Clare Daly after breathalyser: I had a hot whiskey for cold

[LeoMc]

Ming the meek makes his point

Miriam Lord

A new political cohort has emerged in Leinster House – The Technicality Group.

These are the deputies who may have transgressed (think Mick Wallace and his tax affairs) but manage to escape censure on a technicality. Group members are distinguished by their brass necks and fantastic ability to turn a blind eye.

Hypocrisy and victimhood also come with the territory.

At the moment, The Technicality Group has three leading lights – Wallace, Clare Daly and Luke Ming Flanagan.


http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/oireachtas/ming-the-meek-makes-his-point-1.1324104?page=1

Why is Clare Daly in this group? Was her "technicality" not that she was under the limit or is there something else out there?

[magpie seanie]

Up the Ming. Roscommon councillors or officials are a shower of edjits unlike any other I've encountered and Ming rightly drove them soft by reducing their expenses and exposing their stupid and useless practices when he was a member of the chamber, I wouldn't believe anything one of them says about Ming as all but a few have major, major axes to grind.

Anyone that does, more's the fool you.

This is classic mid-term blather that only people not willing to consider the candidate to begin with will remember come election time.

I tend to believe a Garda would very much solicit well-known people like Ming claims given their continued poor behaviour with other famous people but Ming's mistake wasn't even letting it happen, it was not getting out in front of this story when Daly was pushing this last year. The whole thing is incredibly ironic to me because Ming has taken the train to Dublin for a few months now, most times I'm in Castlerea early I'll see him walking to the station with his gear in hand.

For anyone that wants a little perspective without someone like Vincent Browne making stroke faces and interrupting every five seconds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3dGPnEdcoM

I'm struggling to see the difference between you and those in North Tipp supporting Lowry, or South Kerry supporting Healy Rae.

Just watched both the Dail clip and VB appearance. Interesting that you think the pre-prepared, rehearsed and unchallenged version provides the perspective. Have to agree with An Gaeilgoir - VB ripped him a new one.

The clue is in the post directly below your's, they've very different political animals.

One set has a history of embezzlement, the other has a history of fighting for, and pushing through, changes that crub politicians' abilities to abuse the system at local and national level. The people who tried to compare him to have tried to get rich off their position; Ming lives in relative poverty and always has. This isn't Mick Wallace, this is someone of honestly small means who has done as close to an honest job in the Dail as any I have ever seen.

Ming has always campaigned for better laws and practices for everyone even since 1997, not just parish pump issues. He's always been a big issue guy, not some inward-facing career politician. This is not a man enthralled with money or developers, if you knew Ming as long as people here have you'd know he gets himself into holes by being too honest with people, not by being a gombeen and trying to tell everyone what they want to hear. Just about the only thing Ming shares with Haely-Rae or Pacman Lowry is the same side of the Dail chamber.

He made a balls up letting them wipe his points to begin with but it's nothing short of ridiculous that you'd compare him to those sort of fools because of this incident.

And on Vincent Browne - it's grand entertainment to watch him make bizarre half-awake sounds and faces every few seconds if you're in the position of not having anything better to watch at 11 PM at night but as something of real worth it's negligible, Browne is as big a blow-hard as any of the politicians he features. Browne doing the same old routine he's been doing for decades isn't 'ripping him a new one' in anyone's langauge.

I have to agree with Syferus here. Ming is actually one of the good guys but he mucked up totally in this case. He will make full amends for his mistake I'm sure and not just by paying the fines and taking the points. You cannot compare him to the likes of Lowry or Healy-Rae or even Wallace.

Miriam Lord's article is not surprising. She has made a career out of the establishment so any chance to put the boot in on the anti-establishment crowd is gravy! As Syferus said VB is pure entertainment - I wouldn't take it too seriously. VB is so good at what he does he could easily argue black is white and make you agree by the end of the show.

[magpie seanie]

Ming the meek makes his point

Miriam Lord

A new political cohort has emerged in Leinster House – The Technicality Group.

These are the deputies who may have transgressed (think Mick Wallace and his tax affairs) but manage to escape censure on a technicality. Group members are distinguished by their brass necks and fantastic ability to turn a blind eye.

Hypocrisy and victimhood also come with the territory.

At the moment, The Technicality Group has three leading lights – Wallace, Clare Daly and Luke Ming Flanagan.


http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/oireachtas/ming-the-meek-makes-his-point-1.1324104?page=1

Why is Clare Daly in this group? Was her "technicality" not that she was under the limit or is there something else out there?

