31 thoughts on “De Thursday Papers

  1. SOQ

    Ming, now Daly and (likely) Wallace, all ridiculed for their appearances and ‘lefty’ opinions- are heading to the EU. All strong colourful characters in their own right and, quite an Irish phenomenon.

    Hopefully their success will inspire more real people to go into politics. We really do need more of those who tell it as it is, no spin just raw unvarnished truths.

    1. eoin

      FG 5 (4)
      I4C 2 (0)
      FF 2 (1)
      Greens 2 (0)
      Independents 1 (3)
      SF 1 (3)

      I mean, there is to be a recount in Ireland South, but it’s not likely SF will overturn a 327 vote lead by the Greens. There’s also the question of # placing in Ireland South to see who’ll be on the reserve bench awaiting the UK withdrawal, I’d bet it will be FG.

      So, the status quo has held for FG and FF (the 2 extra MEPS are taking the 2 extra MEP seats as we go from 11 to 13).

      The Greens have landed, they’re relevant and they’ve been forgiven.

      The Shinners are in a heap, has there been a single one on the likes of PT, Late Debate or Tonight this week?

      Well done I4C and Ming, shoestring campaigns but in the end, each of the three has got there comfortably.

      1. GiggidyGoo

        Just throwing it out there, but is the fall of SF anything to do with the leadership north and south, and the bulk of candidates being women? You know – chauvinism? Most photo shoots in relation to Brexit or the north have been the ‘Sisters are doing it for themselves’ type. Maybe the older generation see too much softening?

        1. Cian

          I was decidedly unimpressed with Lynn Boylan’s election literature. There was nothing on it. No achievements (she has been a MEP for 5 years) no goals for the next 5 years.

          Just a bland “vote me ’cause I’m not FF/FG”.

          If the others SFs had similar literature then I’m not surprised they lost their seats.

      2. eoin

        I think the only local election opinion poll put the Shinners on 16% in April, they got 9.5% (might be 9%, checking the final results now for rounding), but that’s well below the 3% margin of error. The Sunday Times opinion polls had SF nationally much higher 19-21%.

        SF has collapsed from 159 to 81 local authority seats. You could see some of that collapse with the hostile resignations by some councillors accusing the party of bullying (as far as I can see those resigning are now back in 2019 as Indies) but that can’t be all of the story.

        Not surprised Shinners are keeping their heads down until an autopsy’s been undertaken.

        1. Vanessa the Holy Face of Frilly Keane

          One straight up cause is Marylou keeping the Brexit issue for herself and not letting Liadh, Lynn or Matt get a look-in
          Holy Mary McGuinness’ savage result is down to her being very prominent from Brussels on Brexit, and being front and centre on everything from Live at 3 to the tent at the Ploughing
          ( And allowed the Irish Voter be duped about her real politics)

          The other reason for the collapse in the Shinners vote is lack of sincerely held unity around the Party itself
          The run of former Councillors onto Independent status is down to them and party HQ being soft on the best interests of the party.
          For all they’re nonsense and carry on rogue eFFers and Blueshurts still hang tight to their party roots
          Party First

          It all goes back to having solid Election Machines that don’t waiver and hold tight until that last ballot it cast
          Look at the size of Malcom Byrne’s transfer to Billie – that was no accident.

          Once again I’m aghast has just how stupid and naive Candidates are about electioneering, canvassing, getting the vote out and even how the Count is conducted.

          I remember Billie canvassing the FF Ard Fheis recently after HQ had already validated Malcolm Byrne to run in South before convention
          Vaness …. Where there’s delegates there’s votes girl

    2. Mickey Twopints

      “It is for the nation to return an effective answer by organised non-co-operation and change ridicule into respect. Ridicule is like repression. Both give place to respect when they fail to produce the intended effect.”

      – Gandhi

  2. SOQ

    OCR (optical character recognition) can read a hand written bank lodgement slip with near 100% accuracy and yet, all of these recounts have to be done by hand?

    1. Mickey Twopints

      Imagine for a moment that Our Dear Leader wanted to float the idea of introducing technology to the electoral mechanism. Think about the ensuing contract process, the likely bidding process, and the inevitable winner of the contract.

      Still want to go there?

    1. The Great Wall of Gammon

      Forevermore that idiot will be immortalized as a goat shrieking as it falls off a swing. Brilliant.

  3. eoin

    There’s to be an “inquiry” led by a senior barrister of Maria Bailey’s swing compo claim. I wonder what the inquiry will achieve that a 15-minute convo between Leo and Maria won’t have revealed? Did she plead the 5th with Leo, much like she did with Sean O’Rourke? Sassy.

    And what about the FG culture minister and principal at Madigan solicitors which is representing Maria in the compo claim. According to the Herald “Josepha Madigan has refused to say whether she provided legal advice to Ms Bailey in the lead-up to her decision to issue a personal injuries claim as a result of a fall from a swing.” Surely, Josepha would be keen to clear herself of the speculation that she’s been advising Maria on a dodgy compo claim, apparently not.

    Maria was never going to be expelled. FF is already down to 48 TDs with Frances in Europe and is looking very precarious.

