# Michael Healy Rae..



## thedaras (28 Jun 2011)

http://www.independent.ie/national-...n-3636-dail-calls-to-win-tv-show-2807312.html

This paragraph in particular really bugs me;



> Asked today if the money should be paid back, Mr Healy –Rae said today that he was not involved in making the calls and he didn’t know who was. “The calls came from Leinster House but nobody could say if they came from one phone, five phones or 25 phones,” he said.



Reason it bugs me so much is that he didn't answer the question..ie;should the money be paid back..
Regardless of whom made the calls,(which needs to be investigated,)he should say he condemns the action.
This is just the tip of the iceberg IMHO, I have said it before that phone bills,from all our public services, should be made public!


----------



## JP1234 (28 Jun 2011)

Did anyone hear him talking to Anton Savage this morning? Completely side-stepped answering a simple question , whether he thought it was ok that this had happened.  He kept throwing in how the money went to charity/the didn't know who voted for him and that he hadn't had chance to speak to his father about it.

Absolutely gob-smacking.


----------



## TarfHead (28 Jun 2011)

I heard him on Newstalk and on Morning Ireland offering a masterclass in 'cute hoor' politics. Neither interviewer could tie him down to a direct answer to a direct question. With any luck, Sean O'Rourke will tear him a new one on News at One.

Why are 1530 numbers allowed from a place of work ?


----------



## Teatime (28 Jun 2011)

TarfHead said:


> Why are 1530 numbers allowed from a place of work ?



Place of work you say? Hmmmm.


----------



## colm5 (28 Jun 2011)

I  just cannot believe this. Surely, it’s obvious who did this, and his voters should let him know.


----------



## Sunny (28 Jun 2011)

colm5 said:


> I, for one, just cannot believe this. Surely, it’s obvious who did this, and his voters should let him know.


 
In the history of the Healy-Raes, this is minor stuff and his voters didn't care before now so unlikely to do so now.


----------



## colm5 (28 Jun 2011)

True, but usually the voter got the upside. Now they have got the bill. does anyone else find it  embarrassing to have these muppets as elected officials.


----------



## TarfHead (28 Jun 2011)

colm5 said:


> True, but usually the voter got the upside. Now they have got the bill. does anyone else find it embarrassing to have these muppets as elected officials.


 
Only if you live in the Kerry South constituency  !


----------



## colm5 (28 Jun 2011)

TarfHead said:


> Only if you live in the Kerry South constituency  !


 Ya I know, but surely, this is way over the line. This is into the comical, I just hope the international press dont pick this up.
Not even the kerry voters can ignore this one.


----------



## Howitzer (28 Jun 2011)

colm5 said:


> Not even the kerry voters can ignore this one.


They won't. They'll find it comical. Or at least the 15% or so who voted for him. 

Such is a PR system. You just need to appeal to a big enough minority to get elected. The more everyone else says something bad about you the more a certain percentage of people will support you.


----------



## DrMoriarty (28 Jun 2011)

colm5 said:


> Not even the kerry voters can ignore this one.


 They have ignored far, far worse. In Kerry and elsewhere.


----------



## Mucker Man (28 Jun 2011)

In fairness to the people of Kerry South, they didn't re elect John O'Donoghue.


----------



## Sunny (28 Jun 2011)

Mucker Man said:


> In fairness to the people of Kerry South, they didn't re elect John O'Donoghue.


 
And his parting remark says it all about Irish politics


"I hope that the irony will not be lost upon you that I stand here, on my evening of defeat, in a hall – this magnificent sports complex – which I helped to build"


----------



## Purple (28 Jun 2011)

Teatime said:


> Place of work you say? Hmmmm.



Lol 

We don't allow any premium calls from work. I thought that was standard practice.


----------



## liaconn (28 Jun 2011)

colm5 said:


> I just cannot believe this. Surely, it’s obvious who did this, and his voters should let him know.


 
You're assuming a certain level of cop on and intelligence from the people who consider the Healy Raes suitable people to be in Government.


----------



## Mpsox (28 Jun 2011)

Purple said:


> Lol
> 
> We don't allow any premium calls from work. I thought that was standard practice.


