Katherine Zappone Envoy Gig

It was Philip Ryan and not Blue Hugh.

The narrative has unfortunately been stomped on by people in the media and politics who are against it for simplistic populist reasons. As i mentioned above 150 of the 200 million is to go directly on infrastructure that would have been invested in anyway this just makes it a priority in the next 3 years instead of 10. Also the projected benefit to the local economy was at the high ranges 500 mil+

Anyway it looks like the Americas Cup Committee want us to reconsider as the day we announced we werent going forward with the bid they out of nowhere extended the bid window so hopefully people see sense.

"Sting Operation." 😂

• - "I was on the radio talking about KZ"

That journalist mustn't be the sharpest tool in the box. All they had to do was ring the radio station or check out their website and see if they had an online playback section or listings.

You're missing the point blanch- Im not concluding that Harris was the leaker- it is Varadkar and FG themselves who concluded it back when this was all reported by several political journalists in August. Im just relaying what the journalists reported on who was outed within FG as the leaker. Varadkar sent o'Donovan to set up a trap which Harris fell into and then later dragged Harris in for questioning and accused him of being the leaker.

I agree with you that just becasue Harris was caught in the sting by o'Donovan doesnt necessarily mean he was also the leaker of the Zappone information. But Varadkar held his kangaroo court on the matter and thats the conclusion he has drawn as to who it was and thats what the media reported about. Im sure he had more evidence than what we know about, theres 15 people around that table and if someone at it is furiously texting away during the Cabinet meeting it is not as if other people arent going to notice it.

At the end of the day someone in that Cabinet leaked, if you disagree with Varadkars conclusion that it was Harris which led to him directly accusing him then who in Cabinet do you think it was? The Zappone info didnt fall from the sky onto a journalists lap, its been widely reported that not only was it leaked from Cabinet but even worse it was leaked in real time while the meeting was still ongoing. The leaker was so giddy with the information that they couldnt even wait for the meeting to finish before contacting a journalist. Its also of note that Harris was so giddy with the o'Donovan disinformation that he immediately rang a journalist and o'Donovan got a phone call about it just minutes after being off the phone with Harris. Theres certainly a pattern there and both Harris' contacts to journalists were trying to cause damage using the Zappone affair so Harris had a vested interest in this story for sure, he wanted journalists to know about it and to be publishing stories on it.

Just another point on the sting operation led by Patrick o'Donovan on Simon Harris - about two or three days before this was all reported in the media Simon Harris tweeted out a photograph of himself and o'Donovan at some local event in Harris' constituency in Wicklow. So as part of the sting operation o'Donovan travelled to Wicklow to sell the lie to Harris that he was right behind him on his disgust at how Coveney went about trying to shoehorn Zappone into the UN on the last day of Cabinet before they broke up for summer.

o'Donovan roped Harris into making him think he was his mate and they were both on the same page and that o'Donovan could be trusted. I can just imagine Varadkars glee at seeing Harris tweeting out a photo of him shaking the hand of his Brutus who was only there to stab him in the back. So when the next Cabinet re-shuffle comes around nobody should be surprised when Harris gets demoted and o'Donovan gets made a senior Minister, Patrick passed the test showed that he is willing to get his hands dirty in order to climb up the political ladder.

Simon won't do anything as he knows he is guilty as sin. Thats two FG ministers that we now of that have leaked over the past few years.

It is truly the gift that keeps on giving. The Shinners can't believe their luck. Must be a day for them to buy lottery tickets

Interesting, wasn't aware of that 👍

I don’t have much time for politicians of any hue and colour as I’ve said often here and this entire episode has done nothing to make me change my mind.

This had everything, cronyism, corruption, jobs for boys, lies, cover ups, protect the status quo at all costs, I’m alright Jack and keep our jobs at all costs.

I’m totally disgusted as a result of this episode where FF, FG, Labour and Independents all voted to protect themselves at all costs rather than protect what is truth and what is right. It’s sad to think that a party I have never voted for are now the only party that can hold their heads high.

Shame on all of them.

Not all surprising, he won't touch this bait with a barge pole , it's FG's mess 😏

MM Stating "let's get real here" has become his go to quote . In fairness I don't blame him passing this shambles back to FG.

I haven't heard, Has Simon Harris dealt with that little complaint yet 🤔, 3 days in and still a cloud of suspicion simmering over that character of his. I was reminded of Leo's other little Travails earlier, threats of all sorts of actions and consequences about an article published that wasn't to his liking, those action's never occurred either.

I've a feeling a number of FG TD'S relieved their former hapless Leader put his foot in it, on the MDH story today, made an epic ejit of himself, a Genuine nothing burger story that acted as a distraction for the day 😏

I suspect Harris will go off on planned paternity leave ( Alan Kelly of all people, pairing for him whilst leave) & we'll hear no more from Simon on the matter , that doesn't mean it's gone away 🤭😏

It's quite amazing, whilst can understand The pretend Taoiseach not wanting to investigate, you'd think he might at least ask a number of journalists about the 3 FG TD's that The Sting Master Junior minister was boasting about exactly. The Indo in particular know who these TDs are, I'd be pretty sure an order of Silence in the FG ranks has been issued from FG HQ