Goodbye Willie (O'Dea resigns as Minister)

Naz_st

jmayo wrote: »

No it came down to the fact he gave false evidence in a sworn affidavit to the second highest court in the land.
A court which decided not to give an injunction to a defamed politican whom o'dea had spread vicous rumours of him engaging in criminal activity.
AFAIK he did not alter the affidavit, he only admitted it was wrong.
Perhaps someone can correct me on this ?

Well, according to an excellent opinion piece in yesterday's Irish Times on this, the whole concept of "correcting an affidavit" is nonsense anyway:

Vincent Martin in the Irish Times wrote:

O’Dea claims he corrected his affidavit. This is not true. No correction was made ever to the affidavit – indeed there is no such provision in the rules governing affidavits – it can’t be done.

What the Minister did was to agree a settlement with Maurice Quinlivan which prevented any further airing of the matter before the court. The judge to whom the settlement was announced had no role whatsoever in the case other than to receive the terms of settlement. The court was not appraised of any of the background of the case or asked to comment or adjudicate on the merits of the settlement or how O’Dea conducted himself in the course of the case. To suggest otherwise is false and misleading.

dan_d

I've been listening to all this with half an ear and I've no idea what's going on.Not a clue!!! The whole thing seems so ridiculous that it's hard to know.

Firstly he lied in court. Or he lied to a court. Or he lied in a document used in court.That to me is a huge issue....and nobody seems to be taking much notice of it! He's making a complete mockery of our entire judicial system! Surely, once this was discovered (if it was true), he should have been thrown out the door on his ear, (don't let it hit you on the way out). In ANY other country, I believe he'd be jailed at the very least (correct me if I'm wrong).

Secondly...there's something about a brothel. He accused someone wrongly - I mean wtf????How dare he?? That is some accusation to go slinging around. And he seems to think he should be left alone and can't understand what the fuss is about?

I'm so incredibly sickened by every politician, left, right or centre in this country. I listened to the people of Limerick on the radio this morning saying " Limerick will get nothing now ", and "he looked after Limerick and stood up for us" and the like. That is what is wrong with Irish politics. Surely it should be that the GOVENRMENT looks after the country as a whole - not individual politicians taking care of their own. I've said it before - we're parochial. And O'Dea is a complete disgrace. He's lying and cheating and behaving as though he's doing everyone a favour by standing down. He should have been thrown out the minute this came out. He obviously can't be trusted at all and should not be allowed to remain anywhere near the Gov. It makes me so angry just to think about it.:mad:

juuge

dan_d wrote: »

I've been listening to all this with half an ear and I've no idea what's going on.Not a clue!!! The whole thing seems so ridiculous that it's hard to know.

Firstly he lied in court. Or he lied to a court. Or he lied in a document used in court.That to me is a huge issue....and nobody seems to be taking much notice of it! He's making a complete mockery of our entire judicial system! Surely, once this was discovered (if it was true), he should have been thrown out the door on his ear, (don't let it hit you on the way out). In ANY other country, I believe he'd be jailed at the very least (correct me if I'm wrong).

Secondly...there's something about a brothel. He accused someone wrongly - I mean wtf????How dare he?? That is some accusation to go slinging around. And he seems to think he should be left alone and can't understand what the fuss is about?

I'm so incredibly sickened by every politician, left, right or centre in this country. I listened to the people of Limerick on the radio this morning saying " Limerick will get nothing now ", and "he looked after Limerick and stood up for us" and the like. That is what is wrong with Irish politics. Surely it should be that the GOVENRMENT looks after the country as a whole - not individual politicians taking care of their own. I've said it before - we're parochial. And O'Dea is a complete disgrace. He's lying and cheating and behaving as though he's doing everyone a favour by standing down. He should have been thrown out the minute this came out. He obviously can't be trusted at all and should not be allowed to remain anywhere near the Gov. It makes me so angry just to think about it.:mad:

I totally agree 100% - But please, please, please maintain this level of anger during the next election campaign. We as a nation have a habit of forgetting such matters. How can people still vote for the likes of Dermot Ahern he was the guy that climbed every tree in north Dublin and still couldn’t find an ounce of evidence relating to Ray Burke's activities and for this Dermot Ahern was made minister for Justice. You couldn't write this stuff.

