Paul Murphy on The Late Late last night

Tony EH

Trying to pretend that Denis O'Brien doesn't have a huge state in Irish Water and has used his various media organs to portray a single angle on the anti Irish Water protests is silly.



It isn't "hatred". It's calling it as it is.

Kermit.de.frog

conorh91 wrote: »

I have a problem with this characterisation of him tbh. A man who builds over 100 schools in a developing country is unlikely to sell his Grandmother, or put her in a river.

He probably contributes more to charity in Ireland and abroad than does the entire user-base of this website.

That hatred for him is difficult to understand.

Yeah I don't understand that either. I reckon there is good bit of begrudgery in there as well.

Basically anyone who has money seems to be the target.

conorh91

Yurt! wrote: »

I don't hate him, I admire his acumen in many respects and yes he does a lot of good in charity contexts. But you don't get to be a billionaire without being ruthless.

Sorry, I didn't intend to imply that you personally hate him. I'd say he does have a strong ruthless streak in business matters, but he also has an undeniable philanthropic streak. I've never met the man, but that seems like a nice balance to strike.

I'm sure many of us would love to reproduce his success and to be in a position to do as much as he has done for good causes.

Tony EH wrote: »

Trying to pretend that Denis O'Brien doesn't have a huge state in Irish Water

GMC Sierra has been around decades longer than Irish Water. They have probably installed the internet infrastructure that allows you to connect to boards.ie, and they may even have installed the electrical infrastructure sending power to your computer.

I don't understand why nobody kicks up a fuss when GMC Sierra work for the ESB, but Irish Water is somehow off-limits.

Why is that? Genuine question.

Yurt2

Tony EH wrote: »

Trying to pretend that Denis O'Brien doesn't have a huge state in Irish Water and has used his various media organs to portray a single angle on the anti Irish Water protests is silly.



It isn't "hatred". It's calling it as it is.

The people working in his media outlets are professional journalists and they aren't his lackeys. They have editorial freedom much as you would like to suggest otherwise. Neither are RTE journalists puppets of the Government.

The raw evidence of verbal abuse and general muppetry of a lot of the IW protesters behavior is online on youtube for all to see. Don't insult people's intelligence. We don't even need allegedly filtered news to see what is going on.

RomanKnows

Tony EH wrote: »

Trying to pretend that Denis O'Brien doesn't have a huge state in Irish Water and has used his various media organs to portray a single angle on the anti Irish Water protests is silly.



It isn't "hatred". It's calling it as it is.

The anti water charges movement shot itself in the foot by allowing the far-left and republican movements to infiltrate it and take it over for their own self-serving purposes.
Some grandiose conspiracy theory about O'Brien personally influencing what his media outlets output is just silly. He really only ever got involved to spite Tony O'Reilly.
The man is a multi-billionaire. He's also a FG supporter. This raises the bile amongst a certain rump of the usual online outrage warriors.

padd b1975

conorh91 wrote: »

GMC Sierra has been around decades longer than Irish Water. They have probably installed the internet infrastructure that allows you to connect to boards.ie, and they may even have installed the electrical infrastructure sending power to your computer.

I don't understand why nobody kicks up a fuss when GMC Sierra work for the ESB, but Irish Water is somehow off-limits.

Why is that? Genuine question.

Good old fashioned short sightedness would be the obvious answer.

It would be similar to the bloggers who spend their evenings windbagging about ruthless capitalism via software made by Microsoft or on an Apple device that they camped out overnight to purchase at a huge mark up.

Tony EH

conorh91 wrote: »

I don't understand why nobody kicks up a fuss when GMC Sierra work for the ESB, but Irish Water is somehow off-limits.

Why is that? Genuine question.

The ESB are an established entity that have been around for years. There's absolutely nothing anybody can do about ESB practices now.

Irish Water, on the other hand, has been a square peg bashed into a round hole and has been exposed time and time again as an appalling entity that very few people, both pro and anti water charges and of various political persuasions, actually want.

melissak

Being that ryan tubbridy is from a staunchly ff family and fg and ff are essentially lky the same thing now it is no surprise that he has this attitude. What is surprising is that a man with his looks and personality has a job on tv... I guess its who you know. Didn't watch it though. He annoys me too much at the best of times. Maybe we should have tv licence boycott to protest his continued employment.

Muahahaha

sunshine and showers wrote: »

Murphy makes my blood boil. Arrogant tosser like the ones he's criticising.

