Willie O'Dea accused by Sunday Tribune

Mad_Max

And he'll keep his ministerial pension I assume?

Why would he even want to continue. Just resign, sit back and do nothing but collect the money.

Why the hell can't laws be brought in to take pensions and money off these sleeze bags

Liam Byrne

Mad_Max wrote: »

And he'll keep his ministerial pension I assume?

Why would he even want to continue. Just resign, sit back and do nothing but collect the money.

Why the hell can't laws be brought in to take pensions and money off these sleeze bags

Because the ones who make the laws are the ones benefitting.

They're more interested in implementing laws that ruin us - like NAMA and bank bailouts - instead of ones that we want and need implemented.

amacachi

thebaldsoprano wrote: »

Well, because these guys determine things like how much tax I pay, what my college fees are going to be for next year and things like that. I really don't see what relevance entertainment has to do with it tbh.

Not entertainment, but why spend your time following something when you know the result?
What I was saying was that I don't like the implication that because I can't be arsed following something that already had its ending written means I wouldn't notice there was a general election happening. They're two completely different things.

thebaldsoprano

amacachi wrote: »

Not entertainment, but why spend your time following something when you know the result?

Because the devil is in the details

I gave that sellout Gormley a first preference in the last election, and I won't be making that mistake again. Yes, it could be argued that this situation came up and what was going to happen in the end was obvious, but it's the individual politicians' reactions to it that are interesting.

hmmm

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Er.....in a word, no.

You think not? He'll be seen to have resigned for slandering a shinner and being brought down by the D4 Green set in Dublin. He'll walk in with two quotas next time, dragging in a running mate. And I say this as someone who's never voted for him.

This will cost FG a second seat in Limerick.

amacachi

thebaldsoprano wrote: »

Because the devil is in the details

I gave that sellout Gormley a first preference in the last election, and I won't be making that mistake again. Yes, it could be argued that this situation came up and what was going to happen in the end was obvious, but it's the individual politicians' reactions to it that are interesting.

Fair enough, though if you hadn't learned enough about him already... :pac:

Liam Byrne

hmmm wrote: »

You think not? He'll be seen to have resigned for slandering a shinner and being brought down by the D4 Green set in Dublin. He'll walk in with two quotas next time, dragging in a running mate. And I say this as someone who's never voted for him.

This will cost FG a second seat in Limerick.

Well, I obviously can't speak for everyone in Limerick (and I wouldn't have voted for him in the last 3 elections) but all I'm saying is that he's by no means a hero in the circles I frequent.

He'll have some die-hards who ignore what he doesn't do and will praise him for showing up to funerals or buying a round, but that's all.

Unfortunately that might well be enough to get him elected again

So now we have 3 disgraced and untenable high-profile FFers : Ahern, O'Donoghue and now O'Dea, and 3 incompetent ones : Lenihan, Cowen & Coughlan.

And yet they're all still in Government and "have the full support of FF".

Where's my one-way plane ticket ?

thebman

amacachi wrote: »

I resent that tbh, I always follow elections and have voted every time I've been entitled to, and I've had no interest in this story. Would you watch a film full of boring to listen to and boring to look at people who are in no way entertaining when you knew exactly what the plot was before it started? That's this story for me.

Well your here aren't you in a thread about the topic so you care at least a little interest or accidentally clicked the link and read the thread then posted.

amacachi

thebman wrote: »

Well your here aren't you in a thread about the topic so you care at least a little interest or accidentally clicked the link and read the thread then posted.

A little interest and because it was on the front page, not a great interest while was the criterion you set in your post.

thebaldsoprano

hmmm wrote: »

This will cost FG a second seat in Limerick.

Well, it might gain them a couple somewhere else. I never thought I'd say this, but fair play to Enda. He went in for the kill despite the pantomime yesterday and got the result.

That's one less FF minister who thinks he can operate above the law to worry about.

thebman

amacachi wrote: »

A little interest and because it was on the front page, not a great interest while was the criterion you set in your post.

Well I said most of the people that don't have a great interest in this story which would imply people with little interest.

hmmm wrote: »

Go over to the After Hours forum and find the thread where people are debating this issue furiously. There must be a 100 pages of debate already.

Oh wait, there is none. No-one gives a damn about this story outside of this forum and the opposition would be stupid to believe otherwise.

