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LAST UPDATE | 27 Jun 2023
RTÉ HAS SAID that “no member” of its executive board other than former Director General Dee Forbes would have been aware that the “publicly declared figures for Ryan Tubridy could have been wrong”.
In a nine-page statement released this evening by the Interim Deputy Director-General Adrian Lynch, the broadcaster has attempted to explain the timeline leading to its underreporting of payments worth €345,000 to Late Late Show presenter Tubridy.
“No member of the RTÉ Executive Board, other than the Director General, had all the necessary information in order to understand that the publicly declared figures for Ryan Tubridy could have been wrong.”
However, the statement added that Forbes has not had the opportunity to respond to the details set out in its statement and may “therefore challenge or disagree with our understanding and position”.
Lynch’s statement said that external legal advice has been received that arising from the findings of a review by accountants Grant Thornton, that there was “no illegality and payments were made pursuant to an agreed contract” by the parties involved.
It added that the Grant Thornton review “makes no finding of wrongdoing” on the part of Tubridy in relation to any payments made by RTÉ.
“Ryan Tubridy was not aware of the credit note provided by RTÉ to the commercial partner,” the statement said.
Lynch also stated this evening:
“The former RTÉ Chief Financial Officer left RTÉ at the end of March 2020. Beyond that date the former RTÉ Chief Financial Officer had no further involvement in any of these arrangements.”
The fallout to the scandal continued elsewhere throughout the day.
It was confirmed that Forbes herself will not be attending a meeting of the Oireachtas Media Committee due to health reasons.
Culture Minister Catherine Martin confirmed an external review of RTÉ’s culture and governance which she hopes to secure Government approval for this week.
TDs and senators are preparing to question RTÉ management on the underreporting of payments at separate Oireachtas committees this week.
Earlier, RTÉ staff gathered for a protest to voice their frustration with management in the wake of the controversy over the payments.
Here’s how the day unfolded on The Journal’s liveblog on the controversy.
Good morning.
Five days after RTÉ revealed that it publicly understated Ryan Tubridy’s earnings by €345,000 since 2017, many questions are still circling about how the discrepancy came to be and how the broadcaster plans to move forward.
The RTÉ Board has said it will publish “as much as possible” of the external review into the undisclosed payments that was carried out by Grant Thornton, but that payments made from 2017-2019 are still being reviewed by the advisory company and so will not be included.
It said a “comprehensive” statement will be issued this afternoon “setting out its understanding of the circumstances” around payments made to Tubridy in the 2020-2022 period.
This afternoon will also see some RTÉ staff protest at 1pm.
The branch of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) representing RTÉ employees called the protest, encouraging supporters to attend and bring placards.
In a statement, the union said it is “acutely aware of the ongoing anger of members and also of the powerlessness that many members are feeling”.
“In response to requests from members the NUJ are calling a lunchtime protest for 1pm tomorrow at the plaza in RTÉ Donnybrook,” the union said.
“This will be an opportunity for NUJ members to stand together and express in unity their anger and the urgent need for answers as soon as possible, for the public and for staff.”
Our reporter Jane Moore has taken a detailed look at at what we do and don’t know about how this situation came to be.
Who knew about the payments made to Ryan Tubridy, and who approved them? Why did RTÉ underwrite the agreement between Ryan Tubridy and Renault? Why did RTÉ pay €80,000 to use the barter account to pay Ryan Tubridy? What happens next?
Click here to read the full article exploring the questions that RTÉ is facing.
Hello! Jane Moore here. I’ll be bringing you the latest updates on the RTÉ controversy for the rest of the morning.
Cabinet is currently meeting, where, it has been reported, Media Minister Catherine Martin will update colleagues on plans for an independent external review of governance and culture at RTÉ.
Martin announced the review last Sunday following a meeting with the RTÉ board.
Speaking then, she said the purpose of the review will be “to determine what fundamental or systemic issues need to be addressed, including the adequacy of internal controls”.
“While as Minister I cannot get involved in the day to day operation of RTÉ, I do need assurance that the governance and culture is fit for purpose.”
“Public trust in RTÉ must be rebuilt,” she said.
End ‘drip feed of information’ and ‘come clean’
The Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris has called on RTÉ to “end the drip feed” of information and reveal who knew what about the undisclosed payments to Ryan Tubridy.
RTÉ News is reporting that, on his way into Cabinet this morning, Harris told reporters that it is “really important” that RTÉ management “come clean”.
“It’s important that they end the drip feed of information and that they put all of the facts out there,” he said, adding that people who work for the national broadcaster and the public are looking for answers.
