Shane Ross-Why is he the only one asking Questions.

AlekSmart

Yet again Senator Shane Ross asking direct questions of "Important People",only to be ignored.....why is no other Politician representing the Public Interest in a manner perhaps different to Mssrs Collier and Dukes ?


http://www.independent.ie/opinion/co...s-2236694.html

It`s all very odd ?

Laminations

I heard about this 'bonus' issue over the weekend. How can he justify getting a bonus? Well it appears he doesn't feel he has to justify it. I'm amazed it hasn't received more media attention. Collier and Dukes have now both refused to answer questions put to them at Dail committees, how are they allowed away with this?

Unsurprisingly

Declan escaped probing challenges about the white elephant because the Fianna Fail TDs used their slots on the committee to lob soft local queries to the banker-cum semi-state boss.

These guys are the reason the general public sector workers are resistant to cuts in pay. Bonuses for failure

mysons

The reason Shane Ross is asking the questions is because he is not corrupt.
If what he writes was on the front page of the Indo the public would stand up and take notice of what he has to say.

maynooth_rules

mysons wrote: »

The reason Shane Ross is asking the questions is because he is not corrupt.
If what he writes was on the front page of the Indo the public would stand up and take notice of what he has to say.

Instead we get Brendan O'Connor on the front of the Sindo every week:rolleyes:

RATM

you're right OP, it is sad that only Shane Ross and a few others are asking questions about the insider culture that still exists between semi-states, the banks and their boards.

Nijmegen

A good article, and great points.

Ross is an example of where the Senate can do some good - independant thinkers can have a go. The issue is that it is gerrymandered by the government of the day.

As for committees, they ought to be able to take people under oath, as in the United States. Anyone refusing to answer a question of the legislative body of this state should be held in contempt.

As for the DAA, the brand change hardly changed anything from past performance...?

jmayo

As anyone who bothers to watch the Dail committees can atest, Ross is one of the only ones capable and willing to question the banking czars.
He asks hard questions, he demands answers and then if he doesn't get them he uses his column inches to expose them for what they are.

He is head and shoulders above spanners like michael aherne who should not be allowed grace a discussion on pig slurry, never mind chair a Dáil commitee now of such importance.


His interview with outgoing AIB ceo sleeveen regarding both the Nevis fund and the treatment of whistleblower Eugene McErlean will show this inaction.

The response from dukes when questioned by Ross the week before last was insulting both to Ross, the parliament of this state and the taxpayers of this state.

My estimation of dukes as a man of character and upstanding principles totally changed that day.
He is just another bought monkey to be wheeled out at the behest of the organ grinders in Merrion St.

AlekSmart

The response from dukes when questioned by Ross the week before last was insulting both to Ross, the parliament of this state and the taxpayers of this state.

My estimation of dukes as a man of character and upstanding principles totally changed that day.
He is just another bought monkey to be wheeled out at the behest of the organ grinders in Merrion St.

Spot-On Jmayo, I have been quite surprised at the number of people who expressed this after seeing the video.

It is a Tour de Force in arrogance,for it`s own sake.

I wonder if Mr Dukes or his Anglo PR people realize the depth of resentment being expressed by ordinary folk who get the opportunity to view the appearance.

I believe in decades to come Mr Dukes performance may yet become a textbook example of just how fast and complete the spread of corruption really was in this republic.

A truly deplorable performance from a former Senior Member of the Oireachtas.

But,for Alan Dukes along came a white-knight to provide a bit of deflective cover....none other than Declan Collier and the DAA crew who were equally as dismissive of democratic principles when Senator Ross posed a few interesting and highly relevant questions.

It was once said of Gay Byrne,that as a broadcaster he had an inate sense of asking the questions the man-in-the-street would ask.

With Gay Byrnes retirement,it`s comforting to see the principle carried forward in Seanad Eireann.

