Pity poor Michael Lowry.

The tribunal, which he and others of his ilk caused to established, is upseting Michael. He is upset with the impact it has had on his life. Michael thinks it is a "cancer" on his life.

Perhaps it is. Perhaps it is like the cancer he, and Haughey and Lowery and Burke and many many others inflicted on politics and government in Ireland?

Speaking at the tribunal yesterday he said that since the passing of the late Charles Haughey he, Mr Lowry, had "the dubious distinction of having a tribunal all to myself. I'm sitting here as the chief one being inquired into. I have the role all to myself."

Poor Mick is lonely. Everyone say 'Ahh poor mick'

Tricky Dickey has revealed large posters of himself in Wicklow.

According to reports in the Irish Times today Mr Rabbitte told the Taoiseach that "nobody would believe what you say. You're only short of playing cricket on some spare patch of ground. You jump on the bandwagon for anything that becomes popular. The only thing you recycle is other people's ideas."

Pat mad the remarks in repsonce to FF's complaints of auction politics which were decried by Minister for Social and Family Affairs Séamus Brennan last week to a press conference where he was "shocked", "aghast" and "alarmed" by Opposition tax proposals, when on Saturday the Taoiseach unleashed a "Niagara of promises" including 53 commitments, costing €300 million for each of the 30 minutes of the Taoiseach's speech.

Pat asked Bertie to give the costs of the FF giveaway.

Pat called on Bertie to "answer the questions for a change. What is the cost of this Niagara of destruction?" He added that "a woman came up to me on the street yesterday and told me that she was watching the Taoiseach on Saturday night. She said she thought the Taoiseach's nose would come through the screen. She said she did not believe a word you said."

In Wicklow...........
Tommy Cullen an Independent councillor in Wicklow may be investigated by the Ethics Registrar as the councillor's register, that is declaration of interests, was not on file in the council offices as required by law.

Under the Local Government Act, 2001, councillors are obliged to make annual declarations, listing land and property in which they have an interest.

A complaint has been made by a collegue on the council calling for an investigation into the councillor's declarations from January 2005-January 2006 and several other years.

Meanwhile in Kerry..........
Two councillors have denied being aware of breaching ethics rules.

Fine Gael mayor of Killarney Sheila Casey and Fianna Fáil's Pat O'Donoghue appeared before the first ever Standards in Public Office Commission investigation into local authority members yesterday.

Mr O'Donoghue is managing director of the Gleneagle group while Ms Casey is a front office manager of the Killarney Valley Hotel, which is leased by the Gleneagle Group.

The issues is one of the rezoning of lands adjacent to the Gleneagle Hotel. Mr O'Donaghue said his family - which has been involved in the Gleneagle Hotel since 1957 - believed the current zoning was unsuitable and decided to have the lands rezoned to "tourism" and "associated town centre" facilities.

Mr O'Donoghue - who is also a director of Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland - said he drew up a motion and approached fellow councillors, including Ms Casey, and asked them to sign it. He did not sign as he did not consider this would be appropriate. He also took no part in the debate. He did not leave the council chamber because he was not advised it was necessary to do so.

Mr O'Donoghue said he did not appreciate at the time that it was not proper for him to seek support, as a businessman, for the motion and he infringed his obligations as a councillor inadvertently. He said in hindsight he should have left the chamber during the debate.

Ms Casey said the motion, proposed on March 6th, 2006, was a first-step process that would have involved a public consultation and an environmental impact study before going back to the council for a final vote.

She believed the people of Killarney should have the opportunity to give their views. At no time did she believe that employment with the Killarney Valley Hotel would be deemed to have given her a "beneficial interest".

She said her involvement with Mr O'Donoghue was limited to her employment in one of his family's hotels, and their positions as councillors. She had no day-to-day contact with him.
Ms Casey said she looked at every individual motion on its merit and would never be influenced by her employment.

Meanwhile in Galway.........
A notice of appeal has been lodged on behalf of Galway County Councillor Michael Fahy, who was given a one-year jail sentence and fined €75,000 for the misappropriation of council funds.Legal proceedings to have the conviction overturned began in earnest before the weekend when Cllr Fahy’s solicitor, Colman Sherry, announced that a notice of appeal and the grounds of appeal against the Circuit Court decisions have been lodged with the Court of Criminal Appeal.Mr Sherry said that Cllr Fahy was lodging his appeal against both the conviction and the sentence. It is understood that the action will be mentioned in the Court of Criminal Appeal today.Michael Fahy was convicted in the Circuit Criminal Court in Galway on seven counts of fraud, attempted theft, deception and false accounting. The conviction followed a garda probe into the erection of council-funded wire fencing on his farm in Ardrahan in 2002 and 2003. He denied all the charges.

Who the hell is Frank McNamara? The Irish Times says he is a "well known musician". Where is he well known? Not by this blog anyway.

The Times goes on "Mr McNamara, who was music director of the Late Late Show on RTÉ for 20 years, was the arranger and producer of two consecutive Irish winners of the Eurovision Song Contest."