Liam Byrne

dan_d wrote: »

I listened to the people of Limerick on the radio this morning saying " Limerick will get nothing now ", and "he looked after Limerick and stood up for us" and the like.

Correction : You listened to some of the people of Limerick.

If I'd been on, you'd have heard what the rest of us think.

sceptre

dan_d wrote: »

II listened to the people of Limerick on the radio this morning saying " Limerick will get nothing now ", and "he looked after Limerick and stood up for us" and the like.

Your point about it not being the job of a Minister to "take care of" his constituency in his ministerial capacity has complete merit and is bang on.

Just dealing with the comments that I've no doubt that you heard from Limerick though, I'm rather unsure as to what he managed to significantly do there anyway to be honest. Willie is very good at taking care of himself votewise and people who hand out his leaflets (to the tune of 46 grand from the secretarial expenses budget, no wonder one of the recipients set up a facebook page yesterday bemoaning Willie's resignation) of but I'm not sure of the usefulness of Mightymouse for the local area with or without his defence ministry.

I'm actually a bit concerned that some friends I have who are involved in Ogra FF (for one reason or another I've had good friends in every political party except probably the PDs) and have notions of changing that party to something more worthwhile won't be able to keep their honesty and ethics if they climb / get sucked further up the chain. They're good people but the dishonesty and convenient lapses in memory seem to be nigh-on endemic towards the higher echelons of Fianna Fail from the past few years so I don't hold out too much hope. Then again, incompetence seems to be a trademark of more than one political party but there's a separate thread currently on the go about that.

FINGAL FAN

Does O'Dea ,as an ex Defence Minister retain his state car and driver?.

Biggins

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Who the f**k decided that someone who had to resign (should have been fired) because of their own actions gets paid this ?

A couple of thoughts crossed my mind...

Ok, so supposedly there is more to come (this Sunday) to this O'Dea story according to the main paper involved.
* If FF know this and have an inkling of whats to come, they would want to save face, a seat and TD?
* If they fired him - would he have gotten the same pay-off?
* If they fired him - would it have been a PR disaster (second in so many days) for them! :rolleyes:
* If they got someone else to "do the shoving" - would it have deflected away from them and intentionally given those "doing the shoving" a small PR win?
* Has FF/The Greens settled on the lesser of two evils?

Political games going on still?

freewheeler

dan_d wrote: »

I've been listening to all this with half an ear and I've no idea what's going on.Not a clue!!! The whole thing seems so ridiculous that it's hard to know.

Firstly he lied in court. Or he lied to a court. Or he lied in a document used in court.That to me is a huge issue....and nobody seems to be taking much notice of it! He's making a complete mockery of our entire judicial system! Surely, once this was discovered (if it was true), he should have been thrown out the door on his ear, (don't let it hit you on the way out). In ANY other country, I believe he'd be jailed at the very least (correct me if I'm wrong).

Secondly...there's something about a brothel. He accused someone wrongly - I mean wtf????How dare he?? That is some accusation to go slinging around. And he seems to think he should be left alone and can't understand what the fuss is about?

I'm so incredibly sickened by every politician, left, right or centre in this country. I listened to the people of Limerick on the radio this morning saying " Limerick will get nothing now ", and "he looked after Limerick and stood up for us" and the like. That is what is wrong with Irish politics. Surely it should be that the GOVENRMENT looks after the country as a whole - not individual politicians taking care of their own. I've said it before - we're parochial. And O'Dea is a complete disgrace. He's lying and cheating and behaving as though he's doing everyone a favour by standing down. He should have been thrown out the minute this came out. He obviously can't be trusted at all and should not be allowed to remain anywhere near the Gov. It makes me so angry just to think about it.:mad:

I share your anger but unfortunately its just more of the same LIES that is about the sum total of what the FF party are all about. Lets spell it out here Fianna Fail are a cancer that this country could do without. We have been putting up with this rubbish for way too long now but unfortunately there are some amongst us who for some inexplicable reason endorse the disgraceful behaviour of FF and continually vote for them..one can only hope that these people will eventually see the light and stop inflicting these frankly pathetic politicians on our nation. I for one feel that as a nation we deserve far better.

