Derek Keating TD and the disappearing newspapers

starviewadams

Derek Keating,a TD in West Dublin,was caught spoofing in a leaflet delivered to local residents last week about being responsible for a local school extension project, by the school's principal.

The principal wrote an open letter to Keating that was published in the local 'Lucan Gazette' newspaper outlining that Keating had absolutely nothing to do with the school's expansion.

Original article by school principal

Yesterday it emerged that Keating's parliamentary assistant,Tommy Morris, was captured on CCTV in a number of local shops removing an estimated 3,000 copies of the paper and dumping them.

Article about the CCTV images of the papers removal

A Garda investigation is now underway apparently.

What absolute clowns Keating and his assistant are for pulling this kind of stunt!

Sully

Fairly sure he claimed that while he didn't meet with the school on the issue, he did meet with the Department several times on this following requests from locals.

Also, the article doesn't say that the Gardai are investigating it (that's the headline but the article just says it was reported) and the TD said he had nothing to do with it.

grey_so_what

It's a bit like the scene from "The Full Monty" where Gerald takes all the newspapers from the Newsagent who highlighted his arrest and dumps them in the nearest bin.

What on earth was the PR Tommy Morris thinking of?

That he was going to hide a pathetic attempt of his employer to gain positive publicity??....

Stupidity is the word that comes to mind.

Sully

Happened with a college newspaper I was involved in once. Front page article was about an ongoing strike in the college. The papers disappeared as soon as they went out, by order.

I wonder how common this type of thing is?

TINA1984

Sully wrote: »

Fairly sure he claimed that while he didn't meet with the school on the issue, he did meet with the Department several times on this following requests from locals.

Also, the article doesn't say that the Gardai are investigating it (that's the headline but the article just says it was reported) and the TD said he had nothing to do with it.

Here you go pet

A Garda investigation is under way after thousands of copies of the Lucan Gazette were removed from stores last week.
The pictures above show Tommy Morris, parliamentary assistant to Fine Gael’s Derek Keating TD, who was captured on CCTV, taking substantial numbers of Lucan Gazettes from different stores during last Thursday and Friday.
The paper’s distribution staff believe that over 3,000 copies were taken across Lucan, including the Village, Ballyowen, Hillcrest, Dodsboro and Griffeen Valley....

http://www.gazettegroup.com/news/garda-inquiry-launched-after-removal-of-newspapers/

grey_so_what

TINA1984 wrote: »

Here you go pet

http://www.gazettegroup.com/news/garda-inquiry-launched-after-removal-of-newspapers/

I'm sure the Lucan Gazette are not impressed as are their advertisers!!......:eek:

Mr.Micro

starviewadams wrote: »

Derek Keating,a TD in West Dublin,was caught spoofing in a leaflet delivered to local residents last week about being responsible for a local school extension project, by the school's principal.

The principal wrote an open letter to Keating that was published in the local 'Lucan Gazette' newspaper outlining that Keating had absolutely nothing to do with the school's expansion.

Original article by school principal

Yesterday it emerged that Keating's parliamentary assistant,Tommy Morris, was captured on CCTV in a number of local shops removing an estimated 3,000 copies of the paper and dumping them.

Article about the CCTV images of the papers removal

A Garda investigation is now underway apparently.

What absolute clowns Keating and his assistant are for pulling this kind of stunt!

Talk about stroke politics, lol. Not just the domain of FF.

TINA1984

Mr.Micro wrote: »

Talk about stroke politics, lol. Not just the domain of FF.

Let's recall Keating is a former member of FG's sister parties - FF & The PD's.

Sully

TINA1984 wrote: »

Here you go pet

http://www.gazettegroup.com/news/garda-inquiry-launched-after-removal-of-newspapers/

Thanks darling, I missed out on that. Your thoughtfulness was much appreciate.

Mr.Micro

TINA1984 wrote: »

Let's recall Keating is a former member of FG's sister parties - FF & The PD's.

You mean he was FF at one time?



I see now he was FF and then PD and then FG, lol.

Stroke politics, no wonder. Its hard to kick the FF habits.

shanered

Looks like he is lighting them on Fire in the last one!:eek:

Hootanany

Nothing will come of it, but their should.

starviewadams

The assistant will probably be suspended pending the investigation,that will result in nothing when the media attention dies down in a week or two,unfortunately.

Hopefully it will cost Keating some votes in the next election though.

TINA1984

starviewadams wrote: »

The assistant will probably be suspended pending the investigation,that will result in nothing when the media attention dies down in a week or two,unfortunately.

Hopefully it will cost Keating some votes in the next election though.

I have no doubt if the assistant gets the boot, a family member of Keatings will no doubt be willing to step into the role as parliamentary assistant, as seems to be the style with FG.

