Barry Cowen sacked

Cute Hoor

Looks like all media outlets are giving this a wide berth, absolute silence for a couple of days now, is litigation in the air

expectationlost

Cute Hoor wrote: »

Looks like all media outlets are giving this a wide berth, absolute silence for a couple of days now, is litigation in the air

this isn't absolute silence https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=113996361&postcount=1355

Snow Garden

Look to the Sunday papers. You'll know then where this story is going...

Cute Hoor

expectationlost wrote: »

this isn't absolute silence https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=113996361&postcount=1355

Is Thomas Byrne mentioned in the article?

expectationlost

Cute Hoor wrote: »

Is Thomas Byrne mentioned in the article?

yes

Zebra3

Cute Hoor wrote: »

Looks like all media outlets are giving this a wide berth, absolute silence for a couple of days now, is litigation in the air

Difficult to see how litigation could be in the air.

Legitimate questions to be answered by Cowen about how he got around if for any length of time he needed to be accompanied while he drove by a fully licenced driver.

Cute Hoor

expectationlost wrote: »

yes

I can't find it

When the future existence of Fianna Fáil was in doubt in the days following the 2010 bailout, when candidates were machine-gunned in their droves by angry voters at the Somme-like massacre of the 2011 general election, in the days of penitential non-opposition to the Fine Gael-Labour government, one senior Fine Gael figure was in the habit of cautioning his colleagues who chortled at the fate of their old enemy. Be careful what you wish for, he warned them, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Based on the first fortnight of the new government we would certainly have missed the party had it died and gone away. For the comedy, anyway. The comedy, however, has been of the farcical variety.

Fianna Fáil’s return to government has been marked by a series of self-inflicted mishaps, accidents and disasters that have left its coalition partners and the Civil Service scratching their heads in a mixture of despair and bemusement.

Every government has its share of these; few so quickly. At the parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday night, John McGuinness warned that Fianna Fáil needs to show that it is different to Fine Gael in government. The Fine Gael wits piled in: haven’t they shown that already?

The new Ministers had hardly rested their posteriors on the upholstery of their ministerial cars when an uprising was under way among the ranks of the disappointed. At first, it focused on the ignominy of poor Dara Calleary, denied a full Cabinet position.

The béal bocht was remarkable for its complete lack of awareness of how this would be seen by many voters
No vote at Cabinet, cried the legions of the dispossessed west of the Shannon, though Cabinet does not actually vote. (If you start voting in a coalition Cabinet, it’s over.) Mayo ignored again! wailed the local organisation, though Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne’s analysis showed that, outside of Dublin and Cork, the county best represented in Cabinets since the 1920s is . . . Mayo.

Round of bellyaching
Calleary’s public ventilation of (understandable) hurt at his omission gave licence to the next round of bellyaching when the junior ministerial appointments were made a few days later. Several TDs rushed to the local airwaves to scream blue murder. The béal bocht was remarkable for its complete lack of awareness of how this would be seen by many voters.

Politicians think about jobs for themselves all the time. That’s okay; our system of politics requires people to think that the world would be a better place if they were granted power and authority. If they didn’t think that, they wouldn’t put themselves forward for election in the first place. But believing you should be a minister is not the same thing as throwing your toys out of the pram when it doesn’t happen. The outpouring of indignation said one thing: politics is about us, not about the people. It is hard to think of a worse message to send out.

The indignation said one thing: politics is about us, not about the people. It is hard to think of a worse message to send out
By the time the controversy over Barry Cowen’s drink-driving ban arrived, the party had begun to look like a circular firing squad. That had no sooner died down with Cowen’s Dáil apology when a lurid subplot about who leaked it, and why, erupted. Journalists squawked their disbelief at one another as late-night threats and tweets flew and writs were threatened.

The sanitised summary of all that is that a new Fianna Fáil appointee was fingered by a long-time associate for leaking the Cowen story; the appointee denies all, insisting that his former associate is now mendaciously embittered. I know not where the truth lies here.

Chronic indiscipline
This is all mightily amusing, if you are so minded. It is also a sorry commentary on the state of Fianna Fáil, government or no government. This is not just the chronic indiscipline that Fianna Fáil TDs have displayed in opposition; it is the every-man-for-himself behaviour of a pack of looters.


Unless Fianna Fáil pulls itself together, it has no hope of withstanding the challenges it will face in government. Micheál Martin has prospered by paying attention to the public first, his party membership second (remember, he won 74 per cent of their votes for the coalition deal) and his TDs last. But now his TDs are undermining his leadership of the government. Grumbles one former party stalwart: “There is no discipline without fear.” Perhaps Martin – rather like Tony Blair – will never be forgiven by his own party for showing it how it had to change to regain power. Whatever it is, the Taoiseach’s authority over his own parliamentary party seems flimsy.

