Minister for Agriculture attends 81-person golf event in breach of health guidelines

ChikiChiki

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

While the dinner proved to be a disaster, i can also see how someone could arrive expecting the thing to be run properly by the hotel. If they are a speaker at the thing, it makes it very awkward. It still shouldnt have happened, but I dont think it is as bad as it is being made out to be.
More importantly, we need structure in our government at present. Wanting everyone to be sacked or resign because they broke a restriction is a bit like the whole defund the police stuff in america. It is far too reactionary and in the greater scheme of things, doesnt help our cause. To my mind, there isnt a single person in the country who themselves hasnt broken a restriction at some point. Im not justifying their actions, but I think we need a bit of perspective also. Can anyone honestly say they havent broken a restriction?

Jesus wept this is beyond farcical. If your local TD had any integrity he would have turned on his heels having seen how badly it was organised and the number of people residing in Kildare that were present.

I myself am not long out of quarantine having sat in for 2 weeks with my brother who returned from Melbourne. A Kildare man living in Dublin have not been home to see friends and family in ages.

By your logic, screw compliance and it will be grand sure. If everyone did that, how do you think it would look. Might aswell get the GAA back and open up Coppers while we are at it.

Why bother.

FrancieBrady

smelly sock wrote: »

I'm shocked that Martin wasn't asked about this in his interview

Probably disallowed by his handlers.

'Were you invited, Mr. Martin/Varadkar? would have been an obvious question and the answer could be checked.

lawrencesummers

El Weirdo wrote: »

No one's convincing me that Martin, Varadkar and the rest of the government didn't know that this event was taking place before Thursday night when the story broke.

Surely an email or something went around to every member of the Oireachtas informing them of social events. Like it does in every company in the world.

Golf societies the country over are playing and having events. The individual is responsible for their own actions, you can’t blame the non attending boss of a company for the actions of their society members at an outing. That’s the individuals fault.

MayoAreMagic

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

So you don't see the issue with the same people who implemented restrictions breaking them?
Expert level whataboutery.

No more than anyone else. Have you broken a restriction yourself?

Plumbthedepths

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

No more than anyone else. Have you broken a restriction yourself?

Do as I say not as I do. Upset Dara f**ked up?

Sorolla

I think Dara deserves a lot of kudos for resigning as soon as he realized he made an error of judgement.

I can only imagine he went to that meeting in very good faith and out of respect for the late Mark Killilea.

Dara is the only politician in this country that has shown leadership in the last 24 hours.

It is time for a heave in the FF party - I’m afraid to say the Taoiseach is not leading from the front.

Maybe in the fullness of time when this little incident is forgotten about Dara could make a bid for the leadership of FF

Invincible

Was it held in Clifden ? :-)

Do as I say, not as I do is the mantra of our incompetent government!

El Weirdo

lawrencesummers wrote: »

Golf societies the country over are playing and having events. The individual is responsible for their own actions, you can’t blame the non attending boss of a company for the actions of their society members at an outing. That’s the individuals fault.

Well if I was the boss of a company and my employees were organising a work social event that could bring the company into disrepute, you can be damn sure I'd not let that event take place.

hurikane

Who was the winner anyway? Was there any 2’s?

kippy

Phishnet wrote: »

Hi, can anyone tell me the names of the +3 that accompanied Mr Brian Hayes, CEO of the Irish of the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland to the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner in Clifton, Galway?

I was wondering how come over 150 years of the Banking Book Evidence Act 1867 could be circumvented in just 12 weeks, maybe the names of these people could give the public a clue.

On a side note, most of the people in attendance at the illegal gathering where not present or past members of the Oireachtas, let alone its golf society, strange that!

Outside of the Covid debate, there are plenty of questions like yours that need to be answered. It's a bit like the Fiannal Fail tent at the Galway races. Just moved 50 miles or so west in much quieter surroundings.

Limpy

Id say when Barry Cowan heard about Dara C at the event he starting laughing like Therman Murch in dinner for smucks.

MayoAreMagic

ChikiChiki wrote: »

Jesus wept this is beyond farcical. If your local TD had any integrity he would have turned on his heels having seen how badly it was organised and the number of people residing in Kildare that were present.

I myself am not long out of quarantine having sat in for 2 weeks with my brother who returned from Melbourne. A Kildare man living in Dublin have not been home to see friends and family in ages.

By your logic, screw compliance and it will be grand sure. If everyone did that, how do you think it would look. Might aswell get the GAA back and open up Coppers while we are at it.

Why bother.

That isnt my logic. My logic is everyone has broken restrictions so chasing after people to resign is hypocritical, unless we all resign.
Did you resign? I didnt. There is a pang of angry mob about this if we keep going the way we are.

