Denis O'Brien gags Waterford Whispers

michael999999

castletownman wrote: »

Am I the only one who finds it incredible that he is reported as being richer than Richard Branson, Bernie Ecclestone, Donald Trump and Oprah?

With that in mind, you'd wonder why he'd bother with his propensity for spurious lawsuits.

And you know where he made them billions?

From a dodgy deal he done with fine Gaels Michael Lowry!

The Moriarty tribunal is critical reading for everyone before the next election!

One More Toy

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Let's not pretend the hatred for DOB stems from that. It comes from Irish begrudgery mostly. That is just incidental.

No its mostly because he is an (alleged) criminal w******

Jayop

tomwaterford wrote: »

Because he's rich??

Govt rightly or wrongly don't want to see wealth leave the country?

Wrongly. He's a tax exile anyway so the only money the government don't want to lose is of a brown envelope variety.

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Let's not pretend the hatred for DOB stems from that. It comes from Irish begrudgery mostly. That is just incidental.

Absolute nonsense.

tomwaterford

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Let's not pretend the hatred for DOB stems from that. It comes from Irish begrudgery mostly. That is just incidental.

Or let's just pretend Irish people have grown sick of an acceptance of corruption and Denis Obrien is a huge running sore of an example of what can be achieved through corruption ???

donegaLroad

tomwaterford wrote: »

Because he's rich??

Govt rightly or wrongly don't want to see wealth leave the country?

but a certain person lives as a tax exile in Malta..

Jayop

tomwaterford wrote: »

Or let's just pretend Irish people have grown sick of an acceptance of corruption and Denis Obrien is a huge running sore of an example of what can be achieved through corruption ???

Yep

michael999999

Jayop wrote: »

Can anyone tell me in simple terms why he's not been charged with anything?

Because he has a great "relationship" with Fine Gael!

BlaasForRafa

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Let's not pretend the hatred for DOB stems from that. It comes from Irish begrudgery mostly. That is just incidental.

There's always a few people on this forum who don't have a problem with rich people riding roughshod all over the law isn't there.

tomwaterford

Jayop wrote: »

Wrongly. He's a tax exile anyway so the only money the government don't want to lose is of a brown envelope variety.
.

:eek:
I didn't say that

PolaroidPizza

I get the impression DOB is slowly turning into Donald Trump...spurious lawsuits, gag orders, an increasingly comical appearance, tied at the hip to the conservative party of their respective countries....only difference is that in the US, people aren't afraid of making fun of Donald Trump.

Jayop

michael999999 wrote: »

Because he has a great "relationship" with Fine Gael!

Ah there was me thinking the judiciary was supposed to be independent of the legislature. :mad:

Valetta

BlaasForRafa wrote: »

There's always a few people on this forum who don't have a problem with rich people riding roughshod all over the law isn't there.

Which laws would you say he broke?

tomwaterford

michael999999 wrote: »

Because he has a great "relationship" with Fine Gael!

If Fine Gael were anyway political they'd string him along as a loss making sore DNS throw him under the bus just before the next election and clean up on votes

michael999999

Jayop wrote: »

Ah there was me thinking the judiciary was supposed to be independent of the legislature. :mad:

Who do you think appoint the judges and the Garda commissioner (And sack them)?

Speaking of which, has anyone seen the Fennelly report, or is that in the same drawer as The Moriarty Tribunal?

Rough Sleeper

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Let's not pretend the hatred for DOB stems from that. It comes from Irish begrudgery mostly. That is just incidental.

Why don't people hate Robbie Keane and Padraig Harrington so? Why did I never hear of people "begrudging" the Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney? They've all excelled in their respective fields yet they don't seem to get flak like Denis O' Brien does. I'd nearly be fooled into thinking that it's O' Brien's actions, rather than his success, that result in the intense dislike expressed towards him, and that allegations of begrudgery were simply cynical attempts to stifle discussion. Of course, I know better than that.

Lady Chatterton

So sad that someone who isn't even resident in this country has control over so much of what happens and is reported here. It scares the hell out of me

Dr. Mantis Toboggan

He has very sensitive nipples.

castletownman

castletownman wrote: »

With that in mind, you'd wonder why he'd bother with his propensity for spurious lawsuits.

