Should Leo stand down until investigation complete?

[Franko]

Lol, thanks

[Angelo]

A former FF minister has come out and said that Varadkar is not exempt from the Official Secrets Act and he would have had to sign a letter when taking office saying as much.

https://villagemagazine.ie/the-tanaiste-and-i-both-signed-the-official-secrets-act/

RTE and the mainstream media are doing everything in their power to suppress this story. The Free State media are arguably every bit as toxic as that in the UK.

[macker15]

Seamie Wolfe rode the storm re golf gate. Back to work  now. No mention of him now

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-40245608.html%3ftype=amp

[Angelo]

Seamie Wolfe rode the storm re golf gate. Back to work  now. No mention of him now

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-40245608.html%3ftype=amp

The biggest political scandal I think the Free State has seen has been buried for the last few years.

There were some very serious allegations but to former FG leader Michael Noonan about his time as Minister for Health. He is alleged by a whistleblower to have intervened in a foster case where a vulnerable girl with learning difficulties was allowed stay in the care of an abuser parent after Noonan was lobbied on behalf of the parent.

It's otherwise known as the Grace case.

Few articles on it here:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/inquiry-on-michael-noonan-s-actions-in-grace-case-urged-1.2545924

https://www.broadsheet.ie/2020/06/25/reversal/

The story broke in 2015 and has effectively been buried. The investigation into it has been kicked down the road and stalled by the FFG government at every opportunity. Noonan turns 78 in a couple of months. I think it's clear to see that FFG are trying to stall and obstruct this investigation for as long as they can so they can cite health reasons to stop Noonan being questioned on his role and to stop the truth coming out.

What is frankly obscene is the media's role in killing this story.

[Angelo]

So the then Minister for Health sang like a canary when questioned.

Yet the media bizarrely seem not to have cottoned on that his statement to the Gardai is at odds to what he told the Dail when he was questioned on this.

Meanwhile the Independent are running front page news about "credible" death threats to Varadkar without disclosing who from. Clearly it's loyalism but nice of them to try and leave the accusations open to SF supporters.

Deflect and smear seems to be the modus operandi of the Free State gutter press.

[sid waddell]

Fine article by Gerard Howlin here

The whole thing looks more and more like a pantomime and much ado about nothing

But maybe Varadkar should resign over his shameless ridiculing of deadly serious public health advice instead?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a19bd34c-89b8-11eb-a627-ab1cfc779ef5?shareToken=df881f4b7db6b85376e3adbbb71459cd

Gerard Howlin: Leo's halo has slipped
Gerard Howlin
Sunday March 21 2021, 12.01am GMT, The Sunday Times

If a taoiseach can't leak a document, he is no taoiseach at all. The pejorative use of the word "leak" to describe Leo Varadkar's passing of a confidential document to a friend, who was then president of the National Association of General Practitioners, misses this point. A taoiseach's cabinet colleagues can leak, though only with difficulty. Political advisers may do so more easily, while civil servants may do so occasionally. But a taoiseach cannot "leak", because as chairman of cabinet he is the authority who decides what is confidential and what is authorised for disclosure.

This leak, so-called, has become a big political story. Gardai are conducting an investigation to check whether the Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Act 2018 has been breached. Ironically, the revelation of the criminal investigation, in this newspaper and elsewhere last Sunday, may have been the result of an actual leak. There was a remarkable lack of concern last weekend over those leaks in the rush to visit further opprobrium on Varadkar.

The word "leak" is often a crude, overblown way to describe an authorised disclosure. Disclosing to discomfit your enemies, or butter your own turnips, is a staple skill in politics. Still, investigations into leaks titillate the media and, in Varadkar's case, caused some of his political competitors to engage in hypocrisy.

The cabinet is collectively responsible for every activity of every government department. A department is an area of responsibility assigned to a minister, but the responsibility is collective. It is hard to see how a minister disclosing a confidential document, or divulging an official secret, could be acting "illegally" unless it was for material advantage.

