, no one was around, that doesn't make it right.

Thank F#CK no one was put out by this. That should be the response lads, not this lax attitude.
In the same way, thank f#ck no one was on the road when I was drink driving. Not ah sher it's grand.

No. No. No. The principle must remain the same. The behaviour 100% remains utterly, utterly abhorrent.

Culturally we have an awful problem in this country towards disabled drivers. It's not on anymore lads. The days are gone where a set of working double dashers entitles you to park anywhere.

myshirt

phog wrote: »

AFAIK, a disabled driver can park in any parking spot without the need to use parking discs.

Correct, but parking up there isn't great. Where the bikes are now was a good spot and I am led to believe it was well utilised by customers of Ulster bank who like that bit of old style banking approach; the face to face banking.

Now to be fair, the lads in AIB are great to assist their customers, but some people just don't like this Richie Boucher Ryanair influenced 'make the customer do the work' approach that AIB adopted after boi.

flutered

alan partridge aha wrote: »

The man said he wanted to apologise to the person, but she is anonymous so he can't.

on other fourms it is being alleged that he is been stitched up, claims are being made as to the authentcy of the whistleblower, why should the whistleblower become public to be hounded by the press and politicos

flutered

in a lot of towns/citys the mayor has a spot reserved

brownej

flutered wrote: »

on other fourms it is being alleged that he is been stitched up, claims are being made as to the authentcy of the whistleblower, why should the whistleblower become public to be hounded by the press and politicos

It would only be a stitch up if someone else parked his car in the space.
I don't think anyone is disputing that he actually did it. What seems to be at issue is that you can only point it out if you are disabled which is ridiculous.

The more he plays the victim of a stitch up the longer it will stay in the news cycle.

jonski

Did he park in a disabled spot ?
Yes

Does it matter if the other disabled spots were vacant ?
No

Should he apologise ?
Yes

Does it matter if he is being stitched up ?
No .... he still parked in a disabled spot

Is it worse that it was the Mayor that did this ?
Yes , of course it does , he is supposed to set an example .

But shur he is only human .... well we should expect and demand more from our elected officials .

brownej

alan partridge aha wrote: »

No, but that is what the article said.
The car was seen by a female wheelchair user, who reported the offence.

The woman, who did not want to be identified, also contacted Limerick Anti-Austerity Alliance Councillor Cian Prendiville, and stated: "I recently visited county hall to pay monies to cash office.

"I am wheelchair-bound and was horrified to see the wheelchair parking bay occupied by a car.

"The car did not have any disability sticker and on making enquiries I learnt the car was belonging to the head of [Limerick] Council Mayor Sheahan."

Why are you quoting the article to me when it is you that is disputing whether the photographer was genuinely disabled?

alan partridge aha wrote: »

Not genuine in that the person who posted the pic might not be disabled.

seventeen sheep

A2LUE42 wrote: »

Mayor Sheahan, who is not in receipt of a disabled parking card, apologised, but also told the Limerick Leader: "I do think it is a bit harsh that someone had nothing better to do than take a photograph of my car."

We could all walk by situations without intervening every day of our lives.

"I have better things to do than to say thank you to the check-out person."

"I have better things to do than to help that blind woman cross the road."

"I have better things to do than to phone an ambulance while that man is dying of a heart attack."

Of all people, the mayor is the person you would hope would step in and rectify a situation, rather than scorning those who choose to draw attention to an injustice rather than doing the easy thing and walking on by.

brownej wrote: »

He kept "holding his hands up" and "apologising to anyone and everyone in society" followed quickly by "I was only a minute". He then went on to refer to the "alleged photograph" and that its all political and they're out to get him.

Oh for gods sake. It's not an "alleged photograph". It is a photograph, or it isn't. He has admitted to the offence, so it's a moot point anyways.

The only one concerned about "politics" here seems to be him.

alan partridge aha wrote: »

Perhaps he has a point in that it may have been politically motivated rather than genuine.

No, no, no. He committed the offence! Perhaps the person who reported it was politically motivated; perhaps they weren't; it's completely irrelevant. There would have been nothing to report if he hadn't done it.

alan partridge aha wrote: »

The man said he wanted to apologise to the person, but she is anonymous so he can't.

I find this offensive. It's been reported that the person who reported this was in a wheelchair - that doesn't even necessarily imply that she was in need of the space. As someone who is not disabled, and who does not have any disabled family members, and who has no political inclination, I'd be p*ssed off and offended on behalf of society if I'd seen him park in that space, and yeah I'd have reported it. That doesn't mean I want a smoochy apology to me or to society as a whole or to the disabled members of society. It means that I want him to be penalised appropriately and that I want him to state publicly that he won't commit such an offence again.

pigtown wrote: »

On morning Ireland he said that he needed to run into the office for a short period and that there were a few disabled parking spots free so he parked in one. When he came out again the other spaces were still free so no-one was inconvenienced.

I know it's fashionable to criticize everything a politician says or does, and to always assume they are lying, but is it possible he was telling the truth?

Did this story really warrant articles in the Examiner and Breakingnews, and an interview on morning Ireland?