Mr.Micro

starviewadams wrote: »

The assistant will probably be suspended pending the investigation,that will result in nothing when the media attention dies down in a week or two,unfortunately.

Hopefully it will cost Keating some votes in the next election though.

I wonder what party he will be standing for? He has done FF, PD's, FG so he has SF, Greens and lastly be an independent to try yet.

godtabh

Derek Keating is a neighbour of mine. He is a total snake. He has had more parties than I've had birthdays.

The running joke in Lucan was that he just wanted a pension. Total snake

tayto lover

Fianna Fail = Fine Gael it seems. I always thought so anyway.

Fred Cohen

The tax payer pays a graduate nurse €22,000 P.A. but sees fit to pay parliamentary assistants up to €52,200 P.A. and this is what they get up to?

I just hope the Gardai give this investigation as much priority as they did to the one when someone put up a picture of Brian Cowen on the jacks.

Hotblack Desiato

starviewadams wrote: »

Hopefully it will cost Keating some votes in the next election though.

I can't remember a TD in any constituency I've lived in that was so reviled.
No chance of him getting back in.

Hotblack Desiato

Mr.Micro wrote: »

I wonder what party he will be standing for? He has done FF, PD's, FG so he has SF, Greens and lastly be an independent to try yet.

Wasn't he elected as an independent councillor and then jumped in with FG? So that only leaves SF and the Greens :pac:





and Labour...

Cavehill Red

I've had dealings with Derek Keating in the past.

He'd claim credit for the moon landings, the birth of Christ and the Big Bang if he thought anyone would listen.

I don't think he'd be within an arse's roar of the Dail had it not been that he signed up for FG just before FF lost in a landslide. He has his own little coterie in Lucan, but even the local party can't stand him. Check out any photo of him and Frances Fitzgerald together and you'll see what I mean.

But getting the PA to go thieving freesheet newspapers? A new hilarious low.

Hotblack Desiato

You can't blame Keating for what may have been a solo run/brain fart on the part of the PA
But you can blame him for the calibre of people he chooses to employ - and what actions he takes now this has come to light.

Cavehill Red

In that he is denying any involvement, we must extend the benefit of doubt to Keating himself for now.
It remains to be seen whether the PA will fall on the sword or not. The Garda investigation will be interesting. After all, 22 jobs were put at risk because of this - those at the Gazette, who are reliant as a freesheet on their paper being widely distributed.
They will likely be down a lot of money now as advertisers seek their money back for ads that no one read because Keating's employee took all the papers.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Whatever copies are left out there will be far more keenly read than the average freesheet, I can guarantee you that.

raymon

Keating and his assistant should be suspended from FG immediately . If FG doesn't show it is different than gombeen FF then there is no hope.

They should never have taken in this FFer anyway.

I look forward to the results of the Garda investigation.

Hotblack Desiato

It's in today's Irish Times:

Fine Gael condemns actions of party aide
“Bizarre” attempt to get rid of bad news

The distribution staff at the Lucan Gazette say that over 3,000 copies of the paper were removed from shops in Lucan, Ballyown, Hillcrest, Dodsboro and Griffeen Valley.

:eek:

Tombo2001

Hootanany wrote: »

Nothing will come of it, but their should.

Interesting thought that......you hear it so frequently in Ireland nowadays......nothing will come of it, but their should....

Cardinal Brady
Several dozen bankers
Michael Lowry
A fat man that nobody can talk about for fear of being sued
Bertie Ahern
Derek Keating


Many more examples besides just these.

It is getting to the point of being very depressing for the ordinary Joe.......that these people can behave the way they do, with impunity. The Us and Them club.

Tombo2001

ninja900 wrote: »

It's in today's Irish Times:

Fine Gael condemns actions of party aide
“Bizarre” attempt to get rid of bad news



:eek:

"We condemn the actions of Tommy Morris in the strongest possible terms. "

So you fired him then?......eh no ......

And I love how Derek Keating himself is conducting an investigation into this.....he obviously knew absolutely nothing about this in advance.

He should be sacked. He wont be sacked.

He'll have a nice pension.

Cavehill Red

It's up to the Gardai and the lawyers of the Gazette Group now.
FG and Keating might want to pretend to be very sorry and hope this goes away, but if the police find a criminal case to be answered, or if the newspaper decides that they have incurred financial losses as a result of this, things will get very interesting.
With both of those possibilities still in the game, I'd have thought the smart thing for FG to do would be to hold a parliamentary party investigation, and not leave it to Keating.

