Jude Collins

Thursday 20 October 2011

What, me Fianna Fail?


  

Well, you got to admit he’s a fresh face. Not a face that’s startlingly handsome but then this presidential election was never a beauty contest, was it? No no no. But Sean Gallagher is a face that most of us haven’t seen before. Whereas Michael Higgins, Gay Mitchell, Dana – well, the phrase “a comfortable old shoe” comes to mind.

So let’s check out the front-runner’s qualities.

1.     He’s a criminal. That is to say,  he “breached company law”, which is another way of saying the crime was a business crime, involving a loan from his own company.  Had the law proceeded with full rigour, he would have been fined around €13,000 or sent to jail for five years. Or both. Ouch. Did I mention he’s the front-runner for the Aras?
2.     He was a member of Ógra Fianna Fail in the 1980s
3.     He was political secretary to Fianna Fail minister for health Rory O’Hanlon.
4.     He was Fianna Fail Louth TD Seamus Kirk’s director of elections.
5.     He was a member of Fianna Fail’s  Ravensdale cumann.
6.     He was elected to the Fianna Fail National Executive.
7.     He resigned from the Fianna Fail National Executive in January of this year, but not from the Fianna Fail party.
8.     In his resignation letter he said he wanted “to express my continued support to you and your colleagues in this challenging period for the party”.
9.     He resigned from the Fianna Fail Ravensdale cumann in March 2010.
10.  During the last general election, he appeared on platforms and at launch campaigns with four Fianna Fail candidates.
11.  His presidential campaign team director is Cathal Lee, a former Fianna Fail district councillor.
12.  Two senior advisers from the Fianna Fail-Green government (remember them?) are working on the campaign – Donal Geoghegan, the Greens’ chief adviser when in government and Richard Moore, press adviser to Fianna Fail’s Dermot Ahern for nearly ten years.
13.  His media adviser is Suzanne Collins, a former press officer with Fianna Fail.
14.   Jack Murray is a former press officer for the PDs and he’s giving Gallagher voluntary help.

I haven’t mentioned his business background but it related directly to the property boom.

What brought the south of Ireland, not just to its knees, but into a pit from which it won’t emerge for maybe twenty years? Fianna Fail and the property developers, with more than a little help from the banks. And now the front-runner is a man (see above) with a Fianna Fail record as long as your leg who had business related to the property world and who, had the full rigour of the law been applied, might be in prison.

It’s nice when  a state, after a terrible crisis, can make a fresh start, isn’t it?

16 comments:

  1. From http://www.seangallagher.com/2011/about-sean/:
    Seán has been a sporadic member of Fianna Fáil over many years. He got involved with Ógra Fianna Fáil in Cavan in the 1980s heading up the group for a year. A few years later, when Seán was a professional youth and community worker he was commissioned to write the Government’s first alcohol education programme. This led to Seán working for the then Health Minister Dr. Rory O’Hanlon as his Political Secretary for a number of years. When, in 2007, Seán’s good friend, former Ceann Comhairle Seamus Kirk asked for his help, Seán managed his very successful election campaign in a voluntary capacity and Seamus Kirk topped the poll for the first time in his political career. Subsequently, Seán went on the Party’s National Executive and attended two meetings in 2009. Seán is an independent candidate. He is no longer a member of Fianna Fáil or any political party.

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  2. He should be tarred and feathered, right Jude?

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  3. http://hoboroadpoliticalhighway.blogspot.com/2011/10/sean-gallagher-atttended-ogra-fianna.html

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  4. Seems Gallagher was caught out on the radio about 80 grand that went in to his account on this morning's radio. He claims it was merely "resting". There's a thread about it on P.ie

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  5. Anon 14:24 - your second last sentence is said with a twinkle in your eye, right?

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  6. Anon 15:29 - 'resting' - I thought Father Ted had the copyright on that word?

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  7. http://www.politics.ie/forum/current-affairs/173713-ahern-charges-30k-plus-expenses-attend-2-day-basque-peace-conference.html

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  8. Jude
    Are you not the man so keen to stop talking about candidates past?

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  9. That should be 'candidates pasts' of course.

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  10. Alright then, let us consider the man's present - he's as bald as a bandicoot with "a smile like the silver plate on a coffin" (as O'Connell described Robert Peel). Go on then - defend that.

    I wouldn't trust him to babysit a leprous armadillo.

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  11. Rory Carr
    Bandicoots, unlike non-bandi coots aren't bald.

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  12. Some very good points Jude but you are clearly not from the Republic. No self respecting republican would refer to our nation as 'the south of ireland'. We are Ireland, Republic of Ireland or less favoured is the 'Irish Republic'. Also, the candidate you refer to as Michael Higgins is much more commonly known as Michael D. Higgins or Michael D.

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  13. The south of Ireland isn't 'Ireland' it's the 26 counties. Ireland has 32 counties.I am a self respecting Republican Socialist. I live in Ireland.I dunno what you mean by 'we' in the sentence "We are Ireland, Republic of Ireland or less favoured is the 'Irish Republic." I suspect you are referring to the people who live in what was formerly (and sometimes still is) called the Free State.IMO the 26 counties isn't a nation it's a state.Include me out of your 'we'

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  14. To Anonymous........I am a lifelong republican from the south of Ireland, well really the east of Ireland, now living in occupied Ireland, otherwise known as the north of Ireland and masquarading under the title of "Northern Ireland". Ireland is one of the older names of this country or the "The Irish Republic" is the real name it was given when our right to national independence was declared, it includes all of Ireland. The "Republic of Ireland" is carefully named to accommodate an alternative "Ireland"......so just to be clear the only the only legitimate titles for my country is Ireland or "Irish Reublic" and the President of Ireland is the "President of Ireland" or alternatively the "President of the Irish Republic" and NOT the "President of the Republic of Ireland" as the BBC and other British media and so careful to say.........

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  15. I don't like being anonymous but I'm not great with URL's and I could only post the last comment as anonymous to get it posted. How can I get a recognized URL? Stephen J

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