Fine Gael TD sues Dublin Hotel after falling off swing

brooke 2

brooke 2 wrote: »

'Fine Gael's Sultana of Swing'!! :D

Cristal champagne swing

jon1981

Need to keep this story in the media now. Disappointed in LV not sending a stronger message saying this behavior is not acceptable.

Shefwedfan

Any chance any of the other leaders have the cop on to call for a general election?

smurgen

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Its bulls**t....do the review.....let the dust settle



You will never hear of any output from the review


Its a cover up job, standard Leo, cant make a decision so covers it up....

What a waste of space

Maybe they can get KPMG to do a report on the review afterwards too.

Shefwedfan

jon1981 wrote: »

Need to keep this story in the media now. Disappointed in LV not sending a stronger message saying this behavior is not acceptable.

It been said for the last few days he would chicken out and that is exactly what he has done, true to form.....

iamwhoiam

brooke 2 wrote: »

In the meantime, she remains as Chair of the Housing Committee.

I hope the chair is not too highly polished

Stop moaning ffs

Understandable how she fell. It was smaller a swing than she was accustomed to

https://twitter.com/michael60648508/status/1133795984545329152?s=21

FishOnABike

everlast75 wrote: »

The affidavit could have been sworn literally years after the incident.

It is possible (however unlikely given her character) that she simply made a mistake. That is what she is saying.

Unfortunately, the case is being dropped. We will never know what the Judge would have found.

We can infer all the hell we want, but that is where legally speaking it ends (subject to further information coming out)

Repeated mistakes.

'Forgot' to mention she ran in a 10km race three weeks later. When she claimed she couldn't run for three months.
'Forgot' to mention she went a festival shortly afterwards when she claimed she couldn't still or stand for any length of time.
'Forgot' to mention she was holding something in both hands (and not the swing) when she 'was caused to fall'.

Maybe the amnesia was due to a bump on the head received when she fell. :rolleyes:

Anyone with common sense can judge for themselves.

That legal professionals so uncritically accept client instructions also speaks volumes for the integrity of some of those legal professionals. They also have a duty to the courts - maybe they also suffer amnesia regarding this.

abff

I don't think Leo is doing her any favours by not taking action against her. The longer he sits on his hands, the more media frenzy is going to be built up. He should take whatever action he considers appropriate (if it was me, I think I'd remove the party whip) and it will soon become yesterday's news.

I think her political career is dead (and rightly so, in my opinion), but that doesn't mean that it's OK to keep hounding her relentlessly.

holyhead

Very disappointed Varadkar hasn't moved to expel her from FG. This internal review is nonsense. Simply review her radio interview and you can see she is not fit to be a public representative and is toxic for FG to have within their ranks. Varadkar was quick to accuse people of social welfare fraud yet is tolerating Bailey being kept in the party, at least for the time being. He should have issued a statement condemning her in the strongest terms. He had a glorious opportunity to use this to shine a proper light on insurance fraud and escalating cost of insurance particularly for business. Instead its business as usual.
It seems clear reading about her father that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Are FG so desperate for power that the likes of Bailey Snr and the daughter are entertained as credible and tolerated. They should both have been/be kicked out of FG.

rafatoni

Why hasnt this cretin been scaked yet? Leo giving it the big one of reporting fraud etc. Utter spoofer and double standards.

Idbatterim

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

That's just mindless garbage. He is a very capable guy. As good as Ireland (/India) can muster.

this is the one that confirms the trolling. Honestly, up to this point, I thought there was a chance you were trolling, but more likely genuine! This one made it too easy though Leo!

Be right back

Fair play to Leo. Push it down the road in the hope it will be forgotten about!!ðŸ˜

vriesmays

rafatoni wrote: »

Why hasnt this cretin been scaked yet?

Because she's a woooommmannnn.

James Brown

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

Conflating the events surrounding one TD with the integrity, quality, management, and leadership of a party, let alone with the single person of its leader, just reveals the rabid and simplistic opportunism of other party, or just anti-party numptys. It is ill fitting, or even exposes as charlatans, those claiming to be concerned about Ireland and its good governance.

You're spinning yarns.
Bailey put forward a dodgy claim. It embarrassed the FG party. That's it really. You're trying to dismiss it. Claim culture has been in the news of late a FG crowing about it with the best of them so trying to dismiss these things as complaining for the sake of complaining or conspiracy of some sort is nonsense.

James Brown

Be right back wrote: »

Fair play to Leo. Push it down the road in the hope it will be forgotten about!!ðŸ˜

It worked with homelessness and housing...

Stop moaning ffs

The review is expected to only take two weeks

Yeah right

This is going to haunt Leo and all FG but Leo in particular

Idbatterim

it takes the media etc to start telling you all what a snake varadkar is. I voted FG previously, I thought there could be a chance of varadkar as our saviour, a breath of fresh air! How far from the truth that has turned out to be... The man is a joke, a JOKE!