 
It should be but you actually have to bar the number/service. In a lot of companies (and I'm speaking as someone who found a staff member calling Aus), it's only when it happens do you remember to bar premium/international calls. At least someone spotted it so credit is due there

It is an interesting point that MHR raised though. Who actually made the calls, was it Daddy, Daddy's staff or was he going around Leinster House asking people to do this for him? It's not just the cost of the calls that annoy me, it's the fact that the chances are that the people who made the calls were also being paid by the state.


----------



## Purple (28 Jun 2011)

We allow international calls (otherwise we'd have no work).


----------



## Latrade (28 Jun 2011)

I do like the way how he never got the chance to speak to his dad to clear things up in between the 17 interviews he's done today.


----------



## Purple (28 Jun 2011)

Latrade said:


> I do like the way how he never got the chance to speak to his dad to clear things up in between the 17 interviews he's done today.



They are both far too busy serving the people of Kerry.

Posters from Kerry; ye must be scarlet!


----------



## Ham Slicer (28 Jun 2011)

I missed the MHR interview but Jimmy Deenihan was on afterwards and when asked for his opinion he said he thought something should be done to stop these phone-ins being manipulated.

He seems more concerned that Jedward might lose out in some phone-in than the waste of public money.


----------



## Mpsox (28 Jun 2011)

Purple said:


> They are both far too busy serving the people of Kerry.
> 
> Posters from Kerry; ye must be scarlet!


 

Not from the Kingdom (Thank God) but before the suave urbanite jackeens get carried away with themselves, allow me to remind you of

Bertie Ahern
Ray Burke


----------



## Howitzer (28 Jun 2011)

Liam Lawlor?


----------



## STEINER (28 Jun 2011)

healy rae should repay the money, obviously someone who really likes them organised the calls! also its not that they are short of a few bob.


----------



## thedaras (28 Jun 2011)

Ham Slicer said:


> I missed the MHR interview but Jimmy Deenihan was on afterwards and when asked for his opinion he said he thought something should be done to stop these phone-ins being manipulated.
> 
> He seems more concerned that Jedward might lose out in some phone-in than the waste of public money.



I heard the Jimmy Deenihan interview and he also side swiped the question. When asked his opinion on this he completely ignored the question and went on to talk about phone in manipulation..do they think we are as thick as they come across!

I have to also questions the level of journalism ,,,those ,and there were so many today, that allowed both Healy Rae and Deenihan to get away with answering a question they were not asked, really should be trained to be like a dog with a bone,to keep asking the question and if they continue to side swipe the answer the journalists should make sure that it is brought to the attention of the listeners while they have the interviewee present,that way they must acknowledge that they are refusing to answer!

Whats the bets some bright spark will come up with the idea that it was a fault on the line.oh NO..have I just given them a way out,watch that space!


----------



## LDFerguson (28 Jun 2011)

Aside from the money issue, the amount of time it would take to make 3,636 calls is mind-boggling, regardless of whether one person or a team of people did it.  

If I take an average time per call at 15 seconds, by the time you start dialling, listen to the recorded blurb and hang up, it would take over 15 hours to make 3,636 calls.  

15 hours.  By staff in Leinster House.  Repeatedly ringing a premium-rate number to vote for MHR on some reality TV show.  

<Bangs head on desk repeatedly.>


----------



## horusd (28 Jun 2011)

It would make you laugh or cry this kinda thing. I'm goin to laugh at it, and hope the sod who made the calls suffers from repetitive strain injury from the rest of *his *days. It throws a whole new meaning on givin the voter the finger doesnt it?


----------



## Armada (29 Jun 2011)

Heard MHR is now being referred to  as " The Ring of Kerry"


----------



## Leper (29 Jun 2011)

We know premium rate telephone calls are a money spinner. Let's have more, but this time organised by the Healy Raes and Jimmy Deenihans of the world and give the profit towards our faltered economy.

I can see the ad:- Who is the nicest guy?, A Michael Healy Rae;B Bertie Ahern; C Michael Lowry. Get dialling now . . .

