Paschal Donohoe expenses controversy

Did PD personally award him those contracts? Is there evidence he lobbied in MS’s favour? I’m not defending PD, I’m asking reasonable questions. I haven’t seen any coverage of how MS directly benefited from PD’s influence or help, and I just keep thinking- posters? What a **** bribe. Why would PD risk his career for posters?

Let me see, of my four TDs since the last election, I haven't met Leo, but I have met Paul Donnelly on seven occasions, Jack Chambers twice, and Roderic O'Gorman on around twenty. I have also met councillors from Labour, Fianna Fail, FG and the Greens on numerous occasions as well as the local Senator Emer Currie on three occasions.

All meetings were one-to-one or in groups of less than five.

If you were involved in a project that has given huge assistance to the local community, you would expect the local TDs would want to be involved too.

I'm involved in a project in Kildare and have had meetings with 2 TD's and a senator at least 4 times in the past 12 months. One is an independent and one of from a gov party. The senator is from FF. The sf td did not want to be involved in the project and sent a generic reply when we sent details to her.

Everyone involved is giving their time free and no expenses are being paid and we hope to finish it within 18 months and the main aim of meeting the td's is to try and get funding (some was received) but also to point us in the direction of people who could provide extra funding / free services.

If the reason for the meeting is good enough, you will find it quite easy

Paschal is not my local td, and like yourself I'd never vote for FG. I can honestly say I'd cut my hand off before I'd ever allow it to put a mark beside an FG TD on a ballot paper.

I agree with you, it all seems completely blown out of proportion and in no way does it seem credible that that if a TD was going to accept a bribe that the best they could come out with for themselves is a couple of lads to hang a few posters. It's ludicrous if you ask me. Also, like you, anyone I've spoken to about it, and that would range people across various different party supporters, can't seem to get the outrage either. It seems to be only online on forums like this and on twitter that the outrage is and maybe that tells it's own story.

Paschal, to me, comes across as one of the more competent and capable FG TD's and seems to be regarded this way in Europe as well. It really would be a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face trying to force him to resign. By the looks of the last few weeks of stories about TD's, we'd have no-one left in government if they were all to be forced to resign over trivial things like this.

Would it not make more sense to do something like investigate the exact figures involved, force any td who breached the rules to pay some sort of a fine relative to the amounts undisclosed, and punish the parties by reducing their allowance in the next election by some sort of a multiple of the current undisclosed figures and move on from this rubbish?

It was appalling what happened to Barry Cowen . The excuse he had someone in his car makes sense. I knew there was something he did not want to disclose.

Oh for god’s sake, now RTÉ have as their main headline, a story about Sinn Féin failing to pay €600 for a hotel room.

I don’t like SF either, and I also don’t care about this! It’s getting farcical at this stage. Talk about a slow news day. 🙄

We're talking over 2 elections here. And if we are talking about 5k being at the upper end of the scale, I'd expect this to be right up there and likely higher. Hiring six guys over multiple days and a van is going to be at that end of the scale.

Maybe PD should make another statement clarifying just how much work was done?

How many days were these guys hired for, how much were they paid per hour or shift. He has to be able to give an accurate figure right?

If people are buying the line of it's just a few posters I think that's an awful pity.

It's not.

It's posters, raffle tickets, dodgy stories to cover up, undeclared rental interests, that 'ol FFG mucker Frank Flannery lobbying on behalf of foreign property investors, and I've no doubt plenty more beside.

I'll most likely reluctantly vote SF next time round. If there only a 0.1% chance of them turning things around, especially in relation to housing, that's more than this lot.

FFG have made it clear what interests they favor, and even with all the spin and lack of accountability, it's pretty clear why.

sinn fein says the non payment and no declaration of the venue hire was an "oversight"

But as this is a sinn fein "oversight" its all ok.

George Orwell's Animal Farm comes to mind "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"

This issue will have no effect on my vote at the next election. I won't vote FG because they are ideologically opposed to public housing and I certainly won't vote for SF (certainly until Mary Lou apologises for the Provos and admits they were wrong). That still leaves me in a quandry - FF are likely to join SF in a coalition, Labour are just pursuing trendy liberal issues under Bacik, the Soc Dems had an opportunity to join a coalition and funked it and my Green TD is hopeless. It'll be a case of starting at the bottom and picking the least worst.

Paul Murphy was skewered on Morning Ireland this morning for making statements such as that and implying that the very fact Stone is a businessman made him murky.

That sh*t needs to stop. Being in business and supporting a political party are freedoms we are all entitled to under the Constitution of this State. Having it impugned as a way of life by commie scroungers and layabouts is not good enough.

Maybe you haven't read my previous posts but I have audit all the parties. I don't like any of them so I have no problem with all of them being hauled over the coals and everything being exposed.

I know that doesn't some peoples arguments on here because they like to label people a "sinner" if they criticise their mates in government. Like I said I don't like any of them, they are all self serving, greedy parasites. They care nothing for the country or the people of the country but only for themselves their party and their donors.