Oh that Frank McNamara! Yeah right, I'm sure that makes him a well known musician in certain musical circles but he is hardly well known.

Christy Moore, he is well known. Frank McNamara is unknown, politically speaking anyway.

This reeks of PD desperation.

Reek on harvest moon!

He does look a bit like Michael McDowell though. McDowell with hair..........and a baton!

"You might say that that would help in the country, but the polls in the city were very, very low after 6 o'clock. Now I know it was a very bad day," Bertie Ahern told journalists in Dublin yesterday.

Does Bertie know that most of the population live in the country? Does he care what suits us?

Pictured above a confused Taoiseach kisses some flowers before sniffing a baby.

This is the second most watched video clip on the internet.




Numa Numa (or "the Numa Numa Dance") is an Internet phenomenon based on amateur videos, particularly one by Gary Brolsma, made for the song "Dragostea din tei" by Moldovan pop band O-Zone. It came 28th in the 100 Greatest Funny Moments, broadcast by Channel 4 in the UK.

Brolsma first published his "Numa Numa Dance" on the Newgrounds site on December 6, 2004, where it has since been seen more than 1 million times [2] and copied onto hundreds of other websites and blogs, making it the second-most watched viral video of all time (only losing out to Star Wars kid).

Cllr Patrick Kennedy of Limerick, who claims to be related to the Kennedys has been struck by comic tragedy as he is revealed as just a councillor and not a Senator.

It has been 16 years since Cllr Kennedy was a Senator but that didn't stop him handing out newly printed business cards in on a council trip to Boston stating his title was Senator Kennedy not Cllr.

He also issued numerous press releases as Senator Kennedy and overshadowed the head of the deputation from Limerick, ie the Mayor, on a least one occasion much to the annoyance of the Mayor and the other councillors.

Pathetic!

What will the Senate do about this errant former member?

Disgraced Galway county councillor Michael "Stroke" Fahy is to appeal his conviction and sentence for fraud and attempted theft.

Stroke Fahy was given a 12-month prison sentence and a €75,000 fine for crimes on seven counts of fraud and attempted theft arising from the erection of more than a mile of fencing on his farmland by a Galway County Council contractor.

This man has no shame and care little for the damage he does to local politics and politicians.

This little gombeen man is a disgrace.

This is a version of the most watched on-line video clip of all time. It has been watched over a billion times. This is a jazzed up version with music and special effects added.

Why am I posting it here?...........because I can.

Happy Mother's Day.


Watch the A team's Mr T sing a song about mothers just click on the video.

They say that good interviewing on television is a lost art. Parkey had it, Wogan had it, even Gaybo could do it now and again.

One man who hit the right tone and who knew how to treat celebrities correctly was Rod Hull and his co-host Emu. This is how all celebrities and politicans should be interviewed. This way we would be guaranteed entertainment each and every time.

The Catholic Church in the West of Europe is facing extinction unless it allows priests to marry.

The numbers joining the seminaries are dropping and there are already too few priests to go around.

While there is no doubt a massive spiritual calling to serve in the priesthood the human aspects cannot be ignored. Who would choose to serve the church at €13,000 per year with no chance of ever being with the person you love, raising a family or enjoying the family aspect to life?

The Hitler Youth Pope, Benedict, has ruled out any change to the celibacy requirement even though it was just made up well after the church was founded.

The first pope, St. Peter, as well as many subsequent popes, bishops, and priests during the church's first 270 years were in fact married men, and often fathers.

Click above to watch the video.

High Noon is approaching us with the General Election in May. Is it the end of the PDs? The beginning of Sinn Fein as a political force; or have they already peaked?

Will Fine Gael regain their lost seats? Is Bertie to be shot down? Where will Labour be?

All this and more................High Noon!

This is the banned ad by Trocaire. You can watch the ad by clicking on the video.

It is banned because of its political nature by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland.

The radio and TV advertisements were part of its efforts to bring an end to gender inequality in the developing world.

But the BCI decided that the campaign contravened current legislation. The nub of the issue appears to be an online petition run by Trocaire which urges the Government to implement a United Nations resolution on gender inequality in the developing world.

Yesterday, charity director Justin Kilcullen disputed the BCI's findings and explained that the website was mentioned in the advert so that people could donate online or order a Trocaire box.

"I come from a party which does not accept corporate donations. How are we expected to contest an election with people who are funded up to the gills, sometimes by developers, and others, who have vested interests?

We are now into almost five-year election cycles where the gun is sounded once we get into the House. This is as a result of people trying to spend money before the three-week period commences. It is spend, spend, spend. Looking at the glossy leaflets, bus shelters and billboards, I ask how much is being spent?

I calculate some candidates must have spent approximately €100,000 in the past few months. How are we supposed to compete against that? Where are they getting the money?"


---John Gormley Green Party

This is an interesting clip. It is a edited series of clips which seems to make Bush say what we all would like to hear.

If only...........

Hello All,

Nominate me to the Press Council.

Go on, why not?

Nominations are being invited from the public to fill the six independent seats on the new Press Council of Ireland.