grenache

What really annoys me is that O'Dea still thinks he did nothing wrong. Listening to him today, stating that he resigned because his presence in the government would ''distract it from attending to more pressing matters'' really maddens me. No Willie, you resigned because you broke the rule of ethics and told lies in a sworn affidavit, after blatantly attempting to smear a political opponent - not exactly behaviour fitting of a government minister. He has disgraced his office, but i'm sure the folk of Limerick East will rally behind him and give him their No 1 in the not too far away general election. :rolleyes:

freewheeler

Yes it seems that O'Dea, like many others has been infected by the 'I did no wrong' disease which seems to be rampant amongst them. The concepts of responsibility and humility appear to have no place in their make-up. I (maybe stupidly) believe that members of this party were once decent human beings who actually knew right from wrong..but somehow along the way were corrupted..and now we as a nation are paying a heavy price as a result.

anymore

The funniest about the vote of confidence in O Dea is that both Ahern and Cowen refused to move him out of defence which is usually regrarded as a dumping ground for TDs that you have to appoint ot cabintet but dont want to give them anything important !

eigrod

freewheeler wrote: »

I share your anger but unfortunately its just more of the same LIES that is about the sum total of what the FF party are all about. Lets spell it out here Fianna Fail are a cancer that this country could do without. We have been putting up with this rubbish for way too long now but unfortunately there are some amongst us who for some inexplicable reason endorse the disgraceful behaviour of FF and continually vote for them..one can only hope that these people will eventually see the light and stop inflicting these frankly pathetic politicians on our nation. I for one feel that as a nation we deserve far better.

Agree with all of that. I think since Haughey got power, a culture of arrogance, corruption, favouritism for the rich (note how the builders aren't their friends any longer now that they're not rich anymore and so the Galway tent was closed too) and 'we're above the law' became endemic in the party.

Bertie Ahern was only too willing to carry it on...and Albert was no angel either. While I'm sure there are a small number of ordinary decent policians in FF, I think the fact that most of them cut their teeth during the Haughey and Ahern eras has lead them to, consciously or otherwise, fall in with the crowd.

anymore

FF knew they were invincible when an FF Taoiseach could take his girlfriend on a trip to the vatican and leave his wife at home and the good Irish Catholic bishops and Cardinals kept their mouths shut !:eek:

Biggins

anymore wrote: »

FF knew they were invincible when an FF Taoiseach could take his girlfriend on a trip to the vatican and leave his wife at home and the good Irish Catholic bishops and Cardinals kept their mouths shut !:eek:

LOL Yea, when you take a man on like that in his own house, you know the balls in your court and you can do what the hell you like with it!

Judgement Day

Just heard it all now - on RTE's This Week programme - interviews conducted with some of O'Dea's constituents about his greatest achievements for the area and I kid you not....1st constituent....long silence and then said "well he was very popular and hard working".....2nd consitituent another long silence and then this "he was a great man for attending funerals and it's very important to have a Minister come to a funeral".....both said without a trace of laughter!!! Is it any wonder that the country is bollixed and this ****er will top the poll again? :rolleyes:

The Raven.

There is an interesting article in the Indo today, giving the sequence of events:

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/downfall-of-a-minister-2072631.html

There is also another Indo article about the 'women of the night'.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/brazilian-women-ran-brothel-from-top-provos-apartment-1601979.html?start=1

I am not suggesting that the owner of the property was aware of their activities. This could happen to anyone who rents out properties.

Sir Oxman

Judgement Day wrote: »

Just heard it all now - on RTE's This Week programme - interviews conducted with some of O'Dea's constituents about his greatest achievements for the area and I kid you not....1st constituent....long silence and then said "well he was very popular and hard working".....2nd consitituent another long silence and then this "he was a great man for attending funerals and it's very important to have a Minister come to a funeral".....both said without a trace of laughter!!! Is it any wonder that the country is bollixed and this ****er will top the poll again? :rolleyes:

I'm trying to laugh but it is just so depressing.
there has to be a root and branch overhaul of how and why we elect national legislators - this is the only way to try to stop the crap from gombeens quoted by yourself.

