Olympic Council fella Pat Hickey Arrested in Rio

CMOTDibbler

Thoie wrote: »

I wonder how many people had really heard of Hickey before either? More than had heard of Mallon, definitely, but if you'd asked random people on the street last April "Who's Pat Hickey?" I wonder how many would have known?

Even if people hadn't ever heard of Hickey before, they would have known about the OCI.

I don't think there was even a thread here about Mallon's arrest. It was just posted in the Rio Megathread afair.

marienbad

brooke 2 wrote: »

Yes, Azerbaijan. Read up on it.

Interesting how neither MF nor PK mentioned it when putting it to the family solicitor as to why Hickey seems to be so unpopular. Perhaps his willingness to associate with the despotic ruler of that country, where civil liberties are trampled on every day, might contribute towards the low regard in which he is held by some. As a self-described defender of human rights, Ms. James must be holding her nose as she comes out shilling for the close pal of some of the worst offenders against civil rights in the world. Poor Pat, according to her, is having his civil liberties 'trampled upon' in Rio. Aw, shucks, isn't karma a lighting bitch?!!

Yeah , and the Olympics in Bejing and Sochi - they were bastions of humans rights were they ? Did we protest ? Boycott , not a bit of it and we won't for the World Cup in Qatar either - we will just put the feet up and watch it on the telly .

Agreed all very unsavoury but absolutely no different from any other sport administrator in the Olympic of FIFA etc families .

Doesn't make it right but it has nothing to do with the charges in Brazil.

maudgonner

marienbad wrote: »

I am not ignoring anything , a crime was committed under Brazilian law , PH and Mallon were arrested in connection with that crime . Lets the law take its course and if that results in custodial sentences then so be it , I wouldn't be signing any petition for their release.

But lets not pretend that the hatefest that has arisen in the last few weeks is in any way proportionate .

You said that if THG had won the right to sell the tickets then no crime would have been committed. That's simply not true.

I don't believe the reaction is a 'hatefest'. I do believe it's a bigger reaction than would be expected for a simple case of ticket touting. But this is not a simple case of ticket touting. There's more to it than that. And Hickey's history does come into play, with good reason. As does the track history of the IOC and corruption. As does the toxic relationship between PR companies and the media, who are meant to be unbiased and impartial.

marienbad

maudgonner wrote: »

You said that if THG had won the right to sell the tickets then no crime would have been committed. That's simply not true.

I don't believe the reaction is a 'hatefest'. I do believe it's a bigger reaction than would be expected for a simple case of ticket touting. But this is not a simple case of ticket touting. There's more to it than that. And Hickey's history does come into play, with good reason. As does the track history of the IOC and corruption. As does the toxic relationship between PR companies and the media, who are meant to be unbiased and impartial.

Sure because of who he is there is bound to be a huge reaction . I have just found the level of vitriol ( even by internet standards) astonishing .

He is after all a fairly minor figure in Irish life that has a temporary prominence every four years .

CMOTDibbler

Love nor Money wrote: »

But this misses the point I was trying to make earlier. Payments, if there are any, will be impossible to trace. However it's not OK to waste special allocation tickets - a resource of the OCI - or deprive athletes and their families of the benefit of these tickets, even if all one is getting is prestige or influence.

Family ticket entitlements are dealt with separately. They don't come out of the public pot. Athletes get a special number, log on to a website with that number and print out their own allocation (two tickets).

The irony of the situation is that this probably would never have come to light (or at least would have been much more unlikely) had the tickets not been so plentiful and sales so sluggish.

Generally with big events like this, public sale tickets are snapped up and all that are left are the 'VIP package' deals which are much more expensive. In that case Mallon would still have been in Rio, but instead of trying to flog them at the last minute he would just have been doling them out to pre-paid punters at 'lavish events'.

He must have drawn the short straw when the boss was looking for somebody to go to Rio.

maudgonner

marienbad wrote: »

Sure because of who he is there is bound to be a huge reaction . I have just found the level of vitriol ( even by internet standards) astonishing .

He is after all a fairly minor figure in Irish that has a temporary prominence every four years .

Not just because of who he is. Because of what he has done. And I'm not talking about the current situation.

Every attempt the PR companies make to spin this situation will only make people more angry. It's ridiculously transparent at this stage, and they only have themselves to blame. Of course they will win the sympathy of some people, but they will annoy others.

Atoms for Peace

PH will be the new Ibrahim Halawa if the Denis O'Brien media have their way.

Winterlong

Atoms for Peace wrote: »

PH will be the new Ibrahim Halawa if the Denis O'Brien media have their way.