The real story of substance today was the Ryanair press release which detailed their dealings with Coughlans department on the maintenance facility since mid 2009. That substantive issue has been lost in this WO'D piece of political theatre.

There is a thread in after hours about this. Ryanair is another issue.

If Irish people don't feel standards in office are important then its no wonder we have so many suspected dodgy dealings and lies occurring from people representing us in office.

nesf

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Well, I obviously can't speak for everyone in Limerick (and I wouldn't have voted for him in the last 3 elections) but all I'm saying is that he's by no means a hero in the circles I frequent.

Dude, you're one of the most consistent anti-FF people on this site, of course the circles you frequent won't consider O'Dea a hero!

walshb

Just in case anyone is confused, O'Dea was the Minister For Defence for the Ireland, not the Minister for Defence for Limerick, just in case we get the whole, "he was great for Limerick, we voted him in" bollox....

deanh

91011 wrote: »

Is this correct



Now, from my own knowledge of Independent Newpapers and their many many trials and settlements - they certainly skew the truth on may occasions and ignore it on many more.

.

No you are not correct. Isn't little Willie O' Dea a columnist for the 'Sunday Independent'?

Liam Byrne

nesf wrote: »

Dude, you're one of the most consistent anti-FF people on this site, of course the circles you frequent won't consider O'Dea a hero!

What is that supposed to mean ?

Are you trying to claim that there are meetings in pubs of people who are disgusted with FF actions and policies and corruption, and that we don't socialise with FF-ers ?

Now, if you had said that I have no interest in parties and simply avoid hanging around with people who condone corruption, then you might have had a point.

Oh......I see what you mean......they do kinda overlap, don't they ?

But I'd prefer to view it as anti-corruption, incompetence, self-interest and bull****. It's not a blinkered and uninformed "anti-FF" a la civil war bull****, or because of membership of another party.

I mean, if FF changed their ways in the morning, they'd be like SF......in the wings for a decade or two until we could determine if they'd genuinely changed, and if so* they'd be back in the running.

* Doubtful at this stage due to their track record since Haughey, but miracles do happen!

nesf

Liam Byrne wrote: »

What is that supposed to mean ?

Are you trying to claim that there are meetings in pubs of people who are disgusted with FF actions and policies and corruption, and that we don't socialise with FF-ers ?

Now, if you had said that I have no interest in parties and simply avoid hanging around with people who condone corruption, then you might have had a point.

Oh......I see what you mean......they do kinda overlap, don't they ?

But I'd prefer to view it as anti-corruption, incompetence, self-interest and bull****. It's not a blinkered and uninformed "anti-FF" a la civil war bull****, or because of membership of another party.

I mean, if FF changed their ways in the morning, they'd be like SF......in the wings for a decade or two until we could determine if they'd genuinely changed, and if so* they'd be back in the running.

* Doubtful at this stage due to their track record since Haughey, but miracles do happen!

I mean it like this. In my circles, Eamon Gilmore isn't particularly liked. I just don't hang around with people who like him as a leader. There's nothing deliberate in it, it's just the way it is. That doesn't mean that he isn't the best liked leader of a political party in the country though.

Chris Doherty

Did O'Dea lie or not,
He did make a false statement that has been proven, but was there any truth is what he said on the radio regarding the knocking shop.?

What is the differnce between a Sworn Statement, and lying under oath in a court (perjury) Is Fine Gale splitting hairs with the possibility of two different offences.
If O'Dea lied should we really care, with over 400000 out of work, a brain drain with our youth leaving the country, 1 in 3 men under 25 unemployed. Should we address these issues first? or are standards in public office more important. If O'Dea is the only issue facing the country then he should have gone, but who is running the county, Cowan or the Greens,?

Still wait until the next election O'Dea will top the poll as usual and get more votes than all the Fine Gale runners.

thebman

Chris Doherty wrote: »

Did O'Dea lie or not,
He did make a flase statement that has been proven, but was there any truth is what he said on the radio regarding the knocking shop.?

What is the differnece between a Sworn Statement, and lying under oath in a court (perjury) Is Fine Gale splitting hairs with the posibility of two different offences.
If O'Dea lied should we really care, with over 400000 out of work, a brain drain with our youth leaving the country, 1 in 3 men under 25 unemployed. Should we address these issues first? or are standards in public office more important. If O'Dea is the only issue facing the country then he should have gone, but who is running the county, Cowan or the Greens,?

