‘ I Could See Her In The Rear View Mirror’

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Cllr-Ray-Butler1 Screen Shot 2015-02-24 at 00.57.08Screen Shot 2015-02-24 at 00.46.43

 

Allegations of a hit-and-run against Fine Gael TD Ray Butler, top, in Finnegan’s Way in Trim, Co. Meath were shared across Facebook and Twitter last night, above, prompting RTE reporter Mícheál Lehane to tweet…

This morning, Mr Butler denied the allegations made online.

He told Newstalk Breakfast that around 20 to 30 protesters went to his home last night while he was in his constituency office. He said his wife, his wife’s brother, Andrew, and two of his daughters, aged 9 and 11, were at home at the time before another daughter returned home. He said the protesters eventually moved to his constituency office at around 9.15pm or 9.30pm.

Ray Butler: ‘They came down to my constituency office, there was only 8 of them, 7 or 8 of them arrived at my constituency office. And the same woman that had rang my doorbell, I could see her on CCTV. She was ringing the doorbell of the constituency office and wouldn’t let her finger off it. So basically the [branch] meeting was over at this stage and John Tobin and councillor Noel French went down to her, to talk to her, to say, ‘well, listen, he’ll talk to you, give the office a ring and he’ll meet up with you any time’ and all that. So..”

Chris Donoghue: “So you decided you weren’t going to go out to the 7 or 8 people?”

Butler: “I was, I was, I wasn’t, we were going to leave the office. So as I went down, I went down with a group and I went down to close the door, Chris, and I was locking the door and this lady came up and she said to me, ‘oh Ray, you know me, you know me, you know me, I’m from Kells.’ Now I am originally from Kells. I haven’t lived in Kells for the last 28 years and ‘you know me, you know me’ and I said, ‘listen, there’s no problem’ and she said, ‘I rang, I rang to book an appointment and all of that’ and I said, ‘well listen, you can ring me any time to meet me for anything, anything.”

Donoghue: “OK,  Ray, I want to actually talk about the allegation that’s made against you. That you got into your car..”

Butler: “Yes, I’m coming to that Chris…”

Donoghue: “And you reversed..”

Butler: “I’m getting to that Chris, so I locked the door anyway Chris and I said, I’m going up to my wife and kids and all of that so I  went over, I walked across the road over to the stockhouse and my son, Noel French and John Tobin came with me. So this lady followed me with her friends. I got into the car, I locked the car, I moved the car two feet, to straighten it, to move out. This lady, the car was stationed. John Tobin was there and Noel French. I could see her in the rearview mirror. She jumped on the back of the car, jumped on the back of the car and a thud and I looked at her, seen her and John Tobin said, ‘she’s after jumping on the back of the car, Ray.'”

Donoghue: “Are you 100% that  you didn’t, however gently, hit her as opposed to jumping..”

Butler: “Absolutely, the car was in the one place, Chris. The car was in the one place and John said, ‘Ray you better move off’ because it was so intimidating.”

Donoghue: “Was she on the ground though when you moved off?”

Butler: “No, she was never on the ground. She was standing because John Tobin was right beside her and if I did hit her, I would have also hit John Tobin because he was right beside her. So that is total…”

Donoghue: “So you went home basically?”

Butler: “I went home…”

Later, Mr Butler said he had ‘absolutely no drink’ yesterday.

Listen back in full here

UPDATE:

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88 thoughts on “‘ I Could See Her In The Rear View Mirror’

  1. Mister Mister

    What, did they all somehow leave their phones at home not to film this horrendous accident? Strange that.

  2. Leaning to the centre

    Who would want to be a public representative? Why would you want to put yourself in the way of these lunatics?

      1. Clampers Outside!

        Pension in full from age 50 ! …you know because Charlie Haughey thinks they’re special, but not one politician has ever said they should reverse Charlie’s giveaway.

        The politician that does, just might be the first Irish politician with integrity, but I won’t be holding my breath.

  3. Jonotti

    Nobody is ever just a person in these stories. It’s a disabled woman with a 15 year old girl with a blind husband at home.

    1. donkey_kong

      + 1 . I agree.

      I’m very much against Irish water and water charges but these protesters are a joke.
      Really ruining the campaign and turning people off the marches.

      are these fools so stupid they don’t realise this.

      Paul Murphy is the same , he has a chance to pull in more voters and support but is continally playing to militant gallery(who support him anyway) .