Harris also said he was looking forward to being briefed by Minister Catherine Martin on the terms of reference of the external review into governance and culture at RTÉ.
Irish Secretary of the Nation Union of Journalists Seamus Dooley has said that RTÉ staff are protesting this afternoon to demand “truth, trust, and transparency”.
Speaking to Midlands 103 this morning, Dooley said: “There is a belief while workers on the ground – not just journalists, all workers on the ground – do a good job day-in-day-out, that a small group of people at the top who are very well paid have put in jeopardy the public trust in RTÉ.”
The protest at RTÉ’s campus in Donnybrook is due to kick off at 1pm.
Dee Forbes ‘needs to appear’ before Oireachtas committees
The chair of the RTÉ Trade Union Group (TUG) has said that former director general of the broadcaster Dee Forbes “needs to appear” before the Oireachtas committees this week to answer questions on what she knew of the undisclosed payments to Ryan Tubridy.
Forbes resigned as director general yesterday, saying in a statement that she cares “very deeply” about RTÉ, the people who work for it, the public it serves and its mission. It remains unclear whether she will be attending either of the committees.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Stuart Masterson said: “I think for her to give that statement validity and truth, she needs to appear in front of the committees to answer the questions in as clear a manner as possible.
“People can say stuff all the time, but actions show the sincerity behind that statement, and I think by her turning up, it would show that she actually does care about RTÉ,” he said.
Masterson added that the TUG will expect “all the primary players involved in this to turn up at both committees and be as open and and involved with the process as possible”, in order to “try to work back some of the trust that has been broken with both the public, the staff and the government”.
Stuart Masterson also told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the the sense of “anger and betrayal” felt by staff at the national broadcaster could not be overemphasised.
“Behind every big name, earning hundreds of thousands, are ordinary workers, men and women who are not on high wages, doing their very best to deliver public service broadcasting,” the RTÉ Trade Union Group chair said.
“These people were essential during the pandemic, continued to work so that information and programmes could be carried out as needed.
Many of them have seen their wages frozen for years, which essentially amounts to a pay cut given the rise in inflation over the last number of years. They’ve seen their resources cut and some of them live with uncertainty over contracts.
Masterson added that for those “going from contract to contract”, to learn of the payments made to Ryan Tubridy was an “utter betrayal of the trust that management has broken with staff”.
‘We need to lance this boil immediately’
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett has called for “full disclosure” from the RTÉ board and executives about who knew about the undisclosed payments to Ryan Tubridy.
Speaking at the plinth outside the Dáil, Boyd Barrett branded the news of the payments a “kick in the teeth” for others working for the national broadcaster and the public.
“We need to lance this boil immediately, and that means full disclosure now by the RTÉ board and executives about exactly who sanctioned these payments,” he said.
We need absolutely full disclosure and full transparency about all these payments, who was involved, and that should be published now. We shouldn’t have to wait for it to be a managed message at committees.
Boyd Barrett said that journalists and staff who will be protesting outside RTÉ this afternoon are “substantial victims of this scandal” and that they deserve “the facts, truth, full transparency and accountability now”.
He said that anyone who knew about the payments should have to face questions at the Oireachtas committees, and also called on Media Minister Catherine Martin to appear in the Dáil to speak about the matter.
“We don’t think some sort of seven month review is an acceptable way to deal with this,” he said, referencing the external review announced by Martin at the weekend.
He said that a proper discussion about the funding of public service broadcasting is needed and criticised the license fee.
Boyd Barrett added that he believes presenters’ salaries should be capped and the involvement of commercial financing should be examined.
‘Question marks’ around positions of RTÉ Executive Board
Labour senator Marie Sherlock has said there are serious question marks around “how tenable” the positions of members of the RTÉ Executive Board are.
“The future confidence in RTÉ is dependent on who is running the organisation and I think there is serious question marks about how tenable the positions are of certain members of the executive,” she said at the plinth today.
Sherlock said questions also need to be asked about “the very business model within RTÉ”.
“It is extraordinary that we have a situation that a commercial semi-state company has contractors in place to provide core services,” she said.
We have to ask how has RTÉ made gods out of a small number of its workers.
She said RTÉ has said that is has to pay “exorbitant sums to a very small number of people” to retain talent, but looking back over the last 30 years, there have only been “two permanent defections from RTÉ”.
“If we’re to look abroad to Britain or elsewhere, the sums on offer in Britain or elsewhere, obviously are far beyond what RTÉ could ever have paid here. So I think there’s very real issues now about how those negotiations were ever conducted.”
