Leo Varadkar story in The Village??? - Mod Notes and banned Users in OP updated 16/05

ninebeanrows

Cute Hoor wrote: »

What is Varadkar's legal action against the Village going to be, have they posted anything that is inaccurate or untruthful

Am incorrect in saying they have stated he has broken the law and the national secret act?

It is a blatant attempt to smear him!

Jinglejangle69

Dempo1 wrote: »

Agreed and as for needing Leo's knowledge of any sort, is he not the person who abandoned ship, handed others the poison chalice anfmd then spent the past few months cynically undermining every decision made albeit he met his match in Tony Houlihan and guess what, we're actually in Level 5. Leo has been actively stirring it with leaks and mixed messaging for months, nice to see the shoe on the other foot for a change.

Abandoned ship.

As in he and his party accepted the electorates decision.

What was he thinking, so undemocratic of him.

Rothko

blanch152 wrote: »

Some people just don’t like a successful gay son of an immigrant, do they?

That's a horrible thing to say. Can you quote some posts on this thread to back it up?

Don't worry, I don't expect you to reply.

smurgen

Phoebas wrote: »

Why? It was all agreed and signed off on.

No it was not.

Galwayguy35

stockshares wrote: »

Rte news is a farce.

11 o clock radio bulletin just now reported on 3 stories but none of these were related to Irish news.

1st story
UK lockdown

2nd
Aussie Covid situation

3rd
USA election

RTE wouldn't know the meaning of the word impartial, its laughable when they accuse the likes of Fox News of it when American politics is discussed.

Luckily there are people like Richard Chambers who dig around for the facts of a story.

I'm going to hold off hanging Varadkar out to dry yet but it doesn't look good for him at the moment.

Peter Flynt

Is Varadkar using his office to ingratiate himself with young gay men?

Could that be the advantage he is gaining?

Floppybits

joemurt wrote: »

You don't know? WOW.

Don't you know Maryanne only gets her news from RTE or print media excluding the village magazine. All online media is not authentic.

Cute Hoor

Sleety_Rain wrote: »

Am incorrect in saying they have stated he has broken the law and the national secret act?

It is a blatant attempt to smear him!

As far as I can see everything they posted is fact, and I presume they have all the whatsapps messages. Has he not 'broken the law and the national secret act', it will be very interesting to watch him defend that before the wigged one.

I Am The Law

Peter Flynt wrote: »

the general public gave Leo FGs worst election result since 1948 just 8 months ago.

They don't like him.

Even FG ordinary members do not support him.

And only got elected on the 5th count himself, worst result of a sitting Taoiseach.

McMurphy

Sleety_Rain wrote: »

Am incorrect in saying they have stated he has broken the law and the national secret act?

It is a blatant attempt to smear him!

They said "might" have broken legislation.

As I said, would you like to make a bet Leo won't open the pandora box of mounting anything legal against the village magazine?

The village seem to know exactly what they are at here, Leo been hoisted by his own petard

Man with broke phone

The bag of cash Direct Provision message is something that will return to the fore.

Melanchthon

mr_edge_to_you wrote: »

I'd say your right. People were saying yesterday "why hasn't anyone come out backing him publicly?".

1) in recent times politicians have come out swinging in defence of colleagues, only to realise that it was pointless given there was to run on a story.

2) it seems that The Village have nothing more add to this story

3) although I'm still confused, Leo did give a fairly comprehensive statement yesterday to which The Village had little to add to.

4) based on recent opinion polls, none of the government partners want to even consider an election at this time.

5) the particular issue isn't one that affects the greater population. A bunch of people who charge the working person €60 for a 10 minute consultation. In the overall scheme of things, it matters little to me.

He may be able to ride it out but his reputation is damaged and secondly, the PR exercise today needs to be on point. If you're still explaining on Tuesday, you're in trouble. At which point, copy and paste....."the matter has become a distraction to the important task of government at this time"

Good post, I am no fan of Leo at all but this is a story that seems like it would normally be completely survivable for an Irish politician.

Against this though is a number of factors.

- Leo has screwed over his partners multiple times, Stephen Donnoly in particular must be annoyed with him and there is many more.

-Micheal Martin had to loose two ministers for what were for Irish politics fairly minor offences, why would he expend capital on somebody not in his party.

- Varadkar (and Coveneys) popularity I think is grossly overestimated in the official Irish media, both of them preformed far poorer in their dail elections where it actually matters than the coverage of opinion polls in the times and Indo would have had you believe.