Ultimately I think we should be focusing on the bigger picture. Forcing hogan out for example could end up being bad for the country. And how long does this go on? What if tony hoolihan is found to have broken a restriction? Resign too? He probably has in fairness - we all have.
I just find that idiotic. People who break restrictions should be fined a hefty sum, not lose their jobs

lawrencesummers

The other question that needs to be asked was if Mari Bailey was in attendance? I hear she has been putting a lot of work into her swing over the last while

boomshakalaka

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

No more than anyone else. Have you broken a restriction yourself?

Politicians aren't "anyone", they're public figures with a duty to the country and its citizens. It doesn't matter that I had 7 instead of 6 visitors to my house and in no way does it excuse the behaviour of those who are supposed to lead us.

To even suggest they are "just people breaking the rules" shows how low your expectations of your political leaders are and it's pretty sad to see.

It's views like yours that politicians need to work hard to avoid and with this golf outing they've done the exact opposite. There needs to be accountability.

Plumbthedepths

Sorolla wrote: »

I think Dara deserves a lot of kudos for resigning as soon as he realized he made an error of judgement.

I can only imagine he went to that meeting in very good faith and out of respect for the late Mark Killilea.

Dara is the only politician in this country that has shown leadership in the last 24 hours.

It is time for a heave in the FF party - I’m afraid to say the Taoiseach is not leading from the front.

Maybe in the fullness of time when this little incident is forgotten about Dara could make a bid for the leadership of FF

The clown had no choice but to resign. Leadership? You're joking right.
I attended the funeral of a friend on Monday, maximum of 50 allowed into a huge church. Yet 81 elitist gob****es felt they were above the rules they imposed on the wider public.
Hilarious to see the craven supporters come out from the undergrowth.

boomshakalaka

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

That isnt my logic. My logic is everyone has broken restrictions so chasing after people to resign is hypocritical, unless we all resign.
Did you resign? I didnt. There is a pang of angry mob about this if we keep going the way we are.

Ultimately I think we should be focusing on the bigger picture. Forcing hogan out for example could end up being bad for the country. And how long does this go on? What if tony hoolihan is found to have broken a restriction? Resign too? He probably has in fairness - we all have.
I just find that idiotic. People who break restrictions should be fined a hefty sum, not lose their jobs

You are literally suggesting we live a life without any accountability. How can you not see that is worse in the long term? Are you a troll?

Gerry Hatrick

El Weirdo wrote: »

No one's convincing me that Martin, Varadkar and the rest of the government didn't know that this event was taking place before Thursday night when the story broke.

Surely an email or something went around to every member of the Oireachtas informing them of social events. Like it does in every company in the world.

Oh they knew alright. Everyone in that golden circle knew about it.

Gerry Hatrick

Sorolla wrote: »

I think Dara deserves a lot of kudos for resigning as soon as he realized he made an error of judgement.

I can only imagine he went to that meeting in very good faith and out of respect for the late Mark Killilea.

Dara is the only politician in this country that has shown leadership in the last 24 hours.

It is time for a heave in the FF party - I’m afraid to say the Taoiseach is not leading from the front.

Maybe in the fullness of time when this little incident is forgotten about Dara could make a bid for the leadership of FF

He couldn't lead a dog never mind a political party.

His career is toast.

MayoAreMagic

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

Do as I say not as I do. Upset Dara f**ked up?

Do as I say and not as I do indeed.
Did you resign yourself?

Not particularly tbh with you. Too much of a company man for my liking. Hogan is right not to resign. He didnt organise the thing. When pubs are jammed with people up and down the country, do they all resign? Or is it the publican who gets in trouble for having all these people on the premises? Fine people by all means. But making them resign is utterly hypocritical

Uriel.

El Weirdo wrote: »

No one's convincing me that Martin, Varadkar and the rest of the government didn't know that this event was taking place before Thursday night when the story broke.

Surely an email or something went around to every member of the Oireachtas informing them of social events. Like it does in every company in the world.

FFS, its grand to be angry and all but let's not be stupid about it.
I get up to 200.emails a day. I'm usually running about 9 to 10 days behind catching up with non urgent emails. I don't play golf. If I get anything from my company's golf society it usually sits in unopened for a week. I'm more recent times, as I have got busier, I'll triage emails and stuff from the golf club just gets deleted unread.

I'm not the tainaiste or Taoiseach and can't imagine how many mails they receive in a given day. I can't imagine generic golf society emails get much if any attention

Plumbthedepths

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

Do as I say and not as I do indeed.
Did you resign yourself?