A tSeanadoir Shane Ross abú....as they might say out beyant Bray

Sand

I wouldnt be surprised if Dukes isnt simply cashing in. Lets face it, he did the "be the better man, think of the country" with the Tallaght agreement and he got shafted. Who can blame him for thinking "**** it, Im just going to get everything I can get".

Reminds me of Lucullus: An honest and forthright Roman senator so disillusioned by the corruption of his rivals in the Roman Senate that he determined to outdo them in immorality and shameful public excess.

As for Shane Ross - he ought to be in the Dail leading this country, not sitting in a pointless sideshow like the Seanad. The fact hes unelectable in this country because he doesnt attend enough GAA games and funerals is our own punishment.

imme

Shane Ross is asking questions to enable his other job and create copy for his (so-called) Sindo column.

Do he ask tough questions of the people who enabled Dukes, i.e. Cowen and Lenihan

jmayo

AlekSmart wrote: »

Spot-On Jmayo, I have been quite surprised at the number of people who expressed this after seeing the video.

It is a Tour de Force in arrogance,for it`s own sake.

I wonder if Mr Dukes or his Anglo PR people realize the depth of resentment being expressed by ordinary folk who get the opportunity to view the appearance.

I believe in decades to come Mr Dukes performance may yet become a textbook example of just how fast and complete the spread of corruption really was in this republic.

A truly deplorable performance from a former Senior Member of the Oireachtas.

But,for Alan Dukes along came a white-knight to provide a bit of deflective cover....none other than Declan Collier and the DAA crew who were equally as dismissive of democratic principles when Senator Ross posed a few interesting and highly relevant questions.

It was once said of Gay Byrne,that as a broadcaster he had an inate sense of asking the questions the man-in-the-street would ask.

With Gay Byrnes retirement,it`s comforting to see the principle carried forward in Seanad Eireann.

A tSeanadoir Shane Ross abú....as they might say out beyant Bray

That Committee hearing got even worse when Ross departed as they interviewed Peter Matthews.

His claim that Anglo were in worse condition than let on by the Anglo representatives was greeted with "it's always good to get alternative views and could you put some of them down on paper for us" by committee chairman ff's micheal aherne.

imme wrote: »

Shane Ross is asking questions to enable his other job and create copy for his (so-called) Sindo column.

Do he ask tough questions of the people who enabled Dukes, i.e. Cowen and Lenihan

BS.
He has always been skeptical of the ff shower of incompetents.
He has highlighted issues in the dirty deals done down in DDDA where there was major ff involvement.
cowen and lenihan make sure they don't come into contact with him since they would be embarassed.

He led the crusade against the west link toll bridge, against a private company that I am sure had clout to contact Ross's employer.
He also rocked the boat at Smurfitt AGMs where he questioned the way the company was run and how board members, stacked by the banks, never did anything about it.

He helped keep Ethna Tinney on the board of EBS which probably has saved the taxpayers of this state billions as the morons, ala ted mcgovern, that tried to shaft her were of the michael fingelton school of doing business.

So next time try and look some of the history of what the guy does before you buy into the sh**e that everyone in the Indo/SINDO is a spanner or ff connected like jody corcoran, brendan o'connor, eoghan harris, john drennan and fionnan sheehan.
It is a long list alright. :rolleyes:

Saying that the only ones worth reading in the that paper are Ross and Kerrigan and boy are they different in believes.

imme

jmayo wrote: »

BS.
(1) He has always been skeptical of the ff shower of incompetents.
He has highlighted issues in the dirty deals done down in DDDA where there was major ff involvement. (2)
cowen and lenihan make sure they don't come into contact with him since they would be embarassed. (3)

He led the crusade against the west link toll bridge, against a private company that I am sure had clout to contact Ross's employer. (4)
He also rocked the boat at Smurfitt AGMs where he questioned the way the company was run and how board members, stacked by the banks, never did anything about it. (5)

He helped keep Ethna Tinney on the board of EBS which probably has saved the taxpayers of this state billions as the morons, ala ted mcgovern, that tried to shaft her were of the michael fingelton school of doing business. (6)

So next time try and look some of the history of what the guy does before you buy into the sh**e that everyone in the Indo/SINDO is a spanner or ff connected like jody corcoran, brendan o'connor, eoghan harris, john drennan and fionnan sheehan.
It is a long list alright. :rolleyes:

Saying that the only ones worth reading in the that paper are Ross and Kerrigan and boy are they different in believes.