- SF are waiting in the wings a party outside the cosy group of Irish politics, both Greens and FF know that at the minute they seem to be acting in FG strategic interests and need to differentiate themselves, notice the way many thought Phil Hogan would survive because they read the political landscape as the same as the 2000's.
If FG collapse the government to defend Varadkar it would be a big mistake, having the election happen because FG's leader can't take criticism for being nepotistic is a terrible narrative and only benefits SF.

Bubbaclaus

McMurphy wrote: »

Leo Varadkar came out and verified the story, and in the same breath tried to say it was defamatory (how can something you yourself verify be defamatory?)

Would you like to wager here and now - to a charity of your choice that Leo will not dare to even attempt to launch a legal challenge against village?

Something can be both verified and defamatory.

For example, somebody could say that Mr McMurphy was seen running away from a playground with a scared looking child and has not been seen since.

McMurphy could verify the story that he did indeed run away from the playground with a child, but that the child was his son and he was running to get out of the rain.

Baggly

Mod

Joemurt unthreadbanned after discussion via pm.

Truthvader

Sleety_Rain wrote: »

Looks like the Village are done here, unless Paddy Cosgrave is going to fund a legal defence.

A defamatory attempt to down a Tánaiste for trying to seal a deal on a government policy...in the midst of a national emergency/ pandemic.

A new low.

The best part of it all is the general public do not give a flying feck about this

You have Paddy Cosgrave and his pals in the Village peddling this as some massive scoop

Pathetic.

Hoefully , Smith is a creep. Endlessly rooting through other peoples laundry bags hoping to find some little bit of dirt to crow about. Love to see the po faced parasite taken down.

Can't be arsed going in to all this. Believe Leo is a decent and honest bloke who was the best leader we had for years. Dont believe for a second he did anything corrupt even if he did breach some confidentiality rule. Interestingly the Leo haters (mostly Sinn Feiners happy to be led by thugs and charlatans) are shrieking in desparation to "get" Leo. Gotta ask why?

Bubbaclaus

McMurphy wrote: »

They said "might" have broken legislation.

As I said, would you like to make a bet Leo won't open the pandora box of mounting anything legal against the village magazine?

The village seem to know exactly what they are at here, Leo been hoisted by his own petard

The cover of the magazine calls him a lawbreaker and said he breached the official secrets act. No might.

McMurphy

Bubbaclaus wrote: »

Something can be both verified and defamatory.

For example, somebody could say that Mr McMurphy was seen running away from a playground with a scared looking child and has not been seen since.

McMurphy could verify the story the story that he did indeed run away from the playground with a child, but that the child was his son and he was running to get out of the rain.

Troy McClure will be quaking in his boots with the likes of this analogy tbh.

:pac:

Augme

tigger123 wrote: »

Not directed at you, but I think a lot of people who dont like Leo (which they're obviously entitled to do) is clouding their perception of what's happening here, and the political reality of it.

You can say the exact same about people who like Leo though.

smurgen

It was all so public that on 17/04 GP's were wondering where the contract documents were. Any politician defending a leak of confidential legal document isn't fit for government it's that simple. It is a black and white matter. The reason? Because contracts and legal agreements are subject to change until they're signed by all parties involved. The devil is in the detail. And if this wasn't the case here how come Leo wrote subject to amendments/changes on the covert of the documents he delivered to his friend?

https://twitter.com/andyjjordan1/status/1118604334688866304?s=19

Melanchthon

Truthvader wrote: »

Can't be arsed going in to all this. Believe Leo is a decent and honest bloke who was the best leader we had for years. Dont believe for a second he did anything corrupt even if he did breach some confidentiality rule. Interestingly the Leo haters (mostly Sinn Feiners happy to be led by thugs and charlatans) are shrieking in desparation to "get" Leo. Gotta ask why?

It doesn't really matter what your arsed with though, this story has legs, of course SF and other party supporters are happy about this, it damages FF if they don't do anything about it and it damages FG if they pull the plug on the coalition on this issue.
It's a win win.

Galwayguy35

Truthvader wrote: »

Hoefully , Smith is a creep. Endlessly rooting through other peoples laundry bags hoping to find some little bit of dirt to crow about. Love to see the po faced parasite taken down.

Can't be arsed going in to all this. Believe Leo is a decent and honest bloke who was the best leader we had for years. Dont believe for a second he did anything corrupt even if he did breach some confidentiality rule. Interestingly the Leo haters (mostly Sinn Feiners happy to be led by thugs and charlatans) are shrieking in desparation to "get" Leo. Gotta ask why?

I remember in the mid 00s people saying what a stand up guy Bertie was and we know how that ended.

I don't understand why anyone would immediately jump to the defence of a politician when none of us know what happens behind the scenes.

