Minister for Justice Alan Shatter resigns.

Sparks

Just announced...

Sparks

Statement to come from the Taoiseach tomorrow.

Southern Belle

Sparks wrote: »

Statement to come from the Taoiseach tomorrow.

That should be good....

Sparks

Won't have anything to do with target shooting It's on foot of the report into Maurice McCabe apparently. But in light of the review that's currently stalled in the DoJ, it's significant enough news for us to at least mention it. I'd suggest anyone wanting to discuss Shatter's departure itself to dive over to the politics forum though:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=99

rowa

Who will replace him ? Not varadkar ?

Sparks

Nobody knows yet. It'll be announced tomorrow. He can't stay on as Minister for Defence unless it's an existing cabinet minister though, constitutional limit of 15 Ministers applies.

Sparks

Seems he's gone from Defence as well.

rowa

Kenny says he will announce shatters replacement later this evening.

Cass

He could hardly hold onto Defence having resigned from justice?

Sparks

Cass wrote: »

He could hardly hold onto Defence having resigned from justice?

You've heard the latest news from America? They're looking into the neck skin of Irish politicians as a better material for kevlar jackets...

valerossi

Well who'd of thought mick the scruffy mutt would be of some use and by help Shatter fill out his p45.
We should all celebrate by buying semi autos:)

Sparks

If anyone feels like a bet, Paddy Power are giving odds on replacements...

http://t.co/I94kQ69cuU

Sparks

valerossi wrote: »

Well who'd of thought mick the scruffy mutt would be of some use and by help Shatter fill out his p45.

(a) I doubt he was;
(b) Anyone who doesn't pay into his employee's pension fund while doubling his own corporate salary to 300 grand knowing the business was bankrupt can jump off a cliff if they're looking for approval, thanks

rowa

Sparks wrote: »

If anyone feels like a bet, Paddy Power are giving odds on replacements...

http://t.co/I94kQ69cuU

Where is charlie flanagan on that list ?

Sparks

I was very shocked, SHOCKED I TELL YOU, that Lowry and Healy-Rae were omitted from that list. ITS DISCRIMINAMANAIATIONY, that's what it is.

Sparks

rowa wrote: »

Where is charlie flanagan on that list ?

Feck, did you put a bet on? Flanagan just jumped into the favorite position there:
http://t.co/XviEDJwGaD

rowa

It could be worse, it could be john deasy.

DrumSteve

An Irish politician resigning? Never thought id see that.

kumate_champ07

who hasnt he pissed off?!

kumate_champ07

forgive me, but what has he done to the shooting community? something to do with OTT license restrictions?

German pointer

Drove an hour and a half to collect new rifle today and discovered cock up on serial number for it had a different number on license then on gun drove home really pissed off. And happy out now great news

yubabill1

Don't be surprised if you're voting in a general election on May 23rd as well as a local/EU election.

Remember, Enda and Eamon backed Shatter time and again. They put their political pelts on him.

German pointer

yubabill1 wrote: »

Don't be surprised if you're voting in a general election on May 23rd as well as a local/EU election.

Remember, Enda and Eamon backed Shatter time and again. They put their political pelts on him.

Would like it to happen but cant. You need 3 weeks notice to call an election

Sparks

DrumSteve wrote: »

An Irish politician resigning? Never thought id see that.

Oh no, it's terribly common, this is at least the eighth time it's happened... er, since the foundation of the state.

Sparks

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

forgive me, but what has he done to the shooting community? something to do with OTT license restrictions?

He wouldn't have earned the worst reputation with shooting in particular to be fair (that would fall to such luminaries as Michael McDowell and Dermot Ahern), but it's more that he never fixed obvious problems with the law we operate under and those laws have been biting particularly hard in recent years. There were also rumours of crackdowns to come but those were really just rumours.

Cass

Sparks wrote: »

There were also rumours of crackdowns to come but those were really just rumours.

And without trying to derail this thread or turn it into a sub-thread of the main one lets hope the "coalition" have the good sense to shut up, at least for now.