When he was running for MEP, I challenged him on Henry St about his water charges platform - basically asked him why he was telling people he could get them reversed if he was elected when that was clearly not true as it's a domestic issue, and even at EU level his party don't have the kind of EU-party backing to undo a directive. I thought it was a fair enough question since it was his whole campaign for reelection.

He started demanding to know what party I was working for and shouting at me through his megaphone (in the middle of the street!) saying that I was a liar and water charges were the most important issue of the European elections.

Yeah, fúck that guy. No time for him. And he never actually answered my damn question. Typical politician.

If he called you a liar in public then when can we expect your defamation case against him?

Baggy Trousers

Tony EH wrote: »

The ESB are an established entity that have been around for years. There's absolutely nothing anybody can do about ESB practices now.

Irish Water, on the other hand, has been a square peg bashed into a round hole and has been exposed time and time again as an appalling entity that very few people, both pro and anti water charges and of various political persuasions, actually want.

Excellently put.

Some pro-IW people make out that because the quango has been created, it is impossible to undo it so we have to simply live with it. What kind of a message does that send?

Muahahaha

conorh91 wrote: »

GMC Sierra has been around decades longer than Irish Water. They have probably installed the internet infrastructure that allows you to connect to boards.ie, and they may even have installed the electrical infrastructure sending power to your computer.

I don't understand why nobody kicks up a fuss when GMC Sierra work for the ESB, but Irish Water is somehow off-limits.

Why is that? Genuine question.

Its a massively long story going all the way back to 2006 but I think the main is that people link Denis O'Brien to Lowry to Phil Hogan to Fine Gael to GMC to Independent News & Media write downs of debt.

It takes a fair while to read but Broadsheet did an comprehensive timeline of the whole saga here.
http://www.broadsheet.ie/2014/01/30/thicker-than-uisce/

I guess at the end of the day people are sick of corruption in this country and then they see D'OB who the tribunals have had adverse findings against him in relation to the awarding of the Esat license now 10 years on after all the taxpayers money wasted on tribunals engaging with the State even more with debt writedowns from Anglo done behind closed doors whilst the taxpayer takes the hit.

I think most reasonable people would agree that if a businessman had been found to be corrupt in their dealing with the State and for gaining state contracts then the State should no longer deal with that person because corrupt practices end up being paid for by all taxpayers. Thats why people are cynical of what is happening now IMO.

twin_beacon

weldoninhio wrote: »

Yeah, €500,000 a year for a few hours work a week, but blame the researchers.

a few hours eh? presenters dont just turn up 5 mins before their show and go home straight after it.

Iranoutofideas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXi8OG0jCz8

Always have to laugh at this

weldoninhio

twin_beacon wrote: »

a few hours eh? presenters dont just turn up 5 mins before their show and go home straight after it.

Have you seen a Tubridy interview??? If he does research his guests then he should be sacked immediately. He has about 4/5 stock questions written down on his card and if the conversation strays outside those questions and the info he has for them questions he is a mile out of his depth.

evolving_doors

conorh91 wrote: »

I have a problem with this characterisation of him tbh. A man who builds over 100 schools in a developing country is unlikely to sell his Grandmother, or put her in a river.

He probably contributes more to charity in Ireland and abroad than does the entire user-base of this website.

That hatred for him is difficult to understand.

Is there a link to that info somewhere, thanks.

conorh91

Armelodie wrote: »

Is there a link to that info somewhere, thanks.

Yep, link below. He has done incredible things for Haiti. I have nothing but respect for him for this alone.

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/denis-obrien-is-optimistic-about-haiti-and-ireland-130716933-237414541.html

O’Brien himself, who attained a MBA from Boston College, says you cannot underestimate the importance of education in a country such as Haiti, where 87% of schools were destroyed or damaged as a result of the earthquake.

“In the last 12 months we have built 48 schools and we will have another two finished by the end of October,” he says.

“We built them all over Haiti, which needs to build about 1,000 schools. So within the next year we will have built 150 of them, so we are building 15 percent of all new schools. That's the largest school building project within the Caribbean region.

4zn76tysfajdxp

conorh91 wrote: »

Yep, link below. He has done incredible things for Haiti. I have nothing but respect for him for this alone.

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/denis-obrien-is-optimistic-about-haiti-and-ireland-130716933-237414541.html

O’Brien himself, who attained a MBA from Boston College, says you cannot underestimate the importance of education in a country such as Haiti, where 87% of schools were destroyed or damaged as a result of the earthquake.

