General Irish politics discussion thread

You think there's mood music being played here, Francie?

At least we know who the leader is.

It won't add one vote to FF, and it will turn the stomachs of anyone who was thinking of giving them a vote again.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

Take Donegal for example. Splitting into two 3-seaters could see SF take 4 out of 6 with a small increase on 2020. Pringle could lose out but his transfers elect the second SF candidate. On the other hand, a small decrease could see them take only 2 out of 6.

All around the country you could see similar issues. Dublin West going to a 5-seater could see O'Gorman keep his seat and the last seat be a dogfight between FG and SF with the result dependent on which part of the constituency the extra voters come from. Small possibility of someone else sneaking in.

There's an awful lot of totally outdated rubbish in there, apparently a woman's place is still in the home and we are all obliged to worship "almighty god" whoever that is. Meanwhile vastly wealthy religious bodies invoke the constitution to protect that wealth from the consequences of their crimes, yet still have overbearing influence over taxpayer-funded education.

This could be a major scandal for SF.

For all the talk about a few hundred euros here and there not declared for Pascal, 313,000 euros unaccounted for?

We all know SF are the wealthiest party in the state and treats the island of Ireland as two separate jurisdictions to get around Irish Law. Partitionist by nature.

I can see this becoming yet another damaging story for the government and 'we didn't know' isn't going to cut it.

Write downs of this magnitude are an obscenity for ordinary people who faced the full rigour of the law if they couldn't repay.

Did you not read the article where it said that SIPO are investigating the complaints and faces an investigation into its election spending conducts?

I am glad though that the people who decry the 'power swap' are openly ok with SF being even more dishonest when it comes to party finances. "Do as I say, not as I do"

I take it you wont vote for SF if these matters are not clarified Francie ;)

Article is behind a paywall.

What I can see is that it says 'SF 'faces' an investigation.

Have SIPO confirmed that an investigation is underway? Can you quote them please?

Even if it involved policies of writing off 9 million euro's?

Not buying that one and I don't think most people, who face the full rigours if they don't repay, would either.

So who does or should have oversight if this is as 'dodgy as f*'?

My view would be those who have a 56% stake in the operation and who will ultimately foot the bill for this.

How do you know that?

there is more information required here.

AIB have been called before the Finance Committee by a member of the government. Fact.

That to me smacks of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

They want oversight after the fact. Would it not be in the taxpayers interest for them to have oversight before the event or established policy on these things?

Reactive again instead of being proactive...no bother of course putting strategies in place for other costs to the taxpayer where a certain cohort lose out.

Last word on this.

If this was 'normal' why the hell is a government minister wanting questions asked? Why isn't your handwaving not satisfactory for the government? Quite clearly this type of write off is considered wrong by the very government administering our stake in the bank and there was no 'taxpayer protection strategy' in place.

We'll see how it pans out, but I stick by my contention that this will be damaging.

What, just like Paschal's posters would be damaging?

And just like Bertie rejoining his local FF Cumann would be damaging?

Bad news for you Francie, ordinary people know well what are important issues and what are not.

AIB will have written down Carey's debt based on what they felt they could get. If they hadn't accepted 60k, he'd have taken bankruptcy and they have got €0. I'm not saying these decisions should not be subject to scrutiny under a robust set of regulations, but if people like Doherty think AIB are going to stroll into a Dáil Committee and answer questions about dealings with a private individual, then they're dumber than they look.

They ought to know better and all.

On another day, they'd probably be on the phone day and night to a bank, fighting the case of some constituent in the same boat.

Just because Carey is well known doesn't mean its right for his bank dealings to be debated in public or in Parliament, at least insofar as they aren't already a matter of record in the Courts.

Theres a conflation here between this AIB write-down and other allegations floating about in the ether. Justice will take its course in its own good time.

But it amazes me that people like all three TDs above and more, don't seem to have learned anything from the Angela Kerins case.

Well thats just not true, AIB chased Ivan Yates out of the country by trying to make an example of him and got nothing close to what they could have if they had been willing to negotiate. They are criminally inconsistent when it comes to debt relief.