Tombo2001

"During Budget debates in December 2012 Keating hit out at what he saw as a "Culture of Dependence" in Ireland, saying: “increased dependency on the State encourages a new lifestyle of welfare economy ... a woman will have a lone parent allowance, children’s allowance, rent subsidy, school grants, a medical card, fuel allowance and special payments from the community welfare officer which come under section 13 of the Social Welfare Act for exceptional payments”.[4]
Later in December 2012 Keating was forced to return €7,571 to the Government, the largest sum of any TD, in what were judged to be ineligible expenses after a sample audit of ministerial expenses."


From this guys wiki page.......you couldnt make it up......

Sully

Ah this story just gets better and better.

THE school principal involved in a row with Dublin TD Derek Keating has denied he has a political agenda, as gardai were called to investigate the disappearance of some 3,000 local newspapers.

The controversy – which was first reported by the Herald earlier this week – has deepened after Tomas O Dulaing, the school principal of Griffeen Valley Education Together school in Lucan, admitted he is a member of the United Left Alliance.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/school-principal-in-keating-newspapers-row-denies-political-agenda-29254279.html

Double cringe.

emo72

Sully wrote: »

Ah this story just gets better and better.



http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/school-principal-in-keating-newspapers-row-denies-political-agenda-29254279.html

Double cringe.

hello is your point that being a member of ula is a bigger crime than trying to cover up the reporting. or am i getting the wrong end of the stick?

Sully

emo72 wrote: »

hello is your point that being a member of ula is a bigger crime than trying to cover up the reporting. or am i getting the wrong end of the stick?

Not in the slightest. There is no condoning the behaviour of the TDs PA, or the TD if he did know what was going on.

Just the story isn't as clear as a principal trying to point out a TD being misleading for the sake of doing so as it now appears he was playing politics.

emo72

Sully wrote: »

Not in the slightest. There is no condoning the behaviour of the TDs PA, or the TD if he did know what was going on.

Just the story isn't as clear as a principal trying to point out a TD being misleading for the sake of doing so as it now appears he was playing politics.

yeah, i see what you mean.but i dont think that it really should come into. everyone would have some political leaning.usually it would be ff,fg,lab. his happens to ula.he is in the minority there. would it have been mentioned if he was a ff,fg member? curious.

Sully

emo72 wrote: »

yeah, i see what you mean.but i dont think that it really should come into. everyone would have some political leaning.usually it would be ff,fg,lab. his happens to ula.he is in the minority there. would it have been mentioned if he was a ff,fg member? curious.

Its not the fact he votes for the party. Its that he is a member of the party and the statement smacks of politics. If it was any other party, it would be the same. Bigger if a government party.

Chips Lovell

Did Tomas O Dulaing's piece in the paper mention he was a member of the ULA? If it didn't, he should have, because the reader may have read it in a different light if they'd known he was a member of a political party himself.

While it pales in comparison to what Keating's man did, it is still a bit of a stroke to do something like that.

Heroditas

I always believed that the reason Keating was a candidate last time around for FG was because they wanted to harvest the Palmerston vote.
As a result, they got two seats in the constituency.
I wouldn't be surprised if Lavelle was incredibly miffed at being passed over for a shot at the Dáil for Keating.
Can't see them getting two seats next time out.
Can't see Labour keeping their two either.

What a moronic thing to do but it has provided me with much entertainment and a great topic of conversation with the in-laws who know him very well and are (relative) neighbours of his.

Godge

Let me get this again.

A newspaper company distributes free newspapers. Somebody collects lots of these newspapers which are free. What crime has been committed? Why are the gardai involved?

I know people who collect a bundle of these things every time they are at the supermarket and use them as animal litter. Are they committing a crime?

The PA was very stupid but stupidity is not a crime. The principal was also stupid not to admit he was a member of the ULA, makes it look like he was hiding a political motiviation, again that is not a crime.

Nobody looking good from this.

JRant

Sully wrote: »

Not in the slightest. There is no condoning the behaviour of the TDs PA, or the TD if he did know what was going on.

Just the story isn't as clear as a principal trying to point out a TD being misleading for the sake of doing so as it now appears he was playing politics.

That's not what's happening though, well as far as i can make out.
The original article clearly states that the principal was also the chair of Alliance against Cutbacks in Education. This being the same Alliance against Cutbacks in Education set up by peoplebeforeprofit-ULA.

Cavehill Red

Godge wrote: »

Let me get this again.

A newspaper company distributes free newspapers. Somebody collects lots of these newspapers which are free. What crime has been committed? Why are the gardai involved?

The freesheet newspaper's business model is based on advertising income and advertising income is priced against distribution and readership. So if someone takes all the papers, then there is little distribution and no readers, and advertisers can claim their money back. The gardai are involved because this could be construed as an attempt to damage the Gazette's business.

Godge wrote: »

The PA was very stupid but stupidity is not a crime.

He is not being investigated for stupidity. The Gardai will decide if a crime has been committed.