Yeah it must make for a small section of the Sindo you can read if you only read Ross and Kerrigan, hardly worth buying the rag.

(1) skeptical, should reporters not seek to be impartial. Anyway Ross is political as he`s double-jobbing as a Senator as well. Hardly speaks well for the value of the Seanad if Ross is off editing the Sindo Business Section, although I shouldn`t think it takes much time to edit the Business Section of the Sindo anyway.

(2) Congrats newspaper man Shane Ross.

(3) So they`re afraid of Ross, great!

(4) Did he have any objections to it being put in place back in the `90`s or was it just when people started to complain about tail-backs etc that be became interested? Oh yeah NTR ring up Sir Tony and say will you call off Shane Ross:D. A crusade indeed.

(5) Smurfit, yeah, he was upset at the number of bankers, alright, how did this benefit the small investor???
Did Ross question anything other than the number of bankers/remuneration of the board. Did he raise any possible environmental concerns???
I think this was self-interest as a shareholder, fodder for newspaper, **** stirring on Ross`behalf.

(6) Ah, Good old Ethna, I don`t know the woman so have nothing good or bad to say about Ethna. All I do know is that Ethna was a director of EBS when some of the more questionable loans were lent, where was Ethna the watchdog then eh?

Anyway, Ethna was and again is a non-executive director, so can do very very very very little. Oh, a real coup for Ross eh?

PeterIanStaker

mysons wrote: »

If what he writes was on the front page of the Indo the public would stand up and take notice of what he has to say.

If he were on the front page of the Spindo, it would be a party political broadcast for FF, so it would hardly be worth our attention.

Pot Noodle =

PeterIanStaker wrote: »

If he were on the front page of the Spindo, it would be a party political broadcast for FF, so it would hardly be worth our attention.

I thought he was an Independent

PeterIanStaker

Pot wrote:

I thought he was an Independent

So's Harris - at least on paper anyway, but a paid jester for FF nonetheless.

I would say Ross is like Gene Kerrigan (the "token liberal" ha ha) , i.e. paid to decieve the people that are dumb enough to buy the Sunday Pravdapendent into thinking that there is some form of debate being conducted.

AlekSmart

I would say Ross is like Gene Kerrigan (the "token liberal" ha ha) , i.e. paid to decieve the people that are dumb enough to buy the Sunday Pravdapendent into thinking that there is some form of debate being conducted.

Oddly enough,I see two quite different roles for the good Senator here.

I believe he is one of the very few (perhaps a half-dozen) Senators who actually understands the remit of the Upper House and whose lines of questioning,as a result,reflect that.

However,ignoring the fact that we are supposedly a modern forward looking democracy,it would appear that,for many, the greatest problem Senator Ross has is his accent.

All I can say is that he has very publicly and in a calm collected manner,asked some questions which I as a member of the General Public regard as important and deserving of an answer.

The response Senator Ross recieved from Mr Dukes was,again in my opinion,totally unsatisfactory as it relates to the activities of an entity in reciept of vast amounts of our money.

Mr Dukes was waaaay out of order in his dismissive refusal to answer and if nothing else his ignorance should bring-forward attempts to legally compel the likes of him to answer such questions.

Surely this single Senator cannot be the ONLY individual in the Oireachtas with the ability and interest to ask the questions ???

donkey balls

AlekSmart wrote: »

Oddly enough,I see two quite different roles for the good Senator here.

I believe he is one of the very few (perhaps a half-dozen) Senators who actually understands the remit of the Upper House and whose lines of questioning,as a result,reflect that.

However,ignoring the fact that we are supposedly a modern forward looking democracy,it would appear that,for many, the greatest problem Senator Ross has is his accent.