All information not released under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act is technically secret. In practice, disclosure is wholesale. The context of Varadkar passing a confidential document to his friend was industrial relations negotiations with doctors. In such situations it is a matter of tactical judgment as to when, how and to what extent the position of one party is shared with another. This is how states govern.

If held responsible for breaking political omerta, the outcome is process-free rough justice. Worse than being illegal, it is considered politically inconvenient. Leaking is about currying favour with journalists, having a better share of the limelight, scuppering one policy or testing another. It is inseparable from the messiness of politics and democracy.

But none of this is the preserve of the political class. Officials, if usually sparing, are not averse to leaking. And they have a more subtle and effective weapon, which is not to tell at all. One contentious aspect of what I regard as Varadkar's legitimate disclosure of a copy of an agreement between the government and the Irish Medical Organisation to Dr Maitiú Ó Tuathail, president of a rival GP organisation, is that the taoiseach at the time didn't inform his cabinet colleague Simon Harris, as minister for health. Yet it is the prerogative of the taoiseach to reach into any department, and it is at his discretion what to tell any minister.

It is assumed in Government Buildings that departments are constantly withholding information. That is true, up to a point. Frequently what is not disclosed to a taoiseach has not been disclosed to the minister either, or at least not in detail. Information is power.

The issue here is not a leak, which I maintain did not happen. It is unlikely to be alleged "corruption", which is being investigated. Assuming Varadkar got no material gain — and I absolutely do not think he did — the question is whether the quid pro quo was political advantage. But if this is the new bar for doing business in government, it is the end of politics. Considering the glee of his opponents, I assume they still believe seeking political advantage is fair game regardless.

What matters for Varadkar is that he was caught cack-handed in the tidal estuary between secrecy and gossip. Because Ó Tuathail was a friend with a proclivity for WhatsApp, whence a colourful account of the transaction emanated, it has left Varadkar in the part of pantomime villain. The #LeotheLeak controversy has damaged a meticulously created political persona of a straight-talker.

The squirming in Fine Gael is amusing. The whole point of being in that party is that others, not you, are collared by the gardai. Now the former and future taoiseach is another tradesman, just like the rest of us. The Leo halo has slipped, and innocence is lost.

[Rossfan]

Good article, last sentence sums it up.
PS has Mr Howlin a FF background?

[Angelo]

Amazing to see the lads who don't vote for FFG trying to defend this.

Good one lads.

[macker15]

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40075016.html

[macker15]

Mickey might be in a spot of bother here?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9D9eBg1fS3w&feature=youtu.be

[dublin7]

You're scraping the barrel there. He's telling her to take off the mask for a photo and is keeping away from her. If that's the worst thing happens this weekend we'll be lucky

[Angelo]

You're scraping the barrel there. He's telling her to take off the mask for a photo and is keeping away from her. If that's the worst thing happens this weekend we'll be lucky

Trolling hypocrite in contradiction shocker.

[dublin7]

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/no-inquiry-into-taoiseachs-presence-at-cork-boxing-event-40271701.html

I know it's not the ditch website, but I'm sure a reputable website like themselves will update their site

[macker15]

21 addresses about Covid.  Nobody is listening anymore. Roads are busier than ever. Public parks are thronged. Then  you have people drinking outside pubs with their takeaway pints.


https://m.independent.ie/opinion/comment/weve-had-21-addresses-now-onthe-covidemergency-fair-to-say-none-of-them-exactly-the-gettysburg-address-40259595.html

[Armagh18]

21 addresses about Covid.  Nobody is listening anymore. Roads are busier than ever. Public parks are thronged. Then  you have people drinking outside pubs with their takeaway pints.


https://m.independent.ie/opinion/comment/weve-had-21-addresses-now-onthe-covidemergency-fair-to-say-none-of-them-exactly-the-gettysburg-address-40259595.html

You love to see it.