“In the last 12 months we have built 48 schools and we will have another two finished by the end of October,” he says.

“We built them all over Haiti, which needs to build about 1,000 schools. So within the next year we will have built 150 of them, so we are building 15 percent of all new schools. That's the largest school building project within the Caribbean region.

What a monster.

conorh91

conorh91 wrote: »

Yep, link below. He has done incredible things for Haiti. I have nothing but respect for him for this alone.

Hate to burst your bubble but business men from around the world are circling around haiti like vultures. A friend of mine works there quite alot. He says its a business under the guise of an Irish charity and its pretty much land grabbing and business grabbing due to the oil gas and gold reserves in the country. He is on 80 grand a year. Not bad for a charity.

And no i am not going to post the name of it. Google is your friend

example http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304547704579564651201202122


Turbidy is such a sellout twat.

CatFromHue

There is money, like there is charity kudos, to me make in Haiti.

That's why Dennis O'Brien and George Hook go there.

conorh91

Deleted User wrote: »

Hate to burst your bubble but business men from around the world are circling around haiti like vultures.

Haiti is being rebuilt after the entire political, economic and physical infrastructure was turned upside down. To this end, Haiti is getting major investment from official agencies like NGOs and the UN. And when they invest and the economy recovers... guess what... new businesses arrive to fill a gap in the market, whether in construction, or electricity, or road-building, or telecommunications.

Denis O'Brien is involved in the latter, just like plenty of other businessmen. What exactly is your problem with this? Would you rather the business community treated Haiti like a pariah? That the Haitian economy were left to rot?

I don't know what you want, I don't know what your friend's firm has to do with Denis O'Brien's school-building charity, nor with his telecommunications business, and I don't understand your reference to Ryan Turbridy. The whole thing is petty and incoherent.

Muahahaha

conorh91 wrote: »

Yep, link below. He has done incredible things for Haiti. I have nothing but respect for him for this alone.

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/denis-obrien-is-optimistic-about-haiti-and-ireland-130716933-237414541.html

O’Brien himself, who attained a MBA from Boston College, says you cannot underestimate the importance of education in a country such as Haiti, where 87% of schools were destroyed or damaged as a result of the earthquake.

“In the last 12 months we have built 48 schools and we will have another two finished by the end of October,” he says.

“We built them all over Haiti, which needs to build about 1,000 schools. So within the next year we will have built 150 of them, so we are building 15 percent of all new schools. That's the largest school building project within the Caribbean region.

The Broadsheet link I posted to answer your question as to why people do not like Denis O'Brien shows that there is literally hundreds of unanswered questions between events surrounding D'OB, Anglo, GMC Sierra, Michael Lowry, Enda Kenny, Phil Hogan, Irish Water, way too many to list here to be honest. The whole article posted is a comprehensive timeline of practices in Irish business and politics that the vast majority of ordinary Irish people paying tax every week find abhorrent.

And yet you totally ignore that link but are fast out of the blocks to point to school building by Denis O'Brien in Haiti ? Lovely for the Haitians but I reckon most Irish taxpayers who are pinned to the wall would prefer that we didn't have D'OBs meddling in Irish affairs in the first place, if he had of just stayed in the private sector like Michael o'Leary did then maybe people would respect him. But Denis O'Brien doesn't do private sector only- like the Murdoch and Berlesconi before him he models himself exactly like they did- his strategy is to mix private business interests along with influencing politicians for his own benefit through media whilst also winning as many public contracts as possible, read the Broadsheet article again for tons on this and tons more questions still to be answered, another Tribunal anyone?

I'm surprised you can't draw the distinction between a businessman like Denis O'Brien and one like Michael O'Leary Conor91. One businessman battles the State and State monopolies at every turn to make money, the other businessman depends on the State and State monopolies/oligopolies/oligopolies to make money. I know which one I have the most respect for and building all the schools in Haiti won't change that, there's a reason why Denis choose the Carribean to do business in and its plainly obvious to anyone who folllows politics too.

Wompa1

Muahahaha wrote: »

The Broadsheet link I posted to answer your question as to why people do not like Denis O'Brien shows that there is literally hundreds of unanswered questions between events surrounding D'OB, Anglo, GMC Sierra, Michael Lowry, Enda Kenny, Phil Hogan, Irish Water, way too many to list here to be honest. The whole article posted is a comprehensive timeline of practices in Irish business and politics that the vast majority of ordinary Irish people paying tax every week find abhorrent.