If it isnt apparent to you all, the lies, the spin etc, then we fully deserve everything we get. A marginal rate of tax of 50% over a pittance of an income. Housing a disgrace, health a disgrace, infrastructure disgrace, environmental record a disgrace... Law and order? L!O!L

I see he wants to visit darndale coolock now, for some publicity! isnt it his party in power eight years? isnt it his party that are light touch on law and order? As if FG will get seats in that constituency. The only pro of a visit is, that waste of space might be offed!

Literally anything that comes from his mouth is offensive. Cant stand him, the same as the rest of my mates and family that would have voted FG a few years back...

Ill be delighted to see him ousted as Taoiseach, reckon there is a near 50/50 of it at the next election and if its a scandal that brings them down, FF will win more seats....

Their obsession with rural ireland cost them seats in the local elections here, the obsession comment came from a FG t'd anonymously to the media! Dublin sends billions to rural ireland every year, we have a housing crisis and appalling infrastructure. The way its made out in the media, you'd swear we had a continental european transport system etc. We have two joke light rail lines over capacity and an extensive bus network, that crawls along at glacial speeds at peak time, for a city of over a million. a night bus may be launched next year, 2020! 2020! Its truly pathetic!

Be right back

Matt Barrett wrote: »

It worked with homelessness and housing...

I used to vote FG. Not anymore!

Odyssey 2005

Matt Barrett wrote: »

It worked with homelessness and housing...

And the children's hospital, broadband...

_Kaiser_

So unsurprisingly Leo goes for the "sweep it under the carpet and hope it'll be forgotten about in a week or two" option. Adding the point that FG won't be commenting further in the interim just confirms it.

Sad thing is he's probably right. The real learning point here should be for FG (and potential FG) voters that Leo has once again exposed himself for the weak, vain, media obsessed spin master he really is.

Far from the turning point and poster child for modern Ireland that many thought him to be not that long ago, he's in fact no different than the rest of his party.

cannotlogin

There's no end to this.

Swing & Drink https://simondarcyonline.com/swing/

Difficult to get 60k!

pablo128

Odyssey 2005 wrote: »

And the children's hospital, broadband...

I'm waiting 3 years for a hernia operation on his watch. A former doctor and former Health minister. He couldn't run a tap.

STB.

Mrsmum wrote: »

From article in the indo today.

"Notably, her close ally in Fine Gael Kate O'Connell changed her cover photograph on Facebook to remove one that included Ms Bailey since the radio interview".

That's gotta hurt.

Coincidentally, wasn't it Kate's brother in law who broke this whole story, not that I am inferring anything.

One thing is for sure, it would seem that there is something going on internally in FG. Eitherway it seems likely that Bailey's political career is finished.

McMurphy

An internal review.

My gut feeling is to see how far down this big shyte will flush.

Who else was there that night?

Who witnessed it?

Who initiated the legal action?

Let's hope this internal review isn't left to gather dust.......

Idbatterim

https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/colette-browne-until-varadkar-focuses-on-what-matters-most-health-and-housing-he-will-be-toast-at-the-next-election-38158615.html

Colette Browne: 'Until Varadkar focuses on what matters most - health and housing - he will be toast at the next election'


'He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy" - the quip from Monty Python classic 'Life of Brian' could serve as a pithy critique of Leo Varadkar's inflated reputation as a vote winner following Fine Gael's lacklustre performance in the local elections.

Where did it all go wrong for Fine Gael? For two years, a succession of opinion polls had the party topping 30pc with Fianna Fáil trailing far behind. In Dublin, polls had put the party's support even higher, with a Red C survey in April suggesting support of 37pc.

The first real sign of cracks were beginning to appear earlier this month, when Red C placed the party at 28pc nationally and 26pc in the capital.

In the event, the local election results were much worse. Nationally, the party stands at 25.3pc, with Fianna Fáil ahead on 26.9pc, but it is in Dublin where the real rot has set in.

Among the city's four local authorities, the highest share Fine Gael could muster was 27.3pc in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown while it sank to just 13.7pc in Dublin City, 17.5pc in South Dublin and 17pc in Fingal.

Given the party secured 36pc of the vote in Dún Laoghaire and 30.6pc in Dublin Rathdown in the 2016 general election, the slide should cause some significant concern.

As it stands, Fianna Fáil is outpolling its rivals in every local authority area in the capital bar one. If Dublin is supposed to be a Fine Gael stronghold, it's time to man the walls and prepare for battle.

Mr Varadkar has described the party's performance in the local elections as "disappointing", which is something of an understatement given he recently publicly stated his goal was to win an additional 50 seats and become the largest party in local government.

On one level, it's easy to see where the Taoiseach's misplaced optimism came from. In 2014, it secured 24pc of the vote and lost 105 seats when anger at spending cuts and tax increases boiled over during the water charges campaign.