Yes - a terrible "technicality" that sickened a lot of establishment types.

[deiseach]

I have to agree with Syferus here. Ming is actually one of the good guys but he mucked up totally in this case. He will make full amends for his mistake I'm sure and not just by paying the fines and taking the points. You cannot compare him to the likes of Lowry or Healy-Rae or even Wallace.

Miriam Lord's article is not surprising. She has made a career out of the establishment so any chance to put the boot in on the anti-establishment crowd is gravy! As Syferus said VB is pure entertainment - I wouldn't take it too seriously. VB is so good at what he does he could easily argue black is white and make you agree by the end of the show.

I don't think Ming is anywhere near as bad as Lowry or Healy-Rae but he has made a complete fool of himself here and making 'full amends' for it doesn't make it any less foolish. Miriam Lord, who doesn't spare the rod for establishment types, might as well have given up on her career as a sketch writer had she not taken the piss out of him.

[Maguire01]

Up the Ming. Roscommon councillors or officials are a shower of edjits unlike any other I've encountered and Ming rightly drove them soft by reducing their expenses and exposing their stupid and useless practices when he was a member of the chamber, I wouldn't believe anything one of them says about Ming as all but a few have major, major axes to grind.

Anyone that does, more's the fool you.

This is classic mid-term blather that only people not willing to consider the candidate to begin with will remember come election time.

I tend to believe a Garda would very much solicit well-known people like Ming claims given their continued poor behaviour with other famous people but Ming's mistake wasn't even letting it happen, it was not getting out in front of this story when Daly was pushing this last year. The whole thing is incredibly ironic to me because Ming has taken the train to Dublin for a few months now, most times I'm in Castlerea early I'll see him walking to the station with his gear in hand.

For anyone that wants a little perspective without someone like Vincent Browne making stroke faces and interrupting every five seconds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3dGPnEdcoM

I'm struggling to see the difference between you and those in North Tipp supporting Lowry, or South Kerry supporting Healy Rae.

Just watched both the Dail clip and VB appearance. Interesting that you think the pre-prepared, rehearsed and unchallenged version provides the perspective. Have to agree with An Gaeilgoir - VB ripped him a new one.

The clue is in the post directly below your's, they've very different political animals.

One set has a history of embezzlement, the other has a history of fighting for, and pushing through, changes that crub politicians' abilities to abuse the system at local and national level. The people who tried to compare him to have tried to get rich off their position; Ming lives in relative poverty and always has. This isn't Mick Wallace, this is someone of honestly small means who has done as close to an honest job in the Dail as any I have ever seen.

Ming has always campaigned for better laws and practices for everyone even since 1997, not just parish pump issues. He's always been a big issue guy, not some inward-facing career politician. This is not a man enthralled with money or developers, if you knew Ming as long as people here have you'd know he gets himself into holes by being too honest with people, not by being a gombeen and trying to tell everyone what they want to hear. Just about the only thing Ming shares with Haely-Rae or Pacman Lowry is the same side of the Dail chamber.

He made a balls up letting them wipe his points to begin with but it's nothing short of ridiculous that you'd compare him to those sort of fools because of this incident.

And on Vincent Browne - it's grand entertainment to watch him make bizarre half-awake sounds and faces every few seconds if you're in the position of not having anything better to watch at 11 PM at night but as something of real worth it's negligible, Browne is as big a blow-hard as any of the politicians he features. Browne doing the same old routine he's been doing for decades isn't 'ripping him a new one' in anyone's langauge.

Ming's biggest problem is that when you climb up on a high horse, you have to be squeaky clean. What he has done here is corrupt. It's low level stuff, but none the less corrupt.

And i'm not intending to compare him to Lowry or Healy Rae, rather that his local supporters don't seem to be able to call a spade 'a spade' - saying that "he made a balls up letting them wipe his points to begin with" isn't quite hitting the nail on the head. He didn't just 'let them wipe his points' - he wrote to them to have his points wiped. He was complicit, was he not?

The thing is, I appreciate the role he has played, being a thorn in the side of the establishment. And dismiss VB all you want, but I watched the show and it was quite clear how uncomfortable Ming was when challenged. This has seriously damaged his integrity and credibility.

[Maguire01]

Miriam Lord's article is not surprising. She has made a career out of the establishment so any chance to put the boot in on the anti-establishment crowd is gravy!

Does she not regularly stick the boot into the establishment?

And instead of playing 'the man', what are the inaccuracies with the article?

