does willie o'dea have to read a resignation speech in dail?


He hasn't gone from the Dail. Why do Irish people accept such low standards when it comes to ethical behaviour and corporate governance at the highest levels of business, politics and even the Church?
We wonder how we have ended up in this mess and our refusal to demand the highest standards of behaviour from the so called leaders of this Country is one of the main reasons.
To see ministerial colleagues line up and defend his actions was pitiful. I don't expect them to publically crucify their colleague and friend but I despair that not one person who is supposed to running this Country had to moral courage to come out and admit his behaviour was unacceptable and his resignation was the right thing for the Country. It was the exact same with John O'Donoghue.
 

Maybe its from an understanding that to get anything done at the highest levels at least, people need to be ruthless and often the rules are bent and sometimes broken.
 
MrMan said:
Maybe its from an understanding that to get anything done at the highest levels at least, people need to be ruthless and often the rules are bent and sometimes broken.
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That is a ridiculous viewpoint and is a perfect example why we are in this economic crisis.
 
Willie O' Dea operates in a tough environment. There is something strange about this story. Where was the damage to Quinlivan if Willie said it only to a reporter and the reporter never published it.

Limerick is not by any stretch of the imagination a pretty city. It has had down thought the years many major social issues that have never been sorted out. As FF have been in government most of the time since the state began then they are to blame for that.

O'Dea is an intelligent man and by all accounts a very hard working politician for Limerick and he has always defended Limerick. He made a serious error of judgement and being a barrister he should not have denied what he said in the affidavid. Whether that justifies the loss of a capable minister (one of the few we 'had') I don't know.
 
The reporter did publish what Willie O' Dea said.

I seriously don't understand why people seem unable to see being capable at your job doesn't excuse you from acting to the highest ethical standards when you hold such an important postition. The bishops who transferred all the abusers around the place were capable bishops I am sure. Charles Haughey was a very capable minister as was Bertie Ahern. Sean Fitzpatrick was a very capable banker. Rody Molloy was a capable civil servant over a long period. Dr. Michael Neary was a capable doctor.
Too many people at the top of Irish society have operated in an ethical vacum for far too long where they thought the usual rules don't apply to them. This is a large part of what brought this Country to its knees.
 
Sunny said:
That is a ridiculous viewpoint and is a perfect example why we are in this economic crisis.
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Are you naive enough to believe that politics across the globe and big business is carried out in a fair and by the book manner? Naivity had more to do with our economic crisis than my viewpoint.
 
MrMan said:
Maybe its from an understanding that to get anything done at the highest levels at least, people need to be ruthless and often the rules are bent and sometimes broken.
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So what Willie O'Dea did was in the best interests of the country was it?

Or was it in the best interests of Willie O'Dea maybe?
 
MrMan said:
Are you naive enough to believe that politics across the globe and big business is carried out in a fair and by the book manner? Naivity had more to do with our economic crisis than my viewpoint.
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The naivety was on the side of the electorate, the average Joe. There was no naivety at the top. Merely greed and incompetence.

The "we're all crooks, so why can't I have a bit?" was the attitude at the heart of our economic crisis.
 
MrMan said:
Are you naive enough to believe that politics across the globe and big business is carried out in a fair and by the book manner? Naivity had more to do with our economic crisis than my viewpoint.
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Better than your 'anything goes because that's how things get done' attitude...

Want to spend hundreds and thousands of taxpayers money on first class travel and hotels? Work away.......
Want a little help getting that planning permission sorted? No worries....
Want your financial insititution to enter into transactions that help to hide information from investors? No problem with that.....
Want to protect the good name of your church by not co-operating with civil authorities? Of Course!.....
Want to slander political opponents and then try worm your way out of it? Sure we would expect nothing less....
Want to drag our State Broadcaster into court, lose and then only pay half the costs but still be member of a Dail? You will be welcomed back.
Want to treat taxpayers money like it is your own little piggy bank to pay for your lifestyle? Sure the suckers will never know....
Want to help yourselves to huge pay and bonuses while the taxpayer bails out your company? Ah sure you get things done....
 

Did I say that all of those things were ok?
You should consider politics given your propensity for spin.
 
hello, spin!!! is not what he just posted the TRUTH.

I would love to meet any politician who has done anything good for this country.

O'Dea should have been forced to read his resignation speech in the Dail in the very same seat where he shillied and shallied the day before.

The guy had a 19,000 majority and still tried to ... how insecure is that and he was Minister of Defence.

noah
 

Yes Noah, they were the truth, but they didn't have a bearing as a response to my post, hence 'spin'.
 
MrMan said:
Yes Noah, they were the truth, but they didn't have a bearing as a response to my post, hence 'spin'.
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Actually..........

MrMan said:
Maybe its from an understanding that to get anything done at the highest levels at least, people need to be ruthless and often the rules are bent and sometimes broken.
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You can use that line to excuse any sort of behaviour
 
I'm still gobsmacked that this buffoon is a barrister. Never knew that and can barely believe it.
 
I actually like Willie. From my point of view, gombeen politicians are a feature of the electoral system, we're stuck with them so we need to embrace them and appreciate them. Willie was one of the best of the lot, all future and current gombeens need to appreciate they are standing on the shoulders of a giant (figurative giant not literal naturally).

Now what are we left with not only in the cabinet but the Dail? Well meaning but ineffective and clueless career men and women. I've already set up a set of merchandising based on "What would WOD Do?", armbands and t-shirts.
 
Sunny said:
Actually..........



You can use that line to excuse any sort of behaviour
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It doesn't excuse this behaviour, just points to the very real possibility that when business is done at high levels and even on smaller scales, very little could be considered whiter than white. Most of us would accept that if we have a chance to gain an advantage over a competitor we would take it.
 
Caveat said:
I'm still gobsmacked that this buffoon is a barrister. Never knew that and can barely believe it.
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I think that's half his problem, in that people see him and think he looks funny so surely he is an eejit. George Lee was given gravitas by being RTE's Economist and by being highly qualified for that role, he even looked the part, but that perception also rang false when it came to politics.
 
Sunny said:
The reporter did publish what Willie O' Dea said.

.
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My understanding was that a) O' Dea asked the reporter to check his sources before publishing and b) the reporter asked Quinlivan who said he did not own the flat and c) therefore the newspaper did not publish Quinlivan as the owner or co owner.

I'm not standing up for O' Dea lying. That is dreadful behaviour. We have what we have in relation to parish politics in Ireland and O' Dea is one of the better ones out of a bad lot.
 
MrMan said:
I think that's half his problem, in that people see him and think he looks funny so surely he is an eejit.
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Well I also think that he comes across as an eejit as it happens but I take your point.
 
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