.........

scotchy

TV3 news now following her on Twitter:)

.

fishy fishy

lank wrote: »

Sorry, I didn't know who ye were on about, so I googled Senator Athenry and got http://www.labour.ie/lorrainehiggins/ She's from Athenry, Galway East, makes more sense. Eames is from Galway west - just checkin'??

:rolleyes:

Sponge Bob

But HOW COULD this functionary not recognise one of the supreme political talents of the modern era....he'd probably fine Churchill himself he would.

snubbleste

Is this the same senator who felt she was entitled to a seat in the general election February 2011?

Robbo

The Advertiser have been running this (without a link, naughty) on their Facebook so it should be reaching a suitably braying mob.

Also Broadsheet have it.

Some healthy linking and tagging could go a long way to producing some curious google results...

Caillte

We should track our tweets with the use of a hash tag.

How about? #freewheelin or something. Every tweet you send to her should have the same tag so we can all see what each of us are saying to her.

antoobrien

lank wrote: »

Sorry, I didn't know who ye were on about, so I googled Senator Athenry and got http://www.labour.ie/lorrainehiggins/ She's from Athenry, Galway East, makes more sense. Eames is from Galway west - just checkin'??

Oranmore people go to Athenry to get the train because it's easier than trying to get into Galway.

Caillte

Just lobbed off my first tweet to her. Do a search on twitter for #freewheelin to see it.

mikom

Caillte wrote: »

How about? #freewheelin or something. Every tweet you send to her should have the same tag so we can all see what each of us are saying to her.

#gravytrain would be better.

squonk

Maybe #healyeamesfaredodger might be better and more specific!

snubbleste

mikom wrote: »

#gravytrain would be better.

Alter-Ego

#Freewheelin seems to be catching on a bit.

mikom

Captain Darling wrote: »

Jayyssssissssssssssss, this has turned into an awful ball of sh1te............

100% true, but life is too short for this crap...

What's up?

GalwayGaillimh

Looks like the Gravytrain with biscuit wheels is sprouting wings online

Canvasser

I don't see the big deal here. Aren't politicians entitled to free travel when they are representing us in Leinster House?

who is this

It always frustrates me when people hesitate to name names on incidents they witnessed themselves. Even if everyone knows who it is (and I'll admit, I didn't know who it was until named) she should still be named and shamed.

Not naming names just tells us some politicians do xyz. That's not much good when it comes to demanding answers, or election time.

I get it, if say the TD said something to someone one-on-one. The my word against yours argument could be dangerous. But it really irks me when people hesitate to name names about a factual description of something which happened in public. Negative information isn't always libel.

Anyway, hopefully the press will pick up the story. They reported the exploding GS3 story before it was verified (and was ultimately proven false).

Then again, Samsung may be a huge multinational with enormous legal resources, but the Senator makes the law. :rolleyes:

mikom

Captain Darling wrote: »

Journos crawling all over me. I'm not fond of that, wait til they see all me fookin posts in the Thunderdome.

The story is right, but i can do with out this sh1t.

There is a social media experiment in that.

Hmmmm.....

Robbo

Canvasser wrote: »

I don't see the big deal here. Aren't politicians entitled to free travel when they are representing us in Leinster House?

I think before anyone answers this, they should do a quick check of Canvasser's previous posts.

squonk

Canvasser wrote: »

I don't see the big deal here. Aren't politicians entitled to free travel when they are representing us in Leinster House?

I don't believe so. They're entitled to travel expenses but that really shouldn't be seen as 'free travel' and also, in order to claim an expense a TD or Senator would have to have a valid travel ticket in the first place. This Senator did not. Even those legally entitled to free travel under the Free Travel Scheme must produce their pass at a ticket counter and get a ticket before getting on the train. Even in that case, waving the pass at the ticket agent on the train is not acceptable.

sharingan

board_stiff wrote: »

Will someone with a twitter account please ask her if she was fined yesterday on a train for not presenting a valid ticket?

Not implying the OP is making it up I would just like to she how/if she responds

I think its time to dust off the old election twitter accounts (just like the official politician twitter account, but 100 times funnier). The Fiddle-me-heames one was really funny

mikom

Captain Darling wrote: »

Its giving me fookin palpitations. .

Contacted you via boards PM I presume.
Are these journalists "out" on these boards or hidden?

Captain Darling

mikom wrote: »

Contacted you via boards PM I presume.
Are these journalists "out" on these boards or hidden?

Nope, they aint. I can do without that stuff. I'm not a press release type of person.