Not particularly tbh with you. Too much of a company man for my liking. Hogan is right not to resign. He didnt organise the thing. When pubs are jammed with people up and down the country, do they all resign? Or is it the publican who gets in trouble for having all these people on the premises? Fine people by all means. But making them resign is utterly hypocritical

Whataboutery confirmed. Well done enjoy your day. Tell Dara I said hi.

MayoAreMagic

boomshakalaka wrote: »

You are literally suggesting we live a life without any accountability. How can you not see that is worse in the long term? Are you a troll?

You see, again, I didnt say that because that isnt what my post stated. If you need to keep redefining what I said then you arent actually arguing against my point.
Im saying we should all have accountability, and that the punishment should be in line with the crime. Either we all lose our jobs for breaking restrictions or the thing falls down. What part of that do you not understand?

Doctor Jimbob

Can anyone saying Calleary attended the event in good faith explain what this actually means? It's meaningless guff.

Another thing, anyone saying that other people break the restrictions are completely missing the point. These people are well compensated to be public representatives. It's not unreasonable to hold them to a higher standard than the average person, particularly when the issue at hand is restrictions they themselves put in place.

MayoAreMagic

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

Whataboutery confirmed. Well done enjoy your day. Tell Dara I said hi.

Not whataboutery actually.
Consistancy in application of the rules.
You want to judge others for things you are guilty of yourself. That is hypocrisy.

McMurphy

Uriel. wrote: »

FFS, its grand to be angry and all but let's not be stupid about it.
I get up to 200.emails a day. I'm usually running about 9 to 10 days behind catching up with non urgent emails. I don't play golf. If I get anything from my company's golf society it usually sits in unopened for a week. I'm more recent times, as I have got busier, I'll triage emails and stuff from the golf club just gets deleted unread.

I'm not the tainaiste or Taoiseach and can't imagine how many mails they receive in a given day. I can't imagine generic golf society emails get much if any attention

I posted this elsewhere on the site.

McMurphy wrote: »

Bishop, do you believe that their was a shindig for the Oireachtas Golf Society, with 81 guests - including Michaél Martin's second in command, Supreme Judges, EU commissioners, various Senators , TDs and even the feckin ambassador for Morocco and neither Michaél nor Leo knew about it?

These things aren't organised by a secret WhatsApp group, and lost likely there's a paper trail of emails of invites and subsequent acceptance and declination responses.

The big thing for me was the the Dails chief covid compliance officer was at the feckin thing - like could you blame people if many start to query "is this virus even a tenth as dangerous as they are telling us? Looks like many in govt don't think so, including the chief covid compliance officer"


Talk about piss down your neck and tell you it's raining.

There is not the slightest chance in hell that either Michaél or Leo weren't well aware of this planned event.

Sunday's papers will be interesting will be my guess.

Sorolla

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

The clown had no choice but to resign. Leadership? You're joking right.
I attended the funeral of a friend on Monday, maximum of 50 allowed into a huge church. Yet 81 elitist gob****es felt they were above the rules they imposed on the wider public.
Hilarious to see the craven supporters come out from the undergrowth.

But there was a divider partition at the function - I believe nobody really did anything wrong in a legal sense

I think the decisive action by the minister in resigning even though he did nothing wrong will lead to a swelling of support for FF

This witch hunt has to stop

elperello

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

No more than anyone else. Have you broken a restriction yourself?

Your line of argument is getting into "we all partied" territory.

Before you ask I have broken no restrictions since this thing started. Often at great personal inconvenience and some expense.

Plumbthedepths

Doctor Jimbob wrote: »

Can anyone saying Calleary attended the event in good faith explain what this actually means? It's meaningless guff.

Another thing, anyone saying that other people break the restrictions are completely missing the point. These people are well compensated to be public representatives. It's not unreasonable to hold them to a higher standard than the average person, particularly when the issue at hand is restrictions they themselves put in place.

It's clear what some posters are engaging in. They seek to justify what happened on Wednesday by trying to imply everyone else is doing the same. It's blatant BS, best to let them off and ignore.

Yurt2

Sorolla wrote: »

But there was a divider partition at the function - I believe nobody really did anything wrong in a legal sense

I think the decisive action by the minister in resigning even though he did nothing wrong will lead to a swelling of support for FF

This witch hunt has to stop

What a mad interpretation of the public mood...

TCDStudent1

Sorolla wrote: »

But there was a divider partition at the function - I believe nobody really did anything wrong in a legal sense

I think the decisive action by the minister in resigning even though he did nothing wrong will lead to a swelling of support for FF

This witch hunt has to stop

That was removed for speeches! I'd say a good few weddings would have gone ahead if they thought they could do that.



Lot of people called into Mid West Radio yesterday morning absolutely fuming with Calleary over it. Not great when your own constituents are angered about it.