wtf is going on? Bizzarre
The electorate have been informed about Michael Lowry for 30 years, and he still topped the poll every time he ran, so don’t be naive.
They have had a few stories about Collins including his planning permission shenanigans. This adds to that. Collins behaviour is not appropriate for a politician or anyone else. He has not been fired but the electorate will be better informed next time, that is important.
No it doesn’t, not by a long shot. It shows that they have lost their focus and are now publishing any crap that comes their way. Had they done their research they would have seen that Collins, according to the FOI, played a minuscule part in the sale of the property by the CoCo. Again, I would refer you to the latest piece on the Ditch about an “Ex Fine Gael TD” who sold a nursing home last year, the guy hasn’t been a TD since 2002. Is that a relevant story in political corruption? If not, why make such a big deal about the fact that the guy is an ex FG TD? Stories like that don’t make the Ditch relevant, it makes them look like they are scraping the bottom of the barrel and trying to go to any length, no matter how tenuous, to link the political parties to wrong doing.
That is not relevance, I’ve posted it before here, you are their target audience, you believed the insinuations and allegations about Niall Collins and even though they have subsequently been shown to be paper thin, you think it is relevant, it isn’t. They should focus on real corruption, do their research before they publish, and try not to discredit what good they have done before.
The only squeeling and gnashing seems to be coming from people like yourself who are happy that the ditch is going after people you don't like and refuse to see the motives behind those who fund the ditch should be questioned, basically saying the ends justify the means which is pretty childish and very shortsighted.
100% it's actually mighty.
FFG have blocked reform for a long time. The Public Standards Reform bill 2015 is inexplicably gathering dust and SIPO will never get the powers it needs. Avenues like the Ditch will help.
Politicians and others have been fired due to corruption uncovered by the Ditch, that proves their relevance is beyond question.
Probably true, but let’s hope it’s more weighty than the Niall Collins story, if they keep publishing half assed stories which are found to be nothing more than very minor cases of poor judgement, or are seen as the mouthpiece for a disaffected techbro with a gripe against Irish politicians who wouldn’t bow to his ego, people other than simpletons will start to question the site’s relevance.
Exposing real corruption is good, but this crap just immunises people to the important stuff because it makes the site look vindictive and untrustworthy rather than for the public’s benefit.
Some of the reaction to The Ditch on boards reminds me of the reaction here when staff in the Coombe hospital distributed Covid vaccines to their families, "would you prefer if they went in the bin" was the cry then.
I suspect what is happening here is that many people have benefitted from the Irish culture of cute hoorism in some form and are now lashing out.
To those crying over this, LOL, get used to it, there will be more to come. There are hundreds of thousands of current and retired public and civil servants in this country, many of whom will have had concerns about various practices and who know where the skeletons are buried but were never brave enough to become whistleblowers. Some will now be tipping off The Ditch. The more publicity The Ditch gets, the more tip offs there will be. Deflection tactics, references to Russia or calling Paddy Cosgrave a bollox won't stop this.
There is so much squeeling and gnashing of teeth on the thread.
The Ditch must be doing something right.
But, but, but...............wait till the next election 😄
The accusations about Niall Collins/Ditch article are not in all the papers, Niall Collin’s statement regarding it, and what MM said about it are though. Gavin Reilly explained last weekend why the national papers didn’t run the story and didn’t refer to the Ditches allegations, the allegations are weak as a runny shiite and there would be a risk of legal action.
The Ditch’s article is crap, and they have another turd on their site today about an “ex FG TD” and the sale of a nursing home. The home was sold in 2022, the guy hasn’t been a TD since 2002. If that is your type of journalism, you are their target audience.
Micheál Martin correctly pointed out that it was co-founded by a crank conspiracy theorist who is now working for Russia Today. How is this a conspiracy theory?
Ask again at next election 😉
i think this is a pretty weak attack on Cosgrave. The World Cup was just on there. Still better than the Russian conspiracy theory being pushed by Micheal Martin though. These desperate attacks say it all I think. The Ditch have exposed so much corruption, leading to politicians and others to be sacked, this is causing the government to panic as they don’t know who will be exposed next.
Niall who ?
What a great story. You're saying that your relations don't know FF are corrupt? Finger on the pulse there...😂
That's what the establishment will always do. Their supporters are completely brainwashed and crave the status quo. This story is in all the national papers and yet the messenger is being attacked. I am damn sure FFG will look to destroy the Ditch using foul means in the near future. Nobody challenges the establishment. Martin crossed the line already while ignoring the public service the Ditch did in exposing corruption amongst FF politicians yet again.
Let's see when Collins starts the libel case i.e. never.
But but but but Russia!! Pathetic.
Robert Troy and Damien English were innocent too. I get it. And the ABP guy.
Just had a read of that, was a good piece. Major take away is Paddy, the bastion of free speech and fighter for the oppressed, is holding his next event in Qatar. The mans beyond hypocrisy with his words vs actions.
Was in the pub today with my father-in-law and two of his in-laws. West Cork sorts. All pure dyed-in-the-wool FF men. The first time they've ever heard of Paddy Cosgrave is when Mick Clifford wrote a piece about him today in the Examiner.
The synopsis? Clifford is a blue from Kerry, and the other lad has notions.
That's fair.
But I think it could also be just getting involved in that sphere as it were. Russia relies on this self-reinforcing propaganda that no longer comes directly from them. Basically, I think he's a useful idiot as opposed to a stooge.
That'll never happen of course, as soon as it's onto a loser in the High Court it'll vaporize and Cosgrave will set up another vehicle for his sad ego.
Politicians are public representatives not public servants. And the "ditch" needs to be held accountable to basic journalistic standards. As a plaything of the unhinged Cosgrave it has zero credibility.
There's no way he invited Grayzone to the web summit as a dig to FG. He liked what they had to say plain and simple as it aligns with his conspiracy theory tendancies. It was only after Mrs Zelensky said she wouldn't attend if they were that he canceled his personal invitations to them. Sure the sneaky little fvck hosted them at a private dinner 24 hours after she had left the conference.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
I suspect his affiliations will be the rock he perishes on though, one way or the other.
Perhaps the other media companies are better at hiding their agenda though.
The “facts” in the Ditch article about Collins are not that compelling, and have been shown to either be weak or poorly researched so I think it’s fair to say on the facts presented so far, it is very much a swing and miss.
I don’t know about you, but I hope the media here doesn’t start to go down the road of the US where they are dedicated to attacking politicians on each side, even if what they publish is not factual or accurate. If that is your brand of media, then the Ditch is perfect.
If they keep having misses, they become an irrelevance. There is an article today on it titled about an ex FG TD, the guy was last a TD in 2002, hadn’t been a councillor for 9 years, so why they are trying to give it a political slant is not clear.
Collins case is still in-progress so let's see there.
No it isn't. The story has died a death cause it was blown up nonsense.
I don't think Cosgrave has anything to do with Russia, he is just reflexively anti anything the current government does and that aligns him with them frequently.
Every single media company has an agenda and settling scores is how the world turns. Troy/Walshe/Hyde fought like rats to stay but were forced to step down - so the facts there were obviously good enough. We are better off for knowing what they all thought Irish public servants are entitled to get away with. Collins case is still in-progress so let's see there.
I responded to the question of who The Ditch were answerable to.
Have I given any indication I think the Ditch answerable to me, where?
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