Prime Time Special on Console

dastardly00

Second Toughest in_the Freshers wrote: »

PlayStation or X Box?

Mary63

He is supposed to have lost his sister to suicide,he has been on the TV and radio many times talking about this.

Console was certainly successful in bringing the money in but its questionable whether its existence made the slightest bit of difference to the suicide figures.

I probably am very cynical but I think the cycling for suicide and the walk in the park in darkness isnt going to stop a single person taking their own life.

My sister attended the walking into the light in Fairyhouse this year and she said never again,it was total chaos.I dont know did she have to stump up an entrance fee.

Surely it would be much better for the HSE to put money directly into counselling etc rather than route it through the likes of Console especially when Paul Kellys salary was approximately 90,000 euros.Think how many counsellors could have been employed with the money spent on the holliers.

I heard people talking on liveline today about handing over money to study for a degree in suicide ology,they thought if they got this diploma they would get a job in Console.What is a degree in suicide ology.

Oops69

A kick in teeth for all those who did runs, walks and all kinds of fundraising with their own loved ones lost to suicide in mind , whatever happened to this charity regulator that was supposed to come on stream after the rehab and crc scandals ?.

gctest50

How did someone like this not end up in jail ? pretending to be a doctor and getting a job in a hospital ?

Prime Time Investigates special broadcast on RTÉ One this evening which claimed that Kelly has a “history when it comes to misrepresentation and deception”, including, amongst other things :

the fact that he had once pretended to be a doctor and got a job at the Royal City of Dublin Hospital on Dublin’s Baggot Street.

Mary63

He was probably as good a doctor as some of those idiots that study for seven years.

Its a good job we have Garda vetting now or is it.

gctest50

DanDublin1982

PeterTheEighth wrote: »

More like Irish Nationwide tbh.

I bet Fergus Finlay will be on tomorrow baulking about how terrible this is, and not one of the radio interviewers will ever ask him how he can take >100k out of the Barnardo's buckets.

Fergus Finally doesn't "take" any money from Bernardo's, he is paid a salary to do a job. As with previous similar scandals he will certainly point out how awful this one is. And he'll be right too because it is.

mzungu

Mary63 wrote: »

How could cConsole get 59,000 euros when they submitted incomplete records to the Department of Foreign Affairs,ie the bits relating to expenses paid,surely even a dimwitted official would notice a section was missing.Are we now to believe there was nobody in the Department who could read and analyse the works of fiction presented by Console.How could half a million euros be spent on travel to New Zealand and Australia,surely you would need a few signatures to release the funds,oh,hang on a second,Paul Kelly ,his wife,his sister and their son all worked for Console,they employed each other because they trusted each other.

I want to know asap did they travel first class to these long haul destinations,it should be easy enough to see what seats were booked.

Did all those people riding around Ireland to raise suicide awareness hand over the money collected to Console.

I'd like to know this too. I reckon if he was brazen enough to siphon off half a million from a charity to go there, then I doubt he is the sort of person who would suffer the discomfort of economy class to save a few quid.

Amanda.ie

Its very sad to see this happening to a very good charity who helps so many people in crisis and their families. He is the face of Console but he is not the charity, the people are. If you have raised money as I have take comfort in the fact you helped someone who was in trouble and maybe saved a life.
I think it will be hard for Console to come back from this but people out their still need our help.

elastico

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

Fergus Finally doesn't "take" any money from Bernardo's, he is paid a salary to do a job. As with previous similar scandals he will certainly point out how awful this one is. And he'll be right too because it is.

He pulls €115k I believe.

Why not do it free if he wants to be a mouthpiece for all things charitable?

Make no mistake, most of these people are in it for the money, not because they care.

DanDublin1982

elastico wrote: »

He pulls €115k I believe.

Why not do it free if he wants to be a mouthpiece for all things charitable?

Make no mistake, most of these people are in it for the money, not because they care.

On what basis are you deciding he wants to be a mouthpiece for all things charitable?

He could probably make more money from sitting on a couple of state boards (maybe he does, I don't know). It's not the point though. He does a job as CEO and gets paid for it. I was responding to a point that hes somehow a hypocrite because he will think this stealing from a charity is terrible while hes relatively highly paid himself. Which is ridiculous. The man is entitled to earn a living and if he wasn't CEO of Bernardo's someone else would be.

I'm not prepared to dislike someone because they earn more money than i do and I dont expect anyone to work for free. I wouldn't.

philstar

he pretended to be a priest and a doctor,

seems to me he has a personality disorder, which is common amongst many conmen/women ...they're deluded fantasists who live in their own world

PeterTheEighth

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

Fergus Finally doesn't "take" any money from Bernardo's, he is paid a salary to do a job. As with previous similar scandals he will certainly point out how awful this one is. And he'll be right too because it is.

I respect your opinion Dan, but I passed the Barnardo's bucket when I was in Dublin last, and the first question that crossed my mind was "how many of those buckets go in to Fergus Finlay's pocket before the kids get anything". And for this reason I would never donate money to Barnardos.

PeterTheEighth

Just found this online. (Get it while it's hot as it may be pulled) This is Paul Kelly's speech at a Suicide Prevention 2012 Seminar. And this was in Auckland, so that possibly explains some of the money that was spent on what have been described as "junkets to the southern hemisphere"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0DN4d31pd0

He starts by saying: "It's only a short time ago that my own sister Sharon died by Suicide"... have we actually worked out if this is true or not?

DanDublin1982

PeterTheEighth wrote: »

I respect your opinion Dan, but I passed the Barnardo's bucket when I was in Dublin last, and the first question that crossed my mind was "how many of those buckets go in to Fergus Finlay's pocket before the kids get anything". And for this reason I would never donate money to Barnardos.

