We Are Stuck With The Stroke

Sponge Bob

Stroke Fahy was reelected in Galway , topping the poll in Ardrahan despite being convicted (again) last December of fraud .

A Mayo blogger has had the decency to point out that there are no standards in public office in Ireland as compared to the UK where the government is tottering because of fraud .

http://ballyhaunis.blogs.ie/2009/06/08/convicted-fraudster-elected-in-galway/

The following anomaly was noted by the blogger .

It is strange that he was allowed to stand for election - because according to the rules the following are disqualified from becoming members of a local authority:
“People who have been convicted of fraud or dishonest dealings, corrupt practice”

Summary of Legal Position from Citizens Information

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/government-in-ireland/elections-and-referenda/local-elections/nomination_of_candidates_in_local_authority_elections

"Certain people are disqualified from becoming members of a local authority: People who have been convicted of fraud or dishonest dealings, corrupt practice or acting while disqualified. "

And that includes Michael "Stroke "Fahy , twice , most recently in December 2008 . Surely he should be disqualified ???

The specific exclusion , drawn up by Noel Dempsey in 2001 , is in section 13(m) of the Local Government Act 2001

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2001/en/act/pub/0037/sec0013.html

13.—(1) Subject to subsection (2), a person is disqualified from being elected or co-opted to, or from being a member of a local authority if he or she—is convicted of, or has had a conviction confirmed on appeal for, an offence relating to any of the following:

(i) fraudulent or dishonest dealings affecting a local authority;

(ii) corrupt practice;

(iii) acting when disqualified.


(2) (c) A disqualification arising under subsection (1)(m) commences—

(i) where no appeal is taken against the conviction, when the time limit for taking an appeal has passed, or

(ii) where an appeal is taken against the conviction and the appeal is disallowed, one month from the determination of the appeal,

and the disqualification shall be for 5 years from the date of conviction or determination of the appeal, as the case may be.

The excuse is that he has appealed the fraud conviction or is within the time period when he may still appeal it , and there is the anomaly .

Being convicted is not enough , the conviction must be confirmed on appeal before the likes of the Stroke are disqualified .

The really messy bit is 'the will of the people' . He was elected after being convicted . What takes precedence then , statute law or the wishes of the sheep in Ardrahan ??

nuac

Different strokes for different folks

In his case the people have spoken.

ronaneire

Not much respect for the law then? What if he loses his appeal, Will he step down?

IronMan

He was elected in the Loughrea electoral area. An area which registered a very strong anti-government vote, 4 candidates ran for FG, and all were elected from a seat total of 7.
The FF vote hit 18%, which is disastrous in the heartland of a traditional 2FF, 2FG constituency.
The "Stroke" ran under an independent FF banner, and topped the poll. From speaking to people there, there was a lot of sympathy for his “plight”, his corruption charge was minor compared to the Burke/Lawlor types, yet he gets jail. He is also the very essence of parish pump politics, the stroke will get the pothole in front of the church filled in.

jmayo

IronMan wrote: »

He was elected in the Loughrea electoral area. An area which registered a very strong anti-government vote, 4 candidates ran for FG, and all were elected from a seat total of 7.
The FF vote hit 18%, which is disastrous in the heartland of a traditional 2FF, 2FG constituency.
The "Stroke" ran under an independent FF banner, and topped the poll. From speaking to people there, there was a lot of sympathy for his “plight”, his corruption charge was minor compared to the Burke/Lawlor types, yet he gets jail. He is also the very essence of parish pump politics, the stroke will get the pothole in front of the church filled in.

Oh FFS, is this what Collins, Boland, Pearse gave their lives for :mad:
Just because it is minor in comparison to some of the criminals that served in the dáil doesn't excuse it.
He stole from the Co Council and was such an upstanding individual he tried to frame a council employee.

If I was a rate payer in Galway I would refuse to pay my rates, whilst this excuse for a public representative served on the council and thus collected an expense cheque.