Sherlock also questioned whether the RTÉ board has full oversight over some of the largest commercial sponsorship contracts within the organisation.
“The question has been posed, what is the board there for if it does not have oversight over some of these major decisions being taken by RTÉ executives?”
She also expressed solidarity with RTÉ employees who will be protesting at 1pm.
“The reality out at Montrose at the moment and across the country is that the car is on fire and RTÉ staff are having to keep the show on the road, working extraordinarily difficult circumstances in an environments now where I think many are saying to us privately that they feel massively disrespected,” Sherlock added.
Lauren Boland here again to bring you the latest this afternoon.
Our reporter Carl Kinsella is outside RTÉ headquarters in Donnybrook, where the NUJ has called for staff to join a lunchtime protest.
A member of the Oireachtas Media Committee has suggested that all paid external work events carried out by RTÉ staff should be published on an online register.
Fine Gael TD Ciarán Cannon said that information about presenters taking on events and appearances that are not part of their role with RTÉ should be made available to the public.
“The board and executive of RTE have a major job on their hands in restoring trust in our national broadcaster. I believe that a key element of that work should be the establishment of a register of external payments, similar to that established by the BBC,” he said in a statement this afternoon.
“There is no issue with anyone being paid for such events, but the viewing public needs to be made aware of relationships between broadcasters and private corporations.
“It is because of their high profile afforded by their roles and work within RTÉ that the on air talent is offered external work. There is nothing wrong with these opportunities being afforded to them once it is transparent to the public what they have undertaken.
“This register should be a key element of restoring trust in RTE and it could be created within a week. Such a register will help to ensure impartiality.”
Ray D’Arcy is the latest RTÉ presenter to issue a statement on his earnings:
“This is a terrible mess. On a human level I feel for the people involved but also share the feelings of anger and disappointment of many people around the country and in RTE. For the record, I haven’t got an agent. All of my salary figures to date have been reported correctly. When asked, I agreed to take a more than 15% cut in 2019. My current salary is €250,000.”
A crowd has gathered now outside RTÉ for the protest by workers. Here are photos from our reporter Carl Kinsella on the scene:
Speaking at the protest, RTÉ News’ Legal Affairs Correspondent Órla O’Donnell said that staff “hope that if the answers are given, if people come out and take responsibility, perhaps we can try and preserve the future of public service broadcasting and the future of this organisation”.
“We want our viewers and listeners and readers to know that we stand with them. We want to know why this happened, how it was let go on, what happened between 2017 and 2019, and why it was covered up and why we have still no proper answers six days into this. We still don’t know exactly what has happened and people are very reluctant to come out and answer questions,” O’Donnell has said.
“We want answers. We want the truth out. Truth matters. We’re always saying that, we’re always telling people that. We want the truth for everybody, for all of us staff who’ve been so badly let down, so badly let down, and the people of Ireland are being let down. We are here to serve the people.
“This is public service broadcasting. How can we stand in front of people and tell them that we are always telling the truth, that we are accurate, fair and impartial? We want the truth and we want to be able to look our viewers and readers and listeners in the eye and tell them that we’re standing up for them today.”
Similarly, Midlands Correspondent Sinéad Hussey said: “I feel very let down as a staff member but I feel very let down for the public, the public that we ask every day can we come into your house? Can we interview you? We feel very betrayed and I think it’s important to show today that we won’t accept this.”
At the same time, our reporter Eimer McAuley is outside Leinster House where Minister Catherine Martin has issued an updated statement after this morning’s Cabinet meeting.
The minister briefed Cabinet on the external review that she is commissioning on governance and culture in RTÉ, with details to be finalised in the coming days.
She has written to the chair of the RTÉ Board to say that the statement it releases today must answer the public’s questions about the payments in question.
“As I have said before, the revelations from RTÉ this past week are unacceptable and damaging to both RTÉ and to public service broadcasting in general. Properly functioning public service media are critical to our democracy and our society,” Minister Martin said.
“Trust and confidence have been broken and it is essential that RTÉ puts the full facts on the public record as a matter of urgency, to avoid further damaging public trust,” she said.
“This morning I wrote to the RTÉ chair to set out my expectation that the further Statement to be released by RTÉ today will address key questions that need to be answered. In particular, the public wants to know who signed off on the payments, who else was involved or aware of these transactions, and when will the further Grant Thornton report commissioned by RTÉ which relates to the understatement of the remuneration of RTÉ’s top paid presenter by €120,000 between 2017 and 2019 be completed.
