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THE ISSUE OF former Cork TD Dara Murphy, his attendance and his expenses were raised again in the Dáil today.
There were some rowdy scenes after Leaders’ Questions when Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said it is more than two weeks since former Murphy formally resigned as a Member of the House.
Martin questioned the Taoiseach about what form of inquiry would be launched into Murphy, highlighting that three bodies the Taoiseach suggested should carry out an investigation have all stated it is not under their remit.
The Dáil Ethics Committee determined last week that it cannot investigate the complaint as Murphy is no longer a TD.
Other than the committee, the Standards in Public Office (Sipo), as well as the Clerk of the Dail have stated that they do not have the jurisdiction to investigate.
Murphy, formerly a Cork North Central TD, has faced criticism in recent weeks over reports around his attendance at Leinster House.
The former minister of State has been based in Brussels for the past two years where he has worked as full-time director of elections for the European People’s Party (EPP). Fine Gael is a member of the EPP, a political grouping in the European Union.
Attendance
Questions have been raised about Murphy working in Brussels while also being a sitting TD in the Dáil. Questions have also been raised about how Murphy has been in Leinster House on 24 sitting days out of 70 in the first nine months of 2019 and just 42 of the 104 sitting days during 2018.
Last week, the Taoiseach stated that Murphy is willing to fully comply with any inquiry.
However, Martin stated in the Dáil today that an inquiry can only happen if Murphy agrees to present himself for investigation.
The Fianna Fáil leader said Murphy “effectively retired from serving the people of the north side of Cork approximately two years ago when he accepted a role as campaign manager for the European People’s Party, an appointment on which the Taoiseach congratulated him and wished him well”.
He noted that the Taoiseach has said he will find a way to have an independent investigation into Murphy’s performance of his role as a deputy.
“Given all that the Taoiseach has said on the subject in recent weeks, has he asked his former colleague to refer himself to the Committee on Members’ Interests under that legislation? If not, will he so do?”
There were tetchy barbs between the two leaders as Leo Varadkar chose to answer the question by referring to Fianna Fáil’s Lisa Chambers, Niall Collins and Timmy Dooley who are caught up in the ‘votegate’ controversy relating to TDs voting on behalf of their colleagues.
Discussions with Murphy
“In respect of the former Deputy, Dara Murphy, I am aware the provision exists, and we have had some discussions with him about it,” said Varadkar.
Martin replied:
Did the Taoiseach ask him? I asked a simple question and am entitled to an answer. Did the Taoiseach ask him or not? The Taoiseach has been asked publicly about the matter, as has his party. I am asking him formally in the House whether he has asked Mr. Murphy to avail of the mechanism. It is a “Yes” or “No” question.
“Both I and my advisers have discussed with the former Deputy, Dara Murphy, a number of options as to how an inquiry can be carried out. That is one of the options we have discussed with him and it is still a work in progress. There should be an inquiry and Mr Murphy has agreed to submit to one. He should pay back any expenses if the inquiry finds against him,” said the Taoiseach.
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I wonder would it Pass an NCT
Why it won’t be comming here….?might as well ask if its taxed
Would you really want the guys in NCT test centres putting it up on ramp
The test does not harm a car.the worst is the engine been reved highly for the emissions apart from that the test is a doddle a bit of a shake while they test the links/joints/bushes/shocks etc.
Doubt it would have to do a NCT it would be a vintage by now.
@henry,that’s right anything pre 1980 is test exempt and 52e to tax.I bring in the odd classic from the UK.easy to find a decent one and they require all vehicles to have a mot so road worthy and peace of mind its good.its a very very cheap way of having a second vehicle
Funny how it looks like the car Homer Simpsons designed.
The Homer!
It was going for only 2 million til they found a pair of Catwoman’s knickers under the passenger seat.
Holy handbags that’s alot of wonga ..poow dang wallop
I hear some joker bought it
Yeah he was two faced though
Speed bumps will be the bane of his existence now…
I see what u did there :p
Who didn’t love this car as a kid?! In fairness my favourite batmobile was the one Michael Keaton drove.
He bought it for a dollar and spent 9k dollars doing it up. Tidy profit.
According to the Independent George Barris had a mere 15 days and $15,000 to transform the vehicle into what it was. Also peculiarly the indpendent originally today said that the buyer was a 56 year old Mr Champagne revealed through Reuters, but later say that the winning bidder had not been disclosed! Odd
That’s not the original car! The original car was black with a kinda greyish whietish pinstripe. I saw it on tv when I was about 6 or 7.
That must be the one they used in the movie. That one had the orange stripe ok.
I read up about this a few years ago – apparently it was the same car but the paint job was originally a lot less dramatic, more matt-black, they repainted it the glossy block and red early on so as to look more impressive. Or so I read then…
Nikolas , I bow to your knowledge but I was really alluding to the fact that we only had monochrome TV when I was seven! But seriously though when I went to see Batman the movie I couldn’t get over the colours of things that I knew so well from the TV series. The orange stripe, the blue tinge to the batcape (which meant that the one my gran made for me wasn’t as authentic as I thought :( )
Well Bruce Wayne was stuck for a few bob seeing as Catwoman got his prints who then gave them to your man who gave them to Bane who made a mess in the stock exchange. I saw it in a movie so it must be true…
Holy nama batman
Holy God Robin!
Hold on one sec,so a car ten years old needs an annual nct but a car 30 years old cause its “vintage” doesnt?have I understood that correctly?
Yes
That can’t be right,so I can buy a banger from 1970 or so that’s falling to bits without an nct but my 99 bora needs an nct to be roadworthy?ah here leaaaavvvee irrrrrr ouhhhhh,that nct is a scam pure and simple
You’ll probably find it’s cheaper to run a 99 car than one from 1970, even with the NCT, when you consider the cost and rarity of replacement parts and how unreliable such an old car would be. But you’d have the satisfaction of laughing at the rest if us who fell for the scam.
There were eight of them I think, and three still survive. This must be one of the three.
That the first one nikolas
Is it? They made the body of the car by adapting the Futura, then made a mold of the body and created eight fibre-glass bodies, and then cars. They tended to get wrecked during filming. They all can be justifiably called original. It’s a lovely idea that there was “one” batmobile, but it’d be almost impossible to prove that this is the “original” original, given that all 8 were made from and repaired with stock parts and empty paint cans that were lying around the workshop.
Holy utility belt
have your say