I think thats a perfectly reasonable stance fwiw. The same applies to almost any charity however.

philstar

PeterTheEighth wrote: »

He starts by saying: "It's only a short time ago that my own sister Sharon died by Suicide"... have we actually worked out if this is true or not?

and...knowing what we know now about the guy, thats a very relevant question

PeterTheEighth

philstar wrote: »

this maybe out of line...but...knowing what we know now about the guy, i wonder did she really die of suicide and not natural causes??

But I thought that was the insinuation against him though Phil? I heard it phrased that "he SAID that his sister had died by suicide" ... in the same way that they would have reported that "he SAID that he was a doctor".

does anybody genuinely know was this part of his story true at least?

The Black Oil

Just watched it. Shameful practices.

selastich2

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

On what basis are you deciding he wants to be a mouthpiece for all things charitable?

He could probably make more money from sitting on a couple of state boards (maybe he does, I don't know). It's not the point though. He does a job as CEO and gets paid for it. I was responding to a point that hes somehow a hypocrite because he will think this stealing from a charity is terrible while hes relatively highly paid himself. Which is ridiculous. The man is entitled to earn a living and if he wasn't CEO of Bernardo's someone else would be.

I'm not prepared to dislike someone because they earn more money than i do and I dont expect anyone to work for free. I wouldn't.

I dont expect anyone to work for free. I wouldn't.


Ironic as FF and these guys make most of their money by getting volunteers working for free

DanDublin1982

selastich2 wrote: »

I dont expect anyone to work for free. I wouldn't.


Ironic as FF and these guys make most of their money by getting volunteers working for free

Whats that got to do with me?

selastich2

DanDublin1982 wrote: »

Whats that got to do with me?

You don't expect people to work for nothing but are defending FF and those that make their money off the backs of people volunteering.

DanDublin1982

selastich2 wrote: »

You don't expect people to work for nothing but are defending FF and those that make their money off the backs of people volunteering.

All I've said is that Fergus Finally is being paid to do a job and that there is a (considerable) difference between that and what Paul Kelly is being accused of.

Fergus is making his money because thats the salary his job attracts, if he wasnt getting it someone else would be and those volunteers would still be volunteering.

ofcork

MrsD007 wrote: »

Kelly missed his calling, he should have worked for Anglo :rolleyes:

Showed paperwork on the programme looking for donations from one sean fitzpatrick of anglo!

Mr E

Brexit has really taken the sting out of this.

Sad Professor

I don't know why I find stuff like this shocking anymore. There's really no end to the corruption.

Mary63 wrote: »

Console was certainly successful in bringing the money in but its questionable whether its existence made the slightest bit of difference to the suicide figures.

I probably am very cynical but I think the cycling for suicide and the walk in the park in darkness isnt going to stop a single person taking their own life.

I'm very suspicious of mental illness awareness groups. In the US they get most of their funding from pharmaceutical companies. I have no reason to believe it's any different here.

Mary63

He comes across as really plausible and genuine but he flew all the way to New Zealand to tell the New Zealanders what a wonderful job Console was doing.He informs them that suicide victims have disconnected from those around them,this is hardly breaking news and again surely money donated could be better spent by employing more trained professionals to man phones and offer practical advice.

Are all charities just big businesses now and do we have a charity regulator yet.How many other charities are getting millions in euros from the HSE and managing to spend vast amounts on foreign travel without red flags being raised.

I visited a relative in a private mental health hospital over a period of almost six months and this relative deteriorated day by day,he ended up on a cocktail of pills and as soon as the maximum period of VHI in treatment came to an end we were told our relative was better,he wasnt,he went home a shadow of his former self and not one of those professionals followed up afterwards to see how he was getting on,they referred him back to the public health system.

The Black Oil

Some links.

http://www.governancecode.ie

https://benefacts.ie

http://charitiesregulator.ie

http://www.wheel.ie/policy/regulating

http://www.revenue.ie/en/business/authorised-charities-resident.html

PeterTheEighth

Mary63 wrote: »

He comes across as really plausible and genuine but he flew all the way to New Zealand to tell the New Zealanders what a wonderful job Console was doing.He informs them that suicide victims have disconnected from those around them

Yeah in fairness to him, he talked a good game. But I guess he's had a life of nailing down the confidence trickster game. The thing I really cant understand is how the authorities were not aware of him. I'm pretty sure that MANY people must of known of his circumstances but as usual in Ireland, nobody in Ireland wants to be the one to stand up and shout "NO".

I wouldnt be surprised if he's already applied for his old doctoring job with the HSE, and got it!!!

PeterTheEighth

elastico wrote: »

He pulls €115k I believe. Why not do it free if he wants to be a mouthpiece for all things charitable? Make no mistake, most of these people are in it for the money, not because they care.

You see I've thought about this, and people say "Oh you have to pay the best to get the best person to run the company". But I think if you are fully committed to the ethos of a charity then there has to be some charitable on your part. You cannot expect the same wages as the CEO of a capitalist, profit making company. The charity isnt there to make money, it's there to HELP PEOPLE, so what does it say when the head of that charity is coining it in.

For me, it means that I will NEVER donate to Barnardos because I wouldnt want for it to be my tenner that goes in Fergus Finlay's pocket. And I would feel the same about other charities with such money hungry CEOs.

Realt Dearg Sec

PeterTheEighth wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that MANY people must of known of his circumstances but as usual in Ireland, nobody in Ireland wants to be the one to stand up and shout "NO".

It's nothing to do with not wanting to do it. Just ask Maurice McCabe what happens when you're the one who does it.