Bubbaclaus

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Because he did :pac:

He has literally admitted to it

No he hasn't. Can you point out where he has admitted to breaching any part of the Official Secrets Act? Why are people making things up?

s1ippy

Melanchthon wrote: »

Good post, I am no fan of Leo at all but this is a story that seems like it would normally be completely survivable for an Irish politician.

Against this though is a number of factors.

- Leo has screwed over his partners multiple times, Stephen Donnoly in particular must be annoyed with him and there is many more.

-Micheal Martin had to loose two ministers for what were for Irish politics fairly minor offences, why would he expend capital on somebody not in his party.

- Varadkar (and Coveneys) popularity I think is grossly overestimated in the official Irish media, both of them preformed far poorer in their dail elections where it actually matters than the coverage of opinion polls in the times and Indo would have had you believe.

- SF are waiting in the wings a party outside the cosy group of Irish politics, both Greens and FF know that at the minute they seem to be acting in FG strategic interests and need to differentiate themselves, notice the way many thought Phil Hogan would survive because they read the political landscape as the same as the 2000's.
If FG collapse the government to defend Varadkar it would be a big mistake, having the election happen because FG's leader can't take criticism for being nepotistic is a terrible narrative and only benefits SF.

Add to that, what collapsed the government eight months ago is that they wouldn't do the vote of no confidence for Simon "schoolboy" Harris when he made a dog's dinner of the health system. This was just after not voting no confidence for Murphs the housing dude.

Shambles after shambles with FG and it's just not going to fly this time. The brazen cronyism, illegal dissemination of information and exploitation of those in society who need to be protected is sickening.

In a way, it's a relief now that there is a coalition and a strong opposition. If Leo had managed to salvage the remnants of his party and had actually won the election, he'd be able to say "I'm not leaving" and continue to rule in that blueshirt, fascist manner he loves. But it's not going to be up to him and those whose decision it is have absolutely no love lost with him.

He's 100% gone. I'll post nudes if he's still Táiniste by the end of lockdown.

smurgen

Truthvader wrote: »

Hoefully , Smith is a creep. Endlessly rooting through other peoples laundry bags hoping to find some little bit of dirt to crow about. Love to see the po faced parasite taken down.

Can't be arsed going in to all this. Believe Leo is a decent and honest bloke who was the best leader we had for years. Dont believe for a second he did anything corrupt even if he did breach some confidentiality rule. Interestingly the Leo haters (mostly Sinn Feiners happy to be led by thugs and charlatans) are shrieking in desparation to "get" Leo. Gotta ask why?

Can't be arsed so posts nonsense

McMurphy

Bubbaclaus wrote: »

The cover of the magazine calls him a lawbreaker and said he breached the official secrets act. No might.

Leo admitted he did what the magazine accused him of doing, Leos own interpretations of whether or not the rules apply to Leo are irrelevant.

I actually hope he (Leo) does mount a legal challenge, but I'd wager the contents of Leo's y-fronts drawer isn't as clean as it would need to be for that.

There'll be no legal challenge by Leo, bet your months salary on that.

I Am The Law

mr_edge_to_you wrote: »

I'd say your right. People were saying yesterday "why hasn't anyone come out backing him publicly?".


5) the particular issue isn't one that affects the greater population. A bunch of people who charge the working person €60 for a 10 minute consultation. In the overall scheme of things, it matters little to me.

I'm afraid it does affect us all, being in government is not about feathering your nest for yourself and your mates.

Bubbaclaus

McMurphy wrote: »

Troy McClure will be quaking in his boots with the likes of this analogy tbh.

:pac:

It's an extreme example, but helps show why a story can be both verified whilst also highly defamatory.

Bubbaclaus

McMurphy wrote: »

Leo admitted he did what the magazine accused him of doing, Leos own interpretations of whether or not the rules apply to Leo are irrelevant.

I actually hope he (Leo) does mount a legal challenge, but I'd wager the contents of Leo's y-fronts drawer isn't as clean as it would need to be for that.

There'll be no legal challenge by Leo, bet your months salary on that.

I agree, there won't be. But that doesn't change the fact that the Village Magazine went all guns blazing here, there was no "might" involved, as you insinuated.

weldoninhio

BringBackMick wrote: »

That document may have had that marking on it from months before and it was no longer applicable

People here are really desperate by the looks of it for Leo's head

If Leo goes for this then every member of the Dail will have to follow suit bar perhaps a handful

Desperate smear campaign here by angry men like Paddy Cosgrave

Headquarters is really pushing the “angry men” angle.

stayback

I Am The Law wrote: »

And only got elected on the 5th count himself, worst result of a sitting Taoiseach.

Can you explain to me the relevance of getting elected on the 5th count thanks