Canvasser

This thread is just a witch hunt of perfectly respectable woman and there is no evidence whatsoever. It's most likely a cock and bull story. In fact the OP has deleted his post because he is clearly unprepared to stand over the allegations. The thread should be locked and deleted and the OP given a ban.

mikom

Canvasser wrote: »

This thread is just a witch hunt of perfectly respectable woman and there is no evidence whatsoever. It's most likely a cock and bull story. In fact the OP has deleted his post because he is clearly unprepared to stand over the allegations. The thread should be locked and deleted and the OP given a ban.

You know where the report button is buck.

GalwayGaillimh

I would trust the OP before I would trust you and your kind canvasser

Robbo

Canvasser wrote: »

This thread is just a witch hunt of perfectly respectable woman and there is no evidence whatever. In fact the OP has deleted his post because he is clearly unprepared to stand over the allegations. The thread should be locked and deleted and the OP given a ban.

Thread has become a witch hunt, ergo we should turn it around and witch hunt the OP?

RoundyMooney

Robbo wrote: »

Thread has become a witch hunt, ergo we should turn it around and witch hunt the OP?

Well, that is FF logic!

Unrealistic

squonk wrote: »

I don't believe so. They're entitled to travel expenses but that really shouldn't be seen as 'free travel' and also, in order to claim an expense a TD or Senator would have to have a valid travel ticket in the first place. This Senator did not. Even those legally entitled to free travel under the Free Travel Scheme must produce their pass at a ticket counter and get a ticket before getting on the train. Even in that case, waving the pass at the ticket agent on the train is not acceptable.

There are two options available to members of the Oireachtas. They can opt to be paid for vouched expenses, in which case they have to submit documentation and they get reimbursed for their actual spend, or they can opt for the unvouched expenses programme where they got paid a fixed amount (which is lower than the cap for vouched expenses) but do not have to submit receipts. I'm open to correction but I believe that under both programmes the member of the Oireachtas gets a travel allowance for each day they attend Leinster House without needing to show any travel receipts. The senator in question has opted for the unvouched route and claimed €30k last year.

The point is that she has already been given an allowance by the state to pay her transport costs to and from Leinster House. If the story is true that she refuses to pay for train tickets then she is pocketing the money rather than using it for its intended purpose.

Ruben Remus

Captain Darling wrote: »

Nope, they aint. I can do without that stuff. I'm not a press release type of person.

I understand where you're coming from, but if you're confident about the accuracy of your account then I don't see the harm in telling reporters exactly what you saw/heard. It sounds like the Senator in question deserves some comeuppance and unless people speak out that won't happen.

Ddad

Canvasser wrote: »

This thread is just a witch hunt of perfectly respectable woman and there is no evidence whatsoever. It's most likely a cock and bull story. In fact the OP has deleted his post because he is clearly unprepared to stand over the allegations. The thread should be locked and deleted and the OP given a ban.

My, my Canvasser. Whatever happened to "we need more honesty in this country". I think the op was being honest and I'm working on the assumption the OP doesn't want the hassle that's popped up over this. What flavour of honesty would you like? I'm guessing the flavour of honesty that suits your views.

DUBACC

Canvasser wrote: »

This thread is just a witch hunt of perfectly respectable woman and there is no evidence whatsoever. It's most likely a cock and bull story. In fact the OP has deleted his post because he is clearly unprepared to stand over the allegations. The thread should be locked and deleted and the OP given a ban.

Oh look - there's another one!

eoinmadden

Another passenger has denied the story.

Look for #FDHFare on Twitter.

RoundyMooney

Captain Darling wrote: »

Nope, they aint. I can do without that stuff. I'm not a press release type of person.

You're quite entitled to tell them that you stand over the story, but don't wish to court any attention.

Your OP (which has been screenied in one or two places, as you probably know) can do the talking for you.

There were other people on board the train, and FG have already been approached with at least one media request for a comment, so they can hardly deny it.

Your work is done!

Canvasser

GalwayDotCom wrote: »

I would trust the OP before I would trust you and your kind canvasser

My kind? That's an extremely bigoted comment. All I'm asking for is some evidence. Could the OP even post a picture of his train ticket or tell us what time train this was so we could check if Healy Eames was even on it.

Caillte

eoinmadden wrote: »

Another passenger has denied the story.

Look for #FDHFare on Twitter.

That seems to be the end of it.

biko

It's the end of this thread anyway. Since this thread is in the public domain now and have got wings I won't delete it, yet.