Godge wrote: »

The principal was also stupid not to admit he was a member of the ULA, makes it look like he was hiding a political motiviation, again that is not a crime.

Actually, I think the opposite. I think his membership of any political party is irrelevant to the original point he made, which was that Keating claimed responsibility and credit for something he had nothing to do with achieving. 'Outing' the principal as a leftie is, to my mind, an attempt to divert attention from Keating's spoofing and his PA's outrageous activities.

Cody Pomeray

Godge wrote: »

Let me get this again.

A newspaper company distributes free newspapers. Somebody collects lots of these newspapers which are free. What crime has been committed? Why are the gardai involved?

Section 2 of the Criminal Damage Act, 1991, perhaps.

The collection of the free newspapers can be interpreted as a direct attack on the media outlet's ability to report, but more importantly, constitutes an attack on property which he had no right, or "no lawful excuse" to damage.

How could you seriously question the Gardaí's involvement here?

Godge

Cody Pomeray wrote: »

Section 2 of the Criminal Damage Act, 1991, perhaps.

The collection of the free newspapers can be interpreted as a direct attack on the media outlet's ability to report, but more importantly, constitutes an attack on property which he had no right, or "no lawful excuse" to damage.

How could you seriously question the Gardaí's involvement here?

Sorry, have read that section of the Act and I still cannot see the link to the Gardai.

The business model of the gazette is based around distributing free newspapers. There is no restriction placed at point of distribution over the number any one person can take. The intention is that the newspapers will become the property of someone else not the property of the business. That is what happened. I really do not understand the nature of the so-called crime.

If there was a sign up saying "It is an offence to take more than one free newspaper", then you could argue it is a crime, but I don't recall ever seeing one of those.

I cannot see any charge sticking on this one.

Schnitzel Muncher

TINA1984 wrote: »

Here you go pet

Is that you, mum?

emo72

well its not a crime to take free papers. of more concern is the fact that over one third of the papers weren't distributed this week, leading to an excuse for advertisers not to pay the gazette for advertising. again no crime there? but putting a business at risk. things are hard enough for private business. keating previously used this paper for his own benefit.

obviously the PA didnt want anyone to see the papers because it made his boss look bad. it now looks considerably worse because of his actions.

outcome, no laws broken, but reputation shredded. has mr keatings seat to be protected at any cost?

woodoo

Are you sure this isn't an episode of killinaskully. Unbelievably embarrassing for the both of them. I wouldn't accept his assistant decided by himself to get the papers.

mikom

A bogger version of a DDos attack.
Stay classy FG.
Your defenders still love you.

Cavehill Red

Godge wrote: »

Sorry, have read that section of the Act and I still cannot see the link to the Gardai.

Are you a public prosecutor? If not, then you needn't worry. No one will be calling on you to establish if there is a case to answer.
Seems to me there is a prima facie civil action for the Gazette to seek damages if they choose to pursue it, but no doubt they will await the conclusion of any criminal investigation first before deciding to proceed or not.

tayto lover

ninja900 wrote: »

You can't blame Keating for what may have been a solo run/brain fart on the part of the PA
But you can blame him for the calibre of people he chooses to employ - and what actions he takes now this has come to light.

You can blame him for lying and taking credit for something he had no part in.

Cody Pomeray

Godge wrote: »

Sorry, have read that section of the Act and I still cannot see the link to the Gardai.

Em, it's pretty straightforward

2.—(1) A person who without lawful excuse damages any property belonging to another, intending to damage any such property, or being reckless as to whether any such property would be damaged shall be guilty of an offence.

The owner of a property can be someone who is in possession or control of that property; there is a potential for an offence of theft and criminal damage if that property was taken without the consent of the owners of the shop from where the newspaper supply was controlled, or if the indivdiual took the items in the knowledge or belief that the person in control of that property would not have consented.

If the owners of the shops controlling the supply of these freesheets to the general public allowed the man to remove thousands of copies across the town, without him deceiving them as to his motives, then obviously there wouldn't seem to be any case there.

However, since there is public CCTV evidence in existence, it would appear that the shop owners may not have consented to the removal of these newspapers under their control.

tayto lover

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

Did Tomas O Dulaing's piece in the paper mention he was a member of the ULA? If it didn't, he should have, because the reader may have read it in a different light if they'd known he was a member of a political party himself.

While it pales in comparison to what Keating's man did, it is still a bit of a stroke to do something like that.

Ah now Vlad. You're beginning to sound like a Fianna Fail supporter rather than a Fine Gaeler. Deflecting will not make it go away.

Chips Lovell

tayto lover wrote: »

Ah now Vlad. You're beginning to sound like a Fianna Fail supporter rather than a Fine Gaeler. Deflecting will not make it go away.

Why would I want it to go away?