In advertisements in today's newspapers, the inaugural Press Council of Ireland is asking for expressions of interest from people "representing a broad spectrum of civic society".

Suitable applicants should be people of "standing and integrity" who are free of any involvement in the press industry that might lead to a conflict of interest.

The aim of the Press Council is to provide the public with an independent forum for resolving complaints against the press, and to help maintain high standards in journalism.

Cllr Michael Fahy leaving Loughrea courthouse yesterday. The charges on which he was convicted involved misappropriating over €7,000 of council funding to have fencing erected on his farm. (from the Irish Times)

Another great day for Fianna Fail and local government.

Doctors found a blood clot in US Vice President Dick Cheney's left leg today but he was not admitted to a hospital and will be treated with blood thinning medication.

Mr Cheney, who has a history of heart troubles, went to his doctor's office after he "experienced mild calf discomfort,"

Dick has been responsible for a lot of discomfort in Iraq and 'political quote' would not wish ill on anyone, even Dick.

Though we do feel sorry for the clot, being stuck inside Dick Cheney's shapely calf can't be pleasant.

Inclusions on the electoral register closed before Christmas, there is still time to be included through the Supplementary Register.
To see that you are still entitled to vote, go to Check the Register, submit your name and address.

You can also phone the Franchise office in your local authority.

And don't forget that family members who turned 18 years old in February 2007 are also entitled to vote in the forthcoming election so it is important to ensure they are also included.

Inclusion in the Supplementary Register ceases 15 days before polling day. You can find out more information here.

The Irish Times are reporting that Astronaut Lisa Nowak, who stunned colleagues by driving from Houston to Orlando in a diaper to confront a woman she thought was a love rival, was charged with attempted kidnapping but not with attempted murder.

Ms Nowak, who has three children and recently separated from her husband, was freed on bail and allowed to return to her home in Houston. She was ordered to stay away from the Florida county where Ms Shipman lives and was fitted with a global positioning device so authorities can track her movements.

Nowak, a flight engineer who made her first trip into space in July to the International Space Station aboard shuttle Discovery, sped the 950 miles from Houston to Orlando wearing diapers so she would not have to stop at a bathroom.

She disguised herself in a dark wig, glasses and trench coat to confront Ms Shipman at Orlando International Airport but told police she "only wanted to scare" the woman into talking to her.

Personally, I believe the woman is innocent on the grounds of insanity but those Americans do love putting the insane on trial and even, every now and again executing them. Ms Nowak should be assessed mentally not put on trial!

Michael Lowery is a tax dodger and may be something else. The Moriarty tribunal has found six documents recording links between former government minister Michael Lowry and a £4.3 million sterling property deal in Doncaster, England.

Two of the documents are letters from "experienced and responsible solicitors" who had recorded an understanding that Mr Lowry was involved, Mr Healy said.

Mr Lowry has told the tribunal he had no involvement with the 1998 transaction, which telecoms tycoon Denis O'Brien says belongs exclusively to him.

At the McCracken Tribunal it was revealed that supermarket tycoon Ben Dunne had paid £395,000 for an extension to Lowry's home in Tipperary. This allegation prompted Lowry's resignation from the Cabinet in November 1996. When John Bruton announced that Lowry would not be allowed stand as a Fine Gael candidate at the next election he resigned from the party.

The Tribunal concluded that Lowry had evaded tax. At the next election Lowry announced that he would stand as an Independent candidate. In the general elections of 1997 and 2002 Lowry topped the poll in his constituency.

Lowery doesn't have the class to feck off out of politics in shame and the people who keep re-electing him are the real culprits. If the electorate keep rewarding croooked politicians then there is no hope for the system.

Not content with assisting in giving away Ireland's gas reserves Frank Fahey, property tycoon, has been handing out Marinas left and right, without following the rules, when he was Minister for the Marine.

Since demoted, Mr Fahey, now a Minister of State, directed that €5.7 million in grant aid be given to marine leisure projects at Cahersiveen and Kenmare in Co Kerry, at Roundstone, Co Galway, and at Rosses Point, Co Sligo, in 2000, before proper evaluation reports were carried out, the report from the Public Accounts Committee published yesterday stated.

The Irish Times reports that according to the PAC report, the direction given by Mr Fahey to his department for the grant aid was "at variance with the proposed structures and selection processes" for the marine tourism grants scheme.

Virtually no relevant information on the viability or tourism value of the projects was made available at the time the grants were announced in December 2000, according to the report.
Committee chairman Michael Noonan said yesterday that the project of most concern was the Cahersiveen marina which cost an estimated €3.5 million.

He said a 93-berth marina was developed of which 38 berths were for tourists and 55 berths for private lease. In effect the main beneficiaries were private yacht owners who had their berths supplemented by the taxpayer to the tune of about €30,000 each.

Frankie, Frankie, what are you like? I wonder why Bertie dropped you from the front bench?

"Security, the chief pretense of civilization, cannot exist where the worst of dangers, the danger of poverty, hangs over everyone's head."

---George Bernard Shaw