Is there a legal equivalent of small cock syndrome? Perhaps he's trying to impress upon us how strong & virile he is.

Don't courts have rules about mad people & serial litigation? I'm pretty sure if I kept trying to sue everyone who made a joke about me, I'd be told in no uncertain terms by a judge to kindly fuck off with myself (or whatever the legal term is).

Or, more worryingly, is it the case that the law is on this guy's side? If the law favours the mega-rich to the extent that they are beyond parody, I think we need to take a second look at that law, lickety split.

Kermit.de.frog

Rough Sleeper wrote: »

Why don't people hate Robbie Keane and Padraig Harrington so?

Because they are not business people. The Irish don't understand business - they think every business person is corrupt. It's a cultural problem in Ireland. Someone doing well for themselves is to be kicked relentlessly by people, who to be perfectly honest, have not and sometimes have no intention of doing anything for themselves. A lot of the grief O'Brien gets is nothing to do with people's opinions of alleged wrongdoing. It has more to do with the Irish begrudgery malfunction that sadly has come back in the recession again when there was hopes it might have been fading.

Chucken

I like the part of the letter that says..... "our client is a criminal who has managed to evade prosecution to date"

MRnotlob606

Wow you haven't seen that through probably.Waterford Whispers are probably the best satitical force in Ireland.I've met Colm Williamson before and by the sound of him Waterford Whispers will be around for a long time to come.If anything it's going from strength to strength.He has rejected offers from RTE to do shows.

Rough Sleeper

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Because they are not business people. The Irish don't understand business - they think every business person is corrupt. It's a cultural problem in Ireland. Someone doing well for themselves is to be kicked relentlessly by people, who to be perfectly honest, have not and sometimes have no intention of doing anything for themselves. A lot of the grief O'Brien gets is nothing to do with people's opinions of alleged wrongdoing. It has more to do with the Irish begrudgery malfunction that sadly has come back in the recession again when there was hopes it might have been fading.

Michael O' Leary seems to be left well enough alone generally since he went all Mr. Nice Guy on us. And even back in the day he had his fair share of fans. I have a hunch that the whole bribing elected representatives triviality might actually play a significant part in moulding people's opinions of the man.

A2LUE42

Hopefully this goes the way of some 'super'injunctions and gets shared so much on social media that the attention it gets dwarfs the attention it would have received if he hadn't tried to have it taken down. http://i59.tinypic.com/311qm3a.png

Jayop

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Because they are not business people. The Irish don't understand business - they think every business person is corrupt. It's a cultural problem in Ireland. Someone doing well for themselves is to be kicked relentlessly by people, who to be perfectly honest, have not and sometimes have no intention of doing anything for themselves. A lot of the grief O'Brien gets is nothing to do with people's opinions of alleged wrongdoing. It has more to do with the Irish begrudgery malfunction that sadly has come back in the recession again when there was hopes it might have been fading.

No, but they know that this one is. It's been proven in the Tribunal. The only correlation with the huge wave of anti-O'Brien sentiment and the recession is that the findings of the tribunal came out in the middle of the worst of it while his FG buddies were taxing everyone to their balls.

PolaroidPizza

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Because they are not business people. The Irish don't understand business - they think every business person is corrupt. It's a cultural problem in Ireland. Someone doing well for themselves is to be kicked relentlessly by people, who to be perfectly honest, have not and sometimes have no intention of doing anything for themselves. A lot of the grief O'Brien gets is nothing to do with people's opinions of alleged wrongdoing. It has more to do with the Irish begrudgery malfunction that sadly has come back in the recession again when there was hopes it might have been fading.

plenty of people succeed in business without having their names dragged through every tribunal going. we all know how that phone license was obtained. No-one has problems with how people like Eugene Murtagh, Michael Smurfit and Tony Ryan made their fortunes...theres plenty successful Irish businessmen and women out there who didn't need to do what DOB did to get the foot in the door.
Disregarding all our concerns with this man as nothing but begrudgery does nothing but paint over the underlying problems with how this country deals with his like.