      1. scottser

        WTF? the whole concept of ‘unity’ is lost on folks. you’ve forgotten how to fight, forgotten how to stick up for yourselves and those important to you, forgotten how to stick up for your rights in the knowledge that everyone else’s are affected if you don’t. so you don’t like ‘things’ about protests and protesters. so f*cking what? they’re on your side. go and help, direct and organise the protests in the way you think they should happen. don’t sit on your hole and complain, cos you make yourself out to be a bigger fool than those you criticise.

        1. rotide

          Noone wants to be on the same side as that gobshite ronaldo diver fella.

          and people are getting a stink of that from this as well

          1. scottser

            you may not want to be on the same side as ‘the people’ but that’s the way the lines are drawn.

    2. Spaghetti Hoop

      Indeed. I believe people go around with several cards in their pocket and will produce one or all proudly – according to the situation.

      1. Soundings

        I think he said one of the daughters was returning from camogie and shure isn’t that a well-known incubator for lesbianism. He’s probably covering all bases.

  4. fits

    Agreed. This awful hassle. The protestors arent gaining any sympathy at all with these bullying tactics. Peoples homes should be off limits.

      1. Keith

        That’s good, Irish Wasters, but in fairness, when I read it I thought you were referring to the protestors. I presume that is not the case.

    1. Soundings

      Absolutely, protesters should only be allowed protest in places where they cant be seen or heard. History is littered with the successful reforms brought about by such invisible protests.

      1. Nigel

        Protestors need to get their act together. Whatever the truth of what happened, this has all the look of a fake compo stunt applied to politics and unless crisp clear evidence emerges to the contrary, it is incredibly unsympathetic. Seems to me that public support is theirs to lose, and the public aren’t necessarily fair when it comes to acting on their perceptions.

          1. Nigel

            It’s not ‘funny.’ it’s entirely to be expected that he would want to tell his side of the story, just as it’s entirely to be expected that the other side would take whatever happened and make it as dramatic as possible. That is the game as it is currently played, and if you think it’s an edifying spectacle, you’re kidding yourself.

  5. Rob_G

    It really irks me that whenever ambulances are called to people throwing themselves on the ground when they ‘run-over’/’assaulted’ by Irish Water, or an FG politician, in this instance (and I would bet good money that this is exactly what happened), they are taking that ambulance out of use for someone who actually needs one.

  6. DazzaMazza

    What a load of nonsense.
    I’m all for civil disobedience. We’ve become too obedient. Find your voice and protest. Thats a democracy. But there are lines that need to be drawn around peoples homes and the forms of intimidation that are ongoing. Its fantastic to see people in their tens of thousands standing up for themselves and marching through our towns and cities in a peaceful and dignified manner. Its galling to see the other end of things which is in my opinion a collection of people who need to fill a vacum in their lives and do so by becoming social media heroes in their own small minds. Social capital through the profession of protesting at the ‘establishment’, whatever that currently may be. Solutions are never offered, just cries of ‘traitors’ and the holding aloft of symbols of 1916 as if these people are comparable to those who gave their lives for our country. Always armed with cameras but these ‘horrific acts of brutality’ are never filmed, the batteries dies when the Guards waded in etc. People like this and the ‘ronaldo’ diver from earlier in the week really discredit a movement which is trying to battle austerity and reshape our country. Unfortunately our anti-austerity movements has become an opportunistic hunting ground for TD’s seeking recognition and others just seeking some sense of purpose.

    1. Soundings

      Ronaldo diver, I like that. So, all those government TDs whinging and deliberately misinterpreting Ruth Coppinger’s “call off the dogs” comment claiming Deputy Coppinger is pejoratively calling Gardai dogs, are those government TDs “Ronaldo politicians” or even “Ronaldo McDonaldo politicians” given their clownish contempt for democracy.

    2. Padi

      Civil disobedience is anti-democratic, no? There was me thinking a democracy was all about using your vote to effect change. If people are so stupid to believe that the party that you vote for can/will be able to implement their entire manifesto (especially when in a coalition) then they need to engage in reality more often. Vote for the person who you think will do the best job and if none exist get out there yourself.

      1. Soundings

        Democracy is usually held to be the will of the majority of people.

        Most don’t want water charges according to opinion polls. Most won’t pay.

        In by-elections, two socialists and a left winger (Michael Fitzmaurice) have been elected. FG won the other two with close family members of the deceased being elected.

        SF and left wing Independents won most of the Euro MEP seats.

        So, how can it be anti-democratic to engage in protests which reflect the will of most people? That sounds like a perversion of logic.

        1. Mister Mister

          Opinion polls ?!? You want to elect governments on the basis of opinion polls also ?

          An opinion poll will tell you that 100% of the people would rather not pay any form of tax. Why aren’t you out protesting to have all taxes abolished on that basis ?