And yet you totally ignore that link but are fast out of the blocks to point to school building by Denis O'Brien in Haiti ? Lovely for the Haitians but I reckon most Irish taxpayers who are pinned to the wall would prefer that we didn't have D'OBs meddling in Irish affairs in the first place, if he had of just stayed in the private sector like Michael o'Leary did then maybe people would respect him. But Denis O'Brien doesn't do private sector only- like the Murdoch and Berlesconi before him he models himself exactly like they did- his strategy is to mix private business interests along with influencing politicians for his own benefit through media whilst also winning as many public contracts as possible, read the Broadsheet article again for tons on this and tons more questions still to be answered, another Tribunal anyone?

I'm surprised you can't draw the distinction between a businessman like Denis O'Brien and one like Michael O'Leary Conor91. One businessman battles the State and State monopolies at every turn to make money, the other businessman depends on the State and State monopolies/oligopolies/oligopolies to make money. I know which one I have the most respect for and building all the schools in Haiti won't change that, there's a reason why Denis choose the Carribean to do business in and its plainly obvious to anyone who folllows politics too.

Yip, I agree with this. You can tell from history that O'Brien has bought influence. It's plain to see. O'Leary has not, if he did, we'd be talking about Ryanair taking over Aer Lingus, there would not be this monopoly on Irish routes BS raising it's head. In fact the biggest f'kin monopoly in the country is probably Eircom. He's also a man that has flaunted riding the edge of laws by hold a taxi license to use the Bus\Taxi lanes.

O'Brien is a wheeler dealer. I don't blame him, I blame the system that allows people like him to buy influence. We need to start to hold our representatives to a higher standard.

Also, whilst O'Leary is growing Ryanair through his own ingenuity, constantly fighting against airports, government trying to charge them extortion landing fees etc. O'Brien is appointing politicians to the boards of his companies. The Irish government actually advised citizens to invest in shares of Eircom and he's got a stake in Irish Water....there's been plenty of posts about American companies and businessmen doing this sort of thing, yet we refuse to see it when it's happening in Ireland.

conorh91

Muahahaha wrote: »

there is literally hundreds of unanswered questions between events surrounding D'OB, Anglo, GMC Sierra, Michael Lowry, Enda Kenny, Phil Hogan, Irish Water

A fool can throw a penny into a lake which twenty wise men cannot retrieve.

In other words, I can't prove a negative. I can't disprove a series of wild claims by a non-credible website which is best-known for populist click-bait.

You didn't bother to answer my question.

Would you rather see that Haiti was not attracting private investment?

You characterise investors as circling vultures. What would you prefer? An economic pariah?

Geuze

Wompa1 wrote: »

and he's got a stake in Irish Water.....

I'm no fan of Denis O'Brien, but this statement is untrue.

Wompa1

Geuze wrote: »

I'm no fan of Denis O'Brien, but this statement is untrue.

I'm out of the country. Maybe I've been misinformed. How does he not have a stake? I had thought he had a major stake in the private company which is installing the meters?

conorh91

Wompa1 wrote: »

I'm out of the country. Maybe I've been misinformed. How does he not have a stake? I had thought he had a major stake in the private company which is installing the meters?

In that case he also has a stake in Electric Ireland.

Why no brouhaha there?

joe swanson

Not a fan of tubridy, but he did well. P murphy showed himself up for what he is and didn't need tubs to do it.

What I find funny is whenever one of these idiots is talked about in any sort of negative light, accusations of media bias, govt shills fly. Its getting boring.

Tony EH

Wow...some people really do see only what they want to see.

Wompa1

conorh91 wrote: »

In that case he also has a stake in Electric Ireland.

Why no brouhaha there?

I would think because that's been institutionalized for a while now. In fairness that f'kin shower of b@stards had a monopoly for way too long. It's still sh1te that the likes of them and Eircom have so much power with our infrastructure. I sometimes wonder if they've held our infrastructure back. The internet has been piss poor for a long time. The power grids can't handle a bit of lightning.

Maybe it's better in Dublin...

Also, from the way I interpreted things this just happened to be the straw that broke the camels back. In fairness, there's been so much other shote to get worked up about. This one might even be the least angering but it's just topping off a lot of other charges.

Baby Jane

How would Denis O'Brien have a stake in the ESB?