No commissioner, a new Minister on the way that'll have so much more to deal with than non existent proposals, a Government trying to do damage control, etc. Now is not the time to stick our heads up. It could be months even years before they get around to re-evaluating any "proposals", the made up ones and the yet to be announced ones.

fathersymes

Let's not forget he was once the president of ICABS

rugermk3

all we need is the rest of them to fallow him , sure look he`ll be ok with the big pension he`ll get for doing a bad job like the rest of them , he shouldn't get a penny of it, looking forward to them knocking on my door so I can fcuk them out of my garden , to see them all in the house bitching like little girls makes me sick, ive had dinner in the house before you should see how these lads live on the cost of the irish people , u wouldn't find a finer restaurant any where in Dublin , and to think of how many family`s there are in the country going with food, heating, soon to come water sure there are people living in cars with kids, there so far out of touch with the people of this country , its wrong and very worrying and yet they can hold there heads up high , well at least one of them is gone , enda next stuck up peace of ****

Sparks

fathersymes wrote: »

Let's not forget he was once the president of ICABS

Yeah, but so was everyone and their sister. It's not exactly a post you have to fight to get. Fight to get out of or stay clear of, maybe...

valerossi

Sparks wrote: »

(a) I doubt he was;
(b) Anyone who doesn't pay into his employee's pension fund while doubling his own corporate salary to 300 grand knowing the business was bankrupt can jump off a cliff if they're looking for approval, thanks

(A) I never once said I support the scruff bag:)

mister gullible

Hope we're not invaded while there's no minister for defence.

whydave

mister gullible wrote: »

Hope we're not invaded while there's no minister for defence.

The Germans already did and we had a full Government ! :rolleyes:
hope we get a half decent Minster !

Sparks

Frances Fitzgerald is the new Minister for Justice.

tac foley

He didn't know where he was going.

When he got there, he didn't know where he was.

And now he's gone, he didn't know where he'd been.

Yet another politician with a great future behind him.

tac, interested enough to comment.

ace86

Sparks wrote: »

Frances Fitzgerald is the new Minister for Justice.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing I wonder??

Sparks

She doesn't have any real record with regard to firearms (a few calls for greater resourcing of gardai to fight gun crime is about it) in the Oireachtas. How long she's going to be in the job given that the Government would seem to have taken a hell of a kick, that's anyone's guess I think.

"Doesn't set off any alarm bells; let's wait and see" would be my personal opinion.

Well, that and that it'll be interesting to see what happens when both Ministers for Justice, the AG and the (acting) Commissioner are all women. Might not be any bad thing at all to get the "boys club" mindset defenestrated from the highest possible window...

yubabill1

I don't see the new MoJ being in the job long enough to notice the proposals we are all concerned about- it looks like FG and Lab are going to get a drubbing on May 23rd and this should provoke leadership crises in both parties.

Labour are especially vulnerable, at 9 or 10% in various polls. A bad showing in the elections will be the end of Gilmore and that may also mean the end of the coalition, as Shatter has played a fulsome role in destabilising it in the last couple of months, taking up where Phil Hogan and James Reilly left off.....

tac foley

Just remind me what party Mr Shatter belonged to? Living up to his name seems to be the pinnacle of his achievements.

tac

yubabill1

tac foley wrote: »

Just remind me what party Mr Shatter belonged to? Living up to his name seems to be the pinnacle of his achievements.

tac

He belongs to Fine Gael (FG), as does his successor, Frances Fitzgerald.

FG and Labour are in a coalition government, with a very large majority. A majority which (in my opinion) was won by both parties promising that they would more-or-less repudiate the huge debt burden forced upon Ireland by the EU to rescue our banks, for fear Irish bank collapses would spark same in other countries (where some banks were just as insolvent as ours).

Sparks

...well, that and that nobody wanted Fianna Fail to run anything after they'd run us into the ground, and the Greens... well, enough said really. So FG/Labour was pretty much the only other available choice.