OneOfThem

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Because they are not business people. The Irish don't understand business - they think every business person is corrupt. It's a cultural problem in Ireland. Someone doing well for themselves is to be kicked relentlessly by people, who to be perfectly honest, have not and sometimes have no intention of doing anything for themselves. A lot of the grief O'Brien gets is nothing to do with people's opinions of alleged wrongdoing. It has more to do with the Irish begrudgery malfunction that sadly has come back in the recession again when there was hopes it might have been fading.

Sure aren't people forever begrudgering that Michael Smurfit fella. Never a day goes by I tell ye.

nokia69

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Because they are not business people. The Irish don't understand business - they think every business person is corrupt. It's a cultural problem in Ireland. Someone doing well for themselves is to be kicked relentlessly by people, who to be perfectly honest, have not and sometimes have no intention of doing anything for themselves. A lot of the grief O'Brien gets is nothing to do with people's opinions of alleged wrongdoing. It has more to do with the Irish begrudgery malfunction that sadly has come back in the recession again when there was hopes it might have been fading.

do people begrudge Michael O'Leary because he's rich

DOB only has himself to blame for the what people think of him, and its not because of his wealth, is how he got it, and what he continues to do

BlaasForRafa

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Because they are not business people. The Irish don't understand business - they think every business person is corrupt.

Bribing politicians isn't corrupt in the parallel universe you appear to be living in with Dinny then?

hatrickpatrick

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Because they are not business people. The Irish don't understand business - they think every business person is corrupt. It's a cultural problem in Ireland. Someone doing well for themselves is to be kicked relentlessly by people, who to be perfectly honest, have not and sometimes have no intention of doing anything for themselves. A lot of the grief O'Brien gets is nothing to do with people's opinions of alleged wrongdoing. It has more to do with the Irish begrudgery malfunction that sadly has come back in the recession again when there was hopes it might have been fading.

This is bollocks, pure and simple. People don't like any one person to have any more influence than average Joe on the political process - particularly when this comes about because they can buy public policy. Furthermore, people don't like seeing someone who has found to be involved in wrongdoing, not being dethroned and shunned from the aforementioned elite.

Sheep Lover

Johnny Jukebox wrote: »

He's not actually that fat, just a big lad. I saw him in his lycra at the Wexford cycle last year. Just sayin...

Big boned I suppose? The fall back for any fatty.

The Masculinist

Who signs a letter in the name of the company, it is signed "Meagher Solicitors" (look at the signature).

ComfortKid

Valetta wrote:

Which laws would you say he broke?

Is bribing a minister not a crime, no?

ComfortKid

Kermit.de.frog wrote:

Because they are not business people. The Irish don't understand business - they think every business person is corrupt. It's a cultural problem in Ireland. Someone doing well for themselves is to be kicked relentlessly by people, who to be perfectly honest, have not and sometimes have no intention of doing anything for themselves. A lot of the grief O'Brien gets is nothing to do with people's opinions of alleged wrongdoing. It has more to do with the Irish begrudgery malfunction that sadly has come back in the recession again when there was hopes it might have been fading.

Why don't we hate Michael O Leary so?

KomradeBishop

The term 'beyond satire' just reached a new level of head'sploding meta-ness here.

Busted Flat.

OneOfThem wrote: »

Sure aren't people forever begrudgering that Michael Smurfit fella. Never a day goes by I tell ye.

That started over the Johnston Mooney and O'Brien site, he brought the shít on his own head for greed.

donegaLroad

michael999999 wrote: »

Who do you think appoint the judges and the Garda commissioner (And sack them)?

Speaking of which, has anyone seen the Fennelly report, or is that in the same drawer as The Moriarty Tribunal?

its probably under the leg of a rickety table.

BlaasForRafa

The Masculinist wrote: »

Who signs a letter in the name of the company, it is signed "Meagher Solicitors" (look at the signature).

Yeah I noticed that, which is why I said "alleged letter from the solicitors" when I linked to it.

It's getting hard to tell the satire from the reality when it comes to Dinny :pac:

nokia69

ComfortKid wrote: »

Is bribing a minister not a crime, no?

not in Ireland it would seem

BTW this post has nothing to do with DOB, who is perfect in every way possible

Busted Flat.