PJ Mara used to say that the great advantage Fianna Fáil had over other parties was that for all the scandals that afflicted the party in the Haughey years and afterwards, middle-ground, non-aligned voters believed the party knew how do government, could run the economy and display reasonable competence in most things. Insofar as it existed, that reputation was shredded by the financial crisis. On the evidence of recent weeks, it will not return.

Mara was a creature of the old Fianna Fáil which was serious about one thing above all: power. Sometimes that power was used for good, sometimes for ill, and sometimes – to its great shame – for private gain. But the party never wavered in its dedication to its acquisition, maintenance and preservation. The years of opposition appear to have stripped it of that central part of its character. You’d wonder if anything can hold them together in the trials that are surely to come.

Cute Hoor

Zebra3 wrote: »

Difficult to see how litigation could be in the air.

Legitimate questions to be answered by Cowen about how he got around if for any length of time he needed to be accompanied while he drove by a fully licenced driver.

There has been nothing about Thomas Byrne in the mainstream media (that I can see) which I find surprising.

elperello

Cute Hoor wrote: »

There has been nothing about Thomas Byrne in the mainstream media (that I can see) which I find surprising.

In the IT article linked above Pat Leahy says "writs were threatened".

Watch this space.

McMurphy

Think it was mentioned on twitter that should Byrne contest the allegations made by McFadden, he (Byrne) would have to submit a lot of details to prove McFadden was telling lies, including his phone records.

Popcorn at the ready.

expectationlost

McMurphy wrote: »

Think it was mentioned on twitter that should Byrne contest the allegations made by McFadden, he (Byrne) would have to submit a lot of details to prove McFadden was telling lies, including his phone records.

Popcorn at the ready.

unless Ken McFadden has a habit of recordings his phone calls, its he said, she said, hes given no indication that he had a recording. The fact a phone call occured isn't significant. All we know is what Ken McFadden called Thomas Byrne publically.

eagle eye

Cute Hoor wrote:

You’d wonder if anything can hold them together in the trials that are surely to come.

Are you a FG supporter?

walshb

McMurphy wrote: »

Think it was mentioned on twitter that should Byrne contest the allegations made by McFadden, he (Byrne) would have to submit a lot of details to prove McFadden was telling lies, including his phone records.

Popcorn at the ready.

Would McFadden not have to prove what he (McFadden) is claiming?

Cute Hoor

Originally Posted by Cute Hoor
You’d wonder if anything can hold them together in the trials that are surely to come.

eagle eye wrote: »

Are you a FG supporter?

Are you attributing that statement to me, did I say that somewhere, can't remember saying it.

Am I a FG supporter, No, have I voted for an FG candidate in the past, Yes, I've also voted for candidates from pretty much all parties and none. I vote at every possible opportunity.

Cute Hoor

expectationlost wrote: »

unless Ken McFadden has a habit of recordings his phone calls, its he said, she said, hes given no indication that he had a recording. The fact a phone call occured isn't significant. All we know is what Ken McFadden called Thomas Byrne publically.

He'd be mad to come out with that tweet if he hadn't all the i's dotted and the t's crossed, he wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

smurgen

McMurphy wrote: »

The last year or two?

Google "Fine Gael Frape Room"


That is all.



Of course it goes on, some of the stuff going on even gets leaked to media reports.

We Don’t Want To Make It Obvious It’s Coming From Us

If you're in any doubts of the social media games governments are up to listen to this episode of Reply all. Eye opener on how government parties are systematically using soc puppet accounts and social media teams to change/influence the narrative of nation wide stories.
One thing I found out that was mad is how these units have a schedule of talking points throughout the day to discuss to try and get things trending in a country. It will be a list of banal topics that the leader of the social media team( like FGaels strategic communication unit) will set for the team for any particular day. It's being used to create white noise on days of news bad for the government in power. Well worth a listen and would make you think!

https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/j4hl36

expectationlost

Cute Hoor wrote: »

He'd be mad to come out with that tweet if he hadn't all the i's dotted and the t's crossed, he wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

he keeps sayings its the truth and he will defend it, not that he will prove it

jimmycrackcorm

expectationlost wrote: »

he keeps sayings its the truth and he will defend it, not that he will prove it

If he supposedly is a close friend who would be phoned at 1:30 am, then why would he turn on hime like that?

Unless of course FF are really a bunch of snake people.

McMurphy

expectationlost wrote: »

unless Ken McFadden has a habit of recordings his phone calls, its he said, she said, hes given no indication that he had a recording. The fact a phone call occured isn't significant. All we know is what Ken McFadden called Thomas Byrne publically.

walshb wrote: »

Would McFadden not have to prove what he (McFadden) is claiming?

Think you both missed the point I was making.