    1. Cian

      There are a number of by-elections coming up. FG are well placed to take some of them.

    2. Spaghetti Hoop

      Expected that she stood aside, on suspension, while this inquiry takes place, no? They’re very good at drawing up Oireachtas codes of ethics and standards but pretty dismal at following them.

    3. Otis Blue

      The charge of “reputational damage” to the Party opens up an interesting precedent and most likely, a can of worms.

      FG won’t want to go there.

  4. Ron

    Straight from the Fine Gael playbook. An internal investigation to kick the can down the road on the Bailey saga. I’d imagine Leo cares little about Bailey but he needs her vote so anyone that had hopes of the FG party expelling her, lol. Did you really think that was going to happen?

    There will be a new scandal along shortly and the Irish electorate will forget about Bailey and get angry for a week or two with the new scandal until that scandal gets kicked down the road and the new scandal comes along.

    Meanwhile when the time is right the internal review will be published and it will exonerate Maria Bailey. It will say she was misguided but ultimately did nothing wrong and all will be good again. Remember the broadband review where they got the Process Auditor at the centre of the controversy to be the one to write the report to say all is good. That ACTUALLY happened and you all sat back and accepted it. lol

    The exoneration of Maria Bailey will be a carefully crafted wordsmith excercise. Remember like they did with Frances Fitzgerald on Maurice Mc Cabe. They used the term ‘exonerated’ like it had come straight from the Justice Charletons mouth himself. Meanwhile spectators stood by with their jaw dropped watching and thinking: No way, no way could any electorate be that dumb to fall for all that. But they did and they were that dumb and they voted in their thousands to send Fitzgerald to Europe’s Sugar Candy Mountain.

    Meanwhile, Leo’s in his office tweeting about the increases for FG in the locals and patting himself on the back. A great day at the office is the tweet he sent out lol.

    I’m not describing an episode of Faulty Towers or Yes Prime Minister. As unbelievable as all is, that’s the reality of what the Irish people are happy with.

    Then to top it all of. Leo Dad must be sitting at home wondering did he ever really know his son at all. The real Leo.

    From an interview by Miriam Lord in the Irish Times Sat, Jun 10, 2017. An interview with Ashok and Miriam Varadkar; parents of Leo Varadkar just after the FG party elected him Leader.

    Have they any advice for their son, who will become taoiseach on Wednesday?

    “He never asked for it and we never give it. He’s a big boy,” smiles Miriam.

    There’s just one thing. “I want him to look after the most vulnerable . . . to work for those who need help. He shouldn’t forget about those people,” says Ashok, pointing out that his son’s views have “matured” over the years. “I can see that he’s changed so much that he’s thinking about people, those who don’t have that much.

    “If I have had any political influence on him over the years, that’s the only one thing.”

    1. Jonner

      there are more government official’s insurance claims stories coming. cases haven’t been to court yet

      Probably the main reason some people are staying quiet on Bailey

      1. Ron

        The devil looks after his own. I’m not looking for politicians on the same gravy train to start calling out one of their own. However, I would have expected an electorate to be so outraged by what happened that they would take action themselves, maybe with their vote.

        The hypocrisy of the lazy Irish electorate. Left cheek of their arse is outraged by them on social media but then they vote for them with the right cheek. As the Dubs who voted for Fitzgerald would call them; Saps!

  5. eoin

    Ireland’s #5 richest person Dermot Desmond, his Latvian bank reports quarterly results today

    https://www.rietumu.lv/documents/english/reports/2019-Q1.pdf

    The bank has lost 60% of its deposits since the Latvian authorities clamped down on money laundering (only once the Latvians were threatened by the US Treasury). No word in the accounts about the €80 million fine from French authorities for tax and money laundering offences, there’s an appeal by Rietumu but no word about the progress of that.

    At least the bank has produced accounts. Dermot’s Datalex is still suspended from the stock market because of accounting irregularities and a failure to produce accounts, 85% collapse in share price and now bailed out by Dermot with an expensive loan.

    Dermot is exiting INM which is mired in investigations, including an investigation of a claim it was run in the interests of its two biggest shareholders (Denis O’Brien and ….. Dermot Desmond).

    At least some things are going Dermot’s way. He’s got planning permission to construct a 1,500 sq metre mansion on Shrewsbury Road, but oh no! what is this? There’s to be a lengthy court hearing in July at the High Court about the ownership of the property which is tied up in a bankruptcy battle.

  6. eoin

    The Irish Times reports about our financially responsible, morally upstanding FG lawmakers and their plans to tackle high insurance costs. You can hear the sound of the brush sweeping Maria Bailey’s compo claims (plural) under a nearby rug.

    “Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan has said the insurance industry is “profiteering” and demanded that it be “upfront and transparent” about significant premium increases seen by consumers. Mr Flanagan told The Irish Times he expects the industry to “play its part” in insurance reform, and called on it to “give certain guarantees” that costs to consumers will come down in the wake of proposed legislative reforms. The reforms are designed to help tackle the high cost of settlements, and the Minister said they will be introduced later this year.”

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