No wonder we are fu**ed and the laughing stock of Europe.
Ah but sure we aren't as bad as the Italians will be sung on here in a minute :rolleyes:

meglome

Probably the evil jackeens out to get him, like Michael Lowry - another 'honest' poll topper. I can't even get my head around how you could vote for Fahy when he's been convicted of fraud.

Akrasia

IronMan wrote: »

He was elected in the Loughrea electoral area. An area which registered a very strong anti-government vote, 4 candidates ran for FG, and all were elected from a seat total of 7.
The FF vote hit 18%, which is disastrous in the heartland of a traditional 2FF, 2FG constituency.
The "Stroke" ran under an independent FF banner, and topped the poll. From speaking to people there, there was a lot of sympathy for his “plight”, his corruption charge was minor compared to the Burke/Lawlor types, yet he gets jail. He is also the very essence of parish pump politics, the stroke will get the pothole in front of the church filled in.

but on a local authority, that is actually what their job is.....

(although it's also likely he'll get the planning permissions and rezonings sorted for 'loyal voters' which is probably the real reason he got elected)

bijapos

Potholes? A myth that the councillors have anything to do with it. Always ring up the county engineers office myself, far more effective. Cut out the middle man.

Around here they do all that pothole ****e but the local school is a filthy kip, wouldnt put a sick lamb into it for the day let alone kids.

Its their job to do this kind of thing and not be arseing around cutting weeds and filling potholes and more nonsense.

Mr.Micro

So the Stroke is back to pull a few more? Voting in the likes of a convicted fraudster to public office is unbelievable ( but true ) a stroke too far, and the Stroke himself having the unashamed gall to stand for office. I hope that if his conviction is upheld he is forced to relinquish his seat.

briktop

why are you suprised ? we are a nation of morons .

Zuiderzee

If his appeal fails, will he need to stand down?
Surely if he is finally convicted, then the rules should apply
If he gets sent down, then the area has no representation?

lmtduffy

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Stroke Fahy was reelected in Galway , topping the poll in Ardrahan despite being convicted (again) last December of fraud .

A Mayo blogger has had the decency to point out that there are no standards in public office in Ireland as compared to the UK where the government is tottering because of fraud .

http://ballyhaunis.blogs.ie/2009/06/08/convicted-fraudster-elected-in-galway/

The following anomaly was noted by the blogger .



Summary of Legal Position from Citizens Information

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/government-in-ireland/elections-and-referenda/local-elections/nomination_of_candidates_in_local_authority_elections

"Certain people are disqualified from becoming members of a local authority: People who have been convicted of fraud or dishonest dealings, corrupt practice or acting while disqualified. "

And that includes Michael "Stroke "Fahy , twice , most recently in December 2008 . Surely he should be disqualified ???

The specific exclusion , drawn up by Noel Dempsey in 2001 , is in section 13(m) of the Local Government Act 2001

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2001/en/act/pub/0037/sec0013.html




The excuse is that he has appealed the fraud conviction or is within the time period when he may still appeal it , and there is the anomaly .

Being convicted is not enough , the conviction must be confirmed on appeal before the likes of the Stroke are disqualified .

The really messy bit is 'the will of the people' . He was elected after being convicted . What takes precedence then , statute law or the wishes of the sheep in Ardrahan ??

send a letter to the advertiser?

big b

lmtduffy wrote: »

send a letter to the advertiser?

Yeah, that'll sort him out!

A shameless criminal elected by voters who apparently care more about getting planning permission than the integrity of their politicians.

A very poor reflection on the voters in that area. And who's to say it wouldn't have happened in many other constituencies?

Thankfully this shameful episode shouldn't be too widely reported outwith these shores.

trellheim

shock horror, democratic election, now sports.