We could be on to something here . . .


----------



## PaddyW (29 Jun 2011)

Purple said:


> They are both far too busy serving the people of Kerry.
> 
> Posters from Kerry; ye must be scarlet!


 

Scarlet? Not scarlet at all. Not even surprised. Public money is getting blown on silly things every day. This is a small splash in a very large pool of wastage. About time they started bringing anyone who has a hand in this wastage to task.


----------



## horusd (29 Jun 2011)

Armada said:


> Heard MHR is now being referred to as " The Ring of Kerry"


 

Also "Dial" Eireann is doing the rounds


----------



## Latrade (29 Jun 2011)

It should be pointed out, especially to the likes of Bono, Amnesty and other charity NGOs, that these phone calls count towards the charitable aid spending of Ireland.


----------



## Yorrick (29 Jun 2011)

33 PM 
Mpsox 
Frequent Poster
 Location: A rebel by the 
Posts: 1,503 



Quote:
Originally Posted by *Purple* http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?p=1179722#post1179722 
_They are both far too busy serving the people of Kerry.

Posters from Kerry; ye must be scarlet! _


Not from the Kingdom (Thank God) but before the suave urbanite jackeens get carried away with themselves, allow me to remind you of 

Bertie Ahern
Ray Burke


Tony Gregory


----------



## Sunny (29 Jun 2011)

Yorrick said:


> Tony Gregory


 
Never the biggest fan of Tony Gregory's politics but I had huge respect for him and to compare him to those two in Kerry is an insult to the man's memory. He did more work for some of the most deprived areas in Ireland and fought harder against the scourge of drugs than almost any other elected politician. Getting support for community schemes and employment to help the most vunerable in society in return for a vote is not the same as getting motorways built or getting put on committees for personal gain.


----------



## Deiseblue (29 Jun 2011)

Sunny said:


> Never the biggest fan of Tony Gregory's politics but I had huge respect for him and to compare him to those two in Kerry is an insult to the man's memory. He did more work for some of the most deprived areas in Ireland and fought harder against the scourge of drugs than almost any other elected politician. Getting support for community schemes and employment to help the most vunerable in society in return for a vote is not the same as getting motorways built or getting put on committees for personal gain.



Well said - to equate Tony Gregory with those two sleveens is indeed an insult to his memory.


----------



## DB74 (29 Jun 2011)

I presume the phone calls were made using some form of automated dialing machine and not by some lackey in Dail Eireann


----------



## Purple (29 Jun 2011)

Sunny said:


> Never the biggest fan of Tony Gregory's politics but I had huge respect for him and to compare him to those two in Kerry is an insult to the man's memory. He did more work for some of the most deprived areas in Ireland and fought harder against the scourge of drugs than almost any other elected politician. Getting support for community schemes and employment to help the most vunerable in society in return for a vote is not the same as getting motorways built or getting put on committees for personal gain.





Deiseblue said:


> Well said - to equate Tony Gregory with those two sleveens is indeed an insult to his memory.



Why is a TD who looks after the interests in a poor rural area a gombeen and a TD who does the same in Dublin a social champion?


----------



## Purple (29 Jun 2011)

DB74 said:


> I presume the phone calls were made using some form of automated dialing machine and not by some lackey in Dail Eireann


 Perhaps they bought the one Homer Simpson used?


----------



## Laramie (29 Jun 2011)

On the Joe show yesterday the reporter who broke the story indicated that he knew a bit more about the story. As usual Joe didn't pick up on the hint that he was given by the reporter as to how the person might be identified as to who made the phone calls. Apparently they say that they cannot identify which phone was used to make the outgoing calls but the reported said that the receiver of the calls would have a record. Was it not RTE who received the calls?


----------



## Mpsox (29 Jun 2011)

Seems Daddy Rae emailed around Leinster House asking people to vote for the young fellow

http://www.thejournal.ie/healy-rae-told-to-pay-up-as-dail-to-investigate-165593-Jun2011/


----------



## Sunny (29 Jun 2011)

Purple said:


> Why is a TD who looks after the interests in a poor rural area a gombeen and a TD who does the same in Dublin a social champion?