[deiseach]

And instead of playing 'the man', what are the inaccuracies with the article?

Including Clare Daly in the 'Technicality Group' is a bit cheeky. Miriam Lord will no doubt claim artistic licence, but you can be sure it reinforces the view of some people that Daly was guilty of something.

[Maguire01]

And instead of playing 'the man', what are the inaccuracies with the article?

Including Clare Daly in the 'Technicality Group' is a bit cheeky. Miriam Lord will no doubt claim artistic licence, but you can be sure it reinforces the view of some people that Daly was guilty of something.

Yes, you could definitely argue that. But in terms of the content on Ming...

[Declan]

Miriam is a fantastic writer and I enjoy her pieces but that was definitely playing the man and not the ball in relation to Clare Daly.
The bigger picture in all of Ming's mistakes is the fact that in Ireland it's still who you know not, what you know when it comes to getting things done/sorted.

[deiseach]

As an aside, I wonder how Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce would have fared had they promised to make full amends for their behaviour - switch the points from her licence to his and all's well. I'm pretty sure Ming didn't break the law, but the idea that you can make everything okay by reversing what you did previously would have interesting social ramifications.

[Rudi]

No doubt what he did was wrong and hypocritical. However, the kicking he got on the VB show was hardly a case of the punishment matching the crime. In the context of 400,000 plus unemployed, mortgage arrears, church scandals, bank debt tied into sovereign debt, etc. Not really a big news story, hows about the media and VB go after the former fiancial regulator and his co-horts. Leave the former pot smoking, turf cutting gasun alone, one of the better TD's out there imo. Even if he did score a horrible own-goal on this one. Politics in Ireland is far to parochial to the determinant of getting something useful done at a national level.

[magpie seanie]

As an aside, I wonder how Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce would have fared had they promised to make full amends for their behaviour - switch the points from her licence to his and all's well. I'm pretty sure Ming didn't break the law, but the idea that you can make everything okay by reversing what you did previously would have interesting social ramifications.

I think you misunderstood what I said on this. Paying the fines and taking the points on his licence won't be the end of making amends for this blunder for Ming. At least he had the balls to go on VB unlike the guys who have don't countless times more damage to the country. He is actively, albeit belatedly, standing up against the nod, nod, wink, wink culture that is all encompassing and a cancer on our society for generations.

Our socio-political system is broken and totally unfit for purpose. There is zero fairness in our society and worse still - not even the veil of pretence to be seen. Effectively one party government since partition/independence hasd continually wrecked our country and rather than fight against it people try to fit into it and demonise the likes of Ming. It makes no sense.

[muppet]

I have to agree with Syferus here. Ming is actually one of the good guys but he mucked up totally in this case. He will make full amends for his mistake I'm sure and not just by paying the fines and taking the points. You cannot compare him to the likes of Lowry or Healy-Rae or even Wallace.

Miriam Lord's article is not surprising. She has made a career out of the establishment so any chance to put the boot in on the anti-establishment crowd is gravy! As Syferus said VB is pure entertainment - I wouldn't take it too seriously. VB is so good at what he does he could easily argue black is white and make you agree by the end of the show.

I don't think Ming is anywhere near as bad as Lowry or Healy-Rae but he has made a complete fool of himself here and making 'full amends' for it doesn't make it any less foolish. Miriam Lord, who doesn't spare the rod for establishment types, might as well have given up on her career as a sketch writer had she not taken the piss out of him.

Lowry and Healy-Rae all started as unknowns once.

I see greatness in Ming. Give him time, he has the ability to go all the way.

[Maguire01]

As an aside, I wonder how Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce would have fared had they promised to make full amends for their behaviour - switch the points from her licence to his and all's well. I'm pretty sure Ming didn't break the law, but the idea that you can make everything okay by reversing what you did previously would have interesting social ramifications.

Especially if it only applies if/when you're caught.

[deiseach]

I think you misunderstood what I said on this. Paying the fines and taking the points on his licence won't be the end of making amends for this blunder for Ming. At least he had the balls to go on VB unlike the guys who have don't countless times more damage to the country. He is actively, albeit belatedly, standing up against the nod, nod, wink, wink culture that is all encompassing and a cancer on our society for generations.

What further punishment will there be for Ming for his 'blunder'? I presume there will be no legal sanction against him, so the only thing I can see is being ridiculed by satirists for a hilarious case of foot-in-mouth, yet you seem to find this to be a display of establishment hackery.