Still wait until the next election O'Dea will top the poll as usual and get more votes than all the Fine Gale runners.

If O'Dea did lie its for the courts to decide, it shouldn't stop the government governing the country properly nor should it be decided in the dail TBH. Shouldn't even be discussed there anymore, he's gone. Only reason for it to be discussed is if they decide to bring in legislation so they can't get removed from their positions if they commit perjury or if they want to fix it so politician resigning disgraced should not receive payoffs for doing so (not bloody likely).

thebaldsoprano

Chris Doherty wrote: »

If O'Dea lied should we really care, with over 400000 out of work, a brain drain with our youth leaving the country, 1 in 3 men under 25 unemployed.

No, we shouldn't care, we should just bury our head in the sand and let FF continue with their policies that caused this mess while they protect their clique...

InReality

If O'Dea lied should we really care, with over 400000 out of work, a brain drain with our youth leaving the country, 1 in 3 men under 25 unemployed. Should we address these issues first? or are standards in public office more important

I'd make a stab at doing them all. As Obama said a president needs to be able to do more than 1 thing at a time.
Low standards in public office are normally a bad thing for encourging inward investments.
And this links to perceptions of Ireland abroad ..
Which turned out to matter quite a lot when your looking at getting money and credit from EU agencies and global markets.

RexMundi

InReality wrote: »

I'd make a stab at doing them all. As Obama said a president needs to be able to do more than 1 thing at a time.
Low standards in public office are normally a bad thing for encourging inward investments.
And this links to perceptions of Ireland abroad ..
Which turned out to matter quite a lot when your looking at getting money and credit from EU agencies and global markets.

+1

At the moment the country needs leadership. Liars are not good leaders.

Liam Byrne

Chris Doherty wrote: »

Did O'Dea lie or not,
He did make a false statement that has been proven, but was there any truth is what he said on the radio regarding the knocking shop.?

That's irrelevant.

He said it, he then claimed that he didn't (to a court) and was found out.

Whether or not there's any truth in it - or indeed, the fact that it was a Sinn Fein member involved, which appears to be put forward as a mitigating factor by some - is irrelevant to the fact that O'Dea lied to a court.

All that said, it's generally accepted that (a) the councillor had nothing to do with the brothel (it was his brother that owned the premises, not the him) and (b) the brother didn't know either.

Considering the high horse that FF get onto even when there is something stupid/dodgy going on and an individual comments on it, it's ridiculous that they're defending O'Dea on this matter.

Ahern = "you can't say anything, there's no proof; that's disgraceful; we must follow due process and he's innocent until proven guilty"

O'Donoghue = "he didn't do anything illegal; a 'decent man' hounded out of office"

An FF minister makes a snide comment about Quinlivan in order to gain a political advantage in the run-up to an election, however, and they defend, support and show confidence in him. :rolleyes:

Pathetic double-standards.

Biggins

It was mentioned on the radio today that some time ago a person lied to a court (he refused to give testimony and went back on previous already given statements) and he lied under sworn testimony to a court, having purged himself thus was sentenced to a year in an jail.
Then along comes O'Dea and does exactly the same type of action alone...!

What did he get? The majority of the Dail (remember, including ALL the Greens and ALL the independents too) standing up in a Dail motion, a state vote and support him.
One rule for us and one rule for the privileged rest!

We either believe that we should all be equally held accountable under the eyes of the law or some think its ok to bend the law.
Noting he didn't stand down as a TD - AND he continues still as one (with €100,000 yearly approx wages), Mr O'Dea will receive a "golden parachute" payment of almost €100,000 in compensation for just losing his cabinet post.
Yet another lovely "payoff" - please note!

This is a man that if a tape hadn't eventually (by a journalist) been produced to orally show he had lied, would have maintained his lies and allowed a court sentence to stand upon not even shaky ground but possibly a non-existent one.

..and he still is a serving public representative??? I find that alone staggering.
What message is being sent to the public right now and the youth of today, the voters of tomorrow!
Its disgusting.

Liam Byrne

Biggins wrote: »

What did he get? The majority of the Dail (remember, including ALL the Greens and ALL the independents too) standing up in a Dail motion, a state vote and support him.

Not to mention a €100,000 payoff for landing himself and the whole Government in the ****!

Biggins

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Not to mention a €100,000 payoff for landing himself and the whole Government in the ****!

