Media silence over Niall Collins story

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120520250#Comment_120520250

Some are and some are not. The Independents are not a political party. However, what has happened is that the government is increasingly dependent on them for support in the Dail to such an extent that it has almost become a minority government. That gives the Independents more power than they would have had with a government that had a decent majority.

Regards...jmcc

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120520667#Comment_120520667

I'd leave morality out of it myself.

Too nebulous and almost impossible to agree on.

Code of Ethics with no get out clauses makes more sense.

kaymin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120520071#Comment_120520071

Listen to Primetime which is on now for an explanation on what constitutes a pecuniary interest.

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120513414#Comment_120513414

Have you evidence they were not married in 2007? Wikipedia suggests they married in 2000 but maybe you found sonething contradictory?

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515786#Comment_120515786

I dont know why you keep going on about "spouse" - Spouse means husband or wife. In 2007 there was no formal legal recognition of couples cohabiting.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120521881#Comment_120521881

Wikipedia several days ago was contradictory, saying they were married in 2010. Its a somewhat bizarre element of the story.

Suppose there is a lesson in there not to take things on Wiki at face value.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120521916#Comment_120521916

The Local Authority Act itself designates a spouse as a cohabiting couple for the purposes of the act. Which is indeed confusing.

Not that it matters ultimately in this case.

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120518090#Comment_120518090

What codes of conduct do The Ditch have to follow? Mainstream media would have many rules and regulations to follow. Yet the ditch can circumvent that and throw anything up. If this is all about the ethics of elected officials we should also be looking at ethical and regulated journalism too.

The bots pretty much disappeared yesterday. It's really interesting to see how a dying website like twitter can still be gamed to give the impression that a scandal is unfolding. I think this story has revealed more about the backing and motiviation of the Ditch than it has anything else. Links to Russia is surely the first thing to be examined.

elefant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120522006#Comment_120522006

If anything it's easier to game now - for 8 dollars you get to the top of the pile!

timmyntc

When in doubt, blame the Russians

Jesus wept

elperello

https://twitter.com/RT_India_news/status/1645101414572498945/mediaViewer?currentTweet=1645101414572498945&currentTweetUser=RT_India_new

How many Irish websites have a former co proprietor working for RT ?

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120522006#Comment_120522006

Much more likely SF tbh.

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120522145#Comment_120522145

How many Irish websites have a former co proprietor working for RT ?

Lol I think that says it all

kaymin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120521916#Comment_120521916

No it doesn't. This has been covered multiple times already.

kaymin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120521981#Comment_120521981

The same could be said for your posts!

What specific rules and regulations are mainstream media subject to that the Ditch is not subject to?

Quitelife

Looking at todays Independent.

Niall collins was on Limerick County council who were selling a piece of land that Collins knew his wife whos a doctor was interested in ??

That sounds a bit like conflict of interest to anyone, then it seemed to go from medical use to housing use which also seems a bit off?

Too many councillors not just Collins seem to be involved in land deals /property purchases which can make rich people out of family & Friends & Donors !!

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120521916#Comment_120521916

Semantics. Damage is done.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120522370#Comment_120522370

I would imagine it is rife. We have needed reform and oversight of local government for decades now but FFG will not implement it. The Public Sector Standards Bill 2015 was deliberately stalled.

Cluedo Monopoly

Council chamber secrets: Misconduct, falsehoods & waste (rte.ie)

Council chamber secrets: Misconduct, falsehoods and waste

A new era of accountability in local government was promised ten years ago, but has yet to be delivered.

RTÉ Investigates has looked at each local authority and highlighted certain issues, including allegations of fraud, corruption, waste of public money, mismanagement, and lack of oversight and accountability.

Local government was a key focus of the Mahon Tribunal's work. The public was promised that political reform in this sector would be swift and emphatic.

In 2015, the prospect of ethics law reform was on the political agenda when a proposed piece of legislation, the Public Sector Standards Bill, was presented to the Dáil.

Under this legislation, a new Office of Public Sector Standards Commissioner was proposed, in addition to various other reforms that had been initially recommended in the Mahon Tribunal.

The commissioner would have the power to initiate investigations, even in the absence of a complaint. (Currently, the Standards in Public Office Commission can only initiate inquiries upon receiving a complaint.) It would also have powers to impose fines.

"For the first time, a uniform framework of ethical regulations will apply at national and local level in Ireland," said Brendan Howlin, the then-Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, in a Dáil debate in January 2016.

"There will now be a consistency of approach to ethical obligations across the public sector and, in a new departure, overarching integrity principles for public officials will be enshrined in legislation."

Of course, all of this sounded promising. But progress on the legislation later ground to a halt.

In August 2017, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe wrote to the Oireachtas Finance Committee to warn that it was "essential that the Committee now quickly moves" to schedule the completion of thecommittee stage of the proposed legislation.

Mr Donohoe said that this was necessary because of the "public interest in implementing the recommendations" of the Mahon Tribunal.

But this request had little impact.

The delays continued, and once the 2020 General Election was called, the bill died.

As John Devitt of Transparency International Ireland put it, "Turkeys don't vote for Christmas."

"And politicians are not inclined to want more meaningful or thorough oversight."

--------------------------------------------

That bill will never ever be passed while FFG are in charge. SIPO will never get the powers it needs.

That's New Politics FG style. All talk...

Quitelife

It seems been a councillor involves a modest salary even if it went from 18K to 30K recently & then your expenses.

