Media silence over Niall Collins story

Sono Topolino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515142#Comment_120515142

How am I a fanboy of anyone? I got confused by drafting.

kaymin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515158#Comment_120515158

Deleted due to acknowledgement of poster.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515120#Comment_120515120

Fianna Fáil junior minister and ex-county councillor Niall Collins voted to sell council-owned land that was bought by his wife.

Literally the first line of the article.

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515123#Comment_120515123

Well, the Ditch said she was his "wife". They are wrong, she wasn't his wife at the time.

No wonder other media isn't touching this. There may well be something dodgy about this, but so far there seems to be an awful lot of muck-throwing by the Ditch, but much of it isn't true.

He voted to sell the piece of land on the open market, not to sell it to his "wife".

To really answer the question asked by the OP, you need to forget about the particular issue, and ask yourself why the mainstream media ignore stories on a website. To me, the answer is simple, the credibility of the Ditch is the issue.

Ben D Bus

Also being reported in Trinity News now according to their Twitter. Their website is unavailable as overwhelmed with requests!

They're saying he married his wife in April 2000 and not 2010. That would be significant!

I hope TN has done their due diligence and not just reposted whatever the Ditch fed them!

Sono Topolino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515281#Comment_120515281

Full article here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13VWbiGzKPY3slJ5qOyQhJrXkD1avQHs0/view?fbclid=IwAR06uHQhvu_93pFzLrqX5C15NWT1XyPGNp2_670Fk_r_CKYwcJg9ZyPHuXM

That's interesting. It seemed a stretch to me that the Ditch would get a basic fact like this wrong, despite having his marriage certificate on file. Still an intention to acquire property isn't a a declarable or beneficial interest under the Act so he's likely to be in the clear.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515353#Comment_120515353

Good lord that is badly written.

Them being married in 2000 certainly would muddy the water - bizarre that The Ditch would not report on that element themselves though and leave it to TN? No one cares what TN publishes. As you say though, he didn't vote to sell the land to her as the article claims. He voted to put the land up for sale, which is not a semantic difference.

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515353#Comment_120515353

"The Patrickswell site was advertised for sale twice, and the sale was made to O’Connor in August 2008."

This sentence at the heart of the TN article speaks to the problem between the allegation made by the Ditch/TN and the reality of what happened.

If the property was advertised for sale on the open market, then Collins did not vote for the piece of land to be sold to his wife.

Is Paddy Cosgrave still a Zero covid cheerleader ?

Sono Topolino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515515#Comment_120515515

Agreed. I mean the whole thing stinks, and personally I would have recused myself from the meeting if I was him. I never had a high opinion of Niall Collins and this has (marginally) worsened that opinion. However, the fact of the matter is that no crime was committed. Should it be illegal? That's a different question but I would say "yes" - there is an obvious conflict of interest in voting to sell property that you yourself (or a connected person) intend to buy.

Sono Topolino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515691#Comment_120515691

And this value of the kind of reporting that the Ditch is doing can provide. It's good that we, the citizens, know how local councillors can abuse the system to enrich themselves. The fault in this article is that they allege a breach of the law when none occurred. The real scandal is that what Niall Collins did is perfectly legal when it should not be.

Muahahaha

he's certainly a busy man

kaymin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515242#Comment_120515242

Well she is his wife, that is true. What they haven't stated is that she was his wife at the time. And despite explaining multiple times the irrelevence of this whole argument about whether she was / was not his wife, you're still going on about it. What is relevant is if she was his spouse at the time - and you continue to ignore this question posed to you.

'It is a criminal offence, punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment, for a councillor to vote on a matter where his spouse has a material interest.'

Maybe have another read of the Ditch article because the finer details seem to be over your head.

kaymin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515711#Comment_120515711

How do you know it didn't occur? Are you claiming she wasn't his spouse (i.e. cohabiting with him) at the time?

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120513346#Comment_120513346

but they appear to be a one-gear outlet, muck raking and very little else.

This is exactly what they are. The Ditch is 100% Paddy Cosgrave, it's his play thing to have a go at people he doesn't like. All motivated by Cosgrave's bizarre hatred of FF/FG, because back in the day he didn't get what he wanted, and his event left and nobody cared (I think the fact nobody cared / noticed is what upsets him the most).