Is it possible that he regularly parks in this carpark and notices that the disabled spaces are rarely used ?(speculation on my part, don't know how used these spots are). I know that in the carpark on the North Campus of UL, near the Pavilion, there are about 10 disabled parking spots and in the 3 years I used that carpark there were never more than 4 spaces being used.

So what if the spaces were free when he went in and came out? How does he know that they didn't fill up (and empty again) while he was in there? It might be out of the norm for that car park, but it could have happened.

If the car park was that quiet, why didn't he park a few spaces down? Because all of the spaces were full? "OK so it doesn't matter if I take up just one of these disabled spaces, and after all, they're hardly ever used."

Next car comes along. All spaces are full. "But look, there's a car there parked in the disabled space with no disk. Oh and it's the mayor's car. Well, if he can do it, I guess the rest of us can ..."

It was an awful thing to do, but the fact that he seems to be trying to defend his actions makes it all the worse and more cynical and saddening.

brownej

seventeen sheep wrote: »

Oh for gods sake. It's not an "alleged photograph". It is a photograph, or it isn't. He has admitted to the offence, so it's a moot point anyways.

I was just quoting him from his morning Ireland interview. I shouted the same thing at the radio!
In his defence he got a bit flustered.

seventeen sheep

brownej wrote: »

I was just quoting him from his morning Ireland interview. I shouted the same thing at the radio!
In his defence he got a bit flustered.

Sorry I know, the annoyance was directed at him, not you!

seventeen sheep

brownej wrote: »

I was just quoting him from his morning Ireland interview. I shouted the same thing at the radio!
In his defence he got a bit flustered.

Oh god. That interview is awful.

"I was careless and thoughtless at the time"

You don't take a disabled parking space out of thoughtlessness. Come on. It's an active thought process, and you know it's wrong.

"I just ran in"

So what?

"There were vacant spaces - they were all vacant"

They were vacant at the time!

"I'm telling nothing but the truth on this one"

Screams of "I repeatedly lie on most issues, but ..."

"I apologise for those who were affected, but nobody but nobody was affected"

As far as he knows, and that's not even the point.

"This is not in contravention of the RTA at all"

Excuses and more excuses

"I would like to meet the lady who took this photo if she exists"

Errr what? Someone took it?

And then brags about the work he's done for people with disabilities.

It was a poor incident, but the real PR damage was done with how he handled it (extremely badly!)

Sheldons Brain

seventeen sheep wrote: »

"There were vacant spaces - they were all vacant"

They were vacant at the time!

This kind of justification, which is also coming from some posters here, sickens my hole. If the spaces were vacant it is because other law abiding people respected the disabled parking space and went and parked somewhere else.

seventeen sheep

Sheldons Brain wrote: »

This kind of justification, which is also coming from some posters here, sickens my hole. If the spaces were vacant it is because other law abiding people respected the disabled parking space and went and parked somewhere else.

Exactly!

If he's going to use that as some sort of a justification, then he's basically telling everyone that it's OK to use those spaces so long as there's a few others free nearby. Which is SO wrong.

I know he apologises in the interview and says he won't do it again, but when he trots out several poor excuses for why it's OK that he did it that time, it makes it hard to believe that he realises he did anything wrong at all.

Special Circumstances

seventeen sheep wrote: »

Exactly!

If he's going to use that as some sort of a justification, then he's basically telling everyone that it's OK to use those spaces so long as there's a few others free nearby. Which is SO wrong.

I know he apologises in the interview and says he won't do it again, but when he trots out several poor excuses for why it's OK that he did it that time, it makes it hard to believe that he realises he did anything wrong at all.

It pretty much sounds like a child's apology when they are actually only sorry that they got caught.

A decent adult would just admit they were wrong and commit to not doing it again.

A half way clever politician would spin it and say something like how the incident had made it clear to him the challenges faced by people genuinely needing those spaces and promise some kind of policy/review/initiative/scheme/committee etc etc.

mgbgt1978

brownej wrote: »

In his defense he was getting a little carried away and probably articulated his point a little clumsily.

I think you mean 'In his defence he's a politician, and believes he can do whatever the f*&k he likes'....

....if you are actually, really, genuinely attempting to defend any aspect of his behaviour, don't bother. He's well capable of blustering and bullying his way out of any situation all by himself.

If you used the words 'In his defence' rather than 'I think...' (or similar) then fair enough.;)

893bet

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

I think you mean 'In his defence he's a politician, and believes he can do whatever the f*&k he likes'....

See these types of comments are just populist soundbites that add sweet FA to the discussion.

893bet

myshirt wrote: »

Apologies lads, but the attitude is appalling. Not well balanced and thought out. If I had a few pints and drove like a f#cking lunatic down the backroads and said sher it's grand, everyone was in bed, no one was around, that doesn't make it right.

Not really a fair comparison though? it is?

Who could have potentially died as a result of his actions?

mgbgt1978

893bet wrote: »

Not sure if serious? How is dare he drive in and out again. Hang him at noon.

893bet wrote: »

See these types of comments are just populist soundbites that add sweet FA to the discussion.

Ah sure, you obviously know yourself :P

leakyboots

There is no excuse for parking in a disabled spot unless you have a card. Zilch. None. Try spending a day (EDIT: f**k it, an hour) in a wheelchair around town and you'll understand why they're so important to those that need them.