This time, with no commensurate national protest movement and the economy apparently booming, the party expected a dividend. In short, it became complacent.

Fine Gael has long traded on its reputation for fiscal rectitude, trenchantly criticising Fianna Fáil for its "if I have it I'll spend it" attitude during the boom years.

But when it was revealed the children's hospital would cost €1.4bn and counting, the reaction was a collective shrug of the shoulders. Health Minister Simon Harris told an Oireachtas committee the revised cost was "reasonable" - despite a budget-busting €450m rise in one year.

Even now, no one in government can say with any degree of precision how much the project will ultimately cost, with the sky appearing to be the limit.

A similarly ambivalent attitude to budgets was evident in the approach to the national broadband plan, with the final tender price of €3bn representing multiples of the initial budget of just €500m.

Dare to criticise these eye-popping figures and defensive Fine Gael ministers accuse critics of wanting to deny sick children a world-class hospital or rural dwellers a reliable internet connection.

The fact these things could have been delivered without breaking the national bank is never addressed.

Value for money is a concept lost by a Government burning through public money with wild abandon.

How are the public expected to have confidence in Fine Gael's ability to deliver on its capital investment plan, contained in Ireland 2040, when all of its prestige projects are now hugely over-budget?

The children's hospital and broadband garner most of the headlines, but an inability to estimate the cost of these projects correctly will have implications for capital investment all over the country for the foreseeable future.

When the reality of delayed, deferred and cancelled capital projects becomes apparent in years to come, public anger at the Government's profligacy will only increase.

An inability to make progress on housing, as homelessness continues its inexorable rise and rents continue to soar, represents the single biggest threat to the party's electoral fortunes.

Having published its first housing plan in 2014, the public are still being told five years later that the reason progress is not being made is because houses take a long time to build. This patronising, flippant response to a crisis engulfing an entire generation of young people will reap a whirlwind for this Government.

The inability of Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy to even empathise with those who are despairing as a result of the housing fiasco is quite something.

His widely ridiculed comments that young people should view shoebox co-living en suite rooms in Dublin at €1,300 per month as an "exciting" choice beggars belief. Until relatively recently, €1,300 was sufficient to rent a two-bed apartment.

The prospect of owning or renting your own home, without sharing kitchen facilities with hordes of other people, is now deemed too ambitious a dream for this generation of young people.

Mr Murphy's gaffe, which dominated headlines for days in advance of the election, was not the only own goal from a Fine Gael TD that did serious damage.

The party has spent months slamming personal injuries awards and insurance hikes, so the revelation Maria Bailey was suing a hotel after she fell from a swing on a night out was devastating.

While every citizen has a right to take a civil action, the inability of Fine Gael to address the drip-feed of information, coming from this newspaper, was spectacularly inept.

The failure of Mr Varadkar to speak with Ms Bailey before she gave her disastrous interview to RTÉ on Monday, more than one week after the story first hit the headlines, is inexplicable.

Given the party's obsession with public relations, the biggest mystery is that its members appear singularly useless at communicating with the public.

Regrettably for Mr Varadkar and his Government, it is impossible to spin their way out of mismanaging major projects, the housing crisis and a succession of foot-in-mouth gaffes from people who are supposed to be media trained to within an inch of their lives.

If the party wants to avoid a return to the opposition benches after the next election, it will have to spend less time spinning its own mediocre performance and more getting results on issues that actually matter to people - particularly health and housing.

Irish Independent

mickdw

This sham of an internal investigation might quieten things down however as is the way with these kind of things, further revelations tend to come out and eventually as much as they try to cover up, someone has to fall.
From what we have seen in the past, the longer they cover up and allow these things to fester, the higher up the damage goes.
Shes from a long time FG family though so she knows where the bodies are buried.
This is going to roll on. Will it take down 1 TD, 2TDs or an entire government.

Junkyard Tom

Maria Bailey took a dive because she was confident that the referee would award her a penalty. We need to change the rules of the game rather than try to change those who play it. Human beings are imperfect and greedy - we need systems that discourage that behaviour rather then reward it.

_Kaiser_

mickdw wrote: »

This sham of an internal investigation might quieten things down however as is the way with these kind of things, further revelations tend to come out and eventually as much as they try to cover up, someone has to fall.
From what we have seen in the past, the longer they cover up and allow these things to fester, the higher up the damage goes.
Shes from a long time FG family though so she knows where the bodies are buried.
This is going to roll on. Will it take down 1 TD, 2TDs or an entire government.

Well one thing this latest in a LONG line of near-continuous scandals over the last several years should illustrate is this:

Any notion that FG are "better", "more responsible" or "more honest" than their FF rivals is exactly that.. a notion.

The truth has been exposed yet again for anyone who cares to look.

Idbatterim

I hope to god that josepha madigan is involved in this too. I dont think a FG'er could resist another fg getting in on the cash act!