McFadden claimed Byrne told him at 0130 the night (or morning, whatever you want to call it) the night the cabinet was announced, and claimed that it was he who leaked the story to the press.

If Byrne was to present his phone records in a bid to prove he didn't and let's say there was an 1030pm call to Fionnan Sheehan for 28mins. While not concrete proof of anything, it would be kind of coincidental.

The detail McFadden went into of what Byrne allegedly told him was such that I think it's safe to assume it happened, and by happend I'm talking about the Byrne/McFadden call where Byrne calls and claims it was him who leaked the story. I bet McFadden has his ducks in row on that part at least.

You'd want to be off your head to claim to be the source of a leak if you actually weren't imo. Though in saying that, Byrne never came across as the fizziest tin in the fridge on his frequent TV appearances with Yates etc.

Shefwedfan

capefear wrote: »

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/incredibly-reckless-to-breed-cowen-greyhound-fight-times-says-activist-1010362.html

Hold on breaking news, Cowan done a pee per in a field once and not a in a pottie

More details will be released later on today

This will be followed by, Cowan crosses the road but he didn’t wait for the Green man

Shefwedfan

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Hold on breaking news, Cowan done a pee per in a field once and not a in a pottie

More details will be released later on today

This will be followed by, Cowan crosses the road but he didn’t wait for the Green man

Tbf it is quite hypocritical a minister of agriculture to have animal cruelty accusations or puppy farming background


Iirc this was a serious concern for greens....but they dont count it seems??

McMurphy

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

If he supposedly is a close friend who would be phoned at 1:30 am, then why would he turn on hime like that?

Unless of course FF are really a bunch of snake people.

I have a lot of close friends or work colleagues who I wouldn't be impressed with if they confided to me that they anonymously reported something on one of my other friends that either brought him/our company into disrepute. Especially if their reasons for doing so were for career advancement rather than them doing so under the false pretences of having a moral reasoning behind it.

McFadden obviously considered Byrne as a snitch who blew the whistle on Cowens story for nothing more than pettiness/jealousy in a bid to further his own career.

He didn't care about the merits of Cowen choosing to drive while having alcohol in his system, otherwise he would not have sat on it for four years and releasing the information on the night he did.

Assuming this is true, I expect Byrne to become a political pariah soon, if he isn't already one.

smurgen

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Hold on breaking news, Cowan done a pee per in a field once and not a in a pottie

More details will be released later on today

This will be followed by, Cowan crosses the road but he didn’t wait for the Green man

So you're grand with drink driving and animal abuse now right. This is like the Republicans in the U.S losing all moral fiber supporting Trump just to suck it to the Dems

Shefwedfan

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Tbf it is quite hypocritical a minister of agriculture to have animal cruelty accusations or puppy farming background


Iirc this was a serious concern for greens....but they dont count it seems??

I’m shocked you find it a concern

The lads you know that all drive round drink? They all on the white gold?

Shefwedfan

smurgen wrote: »

So you're grand with drink driving and animal abuse now right. This is like the Republicans in the U.S losing all moral fiber supporting Trump just to suck it to the Dems

Well you have no issue with child abuse and murder? So each to their own

Shefwedfan

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I have never said its an issue/concern for me??

Wind your neck in kid....yous are trying to keep green party onboard in a coalition with a minister of agriculture,who has accusations of animal cruelty hanging over him


Lashing out and throwing barbs at other posters isnt going to change the fact you cant grasp,how politically this puts greens in a difficult position

When can we expect eamonn ryan to formally come out and support or outline his position on puppy farming??

The law says you can do it if you have a vet, he had a vet

What has you confused?

Go on tell us a story about how you knew a man with a greyhound

Auguste Comte

Shefwedfan wrote: »

This will be followed by, Cowan crosses the road but he didn’t wait for the Green man

I hope he was careful, lots of unqualified drink drivers out there.

Shefwedfan

Auguste Comte wrote: »

I hope he was careful, lots of unqualified drink drivers out there.

Especially down with Blaaz and the lads, all multi millionaires selling the white gold one minute and the next they are drunk and driving around the countryside

You would think millionaires would be able to afford a taxi

McMurphy

Shefwedfan wrote: »

You would think millionaires would be able to afford a taxi

I seen Barry's travelling allowance he drew down both before and after losing his learner license for 3 month's.

A taxi fare home out of that would have been a pebble in the ocean tbh, but sure you keep up the contradictory posts, keep em coming.

Shefwedfan

McMurphy wrote: »

I seen Barry's travelling allowance he drew down both before and after losing his learner license for 3 month's.

A taxi fare home out of that would have been a pebble in the ocean tbh, but sure you keep up the contradictory posts, keep em coming.

Really? Are you his accountant?

Why don’t you quote the full post??? Usual guff from you