Why do you think that?

Atoms for Peace

With all the pity stories and his family lawyer demanding more action from the government, despite him giving the sports minister the two fingers previously.

Winterlong

Atoms for Peace wrote: »

With all the pity stories and his family lawyer demanding more action from the government, despite him giving the sports minister the two fingers previously.

But what has that got to do with Denis O Brien? Surely your comment is more about the media in general??

ahlookit

Winterlong wrote: »

But what has that got to do with Denis O Brien? Surely your comment is more about the media in general??

Yes, media in general ... TCC/Terry Prone/ Tom Savage influence.

Muahahaha

Swanner wrote: »

As much a I hate to say it and while the article is obviously bereft of any real facts on the case... I do think this piece in yesterday's mirror sums up the mood of the nation perfectly...

Remember when Enda promised us a new dawn and an end to corruption in this state.. And yet all we've had since is a whole lot more of the same..

And that's only what we know about...

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/pat-flanagan-you-cant-blame-8709789#ICID=sharebar_facebook

Thats the first article in the media Ive seen that is actually calling this debacle as it is.

hairyslug wrote: »

PHs people are fighting a losing battle here, and there is no sign of a tide turning in his favour, if anything, all of these pieces in the media are creating more negative responses. .

The great and the good of the Irish media really are idiots. They were cheer leaders for the property industry and then when it crashed and they were found out they wonder why newspaper sales go down so much, they blame it on the internet instead of looking at themselves and maybe, just maybe, thinking that people dont trust them any more.

ZeroThreat wrote: »

Isn't one of the execs of The Communcations Clinic also a non exec on the board of RTE?

If so, then a conflict of interest asises with regard to their objectivity dealing with this story.

Would also explain the behaviour of the little gurrier from ballyer during the week.

It gets better with the Communications Clinic/Terry Prone and RTE. Back when her husband Tom Savage (an ex-priest) was the head of RTE the Primetime investigates program aired false allegations about Father Kevin Reynolds having a relationship with a girl out in Africa. The Church/Kevin Reynolds employed Terry Prone and The Communications Clinic to defend him and eventually he ended up securing a payment of €200k from RTE. What a Chinese wall that must have been in their Martello Tower home on the Sutton coast between husband and wife Tom Savage and Terry Prone:rolleyes: Its just as well those Martello towers have one meter thick walls, eh?

anothernight

The Irish Independent is saying "Pat Hickey could be released from prison in Rio de Janeiro as early as today, sources in Brazil have claimed." (link) but there is nothing of the sort in the Brazilian media. Anywhere. At all.

I'd love to know who their sources (plural!) are.


In other news, I'm wondering about James' mention that Hickey's family haven't talked to him since he was arrested. According to Brazilian newspapers, he's allowed visitors like anyone else.

Cienciano

Remember when you hear Hickeys representatives all over the national airwaves, that Pat wouldn't say a word in a private conversation with Shane Ross because it might predjudice the case against Mallon

Mr Hickey, who was accompanied to the meeting by OCI vice-president Willie O'Brien, said that providing further information at this stage "might prejudice the case before the Brazilian courts".

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rio-2016-olympics/ticket-row-deepens-as-pat-hickey-refuses-to-answer-shane-rosss-questions-in-rio-34965638.html

darkpagandeath

And this is why I would not go to Egypt and commit crime or South America. Lot's of crying wolf in the media. If he is so frail why would he go to a notoriously hot country ?

foggy_lad

Elmer Blooker wrote: »

Any idea when he'll be in front of a judge in Rio? You would think the Brazilian authorities would have enough evidence by now.
Of course "things are done differently over there" - like inviting the media to film an arrest for maximum exposure?

According to the Commissioner on Liveline(their commissioners are more like chief of detectives rather than our police commissioners), The media were not invited but there were media outside the hotel when the police arrived because it was where so many important people were staying. When the police went in and to the room the media overpowered the hotel staff and followed on and they filmed the arrest. the police would not have had any powers to stop them at that time until a complaint had been made by the hotel.

Atoms for Peace wrote: »

PH will be the new Ibrahim Halawa if the Denis O'Brien media have their way.

I'm just waiting on the report that he is on hunger strike and only eating fruit and vegetables and only drinking milk, just like Mr Halawa.

foggy_lad

darkpagandeath wrote: »

And this is why I would not go to Egypt and commit crime or South America. Lot's of crying wolf in the media. If he is so frail why would he go to a notoriously hot country ?