What happens this time round... feck, I don't know. Anyone with a working memory and the ability to read pretty much has a huge number of reasons not to vote for any of the top five parties and you can't make a government up from independents very easily.

yubabill1

Sparks wrote: »

...well, that and that nobody wanted Fianna Fail to run anything after they'd run us into the ground, and the Greens... well, enough said really. So FG/Labour was pretty much the only other available choice.

What happens this time round... feck, I don't know. Anyone with a working memory and the ability to read pretty much has a huge number of reasons not to vote for any of the top five parties and you can't make a government up from independents very easily.

+1 on all the above.

Personally, I see the local elections returning ABFF/FG/Lab, as people want to protest that they are not fools and also that they have only been swallowing the guff from politicians they voted for, because their guff is less obnoxious than some other politician's.

In the last general election, I think people really invested in the hope that FG and Labour were peddling.

Also, I think the government will get a drumming because people don't take the local elections as seriously as general elections.

If you don't vote, you really can't give out.

Sparks

The thing is, when you look at who ABFF/FG/Lab/GP actually are, it's a scary sight. This is only a local election, but what if you voted that way for a general election? Can you see a Lowry, a Wallace or a Healy-Rae as Taoiseach?

yubabill1

Sorry, Sparks - of course I see your logic and I'm sure a lot of people are thinking along the same lines - but I'm going to restrict myself to commenting on what I think I see. Safer.

Everyone will have to come to their own conclusions on this one and IMHO we will likely face a general election sooner rather than later. THAT will be some headache, whenever it comes, alright.

mightywarrior

“The shooting on Monday happened in broad day light on a busy road putting the local community at risk. Gun crime and gangland activity are serious issues that can have disasterous effects on innocent by-standards. Local residents I have spoken to are shocked and upset at this incident, they fear escalation. Any escalation of violence is a real problem but when guns are involved that problem is even more serious and shows that we need a tough approach to guns and to gangland activity,” said Frances Fitzgerald.


From reading this things dont look good. Another one of those, "lets take guns off nice people because the bad guys won't have either then"

tac foley

Edit - '...we need a tough approach to gangland activity,” said Frances Fitzgerald.'

Fixed it.

tac

Sparks

Except that when commenting about the Wayne Doherty shooting, when everyone wanted gun legislation, she said in the Oireachtas:

Gangland crime has serious implications for the country and we must provide more resources for gardaí at local level and enact strong legislation in this area.

In other words, go after the gangs and give the gardai the manhours needed to do so. As opposed to banning pistols...

Grizzly 45

mister gullible wrote: »

Hope we're not invaded while there's no minister for defence.

Dont worry on that account .Our dear , glorious and fearless leader Enda is now minister of defence..:rolleyes:Do we surrender right away to any three lads walking into the Dail with a new flag catapult,a spud gun and a 2x4 with a rusty nail in it ???:rolleyes:

meathstevie

In fairness to the Minister, her take on hit the criminals hard and resource the Gardai to bloody well do the job is the only right attitude. No amount of restricting law abiding gun ownership is going to take away one single violent criminal from society.

wexfordman2

Sparks wrote: »

The thing is, when you look at who ABFF/FG/Lab/GP actually are, it's a scary sight. This is only a local election, but what if you voted that way for a general election? Can you see a Lowry, a Wallace or a Healy-Rae as Taoiseach?

Well hopefully none of them,but to be honest, if in a ge the main political parties were devestated I think it would be I my s positive thing.

It might be chaos, but Jesus its the only thing that will make them sit up and listen.the cartel has to be broken. We night have to break the country a bit more to fix it.

ace86

Sparks wrote: »

Except that when commenting about the Wayne Doherty shooting, when everyone wanted gun legislation, she said in the Oireachtas:
In other words, go after the gangs and give the gardai the manhours needed to do so. As opposed to banning pistols...

Well i for one would be in all favour of her if she made a commitment and really as a Minister did exactly what she said instead of hounding the ordinary five 8's but what will the gardai do or how will they react to her new ideas and methods of policing would be the question.

Chiparus

Interesting she wants to restore public confidence in the Guards, given that we have been subject to repeated instances where procedures have not seen to have been followed, indeed where evidence was tampered with, will she make these practices a thing of the past?

I doubt it.