Presidential Election

Complainer said:
do you think Sean did anything wrong by collecting €5k for GAA clubs for filling out grant forms and ensuring that his then boss 'looked after' the payees with public money?
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You are assuming he did something wrong, he may have but I have not seem any evidence of this. The skill of completing these applications has a significant bearing on whether your application will succeed where others fail. I did this, long ago,for sports groups who had failed in previous applications. This was through a consultancy firm and pre - FF. In the same way as it can be advantageous to use a claims assessor in a flood damage claim, there is expertise in grant funding applications.

It would appear that the clubs were well aware of the charges and happy to pay them. I am sure that a 5k donation to the local government TD would have been far quicker if the motivation to get the funding approved outside of normal appraisal processes.
 
From http://www.independent.ie/national-...up-to-euro5000-for-grants-advice-2915300.html

Local sources last night told the Irish Independent: "He was inside with Fianna Fail and the ministers and (he had) the inside track, he had been (Dr Rory) O'Hanlon's secretary. Once you got him to do it, you were going to get the grant.
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You decide.
ontour said:
I did this, long ago,for sports groups who had failed in previous applications. This was through a consultancy firm and pre - FF.
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How much did you charge?
 
Complainer,

Ah 'local sources'. Someone in Galway told me that Michael D is an alien, can I refer to them as a 'local source'?

Can't recall how much was paid, I was only a very junior person but it would have been in the thousands. It would have been for larger sports organisations, not a village GAA club.
 

Lets not be totally naive here. The guy had no particular skill filling out forms. He was paid €5k because he had access to Department officials and politicians. Can't believe people are still so understanding about things like this after the past couple of years.

If he had such a skill getting grants, he would have expanded the business but he concentrated on these grants because he knew the right people. And no, I don't think it is right that a club that might not be able to afford €5k should lose out on a grant because they couldn't hire someone like Gallagher.

By the way, I don't see it as a huge story but there is something about him that I just don't trust.
 
ontour said:
Complainer,

Ah 'local sources'. Someone in Galway told me that Michael D is an alien, can I refer to them as a 'local source'?
.
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Yes, you can - provided you can get it through the legal dept of a national newspaper that is very, very careful about protecting their interests.
 
I was going to vote Michael D but I've changed my mind to Sean Gallagher. MD is certainly a nice man but I think SG would be better for the country. He'll be on trade missions etc and will help promote Ireland as a good place to do business. I actually think it's a positive that he has links to FF...it will keep the current government on their toes...
 

Out of curiosity, why do people think this guy is so good for business? His record isn't outstanding. How much of it is down to the Dragons Den factor? (Not asking you as such!)
 
It's good to see that Complainer now sees the Indo as a reliable news source.
 

Didn't we recently elect 160 odd TDs to do these jobs?
 
Their jobs are to make sure the potholes get filled and that Mary down the road gets her medical card.
 
Firefly said:
He'll be on trade missions etc and will help promote Ireland as a good place to do business.
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I wonder how much he'll charge Enterprise Ireland for helping them to fill out his airline ticket booking form? €5k perhaps?
 

After everything FF have done to this country, you are seriously considering voting for SG?

It really saddens me when I see posts like this.
 
Complainer said:
I wonder how much he'll charge Enterprise Ireland for helping them to fill out his airline ticket booking form? €5k perhaps?
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The Presidents expenses are not covered by Enterprise Ireland when they travel on a trade mission.
 
Sunny said:
Out of curiosity, why do people think this guy is so good for business? His record isn't outstanding. How much of it is down to the Dragons Den factor? (Not asking you as such!)
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Perhaps, but he is still pro-business. That's clear the minute you see him and can only be a good thing
 
umop3p!sdn said:
After everything FF have done to this country, you are seriously considering voting for SG?

It really saddens me when I see posts like this.
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To be clear...I'm not advocating FF return to power (far from it)...all I'm saying is that someone with FF ties in this position could help keep the current government on its toes. The same logic would apply if we elected Martin McGuinness given the strides SF are making in the Republic.
 
Firefly said:
Perhaps, but he is still pro-business.
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Which business are you referring to? The one where the Directors payments match the grant money extracted from Enterprise Ireland? Or the one where he refused to repay the full grant money to the Louth County Enterprise Board as he shut down the business? Or the business of extracting €5k payments from voluntary organisations to get the inside track on public grants?
 

[broken link removed] the directors loans which were in breach of company law, or the confusion over ownership of shares in another company (one which featured on Dragons Den)

[broken link removed]
 
Slightly off topic by considering that most of us seem to think that the list of candidates is less than inspiring, is it time to look at the length of the term. 7 years is an awful long time to be stuck with one of them.
 

I mean pro-business in general and not his own businesses. The type of businesses (domestic & multi-national) that create jobs and fund public services.
 
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