Zuiderzee

In 2007 the Stroke was finally jailed in respect of the erection of more than a mile of fencing on his land. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison and fined €75,000

A Jury at Galway Circuit Criminal Court found him unanimously guilty on seven charges brought under the Larceny and Theft and Fraud Offences Acts arising from the erection of boundary fencing on his land under a local authority improvement scheme

At his conviction, the Judge told him that the most aggravating factor was the serious breach of trust by an elected public representative, who had set out to defraud the very body to which he

While he did not have the power to disqualify him as a councilor, the judge called on Mr Fahy to act with honour and resign his seat

Local government legislation requires any elected member who receives a jail sentence of more than six months to be replaced by somebody else

September 11 2007 he got another unanimous verdict, this time the backing of his council colleagues for his bid to hold onto his seat

Stroke won unanimous support for a motion apparently aimed at heading off any attempt to have him removed from his seat for failing to attend council meetings while in prison

Around 19 of the 30 were re-elected

A day or two before he was to report to the Gardai to commence his sentence, he was admitted to hospital with chest pains. After a minor procedure after which most people are discharged in 24 hours, he entered a respite care centre where I understand he spent at least two weeks.

After finally being incarcerated the council continued to pay Stroke even though he was in jail and could not attend meetings. This was apparently because of the appeal process.

Stroke confirmed he received the payments when contacted by the Irish Independent.

He said he would have lost his council seat if the payments, which were all legitimate and came in monthly installments, had stopped.

Fahy refused to say whether he was able to provide a service to his constituents while he was in prison. "I've no comment on that," he said.

He received a total of €21,083 in wages, expenses and allowances from the council in 2006.
He also received €20,298 in wages and conference expenses in 2007.

Stroke said the conference expenses, which totaled almost €3,700, were claimed for conferences he attended prior to his incarceration.
He said absolutely no expenses were claimed by him during his time in jail.

Of course, on his release – and at liberty on appeal he has fought and won another election, and one assumes he was paid by the council through 2008 and 2009.

He had served eight months when the Court of Criminal Appeal struck down the conviction and ordered a retrial.

Cllr Fahy has again been convicted of one charge of obtaining the benefit of €7,055 from Galway County Council by false pretences, and has been sentenced to 12 months in prison and fined €30,000 – but this, again, is pending appeal.

How much more will this man cost?

Don’t forget that the Stroke is perhaps the longest serving member of Galway CoCo, he has been in the Council since 1979. That’s 30 years.
Each outgoing councilor is entitled to something in the region of EUR3500 per year served, so to be conservative – lets say 3000 per annum severance, that’s 90K if not more.

What a Country! Feck that, What a County?

ejmaztec

Judging by the results, there's obviously still a problem with the lead levels in Galway water - very bad for the brain:eek:.

Zuiderzee

ejmaztec wrote: »

Judging by the results, there's obviously still a problem with the lead levels in Galway water - very bad for the brain:eek:.

Lets buy the stroke more water

TobyZiegler

Sickened at this. What I cant understand is why any other councilors havent challenged him running for council?

If he is found guilty in the appeal and still allowed to stay on it will be an absolute disgrace.

I'm sure like the rest of us the people of Loughrea have been giving out no end about the government and the wasting of public funds when times were good - but yet when there is someone convicted of just that in their own area he tops the poll??

P. Breathnach

Folks, before we condemn the people of Loughrea, let us cast our minds back to the last general election. We had an outgoing Taoiseach who was explaining his personal finances in a way that I and many others thought to be unconvincing.

Yet he got a huge personal endorsement from his constituents, and his party got enough support to lead the incoming government with Bertie as Taoiseach.

Zuiderzee

ronaneire wrote: »

Not much respect for the law then? What if he loses his appeal, Will he step down?

It soes not look like he did last time, and the rest of the councillors - accross the board, supported him

meglome

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Folks, before we condemn the people of Loughrea, let us cast our minds back to the last general election. We had an outgoing Taoiseach who was explaining his personal finances in a way that I and many others thought to be unconvincing.

Yet he got a huge personal endorsement from his constituents, and his party got enough support to lead the incoming government with Bertie as Taoiseach.

Some of my good friends are the people who voted for him. Sure he's a grand guy an' all that. :mad:

Funny they've changed their tune quite a bit now that they see how in the crapper we are.