wtf is going on? Bizzarre
"The bare minimum advertising" ??
I think the words you are looking for are ' statutory requirement'. Did you want a full page in Anglers Monthly?
They say you can't pat your head and rub your belly at the same time, but the amount of concurrent straw clutching and back pedalling going on around the place this morning is quite the feat.
Do you think the council strove to get the best price of the land for the tax payer?
No, as long as the land is disposed of fairly, openly and at fair market price it quite clearly doesn't.
If you think the manner of disposal was illegal that would of course be a problem, but a completely separate one from the one they are banging on about.
Firstly it's not clear there was any corruption.
Secondly, The Ditch's sole purpose seems to be to dig up historic dirt on government TDs. Is there any scrutiny of SF or PBP or any other opposition TDs?
Thirdly, if they have the likes of Paddy Cosgrave as their cheerleader in chief, they're obviously to be avoided at all costs.
But it wasn't disposed fairly if one of the votes to initially sell comes from the partner of the buyer.
I don't get how this part is so problematic for you.
Do we know it was a fair market price? I know when there's only one bidder it's often below market rate.
You seem to know a lot about this story. Do you know how it came to the council's attention in the first place, or was it just an Irish coincidence?
That should not be allowed
Which is a perfectly understandable opinion. However, it is allowed.
Its also definitely not a form of insider trading considering that relies on using non-public information that you are privy to, whereas whatever your views on the morals of it, this was all done pretty much out in the open.
I just googled "The Ditch" "Sinn Fein". Maybe you should stop assuming?
Unless of course, it's discovered that Collins proposed the sale of the land to the council?
Because the connection makes no logical sense and has the causal relationship all wrong. She wasn't the buyer at the time of the vote, and there was zero guarantee she ever would be. She had, at the time of the vote, zero legal standing in terms of the property and she had zero legal standing after the vote as well.
I know bugger all about the story beyond what I've had the misfortune to read in the Ditch.
The whole issue is about the manner of the disposal of state owned land. I think I'm wasting my time replying to such nonsense as it ain't getting through.
There only has to be the potential not a guarantee
I can't see how it would make a difference legally.
This is a classic case of something smelling a bit dodgy but which on further analysis is legally perfectly sound if morally questionable. That's why other media didn't publish stories on it - they actually run these things past editors. The reporting now is more focused on thr political fallout which is something they can aftually report on. The Ditch furiously going after the angle that he has committed a crime does nothing for their credibility.
The manner of disposal refers to the process of selling. Not the decision to sell.
It is the latter you've been claiming is a crime.
There is no pecuniary gain in being allowed to bid to buy something at the market price. Your financial situation remains unchanged. If the council led process to dispose of the land was corrupt that is a completely separate issue to the original vote and you've been consistently referencing thr wrong legislation.
https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2023/04/25/collins-statement-on-property-bought-by-his-wife-has-not-addressed-all-the-questions/
Mainstream media were just waiting on Collins himself to surface, before they saw fit to row in. In essence that's only fair. Everyone is deserving an explanation. Over to the Dail now to see how this develops this week, and how the opposition is in landing any blows.
I think he'll survive but this will hang over him come the election. Looking at FF's position in the polls he could struggle to get re-elected.
Yeah there's absolutely no bias directing their investigations
None at all
Maybe there is bias but they are asking legitimate questions that need to be answered. Or would you rather none of this was brought to voters attention?
Watch them goalposts shift lol
He'll survive it, as will the government, because when the facts are laid out in a clear and obfuscated manner the story loses pretty much all it's juice.
I don't think anyone has an issue with questions being asked.
But I think everyone would prefer the story was presented accurately. A publication of facts, rather than a publication of a desired narrative.
The Ditch are being deliberately obtuse here, for example their tweet about the minutes from 2007 last night was deliberately trying to suggest they'd found evidence that Collins' lied about his presence in 2007, completely ignoring the fact that Collins has never denied he was part of the 2007 vote and that the 2007 vote wasn't a vote to sell it to his wife.
This is what separates media you can take at face value from Paddy Cosgrave's blog.
Ohh i dont care what stories they break, if someone did something wrong they should be held to account but im fed up of people trying to pretend there's some noble purpose behind the ditch when its simply and only all about paddy cosgraves pathetic narcissism
The real story here is how a glorified blog and a bot army can be used to influence public discourse in Ireland. And who is funding this; why they are funding this, and are they being influenced by the security services of other States.
Completely incorrect.
"Material interest" actually means owner or part owner of the lands already, or adjoining lands for which values would be affected. This crops up all they time with part 5 housing declarations and in the past with section 97 applications.
A prospective purchaser cannot have a "material interest" in lands
There's an obvious conflict of interests. It's quite clear he's using his position to aid himself economically.
At the very least his judgement needs to be question and reprimanded.
It may not as bad as some want it to be but it's certainly not nothing like you seem to want it to be.
I remember hearing about another TD who advised his family to buy certain distressed assets and land during the crash (2011/2012). It seems someone in the bank was telling him what was available and what might be accepted. I should send his name into the Ditch for investigation even though he lost his seat in 2020.
It’s in the “inappropriate but not illegal” category. I also agree that it should be illegal but based on my reading of the law, including the extensive lists of beneficial and declarable interests, it’s not currently illegal.
The accusation was
"Secondly, The Ditch's sole purpose seems to be to dig up historic dirt on government TDs. Is there any scrutiny of SF or PBP or any other opposition TDs"
A simple, quick Google proved that to be completely false. You're just twisting the argument.
In fairness, the modus operandi of the heavy hitters in terms of viewership, readership and listenership of our mainstream media is driven by trying to either discredit or dig up dirt on Sinn Féin. When they aren't doing this they are using Sinn Féin to deflect from Government failures or corruption. RTÉ, The Irish Independent and The Irish Times are shamefully bias in their journalism and are essentially PR for the government at this stage, we've moved into dangerous territory in terms of journalistic standards here but that's for another conversation.
The fact that we now have some small e-publications with what appear to be very good investigative journalists is hardly something to complain about even if their sole purpose is dig up historic dirt on government TD's, however, it isn't. They do a lot of work in terms of trying to highlight the wrongs of policy and improve living standards for the individual. They aren't even pro Sinn Féin, here's a recent piece by them "Illegally converted apartment among Sinn Féin finance director, ard comhairle member's 10 rental properties".
I applaud them for what they are doing, finally a bit of "journalism" rather than the daily FFG puff pieces that's being rammed down our throats by RTÉ and the other usual suspects.
The rest of us plebs have to follow codes of conducts in our jobs. Elected officials only need to avoid outright illegality in theirs...
No im not, cosgrave might get them to sprinkle in a bit of non FF/FG stories but its plainly obvious from his own words if nothing else that he has specifically directed them to go after FG and FF due to his internalised small man syndrome. If FG all those years ago had acquiesced to his absurd demands for the web summit like giving him a garda escort etc the ditch wouldn't exist. The supreme irony is if they gave what he was asking for back then to somebody today paddy and the ditch would be up in arms about corruption and government favours etc, hes just a narcisstic hypocrite who wasnt told "no" enough as a child.
Legally it is nothing though.
I think it represents at the very least poor political judgement and naivety about how it could be represented. He didnt even need to vote, so its also possible hes just a bit dim. I'm sure he'll face some degree of punishment from the electorate if he decides to run again.
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