 
Because rural Kerry is not poor. If you want to see poor and deprived, go back to inner city Dublin in the 1980's which not one politican gave a damn about until Tony Gregory came along. He also put the deal with Haughey back in the 1980's on the Dail record which is more than can be said about current politicians. I can't see see Jackie Healy Rae mobilising his community to fight drug pushers when even Guards were afraid to tackle the issue. I can't see Tony Gregory doing deals that involved him and his cronies getting positions on State Boards for his own benefit. That's the difference between the two.

Like I say, I didn't agree with his politics but I do respect him.


----------



## TarfHead (29 Jun 2011)

South Kerry constituency politics

Day 2

http://www.kerryman.ie/news/file-going-to-the-dpp-over-alleged-voter-fraud-2582010.html


----------



## Yorrick (29 Jun 2011)

Take off your blinkers and you will see that in rural Ireland there is plenty of poverty, isolation and deprivation. . Of course there are wealthy people in Kerry as there are in Dublin Central. You don't have to live in a Corporation flat to be poor.

I don't support the Healy Raes but I also dont support any individual TD who holds the country to ransom and gets fund channelled in to his constituency solely because he holds the balance of power.
Distribution of government funds should be on a need basis not on political blackmail.


----------



## Sunny (29 Jun 2011)

Yorrick said:


> Take off your blinkers and you will see that in rural Ireland there is plenty of poverty, isolation and deprivation. . Of course there are wealthy people in Kerry as there are in Dublin Central. You don't have to live in a Corporation flat to be poor.
> 
> I don't support the Healy Raes but I also dont support any individual TD who holds the country to ransom and gets fund channelled in to his constituency solely because he holds the balance of power.
> Distribution of government funds should be on a need basis not on political blackmail.


 
Are you seriously trying to compare inner city Dublin of the 1980's with South Kerry in the 2000's for poverty and deprivation?


----------



## TarfHead (29 Jun 2011)

Yorrick said:


> You don't have to live in a Corporation flat to be poor.


 
I went to school in the inner city of Dublin in the 1970s and 1980s and saw for myself the conditions in which people lived in the general area of Sean McDemott Street.

I doubt that poverty in other parts of Ireland was as concentrated as in the Dublin Central constituency represented in the Dail by Tony Gregory.

If you're trying to establish an equivalence between Tony Gregory and the Healy Raes, then please detail how the HRs improved the lot of their constituents in an equivalent manner.

Getting a roundabout and bypass for Kilgarvan does not, IMHO, compare to the replacement of Victorian tenements. Getting a sports hall for Tralee does not, IMHO, compare with providing supports for communities being terrorised by drug dealers.


----------



## liaconn (29 Jun 2011)

Yorrick said:


> Take off your blinkers and you will see that in rural Ireland there is plenty of poverty, isolation and deprivation. . Of course there are wealthy people in Kerry as there are in Dublin Central. You don't have to live in a Corporation flat to be poor.
> 
> I don't support the Healy Raes but *I also dont support any individual TD who holds the country to ransom and gets fund channelled in to his constituency solely because he holds the balance of power.*
> *Distribution of government funds should be on a need basis not on political blackmail*.


 
If things were done fairly in the first place there would have been no need for Tony Gregory to fight so hard to achieve basic safe living conditions for the people of inner city Dublin.


----------



## Vanilla (29 Jun 2011)

TarfHead said:


> South Kerry constituency politics
> 
> Day 2
> 
> http://www.kerryman.ie/news/file-going-to-the-dpp-over-alleged-voter-fraud-2582010.html


 
That's the Kerry North constituency.


----------



## PaddyW (29 Jun 2011)

Vanilla said:


> That's the Kerry North constituency.


 

Castleisland actually moved in to the Kerry South constituency it seems. It was news to me also.


----------



## Mucker Man (29 Jun 2011)

MHR will pay the mony back!!

In other news today, 308 people are waiting on trollies in hospitals, I wonder will this information be on the news this evening?