How does such a sick old man get permission from his doctors to go jetting all over the world? all his flights are very long haul flights, Rio-Moscow-Dublin-Azerbaijan etc

How does he get travel insurance? how does he survive the pain of such long distances with his fat-cat ass stuck in a tiny aircraft seat?

ahlookit

Muahahaha wrote: »

It gets better with the Communications Clinic/Terry Prone and RTE. Back when her husband Tom Savage (an ex-priest) was the head of RTE the Primetime investigates program aired false allegations about Father Kevin Reynolds having a relationship with a girl out in Africa. The Church/Kevin Reynolds employed Terry Prone and The Communications Clinic to defend him and eventually he ended up securing a payment of €200k from RTE. What a Chinese wall that must have been in their Martello Tower home on the Sutton coast between husband and wife Tom Savage and Terry Prone:rolleyes: Its just as well those Martello towers have one meter thick walls, eh?

How dare you call that into question! Retract that immediately!

He said: "I have to say categorically that in the three-and-a-half years I have been chairman of the board, not a single issue has cropped up at board level where I have had to absent myself from the discussion because I had a conflict of interest."

However, on Tuesday it emerged that Mr Savage and Ms Prone's public-relations company provided media training for the IMU a month before RTE broadcast defamatory allegations about Fr Reynolds.
Five priests, including the head of Fr Reynolds's order, Fr Michael Corcoran, attended two training sessions with the public-relations guru in anticipation of a backlash.

Ms Prone stated that her husband was not aware of these meetings or that she prepared a statement for the IMU, which was released on the day Mission To Prey aired.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/i-kept-my-tom-in-the-dark-says-pr-wife-terry-prone-26860507.html

maudgonner

foggy_lad wrote: »

I'm just waiting on the report that he is on hunger strike and only eating fruit and vegetables and only drinking milk, just like Mr Halawa.

Did you hear that they didn't shave Pat Hickey's head? It's something they do for all prisoners entering that jail apparently, to stop them getting headlice. But they singled poor Hickey out and wouldn't even do that much for him.

This poor, frail, elderly grandfather must now suffer the indignity of possibly getting headlice. It's inhuman, and another example of the unfair way he is being treated, even though he hasn't been found guity of anything, not even a minor ticket touting charge, which isn't even a crime in Ireland.


(I just thought I'd give ye a preview of the Hickey family's solicitor's next statement.)

foggy_lad

maudgonner wrote: »

Did you hear that they didn't shave Pat Hickey's head? It's something they do for all prisoners entering that jail apparently, to stop them getting headlice. But they singled poor Hickey out and wouldn't even do that much for him.

This poor, frail, elderly grandfather must now suffer the indignity of possibly getting headlice. It's inhuman, and another example of the unfair way he is being treated, even though he hasn't been found guity of anything, not even a minor ticket touting charge, which isn't even a crime in Ireland.


(I just thought I'd give ye a preview of the Hickey family's solicitor's next statement.)

Headlice don't survive well in comb-overs, He is likely to be more concerned about crabs in Bang-u.

Nevermind the soap Pat, stay dirty!

Thoie

foggy_lad wrote: »

When the police went in and to the room the media overpowered the hotel staff and followed on and they filmed the arrest. the police would not have had any powers to stop them at that time until a complaint had been made by the hotel.

<whiny Joe voice>But now, commissioner, did you not have a gun on you? Could you not have waved it about a bit at the journalists to make them go away? Just randomly, the way one waves guns in busy hotel corridors, in the middle of a peaceful arrest.</joe>

Can you imagine the utter excitement if the police had drawn their guns during the arrest? We'd have had to stock up on smelling salts to revive Joe and Marian.

foggy_lad wrote: »

I'm just waiting on the report that he is on hunger strike and only eating fruit and vegetables and only drinking milk, just like Mr Halawa.

My doctor told me it's a pre-op diet - bastard never said he was putting me on hunger strike!

daisybelle2008

Thoie wrote: »

The story has swiftly changed from a hearty septuagenarian who travels the world, manages an organisation, goes for daily runs and is hale enough to be "one of the most important people in the world of sports" to "a frail 71-year-old man with a heart condition".

There are lots of angles journalists could take, but instead we're being hit with a barrage of "oh poor Pat, they have mosquitos in Brazil, poor frail little old Pat - won't get to take his grandson to school".

Thoie wrote: »

She didn't realise how many things he was president/member of. Massively successful on an international scale. She thinks people hate Pat because of the recession and terrorists.

Does she not get the contradiction in this narrative? President and member of loads of councils and boards, travels the world in that capacity, but a frail old grandpappy with a heart condition at the same time.....