“At times of crisis, it is the failure to put all information on the record at the earliest possible juncture that does most damage. RTÉ must not now squander this opportunity to share everything that they know on this matter, in advance of the Oireachtas hearings later this week.”
Back at the protest, Education Correspondent Emma O’Kelly also spoke strongly about the disappointment among RTÉ staff this week.
“One of the first messages I got on this crisis was from a colleague who said this is both unbelievable and believable. That really resonated with me,” she said.
She said staff felt the situation was “unbelievable” but that “we also felt it was believable too because many of us either have personal battles in here, or we’ve seen colleagues’, so we know what goes on and we know the culture of this organisation”.
“We don’t need a review – even though we welcome that review – we don’t need a review for us to know about governance and culture in this organisation because we’ve been at the receiving end of that culture for too long. And when I say the receiving end, I don’t mean the end with all the money. Not that receiving end.”
New: A spokesperson for former Director General Dee Forbes, who resigned yesterday, has said she will not be attending the Oireachtas Media Committee due to health reasons.
Senior members of RTÉ are due to attend the Oireachtas Media committee and the Public Accounts committee (PAC) this week to answer questions from politicians.
It is still unclear whether Forbes will attend the PAC meeting. The Journal has asked her spokesperson but has not yet received a response.
Minister Catherine Martin had said earlier this afternoon that it would be “helpful” if Forbes came before the Oireachtas.
After today’s Cabinet meeting, Minister of Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe has said that the government is “really concerned” about the issues around pay and transparency at RTÉ.
“All the issues in relation to remuneration and pay for RTE are now obviously the subject of heightened public concern,” Donohoe said.
“We need a state broadcaster, but we need a state broadcaster in which pay decisions are made in a transparent way.
“The government is really concerned about the latest developments. Minister [Catherine] Martin briefed us today on the contact that she has had with RTÉ since last Thursday to emphasise the need for transparency and clarity in relation to issues that she became aware of and briefed the government on.”
He said the government will consider the statement that RTÉ releases today.
“I believe that in the coming days the government will be in a position to sign off on an independent review of these issues within RTÉ,” he said.
“I think they’re really serious. I understand entirely the anger that many inside and outside at RTÉ feel in relation to it. We will still need a state broadcaster at the end of all of this, they do valuable work, but these issues are clearly exceptionally serious and the government will respond back to them later in the week.”
There’s no shortage of politicians today making remarks about RTÉ.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described the revelations are “deeply unsettling”.
Speaking during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil, he said that they have “shaken public trust in what is an important institution,” he told the Dail parliament”.
“We want to see trust restored quickly, because we do need a strong public service broadcaster for our state,” Varadkar said, calling for RTÉ to give “full and open” answers.
“RTÉ, in very many ways, plays a very important role in our society, from Irish language broadcasting to children’s programmes, to drama, sports to good-quality news, documentaries, election coverage, important public information, for example during the pandemic, and we need to be cognisant of that,” he said.
“If things were done that were wrong, and I believe things that were done were wrong, that needs to stop, it needs to change and people need to be held to account. The institution needs to be restored and to survive.”
Minister Catherine Martin has said that the government will foot the bill for the external review of RTÉ’s culture and governance.
Read our full article on the review here.
Coming from another angle, Screen Producers Ireland, a representative body for production companies, has expressed concern about the impact of the revelations and subsequent fallout on independent producers.
Chief Executive Susan Kirby said that the group’s members are “dismayed at the revelations about governance and transparency of financial reporting and accountability standards at RTE”.
“Of major concern to them is how these issues may impact the funding for independent production,” she said.
“Nothing must be allowed to harm the broadcaster’s ability to continue supporting the independent sector’s production of high-quality content for Irish audiences.”
RTÉ’s North West Correspondent Eileen Magnier has shared this image from the field:
That’s it from me – my colleague Eoghan Dalton is here with you for the next while as we await the extended statement from the RTÉ Board.
Staff from RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta have shared this video from their protest in Connemara over the payments scandal.