All I can say is that he has very publicly and in a calm collected manner,asked some questions which I as a member of the General Public regard as important and deserving of an answer.

The response Senator Ross recieved from Mr Dukes was,again in my opinion,totally unsatisfactory as it relates to the activities of an entity in reciept of vast amounts of our money.

Mr Dukes was waaaay out of order in his dismissive refusal to answer and if nothing else his ignorance should bring-forward attempts to legally compel the likes of him to answer such questions.

Surely this single Senator cannot be the ONLY individual in the Oireachtas with the ability and interest to ask the questions ???[/QUOTE]

alex i reckon he is the only one in the senate&dail with the ability to ask the tough questions, lets face it your not going get some moran that was given a seat in the senate by their party to rock the boat:rolleyes:

AlekSmart

lets face it your not going get some moran that was given a seat in the senate by their party to rock the boat

Hmmmmm....yea it`s no wonder so many of the regular elected representatives want the Senate abolished under the guise of "Parliamentary Reform".

PeterIanStaker

AlekSmart wrote: »

Surely this single Senator cannot be the ONLY individual in the Oireachtas with the ability and interest to ask the questions ???

I sincerely doubt he actually has what you or I would refer to as a "conscience" or that he's some kind of lone crusader for justice, some thorn in the side of the establishment.

Its spin of one kind or another, and I'm sure large amounts of cash are involved. If he deviates from the usual Sindo fluff he is allowed do so on the grounds that it sells copy.

AlekSmart

I`ts spin of one kind or another, and I'm sure large amounts of cash are involved. If he deviates from the usual Sindo fluff he is allowed do so on the grounds that it sells copy.

Perhaps true,but also perhaps evidence of what has now become our national trait...cynicism in extremis.

From my own personal contacts with Senator Ross,predating his elevation to the upper-house,I found him to be an open and interested listener who only offered his opinions on what he could understand.

What impressed me most,and continues to do so,is his ability to isolate some quite pertinent elements which the "Institutions" tend to bury deep within other supporting documentation.

I don`t have to "like" a public representative,but I do have to trust them and in this case I find Senator Ross to be far more worthy than most of his fellow Oireachtas mambers.

PeterIanStaker

And why do we have to "trust" public representatives?

It wouldnt be going too far to say that in most people's eyes, the fact they are public representatives renders them instantly untrustworthy.

AlekSmart

And why do we have to "trust" public representatives?

We don`t have to trust anybody,but in a democratic process such as we have it is helpful if we actually do have some regard for the individual whom we are putting our 1,2,3 etc beside.

The alternative is to simply do a spot-the-ball on it and stick pins beside the list of names.

If our general beliefs in the principles of the democratic process has passed this point-of-trust then perhaps it`s time to embrace a return to some form of harsher centralized rule ?

It wouldnt be going too far to say that in most people's eyes, the fact they are public representatives renders them instantly untrustworthy.

Extrapolating from the above I would suggest that the root of the problem may well be the inherent untrustworthy nature of the very public these people represent..?

PeterIanStaker

AlekSmart wrote: »

We don`t have to trust anybody,but in a democratic process such as we have it is helpful if we actually do have some regard for the individual whom we are putting our 1,2,3 etc beside.

The alternative is to simply do a spot-the-ball on it and stick pins beside the list of names.

If our general beliefs in the principles of the democratic process has passed this point-of-trust then perhaps it`s time to embrace a return to some form of harsher centralized rule ?



Extrapolating from the above I would suggest that the root of the problem may well be the inherent untrustworthy nature of the very public these people represent..?

• The way things are now, with a quarter of a million people out of work, isnt it a wonder people (such as myself) are cynical and distrustful and think of every word that issues from a politician's mouth as a lie?
• As for "harsher centralized rule", it would mean overhauling the current parish pump system, which wont happen.
• I dont think the public are by nature untrustworthy, its that the wrong people get into power for the wrong reasons, and that will be a long time in changing, if it ever does.