ComfortKid wrote: »

Why don't we hate Michael O Leary

Never seen any comment regarding corruption about him, hard work got him where he is. Never licked the butt of any politician, and never heard him connected to bent politicians.

mbur

KomradeBishop wrote: »

The term 'beyond satire' just reached a new level of head'sploding meta-ness here.

I know, WW is good but that lawyers letter is the funniest thing I have read in ages. That lawyer is wasting his/her time in that game.

Reiver

Swift wrote about rich British people buying the children of Irish poor and eating them. No one ever sued him for satire.

Rock on WWN. Keep fighting the good fight.

Jayop

ComfortKid wrote: »

Never seen any comment regarding corruption about him, hard work got him where he is. Never licked the butt of any politician, and never heard him connected to bent politicians.

Exactly. Some people might slag him off over Ryanair's policies, but he's generally very well regarded probably because he's very straight up. Doesn't hide behind solicitors all the time.

Given we're all hating on poor old Dinny for trying to influence ministers, I've heard more than a few people say we should have O'Leary runt he bloody country. Completely the opposite opinion on him.

The Masculinist

The Masculinist wrote: »

Who signs a letter in the name of the company, it is signed "Meagher Solicitors" (look at the signature).

Any limited company can do that. A company is a legal person whose officers are 'channeling' it, so to speak.

Sky King

Anyone thnk it's weird the letter has todays date? Surely it would have been sent yesterday?

KomradeBishop

expectationlost wrote: »

the letter says take it down by this time or we will sue you, but that doesn't mean even after they've taken it down he wont sue, they suggested his charity in Haiti was not for pure reasons the Daily Mail said similar, got sued and lost because courts said it wasn't based on fact, and had to pay 150k for that http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/denis-obrien-wins-150000-in-daily-mail-defamation-case-29070377.html WW won't be around for long more, its the Haiti thing that will end them.

I recommend people check out the Vice episode on Haiti - to see the huge level of corruption with so many of the foreign self-'aid' efforts over there.

People literally without running toilets, while billions in cash are sloshing around on mega-infrastructure projects that do virtually nothing to actually help the peoples immediate needs.

It's the same kind of boondoggle foreign 'aid' that Iraq received, where foreign construction companies go in to siphon the free-for-all of money being spent on useless infrastructure projects - and our very own DOB has a very lucrative mobile phone contract there in Haiti.

michael999999

Let's hope Fine Gael award him another massive state contract to keep him happy!

The water metering contract and the contract they awarded Topaz to provide the emergency service vehicles with fuel obviously isn't enough!

What else can fine Gael do to keep Denis in he's Malta mansion happy?

Jayop

Reiver wrote: »

Swift wrote about rich British people buying the children of Irish poor and eating them. No one ever sued him for satire.

Rock on WWN. Keep fighting the good fight.

I know this was in the US, but I wonder what the law is in Ireland with regards libel and satire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustler_Magazine_v._Falwell

AlekSmart

Samaris wrote: »

Hah, I read the article on a mirror. Tbh, I'm not surprised O'Brien's lawyers whacked them. Satire or not, the phrase "libel" has probably been uttered a few times.

SO.....is there also a letter on the way from John Gilligan (or his Solicitor) ? ....This could be the making of a Dream (Legal) Team :eek:

Eugene Norman

Im surprised he hasn't sued the morriarty tribunal for defamation, at this stage.

actuallylike

The term satire seems to get thrown about a lot these days as a loophole to saying whatever you want. I can out someone in public as a paedophile but as long as I'm in a clown suit it's okay. I'm no fan of DOB, nor do I despise him. I do enjoy WWN too but it seems that instead of putting a bit of spin on a statement and let the readers fill in the blanks, they may have made a completely libellous statement but attached 'in a parallel universe' at the start. The fun of satire is that everyone knows what you're talking about, that's the point. They don't need to say it straight, that's how they operate and how they do what they do. But this article didn't leave anything out at all, it didn't require the reader to fill in the blanks. I think they went a bit far and not because it's DOB, I'd say that about anyone.