Baill @RTERnaG & @NuachtTG4 @NuachtRTE de @NUJofficial & @SIPTU ag agóidíocht taobh amuigh de cheanncheathrú @RTERnaG i gCasla #Conamara inniu lena míshástacht a chur in iúl d’ardbhainistíocht @rte faoi chonspóid na n-íocaíochtaí faoi cheilt. #InisAnFhírinne pic.twitter.com/poRRC7ZplM
— Marion Ní Shúilleabháin (@Marion_Ni_S) June 27, 2023
As we await the statement from RTÉ, let’s take a look at what’s happened today so far:
• We discovered that former Director General Dee Forbes will not be attending a meeting of the Oireachtas Media Committee, having cited health reasons
• Culture Minister Catherine Martin confirmed an external review of RTÉ’s culture and governance which she hopes to secure Government approval for this week
• TDs and senators are readying themselves to question RTÉ management over the broadcaster’s underreporting of payments worth €345,000 since 2017 to presenter Ryan Tubridy
• It all came as RTÉ staff gathered for a protest this afternoon to voice their frustration with management in the wake of the controversy over the payments.
Today’s protest by RTÉ staff across the country shows that the organisation “faces a reckoning from within that looms as large as any Oireachtas committee”, reports Carl Kinsella.
In his piece from the Montrose demonstration, a number of staff lambast the broadcaster, including some well-known figures.
Political correspondent Paul Cunningham said staff have discovered in recent days that “there is a special arrangement for special people”, while Caoimhe Ní Laighin, from Nuacht RTÉ, said her unit’s “equipment is all falling apart” with no camera available “even at the weekend”.
Among the details in the lengthy statement from RTÉ this evening were how the broadcaster also footed the bill for hosting commercial events for the sponsor involved in the agreement, Renault.
Eimer McAuley reports that RTÉ stated that it paid, via the UK Barter account used to make previously undisclosed payments to Ryan Tubridy, “for the costs of hosting the commercial sponsor events in 2022.”
Reaction is ongoing to the day’s events here, with the board of the Writers’ Guild of Ireland saying that it is deeply concerned about the “lack of transparency” around payments.
“In an era in which writers are increasingly being asked to do more for less money, and with budgets and opportunities for Irish writers continually being slashed, it is unconscionable that at the same time RTÉ has been covertly spending money in this fashion,” the guild said.
It added that it hopes that the scandal will “not be used by our Government as an excuse to underfund” the public service broadcaster.
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Last year Kelly pledged €35 million for the homeless crisis, following the death of Jonathan Corrie
As of last week DCC had received 1 million.
Judge a politician by their actions, not their words.
GUILTY
There are more agencies than the DCC receiving monies, plus homeless people exist outside of the pale too. Not using all the facts, jamming, guilty as charged. Kangaroo courts, eh jamming? Your lot use them well.
Kelly should be wearing oversized red shoes to go along with his Red nose the clown. Totally delusional for him to think he has done a good job about anything other than lining his pockets and the pockets of his cronies.
Gene Kerrigans put it well in his latest column….
“The State makes demands on our loyalty – and that in turn imposes on the State a duty to ensure that our shelter receives a higher priority than the right of anyone to make a profit. Fine Gael would stand that on its head – the State will ensure your right to shelter by protecting the right of builders to make the biggest possible profit.
We used to expect better from the Labour Party. The party of Connolly, of Larkin. The party of – for what it’s worth – Frank Cluskey. It became the party of Gilmore and Rabbitte, it’s now the party of Burton and Kelly. It’s now the party that looks at the problem of homelessness and immediately spots the real villains – the McVerry Trust and Focus Ireland.”
The full column is worth a read, I can’t post a link to it for some reason.
Hey Alan if your so happy with the way your shelters are going spend 7 nights staying in one.Let’s see how good they are then.
The €3.8 million DCC spent on a football pitch would have gone a good way towards putting a roof over the heads of some of the people sleeping on the streets atm
So the issue isn’t Alan Kelly not handing over the money he promised, its with DCC spending other funding on other projects?
Everyone elses fault except the minister who has overseen homelesnes double on his watch, right leargas?
If Alan Kelly believes what he says then I challenge him to spend a week in emergency accommodation.
This should bot be beyond the remit of a Labour TD who regard themselves as representing the oppressed… or is is all lies?
So the DCC have no blame in this? They spent €3.8M on a football pitch and voted in a reduction of the LPT reducing their potential funds to address this issue. The DCC and Department of the Environment share equal responsibility in this. blaming Alan Kelly while overlooking the DCCs idiotic actions is just stupid and stinks of a person who cares nothing about the issues or the people at risk but only cares about government bashing every opportunity they get!
“.. and voted in a reduction of the LPT reducing their potential funds to address this issue.”
Nothing about the 20% of the LPT that was taken from Dublin to be used as a slush fund in swing constituencies down the country leargas, no?
Like I said, everyone elses fault except the people running the country. Weere it not for the likes of McVerry and Focus Ireland, the government would HAVE to deal directly with the crisis. FG/Labours way of saying thanks is to point fingers at the people who are devoting themselves to alleviating the problem.
