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IN STATE PAPERS released this week, the Irish Embassy in Washington goes into detail about a visit from an RTÉ crew to record a number of news segments about the immigration issue for Irish people in the US.
Although the embassy considered the trip a success, it did also express concern about the RTÉ crew’s “tendency to act on impulse” and its “apparently somewhat cavalier [attitude] about keeping appointments”.
In its note to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the embassy noted the efforts it had to go to in order to make sure the RTÉ crew, led by Gerry Reynolds, had everything it needed and was able to get around on schedule.
The news segments were subsequently inserted into RTÉ news programmes.
The embassy said: “As far as their visit to Washington in concerned, the ambassador outlined the government’s concerns, priorities and activities on the immigration issue.”
It also arranged interviews with US politicians, including Ted Kennedy. It appears the embassy went to some efforts to persuade Kennedy to do the interview.
In relation to Senator Kennedy, as you know he has been reluctant in the past to give interviews to the Irish media and the interview he agreed to give to Reynolds was secured on the basis of considerable investment of time and energy by the embassy.
It was noted that the embassy arranged accreditation and access by the embassy and “also rebooked their connecting flights to New York when it turned out that their timetable was slipping that afternoon”.
As part of their interviews they came across a man named Hugh O’Brien, a Clontarf man who was assistant commissioner for the US border control.
“The RTÉ crew were taken by the fact that the native Dubliner was now effectively head of the border control,” the embassy said.
The Irish Embassy said that the trip appeared to be successful from Reynolds’ and RTÉ’s point of view, and it was also successful in giving the government’s case on the matter.
This was no easy task, the embassy said:
This entailed a considerable amount of management by the embassy, the more so since in New York, where the crew concentrated largely on meeting the out of status Irish, they had a tendency to act on impulse and were apparently somewhat cavalier about keeping appointments.
It raised concerns that, as it understood what was filmed to air in four to five-minute segments, “there is always the problem of a lack of balance in any one segment”.
“Arguably a single, say 30-minute piece, would be a better representation of the issue,” it said before acknowledging that what Reynolds had filmed should allow him to make a series which “ought to be informative and balanced over the five nights”.
Another concern raised was in one interview that Reynolds did where an immigration official gave an answer that was “ambiguous, and on the face of it, ran somewhat counter to what the INS have been saying to the embassy on this matter in recent months”.
The embassy added that it should really contact Reynolds and seek to “clarify the issue of statistics”.
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I suddenly really like Taylor Swift.
@Banana Rama: Me too. She had been annoying me a bit but now I really like her again.
@Veronica:
And the fickle circle of celebrity fandom is complete
@DarkHorse: Indeed.
@DarkHorse: what have you done for humanity? Please we’re all ears.
@Deborah Behan:
Strange question seen as I haven’t criticized Ms Swift
@DarkHorse: I dont think Deborah understood
Taylor swift has annoyed me for a while now but she has been really brilliant throughout this whole situation. The fact that she only countersued for a dollar and then made a charitable donation says a lot about her character. Fair play!
@Laura Walsh: Says a lot about her bank balance also…well done Taylor. That fella must be a right sleaze
@p kilgannon: she does state in the article she is aware that she is not like most victims in that she could shoulder the huge cost to defend herself
Well done to Taylor Swift. Stopping a potential Jimmy Saville, how many women would not be in a position to go after a creep like this.
She’s worth a lot more than $44m. Her property portfolio alone is almost $100m. Conservative estimates put her at $300m.
@OU812: What? she’s successful? How dare she!
And she’s from a comfortable background? Well, that’s just totally unacceptable to a begrudger like me!!
@David Murphey: gimp
@Alan O’Rourke: Wha’?
@Alan O’Rourke: why are you calling him that name ? He was being sarcastic and pointing out her wealth has nothing to do with getting assulated. She admits herself that she was privileged to be in a position to defend and countersue
@David Murphey:
I’m not quite sure what you’re on about & suspect you are too.
@Alan O’Rourke: Name calling like a child in a playground. I’m embarrassed for you.
@Ian Walsh: lolz
He can fondle my buttocks for half a million.
@Pat Troy: I’d say you might have to pay him the half a million though. Taylor Swift on the other hand only countersued him for one dollar. ( only after he tried to sue her ). She only wanted vindication and justice!!
@Catherine Sims: well she doesn’t need the money in fairness..
@Toon Army: She never looked for money and it wasn’t about money but if if hadn’t been for her money this mans actions would probably have gone unchecked .
@Catherine Sims: lol
@Catherine Sims: you really hurt my feelings.
Mariska Hargitay is still playing Olivia Benson as the show is still running. She is Jayne Mansfields daughter too.
Have to say she handled this whole episode with class right from the word go and the charitable donation was the icing on the cake. Still doesn’t alter the fact that her music is absolute pop pap crap tough.
@Emmet Dillane: You may not like her music but millions of young people do and hopefully it will encourage anyone who is the victim of sexual assualt to come forward now. Women men and children anyone !!!
I’m delighted to see such a shift in attitudes. When I was a teenager it was very common to have auld fellas just slap your ass as you passed them on the street . Gardai would laugh at you if you complained too. The only warning you would get is that the auld fellas used to bless themselves before they did it. Sometimes if gave you the chance to run. That’s what was happening in public regularly!!! That was the 80s. Not all that long ago where it was funny to assault teenage girls. One auld guy didn’t realise I was with my mother one day and she just let rip on him. He got shopping bags full of tins beaten off his head. Then she started on him with the umbrella. No one else would stand up for you though. Horrible times !!!
@Catherine Sims: Blessing himself for his act of fornication that will see him hurled into an inferno upon death had he
Not all men are guilty. Just remember the miscarriage of justice in the Homer Simpson Gummy Bear case
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