Aye, he was caught twisting the truth, he gets a break of a workload, gets to sit back more in the Dail and gets €100,000 into his pocket/account.
What a great job!

...what the hell does it take to get the Green to pull the plug?
They really have sold their soul to the Devil - or Devils, Fianna Fail!

dixiefly

On the RTE news this evening O'Dea basically blamed his having to resign on the Greens and essentially said that he wouldnt have had to go if they hadnt insisted.

Shows how far removed from reality these guys are.

Also Michael Martin on Prime Time last night came across as v arrogant. I was also startled by the way he was saying that they will always counter a no confidence motion with a confidence one - it seems to be totally unrelated to whether people actually have confidence or not.
As Joan burton said - it stinks.

Seth Brundle

thebman wrote: »

If O'Dea did lie its for the courts to decide, it shouldn't stop the government governing the country properly nor should it be decided in the dail TBH.

In fairness, its the gardai who will decide if it even goes to court!

Liam Byrne

thebman wrote: »

If O'Dea did lie its for the courts to decide, it shouldn't stop the government governing the country properly nor should it be decided in the dail TBH.

They gave up doing that years ago!

thebman wrote: »

Shouldn't even be discussed there anymore, he's gone.

Gone ??? Last time I looked he was still there as a TD !!!!

thebman wrote: »

Only reason for it to be discussed is if they decide to bring in legislation so they can't get removed from their positions if they commit perjury or if they want to fix it so politician resigning disgraced should not receive payoffs for doing so (not bloody likely).

They'd first have to be able to recognise when someone was resigning in disgrace!

Of course, in any real job this would be a firing, not a resignation.

Dave_The_Sheep

From http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0225/breaking52.html:

Former minister for defence Wille O'Dea has claimed he has been a victim of a campaign by certain elements of the media to "blacken" his name.

Mr O’Dea resigned last Thursday amid controversy over an affidavit submitted to the High Court in April last year in which he “categorically and emphatically” denied claiming in an interview with a Limerick journalist that Sinn Féin councillor Maurice Quinlivan had a connection with a brothel.

In December, Mr O’Dea withdrew his denial of having made the statement about Mr Quinlivan and agreed to pay the Sinn Féin councillor damages plus his legal costs.

In an interview with the Limerick Post newspaper, published today, Mr O'Dea said elements in the media did not like him and the episode had taken a terrible toll on his family.

"Elements of the media don’t like me ... I did become disillusioned that the criticism became so savage. It’s like they want to blacken your character and still keep kicking you - it’s extraordinary," he was quoted as saying.

“In the scale of things, there were worse things I could have done - but I did pass on gossip that I had not checked out properly," he added.

"But I think the punishment is a bit harsh - I’ve paid out big money, lost my job, my name has been rubbished in some elements of the media and the toll on my wife and family is terrible. My mother is 85 and I know how hard this is for her."

When asked if he would consider a career outside politics, the Limerick TD said he has already been offered senior positions with two companies.

“Yes, that’s possible and since resigning as Minister for Defence, I’ve already had an offer of two directorships", he said, adding that his relationship with Taoiseach Brian Cowen remained strong. “I’m still friendly with Brian - he had no other course, but I know he was not happy about me having to resign."

The former minister said he was "heartened and encouraged" by the level of support he has received from the people of Limerick.

"Yes, I can take pride in that and always, rather than mixing with the rich and powerful I’ve preferred to fraternise with the poor and those who need help. I’ve been heartened and encouraged by the huge amount of support I’ve received from the people of Limerick - I’ve been inundated with text messages, phone calls etc, telling me they want me to recover from this ordeal and go forward”.

It baffles me, this kinda thing. He really doesn't see what he did wrong at all... and still thinks that he should get back in with his mates in FF and Government.

And bringing his mother into it? Are there no depths he won't go to do try and get some sort of sympathy?

Jesus wept. I know I shouldn't be surprised with this shower, but ...

Liam Byrne

Did he SERIOUSLY claim that he "lost his job" ????

What a f**king idiot!

He HAS a job and he HAS a €100,000 payoff!

Talk about giving the two fingers to the public!

Willie - the people in DELL "lost their jobs", and that wasn't through their own doing.

You were asked to "resign" from part of your job (instead of being fired from the whole job, as would happen any normal person) in disgrace, because of your own stupidity.

Live with it.