You are deflecting again, you’d rather bash the government than address some of the real issues, by reducing the LPT by 15% the DCC directly reduced their income by roughly €13M, how many homeless people would that money have homed?
It is not everyone elses fault, I did not say that, try read my comment rather than jump to your biased conclusions, they share equal responsibility, but blaming the government and overlooking and even defending the DCC is just disgraceful, you do not care about the people at risk here, just about making a political point, shame on you!
“We’re on top of the (power pyramid and don’t give a damn about the) homeless crisis” – Alan Kelly.
‘THE MINISTER FOR the Environment Alan Kelly has suggested that he is on top of” the Labour Vote crisis currently
being seen in Ireland.’
Dreadful situation when the homeless have to rely on a coincidence betweeen thier plight and Kelly needing to spend money in order to gather up a few votes.
I hope the people of Tipperary will see through this fraud and vote him out next time around. He has almost lying single handedly destroyed any credibility the Labour Party once had.
Tipperary? they keep voting In Michael Lowry. i wouldnt hold my breathe!
Between Alan Kelly, Michael Lowry, Mattie McGrath and Noel “ISIS” Coonan the Tipp electorate isn’t exactly covering itself in glory but in their defense, Alan Kelly ran as a Labour candidate in 2011 a la water charges as a red line issue, act as a counter-balance to Fine Gael policy, etc.
Whatever about the other four muppets, they were lied to by Alan Kelly.
Good to hear. Now that he’s on a roll, next week he can sort out global warming and the week after the Middle East.
China have requested his services to sort out their stock exchange !!!
I don’t know where their going to put the thousands of refugees their planning on bringing into the Country..
google “kosovo refugees 1999″ we did ok there!!!
We’ve always taken in refugees, we done it during the Vietnam war and even thousands came down from the North when things kicked off in the early 70′s, but we didn’t have a homeless crisis back then..
The Curragh camp? Plenty of space for temporary refugees.
The illegals have made it clear they don’t want to be in safe secure camps, that isn’t good enough for them.
We took 1,000 Kosovans and it was not enough for our Presidential whiner Mary Robinson. Now it looks like we are going to take far more migrants from an alien culture against the wishes of the silent majority on the basis of one (tragic) photograph. Madness.
They could clear out trabolgan, just like they did with Mosney. Look how well that turned out
“Silent majority” oh you mean racists and bigots. you’re quiet welcome to organise a protest in any city you like against taking in refuges. That’s the freedom of living in an open democracy. a luxury you have, not like the refuges from Syria. :)
Sertorius. I wouldn’t expectly call Syria alien. It’s a diverse country made up of civilized people who until very recently lived in quite a westernized society.
I’m referring to the recent Irish Times poll (hardly a bastion of bigotry and racism) where a clear majority they were opposed to large scale. resettlement of refugees. Tar them if you wish with those overused labels.
Muris the vast majority of the refugees are Sunni Muslim. Historical Sunni Muslim immigration from integration perspective has been a disaster for Western Europe.
a clear majority of 4%, been interesting to see a poll again after the images of this week.
If you base your opinion on the image of a child who drowned because his parents embarked him on a rickety boat from a safe country (Turkey) where thousands of Irish people enjoy holidays every year, well then more fool you.
ahaha…. yep, 1,000′s of Irish visit their ever year as tourists. so easy for us to travel, unfortunately Syrian refugees don’t have passports. Over 4 million have fled Syria because of an on going war for last 4 years where 100,000+ have died. The 2% of the 4 million refugees that are trying to make it to Europe for a better life face untold misery. Its so easy for you to judge. We live in the EU and as citizens of Europe we we should and will take in refugees. Thankfully your opinion wont mater. as for implying I’m a fool, it just enforces my comment of you been a racist.
have a nice day :)
If nations such as Britain, the Americas and Australia had closed their borders when the Irish refugees where being crammed onto coffin ships during the great famine OR if europe had closed its borders to the refugees during the second world war many many more people would have died due to starvation or military action. We are happy to boast that this great little country can take over the word on Paddy’s day. But remember why this happened, it’s not because we loved to travel.
Many of our forefathers put their children on rickety coffin ships because it was better than what they faced at home.
America did not allow those Irish to just land and demand. Processing took place at Ellis Island, then those who made it through were told where they could go to.
Just make more Irish homeless.
