Spotlight BBC1 now - Stormont MLAs rent scams

[Kidder81]

They are some fckn crowd of chancers

[Kidder81]

Paying rent to fake societies, who would have thought it?

[michaelg]

Arlene sticky fingers.

Big Robbie Coltrane on the fiddle?

[orangeman]

DUP and SF respond to last night's Spotlight -

DUP say that no rules were broken ( whilst keeping a straight face ).

Whilst Sinn Féin's Francie Molloy described Tuesday night's BBC Spotlight NI as "a rubbish of a programme".


All sorted.

[Applesisapples]

Spotlight whilst unearthing some interesting gems from time to time is a programme that takes information already in the public domain and with a little pinch of sensationalism creates stories out of very little. Bottom line is none of these guys did anything outside the rules. SF paid the max in rent to keep some historical societies going, Arlene's story is nothing new it's been out there and except for innuendo I see no proof of wrong doing. Those who complain would be the first to screw every last penny from their DLA, work expenses, car allowance, mileage claims etc... but that's ok cause they are not politicians. If you don't want them to claim the max then reduce it or change the rules. This is a bit like the Maria Cahill story and the Nelson windowgate affair. Nothing new just repackaged.

[Franko]

Agree to an extent AiA.  If it were a GAA club applying for a publicly funded grant for something or other we'd all be applauding if they managed to work the system to get more out of the government.  We can't really pretend to be outraged because political parties (whatever side of the fence they are on) are up to the same.

If we asked for a show of hands of people who have never been involved in or seen public funds being 'misappropriated' (for want of a better word) I'd say there'd be precious few...

[armaghniac]

The issue here is that the rules are not very tightly designed to stop people acting the maggot, while these politicos are devising welfare rules etc very strictly.

[Maguire01]

Spotlight whilst unearthing some interesting gems from time to time is a programme that takes information already in the public domain and with a little pinch of sensationalism creates stories out of very little. Bottom line is none of these guys did anything outside the rules.

Is it a case of letter of the law vs spirit of the law?

Those who complain would be the first to screw every last penny from their DLA, work expenses, car allowance, mileage claims etc... but that's ok cause they are not politicians.

You're judging people by a very low standard. Your own, presumably?

If you don't want them to claim the max then reduce it or change the rules.

Ok, i'll sort that first thing tomorrow. How does that work again?

[Maguire01]

Agree to an extent AiA.  If it were a GAA club applying for a publicly funded grant for something or other we'd all be applauding if they managed to work the system to get more out of the government.  We can't really pretend to be outraged because political parties (whatever side of the fence they are on) are up to the same.

If we asked for a show of hands of people who have never been involved in or seen public funds being 'misappropriated' (for want of a better word) I'd say there'd be precious few...

Unbelievable. No wonder Bertie hung on for so long when this is the attitude.

But to try and drag a GAA club getting grant funding (a perfectly legitimate use of funding, with nothing to suggest the money is used for anything other than its intended purpose) into the likes of this argument - with references to misappropriation of public funds - is a great smear on the association.

[macdanger2]

Those who complain would be the first to screw every last penny from their DLA, work expenses, car allowance, mileage claims etc... but that's ok cause they are not politicians.

Surely politicians (as the law makers) have to be held to the very highest standards, you can't just say "sure everyone's doing it so it's ok". That's the very same attitude many people had towards bertie in the noughties

[Applesisapples]

Spotlight whilst unearthing some interesting gems from time to time is a programme that takes information already in the public domain and with a little pinch of sensationalism creates stories out of very little. Bottom line is none of these guys did anything outside the rules.

Is it a case of letter of the law vs spirit of the law?

Those who complain would be the first to screw every last penny from their DLA, work expenses, car allowance, mileage claims etc... but that's ok cause they are not politicians.

You're judging people by a very low standard. Your own, presumably?

If you don't want them to claim the max then reduce it or change the rules.

Ok, i'll sort that first thing tomorrow. How does that work again?

Can't do that fancy quote thing, everybody with few exceptions works to the letter not the spirit, and we Irish are very good at pushing the letter to it's widest interpretation.
Anyone who says he hasn't worked the system in work or otherwise to the limit is either a liar or forgetful.
The oversight commission should sort the rules, big McQullian is on it.

[Franko]

Agree to an extent AiA.  If it were a GAA club applying for a publicly funded grant for something or other we'd all be applauding if they managed to work the system to get more out of the government.  We can't really pretend to be outraged because political parties (whatever side of the fence they are on) are up to the same.