As for the, 'heart condition', arrhythmia is not dangerous in of itself, I am sure when it was diagnosed he was checked to see if it was connected to a serious underlying condition, if it was he would have addressed his life style
choices and we would be told what the actual condition is. It is fair to assume it is not diagnosed as serious as it didn't hamper his workload, running and travel.

Thoie

daisybelle2008 wrote: »

Does she not get the contradiction in this narrative? President and member of loads of councils and boards, travels the world in that capacity, but a frail old grandpappy with a heart condition at the same time.....

As for the, 'heart condition', arrhythmia is not dangerous in of itself, I am sure when it was diagnosed he was checked to see if it was connected to a serious underlying condition, if it was he would have addressed his life style
choices and we would be told what the actual condition is. It is fair to assume it is not diagnosed as serious as it didn't hamper his workload, running and travel.

My mother's had her heart shocked twice for arrhythmia, and while I'm not saying it's a great lark and everyone should give it a go, she'd forgotten about it again a few days later. It had never impacted her before, and may not impact her again. For clarity - I'm assuming that's what Hickey was treated for, based on James' talk of shocking, and limits to how often that can be done.

anothernight

foggy_lad wrote: »

According to the Commissioner on Liveline(their commissioners are more like chief of detectives rather than our police commissioners)

I don't like that they translated his rank as "commissioner". His rank is "delegado" in Portuguese, which means that he's the chief of his (state/federal) police station ("delegacia"). He oversees/manages the investigation of crimes in his local area (Rio de Janeiro, in this case), but he doesn't do the investigation himself. The Irish times referred to him as "a senior Brazilian police officer", which is a much better translation imo.

Joe Duffy called him commissioner and "one of the lead investigators", which is simply incorrect. Falcão oversees investigators, but he is not one of them. As "delegado", he doesn't actually investigate.

brooke 2

marienbad wrote: »

Yeah , and the Olympics in Bejing and Sochi - they were bastions of humans rights were they ? Did we protest ? Boycott , not a bit of it and we won't for the World Cup in Qatar either - we will just put the feet up and watch it on the telly .

Agreed all very unsavoury but absolutely no different from any other sport administrator in the Olympic of FIFA etc families .

Doesn't make it right but it has nothing to do with the charges in Brazil.

Might have something to do with his unpopularity though. I imagine if John Delaney had been arrested there would be much the same reaction - lack of sympathy from most of us and much defending from the establishment.

LorMal

darkpagandeath wrote: »

And this is why I would not go to Egypt and commit crime or South America. Lot's of crying wolf in the media. If he is so frail why would he go to a notoriously hot country ?

Maybe it was because the Olympics were on there?

LorMal

brooke 2 wrote: »

Might have something to do with his unpopularity though. I imagine if John Delaney had been arrested there would be much the same reaction - lack of sympathy from most of us and much defending from the establishment.

He certainly isn't being defended by the establishment.

anothernight

LorMal wrote: »

Maybe it was because the Olympics were on there?

Ever been to Brazil? The journey there is long enough from Europe, but it's longer still from Ireland, since there are (last time I checked, anyway) no direct flights. It's not an easy journey for a young healthy person. A frail man doesn't make a journey of 15-20 hours, plus an hour of a mountainous drive from the airport to Barra da Tijuca.

Deise Vu

The media defence of Hickey goes back more than a few weeks. Here is an article on Pat around the time of the failed Richard Burroughs coup written in January 2001 by a certain Tom Humphries late of the Irish Times:

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/burrows-won-t-get-helm-off-hickey-1.267980

Once again the common theme is Pat finding the time to entertain fellow plebs on one of his expense accounts as he goes about climbing the greasy pole of IOC politics. Once again it says that Pat is the man 'to get things done'. The question I have, and had then, when he first said this was his last time going for President of the IOC (nearly 16 years ago!) is: what exactly did Ireland ever gain from Pat's prestigious posts in the IOC?

As far as I can see Pat gets to live a first class life not only attending Summer & Winter Olympics but various other sporting events with Access All Areas VIP passes and all expenses paid (and them some) but I don't see where Irish sport is benefiting. In fact since Pat sees that obscure sports are 'looked after' to ensure the votes keep coming his way I can only see potential detrimental effects to having an El Presidente for Life with no oversight other than from the organisations who are beholden to him for the largesse he disperses. He says himself "Ireland is not his constituency" so what are we getting for letting this guy decide where IOC and Govt money is spent?

Water John

That Tom Humphries read was entertaining for a whole number of wrong reasons.

If I was PH I wouldn't be paying James's bill. Bad value for money, at any price.

PH has got caught in the pincer movement on bigger fish, how ironic.