Yep. He ain’t lyin about being “on top” of this crisis. But isn’t that the problem really? So far “on top” that they have no connection to the reality of the homeless situation. So far “on top” that they have no clue about how the poorest & most vulnerable in our society are surviving. They have attacked them at every turn. Thrown them/us under the wheels of the bus in order to provide ‘stability’ to their banking & corporate buddies.
You & your ilk disgust me Kelly. I guess this comment qualifies me for a hosing down with slurry, eh?
Genuine question. Is Alan Kelly delusional, unfathomably stupid or just a liar? Because he cant possibly be serious about most of the stuff he says.
He’s a deluded liar
All 3 Peter…..
He probably banking on all those poor refugees will eventually be happy irish water customers and he can increase the eurostat figures
Mickey Mouse wears an Alan Kelly watch….
Plank..
A face only a mother could love.
When he was born the doctor smacked his mother.
Rodney Dangerfield.
One of these people knows what they are talking about and the other one is a spooofer.
kelly lives in labour la la land where everything is rosey in the garden and labour are 28% in the polls,, meanwhils on planet earth ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
This gombeen is another reason not to vote for the f/g labour despots.
Sadly Kelly is yet another politician who’s creditability is non existent….
@Kerry Blake: I read that as Sandy Kelly!
It’s a pity that he’s the type of person that will be voted in for years to come by simpletons. He’s not going to disappear anytime soon.
The mans a p#xy puppet
Let me say there’s no issue with budget
obviously there is if DCC where left short 16 million after his governments last big budget
Mirror mirror on the wall
Who’s the greatest of them all.
Listening to alan kelly this morning. The Man is clueless. Talking about the refugees and what would be done to house them. His answer liase with local authorities around the country. He is the minister and should surely know local authorities have waiting lists in the hundreds for people applying for local authority housing. This was his answer. The Man is a Muppet.
James Connolly must be cringing in heaven looking down on the right wing anti poor clowns in the Labour party.
They might be able to find an unlimited energy supply if they can harness all the spinning Connolly must be doing in his grave.
Oh! he must have worked out a way to monetize the issue, for the benefit of his cronies, in a way where no one is held accountable for the inevitable embarrassment of ineptitude, corruption and ineffectiveness down the line. Nice one, Alan!
Well, he is an ordained member of the corporate church, they do train them well.
Eh, where are all the refugees goin to live?
Do try and keep up Kevin. 6,000 people on a Facebook page have pledged to house them.
Here’s an article from the Indo reporting on a Deutsche Bank in 2012.
There are 289,000+ vacant homes in Ireland. Why do we have homeless crisis? Because large portfolio (property) owners are sitting on large tracts of homes.
Just like the Great Genocide (famine) there was enough food back then for everyone in the country. Most of the food was escorted out of the country under armed guard, and that left was out of reach for the general population due to high cost.
Same now with property. We have more than enough for our own and refugees but due to Irish laws, both indigenous and foreign landowners are permitted to keep hundreds of thousands of homes empty while strangling the rental market.
We could fix the entire property market forever more if we passed a law that stated that no one person, institution, or organisation may own a property portfolio consisting of more than two residential properties, unless they make all subsequent properties available for sale or lease within six months of purchase?
Failure to do so would result in hefty fines that could be used to build affordable housing. At least then, no Charity, State Agency, Hedgefund, nor landlord (including NAMA) may be permitted to sit on large portfolios of property while the market is being starved, and people going homeless.
Correct and right but don’t forget under Noonans watch large amounts of distressed mortgages were sold to large vulture funds along with distressed property portfolios. So under this man who is a bond holder and investor in gold what hope have the little people and homeless people got. Noonans motto appears to be profit before people.
Empty properties are owned by someone… Said individuals (or other) are free to do what they want with them. The availability of empty properties alone won’t solve the housing crisis we have at present.
Just make another few thousand Irish homeless. Look at our housing estates now at present and see how the houses are being handed out to anybody but the Irish
He just gets worse that man..what a tw*tbag
Tosser
Yes another on my lost of people I don’t trust and dislike… Mostly FG it turns out
If the pro open border loonies have their way, the homeless crisis will inevitably get exponentially worse, and will never get any better.
We are far from on top of our homeless crisis and are about to import thousands more homeless people, watch as the imported illegals get preferential treatment over our own struggling people.
Hey, do you remember the good old days when we had no homeless people? Oh wait, that never happened anywhere ever? I see. Seems like a stupid reason to complain about refugees then.
ESY…those old times when people with drink problems and drug ended up on the streets….these days they are joined on the streets by families put out of their homes by the banks they helped to bail out and by landlords looking for as much money as possible regardless of the consequences.