If we asked for a show of hands of people who have never been involved in or seen public funds being 'misappropriated' (for want of a better word) I'd say there'd be precious few...

Unbelievable. No wonder Bertie hung on for so long when this is the attitude.

But to try and drag a GAA club getting grant funding (a perfectly legitimate use of funding, with nothing to suggest the money is used for anything other than its intended purpose) into the likes of this argument - with references to misappropriation of public funds - is a great smear on the association.

Awesome bit of faux outrage - 'a great smear on the association'!  .  Settle yourself man! I'm not defending SF (which is why, I suspect, that you have jumped on this the way you have).  I was careful to add that my statement applied to all parties.

I've been a part of various committees and groups (professionally and through the GAA) who have been seeking gov't funding for various things.  As AiA said - when it comes to this type of thing it's the letter not the spirit of the law that we worked to.  If anyone else says they have done this type of thing and they haven't tried to work the system (legally) then I'd say they had no place being involved in the first place.  If the system can be circumvented then it's it that needs changed.

Now of course, I didnt even enter into the arena of discssing the hypocrisy of politicians doing this while preaching honesty and virtue to the rest of us.  But two wrongs don't make a right so it'd be a bit rich for us all join this hypocritical little band.

[armaghniac]

There is a difference though in some of the examples here. If you are representing the GAA in an attempt to get a grant then your clearly stated objective is advance the cause of the GAA. If you are a politician representing the public should you not also have some interest in the proper use of public finance as well as your own interest?

[Maguire01]

Agree to an extent AiA.  If it were a GAA club applying for a publicly funded grant for something or other we'd all be applauding if they managed to work the system to get more out of the government.  We can't really pretend to be outraged because political parties (whatever side of the fence they are on) are up to the same.

If we asked for a show of hands of people who have never been involved in or seen public funds being 'misappropriated' (for want of a better word) I'd say there'd be precious few...

Unbelievable. No wonder Bertie hung on for so long when this is the attitude.

But to try and drag a GAA club getting grant funding (a perfectly legitimate use of funding, with nothing to suggest the money is used for anything other than its intended purpose) into the likes of this argument - with references to misappropriation of public funds - is a great smear on the association.

Awesome bit of faux outrage - 'a great smear on the association'!  .  Settle yourself man! I'm not defending SF (which is why, I suspect, that you have jumped on this the way you have).  I was careful to add that my statement applied to all parties.

I've been a part of various committees and groups (professionally and through the GAA) who have been seeking gov't funding for various things.  As AiA said - when it comes to this type of thing it's the letter not the spirit of the law that we worked to.  If anyone else says they have done this type of thing and they haven't tried to work the system (legally) then I'd say they had no place being involved in the first place.  If the system can be circumvented then it's it that needs changed.

Now of course, I didnt even enter into the arena of discssing the hypocrisy of politicians doing this while preaching honesty and virtue to the rest of us.  But two wrongs don't make a right so it'd be a bit rich for us all join this hypocritical little band.

It's not outrage, faux or otherwise. And I didn't jump on any political party - I didn't see the programme, but from what i've heard, it's more a case of questions to be answered rather than any hard evidence of wrong-doing, at this point. My response was to the general attitude (that seems fairly widespread in this country) that there's nothing wrong with a bit of 'misappropriation', that everyone is at it, and if they're not, more fool them.

Reference to the GAA and grants doesn't belong anywhere on this thread. Many voluntary organisations apply for public funding with a stated purpose. If money is then used for that stated purpose, then there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. There's no misappropriation. It's totally irrelevant to this discussion.

[Maguire01]

Spotlight whilst unearthing some interesting gems from time to time is a programme that takes information already in the public domain and with a little pinch of sensationalism creates stories out of very little. Bottom line is none of these guys did anything outside the rules.

Is it a case of letter of the law vs spirit of the law?

Those who complain would be the first to screw every last penny from their DLA, work expenses, car allowance, mileage claims etc... but that's ok cause they are not politicians.

You're judging people by a very low standard. Your own, presumably?

If you don't want them to claim the max then reduce it or change the rules.

Ok, i'll sort that first thing tomorrow. How does that work again?

Can't do that fancy quote thing, everybody with few exceptions works to the letter not the spirit, and we Irish are very good at pushing the letter to it's widest interpretation.
Anyone who says he hasn't worked the system in work or otherwise to the limit is either a liar or forgetful.
The oversight commission should sort the rules, big McQullian is on it.

Yeah, but you said "If you don't want them to claim the max then reduce it or change the rules." - clearly I can't.