Fine Gael TD sues Dublin Hotel after falling off swing

Balanadan wrote: »

I was down in Garryvoe at the weekend and I was HORRIFIED that there were young children using swings UNSUPERVISED!

Even the children have the cop on to realise you need to hold on, don't hold a a capri sun in one hand and a milk in the other while on a swing. Poor Maria needs an adult standing beside her swing to tell her this.

FG didn't know she was doing the radio interview. Now they know she does need adult supervision

So, if I am understanding this correctly...

Maria Bailey went to a friends house and had one glass wine, then when she got to the hotel she bought a cockail and somebody with her bought a bottle of wine.
She went to sit on the swing, and because it was shiny and there was no supervision, she slipped off it as the seat moved when she went to grab the bottle of wine from her friend, with her untouched cocktail in the other hand (presumably admitted because CCTV exists).
The court submitted papers say that she was in hospital the next morning, but she was on TV according to those dates. She has since said that the court submitted papers got the dates wrong (because if they were correct, she would have been committing attempted insurance fraud). She couldn't do anything for 3 months, but went to a concert (but only one of those 'easy-going' concerts, where nobody would have bumped into her, and there was no risk of damage), and then ran in a 10k race.
Then when it becomes public that an elected TD, whose party are currently claiming to tackle 'compo culture' is suing a hotel for failing to sit on a swing that 3 year olds have been able to master for centuries, using the law firm of another Fine Gael TD, she goes on RTE and blames the journalists for printing it, the public (keyboard warriors), declares that she grew up on the sidelines of a GAA pitch and plays fair, and blames everyone else but herself.

I would love to see that CCTV footage. I bet it would teach Neymar a thing or two about falling.

I have probably left out loads. But I think that's the jist.

Simple_Simone wrote: »

Rather like Willie "the perjurer" O'Dea did some years ago!

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/willie-o-dea-will-not-face-perjury-case-prosecution-1.622200

Willie paid out quite a hefty sum in that one. The sickening thing about that one was not what he said about Quinlivan it was that he called a young journalist a liar and would have ruined his career only for the fact the young lad had it on tape.

Haven't read the last few pages but have listened to the interview and follow up comments. She did herself no favours. Any question that would compromise her was turned down. Regina Doherty threw her under the bus in a follow up interview and reading other news sources, Simon Harris has out the boot in too.

They'll need to thread carefully but she could end up out on her ear by the sounds of it. She was so badly prepared for that interview.

Listened to the interview there now.

I think that her main gripe is that her insurance claim was made public knowledge, she would have been perfectly happy if she could fill her boots and everything was kept nice and quiet.

She was told that there would be no publicity before the case was heard in the High Court, bad advice unfortunately for her, maybe she can sue the Solicitors !

Fotish wrote: »

Listened to the interview there now.

I think that her main gripe is that her insurance claim was made public knowledge, she would have been perfectly happy if she could fill her boots and everything was kept nice and quiet.

She was told that there would be no publicity before the case was heard in the High Court, bad advice unfortunately for her, maybe she can sue the Solicitors !

i honestly think madigan is now directly implicated after that interview

at the start of the interview she said it was a closed case so someone had to have leaked the details. Then she does on to say that Michael McDowell and Michael Martin should have known better talking about the case as it was a live case. So which was it ?

seamus wrote: »

I think the impact of this case shouldn't be understated. Yeah, it's a little bit of a joke and a laugh, stupid woman suing because she doesn't know how to use a swing.

But with the information over the weekend that indicated she was very clearly trying on some insurance fraud, and now she's switched to playing the victim, people are generally livid about this. And what Leo does next is going to be seen as Fine Gael's opinion on the matter - if they do nothing, then FG have no problem with insurance fraud. Opinion polls will start going down the swanny, FF will start eying up an election.
If they let her go, then they're making a statement that the sh1tehawkery of the past won't be tolerated any more.

Enda was a grand man for turning a blind eye to this kind of stuff. But Leo "welfare cheats" Varadkar has made anti-fraud and anti-corruption a strong part of their message, and if they don't stick to it they're going to get hammered.

I personally think he's even let it go too soft by saying that he "wants to hear her side" before making a decision. It sounds like he's being reasonable, but at this stage she's already toast. Her side of the story is irrelevant; even if she's been completely wronged on this one and the media have been unfair to her, FG have to let her go. Something less conciliatory like, "The party leadership will meet to discuss the issue" would have sounded better. At the moment he sounds like he wants to give her a chance to stay.

I'd agree. Voted FG last two GEs, but they won't have my vote with this if they allow it to slide. I can excuse some of the other ****e like children's hospital and broadband plan as there's no other good options, but this would be a new low, even for them.

ToBeFrank123 wrote: »

Have any of these cases been referred to the DPP? If not, why not? If they were referred to the DPP and if they faced prison time or a large fine, and it was well publicised, you'd soon see a dramatic drop in fraudulent claims as well as the cost of insurance.

Perjury itself is a separate offence. Someone asked above why the judge didn't send the case to the DPP, and that's because they can't.

A Garda has to investigate the allegation, compile documentary evidence and refer it to the DPP. The DPP then has to try and charge the person with perjury under old common law, because we don't have any explicit crime of perjury on the books. We know this is unlikely to succeed for a variety of factors, so we just don't bother.

Judges and Gardai have been screaming about this since the inception of the state, but governments haven't bothered their hole to do anything about it until now. There's a bill currently making its way through the Seanad, that if approved by the Dáil will make perjury an explicit offence and relatively easier to prosecute.

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

Wow this is car crash stuff, she was probably planning her summer in Disneyland with the pay out and now this looks like the end of her political career.

Lets hope the media now get to the bottom of her 2004 claim against her employer Aer Lingus. Apparantly that time the anti-social hours that she knew in advance she would have to work about and that she signed up to gave her migraines. But instead of finding a 9-5 job like anyone else would she sues them and the rumour is now that she got an out of court settlement of €160,000. Aer Lingus was a loss making semi state at the time so thats literally taxpayers money lining Marias pockets.

seamus wrote: »

Enda was a grand man for turning a blind eye to this kind of stuff. But Leo "welfare cheats" Varadkar has made anti-fraud and anti-corruption a strong part of their message, and if they don't stick to it they're going to get hammered.

Its a very good point, if Leo doesnt act now after that car crash this morning his leadership of the party will have been weakened.

RobertKK wrote: »

FG didn't know she was doing the radio interview. Now they know she does need adult supervision

You see thats why the taxpayer needed to spend €5m a year on Leos spin unit, if they had of been in operation then this would never have happened. Bring back the spinners for they will protect us from the likes of Maria Bailey!

PaulieC wrote: »

at the start of the interview she said it was a closed case so someone had to have leaked the details. Then she does on to say that Michael McDowell and Michael Martin should have known better talking about the case as it was a live case. So which was it ?

she had to stay away from her house for three days last week and at the same time had to work from home for three days.