The most powerful part of the Councilor gig though is been able to zone land - sell land - buy properties for the council. All these acts involve lots of money and can make people very rich and maybe they might look after the councillor to have them onside?? These people could also be Family ?? FRiends ?? or people who pay donations to the Councillor or their party??

The whole thing is wide open to bribery !!

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120522302#Comment_120522302

NUJ ethical codes

Press Council Regulation

Press Ombudsman regulation

I am not claiming to be an investigative journalist here

Quitelife

Be interesting to see what impact this will have on Collins in next Election.

Limerick County which is normally old school FG - FF carve up elected Richard O Donoghue (13%) Independent last time out whos very active & Passionate about his constituencey. Niall Collins (18%) was the Fiana Fail seat & Patrick O Donovan (20%) was the FG td elected in the 3 seater. Both of them seem to focus on their own areas of the county or the rich supporters of their party .

Sinn Fein came 4th last time with 15% of the FP vote and if their to pick up a seat next time O Donoghue would probably be most vunerable but County Limerick has been hit hard with closures of services in particular with Garda stations closed in nearly all towns leading to lots of crime and whilst theres lots of dairy farmers to vote FG & FF others particulary the young might jump ship reducing the FG / FF votes .

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120522370#Comment_120522370

That sounds a bit like conflict of interest to anyone, then it seemed to go from medical use to housing use which also seems a bit off?

She bought land, her intention of what to do with it is irrelevant. The sale was not tied to its use. That is an issue for the planning department.

kaymin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120522478#Comment_120522478

The Ditch is subject to the Press Ombudsman Regulation. I haven't checked the others - perhaps you could do some checking before posting false claims next time.

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120522088#Comment_120522088

And, naturally, SF. (Trump and the Russians having been mentioned already.) Some of the conspiracy theories being floated to protect Collins are quite funny. The legacy media had been avoiding the story for almost a week after The Ditch broke it. Rather than the story being neutralised, the story is dragging on for the second week and into a polling period for the RedC poll. The damage to FF and to FFG has been done and the story has legs.

The FFG government hired many people from the media as special advisors. They should have seen the potential for damage with this story. FG was, according to reports, upset by the 8% collapse in support to 15%. FF is probably waiting to see if its RedC support slips below 15%. The evictions ban decision was probably responsible for the FG collapse in the B&A poll but the Collins story just keeps the focus on the sheer gombeenery of FFG. The problem for FFG is that journalists in the legacy media will be doing some digging to see if there are similar stories for other FFG politicians. For long-time observers of Irish politics, it is really funny to see FG supporters on Social Media having to defend FF politicians. One would almost think that FF and FG are the same party these days.

Collins didn't appear on Primetime last night but FF sent a representative for the VMTV Tonight show.

Regards...jmcc

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120522710#Comment_120522710

Yesterday you told us that the media will swarm when there's a potential story, that's what they do.

Today it's the media avoided this story.

Hard to keep up with your flip-flopping, who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Nobody has blamed Russians, Trump or SF either, though you're fully aware of this. All 3 were mentioned in this thread, none were blamed. The fact that we're now at the stage of deliberately misrepresenting points to try change the subject surely suggests there really wasn't as much meat on the bone on this story as initially presented.

kaymin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120522737#Comment_120522737

Jeez this is pathetic. The poster wrote 'The legacy media had been avoiding the story for almost a week after The Ditch broke it.' - which is true. And now they are swarming all over the story. Exactly as the poster stated yesterday and which is also true.

And no, it surely doesn't suggest there wasn't meat on the bone. The Russians and SF have repeatedly been referred to on this thread as the basis for the Ditch reporting on this - you're being pedantic as regards whether that constitutes assigning blame or not. Your nit-picking is surely a sign you have little defence left!

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120522793#Comment_120522793

The Russians and SF have repeatedly been referred to on this thread as the basis for the Ditch reporting on this

No, they haven't. Consistently throughout this thread Paddy Cosgrave's tantrum toward the government has been put forward as the basis for their reporting of this, and the motivation for them to omit facts and not present the full story.

SF were mentioned in the context of The Ditch being Pro-SF (which they clearly are, I doubt anyone is still going to deny that one), Trump was mentioned in the context that this media model of presenting half the truth and spun facts, then bumping it on social media with attacks on the MSM is very Trump-ian. And Russia was mentioned because The Ditch was set up by a known Russian shill who works for Russia Today, and in this context it was referenced as a clear indicator as to the character of people we are talking about here. None were blamed.

So far, we've gone from Niall Collins committed a crime, to Niall Collins not committing a crime. We went from a legal issue to a moral one. Then we went from Niall Collins voted to sell land to his wife, to Niall Collins actually not being involved in selling land to his wife. We went from the suggestion that his wife got a deal by using Collins influence, to the fact that the land was sold on the open market to the highest bidder. We learnt that the engineer recommended it be sold at the price it was sold.

We discovered that after all, Niall Collins had no impact on who bought this land, and he had no impact on how much they paid. Compared to how this original story was presented, the significance of it has literally tumbled off a cliff.

Which is probably why we're now at the stage of deflecting onto something else by misrepresenting the contents of this thread, suggesting that criticism of this piece was led by conspiracy theories and cranks.

Flaneur OBrien

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120522902#Comment_120522902

Can you link to a pro SF piece? I can link you to pieces that exposed SF if you'd like, but I'd really like to see one of their pro SF pieces.