Utter idiots.:mad::mad:

Liam Byrne

Judgement Day wrote: »

Just heard it all now - on RTE's This Week programme - interviews conducted with some of O'Dea's constituents about his greatest achievements for the area and I kid you not....1st constituent....long silence and then said "well he was very popular and hard working".....2nd consitituent another long silence and then this "he was a great man for attending funerals and it's very important to have a Minister come to a funeral".....both said without a trace of laughter!!! Is it any wonder that the country is bollixed and this ****er will top the poll again? :rolleyes:

I honestly don't know where they're unearthing these idiots from.

But I do know that I'd prefer for my city to be labelled the pathetic and objectionable term that some people applied to it previously than be labelled "Willie O'Dea supporters".

It says a lot that neither of these could think of any achievement by O'Dea.

He promised a lot, but failed dismally to deliver, most of the time even voting against what he'd promised.

paddyland

I see FG Brian Hayes on The Week In Politics tonight. He talks about the resignation of Willie O'Dea, and how Willie O'Dea spent his whole career making slurs about rival politicians.

How right he is.

However, Brian Hayes himself was reported recently as making a totally unbecoming slur on George Lee, that Lee resigned because the money wasn't good enough. That was a low, cheap, and wholly unfounded slur to make.

This is the problem with politics today. On the one hand, we have a clapped out, arrogant, corrupted, compromised and squalid Fianna Fáil party in power, playing fast and loose with ethics and responsibility. On the other hand, we have a Fine Gael party, the largest party in opposition, who are afraid to say boo, because you wouldn't have to dig far to find similarly questionable ethics. So Fianna Fáil are let get away with murder, and boy do they know it!

I liked Brian Hayes in the beginning, I thought he was the kind of new generation that would clean up politics. His remarks over the George Lee affair leave him no better than Willie O'Dea, who he criticises tonight.

Is there nobody who can leave the petty rows, rivalry and jealousy outside the door, and do the job they were elected to do, without tarnish or loss of credibility? There is nobody in either side of the Dáil right now that I find 100% credible. That alone is an appalling indictment of this country.

anymore

The Raven. wrote: »

There is an interesting article in the Indo today, giving the sequence of events:

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/downfall-of-a-minister-2072631.html

There is also another Indo article about the 'women of the night'.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/brazilian-women-ran-brothel-from-top-provos-apartment-1601979.html?start=1

I am not suggesting that the owner of the property was aware of their activities. This could happen to anyone who rents out properties.

Indeed you are right; taking a lease on an apartment and operating it as a brothel or having just on woman operate out of seems to be standard MO these days and probably accounts for the fact that there are relatively few ' street walkers' these days in comparison to the past.

fuelinjection

Liar Liar pants on fire.

Ah poor auld Willie is back to attending funerals in Limerick.
And he has lost his Goverment limo and has to sit a driving test (at his age) to get back behind the wheel again. It shows how out of touch these idiots are really. Drive ?? Me ???

Also great to see Maurice has been cleared of nasty lying smears. Plus he got some money off Willie, I am happy to say.

Seth Brundle

O'Dea: I still don't know why I had to resign

02/04/2010 - 13:44:49
Former Cabinet Minister Willie O'Dea has said he is still trying to figure out why he had to resign as Minister for Defence. Deputy O'Dea stepped down from Cabinet in Feburary over comments he made about a Sinn Féin local election candidate. In resigning he said that to continue in office would only serve to distract from the work of Government. The Limerick TD said people are "constantly asking him why he had to resign".

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/odea-i-still-dont-know-why-i-had-to-resign-452458.html

If he still does not know why he had to resign then maybe we are better off not having a minister who can't see the bloody obvious!

Incidentally, his personal website (www.willieodea.ie) still has him down as MoD (and the site was updated with this since his push).

Sulmac

Pot Noodle =

I wish he would just go away

moonpurple

Pot wrote:

I wish he would just go away

willie on rte yesterday
'paple ask me whii did yuu resiiiiegn'

rte presenter: Mary Drivetime
would it be because of the allegations that you committed perjury in your sworn affidavits

Willie rewriting history
'that is not true, I deny any suggestion of that..dat naaver happoned'

William, if you are online, you are a barrister - let me refresh your memory about the last page of every court motion and application through grounding affidavit
'I take oath and say that the contents of this affidavit are true..'
The Oath is a commitment to the christian bible
ergo suum vita vitae et veritas

perjurer, the bar council should expell you from the inner Bar