Occasionally they produce something worthwhile, but the majority of it is low-key garbage. This Niall Collins thing is a relative nothing burger, but they're just trying to throw as much mud as possible and are now playing the "MSM is ignoring this huge story" card.

All media is biased in some way, but The Ditch is completely about damaging FF and FG as much as possible, and less interested in exposing political corruption / incompetence in general. Radio silence, for example, over the SF election accounting issues, or the inconsistent stories regarding their relationship with Jonathan Dowdall. When SF took that English guy's millions and brought it through their accounts in the north so they didn't have to declare it, this was deemed not worth a single mention from The Ditch.

Chay Bowes who used to write for The Ditch, and who broke the Varadkar leak story, now works for Russia Today (I believe he recently sold up his share to Cosgrave). This is after Cosgrave said anyone who suggested that Bowes was a shill for Russian propaganda was just trying to slur his name...

Podge_irl

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

Because

a) I have no idea if they were living together, how would I

b) The Ditch clearly haven't a clue either and are deliberately framing it incorrectly. They noticeably don't mention the word "spouse" once, you are doing a lot of heavy lifting for them to cover up their shoddy practices.

c) Legally it doesn't matter

kaymin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515883#Comment_120515883

a) Because you claimed the Ditch were lying - so you have nothing to back up your statements then.

b) From my reading the Ditch are raising very valid points and questions. They may not know if he was living with her, but it's a question Niall Collins needs to answer.

c) Just because the property was put up for sale on the open market (twice in the Limerick Leader if that could be considered on the open market), doesn't mean the failure of Niall Collins to disclose a conflict of interest is not a criminal offense or that he didn't have a conflict of interest in the first place. I'd also be interested to know about the size of the adverts, who organised the advertisement, who reviewed offers / expressions of interest, why they weren't advertised on more mainstream property channels, NIall Collin's role in all of this etc

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515914#Comment_120515914

They are deliberately framing it as he voted to sell land to his wife. He didn't vote to sell land to any particular person and the person in question wasn't his wife. i.e. they are lying.

He didn't fail to disclose a conflict of interest, he didn't have a conflict of interest (legally at any rate, the politics of it are another matter)

Yurt2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515929#Comment_120515929

Until proven otherwise, I'd lean towards this interpretation. And I don't like Niall Collins by the way. He's sleeveen FF from central casting.

This whole thing smacks of a Paddy Cosgrave tantrum because he's trying to play Kendall Roy with the Irish political system and failing.

Hoboo

.1

Mullaghteelin

Interesting to note the people claiming TheDitch are hardline anti-FF/FG.

Is it that The Ditch simply appears that way when compared to the rest of our media, who are very reluctant to come down too hard on their friends and acquaintances in high places?

A story about Sinn Fein or someone with alleged far-right sympathies, would be fair game. But do not upset the establishment at all costs.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515987#Comment_120515987

They appear that way because they are that way.

If you’re going to push yourself as the voice of the people, asking the questions that other media are too afraid to ask then that’s great.

But if you’re going to be selective about what uncomfortable stories you go after, and you ignore some very obvious stories because they don’t damage the right party, then it’s less journalism and more propaganda.

It’s Paddy Cosgraves tantrum blog really.

mike_cork

https://twitter.com/VirginMediaNews/status/1650537768601391104?t=hk07Az5Io_ldk3P0zIaybw&s=19

Will be interested to see what Virgin say about Collins (out and about at the moment)

kaymin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515929#Comment_120515929

Provide the quote from the Ditch article where they state the land was sold to someone who was his wife in 2006.

And again, you're getting your knickers in a twist over an irrelevance. What matters is if they cohabited at the time.

dontmindme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120514835#Comment_120514835

The point is more that 2006 is eons ago in terms of the pervasion of the internet into daily life

The internet seems to have pervaded to such an extent that you joined boards the following year.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120516355#Comment_120516355

None of it matters. Because he didn't have a beneficial interest anyway.

kaymin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120516412#Comment_120516412

But that's not the test of whether a criminal offense took place

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120516432#Comment_120516432

The only place that test can be applied is in court and that's not going to happen.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120516432#Comment_120516432

What criminal offence?

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120515987#Comment_120515987

The Ditch is 100% set up to target the government parties.

The guy who set it up is now working for Russia Today. Think about that for a second.