----------



## Brendan Burgess (29 Jun 2011)

From the[broken link removed]



> The Oireachtas wrote to Mr Healy-Rae’s father, Jackie, when the
> calls  came to light in 2007, but took no action when he failed to reply.


----------



## LDFerguson (29 Jun 2011)

DB74 said:


> I presume the phone calls were made using some form of automated dialing machine and not by some lackey in Dail Eireann


 
Watever way you look at it, it's out of order.  

If someone used an auto-dialler and connected it to the Dail Eireann phone system, then it displays a premeditation that veers very close to fraud in my view.  

On the other hand, if a group of Dail Eireann employees were cajoled into manually dialling 3,600 times, it's both a waste of money AND a waste of LOTS of staff time.


----------



## Crugers (29 Jun 2011)

Mucker Man said:


> MHR will pay the mony back!!...



MHR is quoted @ Irish Examiner.com as saying “_I’m the only person in Ireland that’s paying for other people’s phone bills_.”See
http://www.examiner.ie/breakingnews...peoples-phone-bills-510879.html#ixzz1QgIu09NH
​
AFAIK his Dail phone bill and every other TD's Dail phone bill is being paid for by 'other people'...

Sure isn't that what the whole issue was in the first place?
DOH!


----------



## RMCF (29 Jun 2011)

I'm confused.

If he's innocent, why is he paying the money?

Is he not admitting liability by paying?

Once again, one rule for one ....


----------



## Black Sheep (29 Jun 2011)

I just can't believe that any decent honest person would make Premium Rate calls from their employer's phone. Not just one call but 3636 of them. Nobody put guns to their heads. We are all being asked on a daily basis to support various good causes but we do not do it with someone else's money.

What kind of a bunch of morons are running the country


----------



## Complainer (29 Jun 2011)

LDFerguson said:


> If someone used an auto-dialler and connected it to the Dail Eireann phone system, then it displays a premeditation that veers very close to fraud in my view.



I'd have thought that redial buttons on speaker phones are the most likely mechanism.


----------



## Vanilla (29 Jun 2011)

PaddyW said:


> Castleisland actually moved in to the Kerry South constituency it seems. It was news to me also.


 
Oh sorry, that must be recent then as I remember the line used to be half way between C'Island and Farranfore.


----------



## DB74 (29 Jun 2011)

LDFerguson said:


> Watever way you look at it, it's out of order.
> 
> If someone used an auto-dialler and connected it to the Dail Eireann phone system, then it displays a premeditation that veers very close to fraud in my view.
> 
> On the other hand, if a group of Dail Eireann employees were cajoled into manually dialling 3,600 times, it's both a waste of money AND a waste of LOTS of staff time.



I agree fully that it's out of order

I was replying to the suggestion that someone spent hours dialling and redialling the number, which IMO was highly unlikely (although you never know)


----------



## Laramie (30 Jun 2011)

Maybe included in their demands for supporting the government of the day was a condition that each member of FF had to make 50 phone calls in support of junior?
http://www.google.ie/imgres?imgurl=http://lh6.ggpht.com/_K5YBwW8ZZgY/TO-ijvrga-I/AAAAAAAADzQ/W1MHrPTo3_s/brian%2520cowen%2520rings%2520rory%2520mcilroy_thumb%255B3%255D.png&imgrefurl=http://www.golfcentraldaily.com/2010/11/brian-cowen-calls-rory-mcilroy-in-dubai.html&usg=__gs7ofaKBiMjZDlVbKRSq4vLZA4o=&h=534&w=484&sz=243&hl=en&start=162&zoom=1&tbnid=3ccEtMhXSbRZkM:&tbnh=111&tbnw=105&ei=FyQMTsG9H4fMhAeZj-HdDQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dbrian%2Bcowen%2Bon%2Bphone%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26rlz%3D1G1SMSN_ENIE430%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D403%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=172&page=15&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:162&tx=85&ty=83


----------



## NOAH (1 Jul 2011)

a good idea to send an email first, eh!!

noah


----------



## ajapale (1 Jul 2011)

I think it has been mentioned but most employments both public and private bar premium rate phone calls. Why are they allowed in the Dail?


----------