Yeah, the streets are awash with families like that.
I heard Alan Kelly’s first ever golf shot was a hole in one. What a guy.
I heard he bought to male pandas for the Springfield zoo and got them to mate successfully.
I heard Alan Kelly was the first man to walk on the sun
I disagree with you entirely on that. What you say may well have an element of truth in it, but I didn’t see a hole just an arse (sic)
He cheated Shakka…he did it at night.
Kelly the man who said he would like to spray slurry over the water protesters. Sad man Mr Slurry Tank Kelly.
What a clown, does he even know what reality is
If he says it, it must be true…
Lies, damned lies and statistics
The ref should step in and stop this fight.
Kelly is on the ropes and getting such a battering I genuinely fear for his political life at the moment.
There’s carnage in the ring.
Let him take the blows….we don’t want a rematch.
I dunno why anyone would bother wasting their time and energy on kelly. I dunno why hes even still in the job, to be honest.
I dunno why this gov is still around, come to think of it. I believe the country is in a far worse state than they are letting on. All the economic data they are releasing is just doctored lies and spin. The only true believeable data came from that eurostat report on irish water.
Donnelly, Murphy and Shortall. 3 of the most impressive TDs we have. Depending on who they put forward in my constituency, I’ll be giving them a high preference come polling day….
Wrong article, apologies. Damned smartphone!
Still relevant though.
Minister for the Environment! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Who is more likely right? A cynical, self interested and unprincipled politician, devoid of compassion or a compassionate and principled campaigner with no self interest involved?
It’s a hard one!
In Alan Kellys world everything is fine and dandy. Someone should explain to him how things are in the real world where real people live. Come back down to earth minister and smell the roses
deluded nutjob
It is very irresponsible of Peter McVerry to actively advise people to sleep rough. I would have thought that McVerry would know better. It does the homeless, themselves, no favours whatsoever to sleep rough when there are beds available, and it does terrible harm to the image of our nation’s capital to see homeless people strewn out all over the place (I can only imagine what tourists think).
By encouraging homeless people to do this, it makes you wonder if Peter McVerry is trying to make the situation physically appear worse than it is in order to make a political point, and to have more taxpayers’ money given to quangos.
John (and anyone who cares about what a homeless person goes through) should watch a documentary called Streets Of Plenty. Its about a normal person in Vancouver who decides to go homeless to see what it’s actually like. Just watch the part where he’s in a homeless shelter to get a basic look at what life is really like inside one of those places.
Now, think about being someone who is homeless, not through drugs, just an unfortunate series of events that made them homeless, and wonder what its like for them the first time they go to one of these places.
These people are better off sleeping rough and Fr McVerry is correct.
” image of our nation’s capital” good man John good to see you have your priorities set…..
Kelly you are a gent
Lets all have a moan at Alan Kelly, a man who was voted in by the people. It annoys me so much that these politicians, who have been voted in by the Irish people, are given so much abuse in the media when it was our fault for allowing this to happen in the first place by voting for them. Lets vote Enda Kenny in again for a laugh will we? Why not, otherwise it will be someone else that you’re going to moan about. Am I wrong? No. Lets resurrect Hitler and get him to run for taoiseach, I’m sure he would make enough valid points for you to vote him in before you realized your mistake.
Mickey…….they were voted in with different policies and to keep FG in check…not to become bluer than FG.
Al Ca , spot on.
McVerry knows what homelessness is about. Kelly is just playing politics with the issue.
Democracy requires elected representatives to be accountable, open to criticism and to be reminded of the principles they have reneged upon.
I don’t like FG values but FG does not pretend to seek any kind of social justice or fairness.
Alan Kelly is a naked hypocrite and needs to be challenged on his dishonest hypocrisy. His obligations and duty are not waived just because and after he was elected.
That’s the theory Anthony. Unfortunately, history has proven to show what actually happens as opposed to what should happen.
Alan Kelly was voted by the people ,because they told the people at the doorsteps while canvassing, that under no circumstances would WE pay for water, And now Kelly the clown is the Top man collecting the water bills , Mr bean couldn’t make it up.
Politics is about power ,money, pensions, The people are way down the line ,party loyalty ,been loyal to the leader ,gets you a ministerial seat ,payback for selling your principles ,your voters ,Then its awarding your cronies onto quangos,We have been promised change but left bitterly disappointed ,disillusioned and angry ,To blame people like Fr. Peter McVerry and others for your own failings and your parties betrayal is contemptible ,Hopefully the citizens of Ireland will give this lowlife and his fellow traitors their answer in the general election
have your say