          1. Soundings

            The water charges opinion polls tell you that most people who expressed an opinion say they will not pay, not that they will pay and feel bad afterwards. Do you see the distinction there? At all!

            This democracy business is really alien to you isn’t it, or do you think an elected government should have unfettered power for five years to implement policies which most find objectionable. That’s not democracy at all, it’s fascist in fact.

          2. Mister Mister

            LOL, democracy alien to me ? You do realise the main party in the government that was democratically elected said there’d be water charges ?

          3. Zuppy International

            They also said they’d burn the bondholders and reform the political system. They reneged on these promises and so their mandate is revoked.

  7. Soundings

    So, what RTE took from a controversial incident (protestors claiming hit-and-run, TD denying that and claiming protestor jumped on car and car was not moving at that precise time, though he did just previously “move it a foot or two ” on his journey home from his office), what RTE took from that and the protest outside the constituency office and what was clearly a confrontation, what RTE took from that was the TD claiming his family was traumatised after protestors (peacefully) protested outside his home.

    RTE’s coverage of the protests is becoming more and more biased, though presumably RTE political reporter Chris Lehane’s access to politicians will be facilitated by sympathising with the hand that feeds him.

    1. Mister Mister

      Erm, in your clamour to find your conspiracy theory you seem to be have missed one major fact in the story, which subsequently repeated incorrectly 5 times.

      But even if I correct you, you’ll just respond with something facile as “it’s the same thing”

        1. Mister Mister

          What has RTE got to do with anything in this story? The interview above was taken from Newstalk. DOB scripted it I suppose.

    2. SweetPeteato

      Peaceful Protest and Family Home doesn’t sit right with me, something menacing is being implied whether purposefully or not.

    3. DazzaMazza

      What? Seriously stick a full stop in here somewhere. Also some sense in your conspiracy theory ramblings would be useful. BTW….read the story, its Newstalk. Not RTE. Newstalk.
      Cue response about same thing, state sponsorship, Denis O’Brien, Chris Donoghue being a stone mason illumanati etc etc….

      1. Soundings

        Get a bag and breathe into it for a minute or so, and you’ll be fine. Calmed down? Good. That was a close one. Whew!

        Now, what organisation does Chris Lehane who tweeted about the traumatised TD’s family, work for?

          1. Soundings

            Does invoking religious characters make your contribution more emphatic or relevant?

            In that case, oh sweet mother of God and Allah’s sister’s boyfriend, the article above highlights the tweet by an RTE political reporter after the incidents in Meath last night, and to some people, it’s suspiciously curious that RTE overlooked the alleged hit-and-run and focused on the Ronaldo-dive-trauma suffered by the TD’s family at protestors peacefully protesting outside their house.

    1. Nugget

      Yes this is trivial compared to burning local issues like whether the council should fund the spotlighting on the Wellington Column to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. Wellington being a local lad and all.

      1. paul m

        nothing wrong with a bit of editing, sure the meeja do it all the time so that we dont have to wade through hours of footage to get to the point. Its when you edit it to change the context of the event while passing it off as news then it becomes as our dear leader is so fond of saying ‘sinister’. But sure whats good enough for RTE its good enough for the rest of us. So i say edit away! Sure you cant trust a word anyone says these days. We all partied, we’re all liars with sinister fringes.

    1. Soundings

      Jimmy, you could probably claim they deliberately used their hips to try to criminally damage your car’s wings.

  8. fluffybiscuits

    Footage to be published soon today apparently. If the footage shows the woman jumping against the car it will discredit a lot of those who claimed it was a hit and run, however if Butler hit her with his car then this will lead to a file for DPP, Butler resigning ….

  9. Dylan

    It wasn’t a water charge protest. It was an anti eviction protest. The woman that got hit is being evicted.

    When the sheriffs nominee and the guards and private security men come to that families home, knock in the door, wander through the house and change the locks with them on the outside it will be very upsetting for them. Protesting at this TDs home is an effective way of highlighting how upsetting this will be to someone who will never be in that situation.

      1. dylan

        I don’t know the woman, I was adding my two cents worth.

        I was going on the pictures of the protest outside his house on twitter where all the banners are about anti-eviction, Cathal McCoille clarifying after his interview this morning that it was an anti-eviction protest, the facebook posts by anti-eviction pages about the protests and the post above talking about the lady facing eviction.

        The process of eviction I have seen.

        I do not know her personal circumstances.

        1. Paolo

          Is it safe to assume that you think people should not be evicted under any circumstances? That they should be entitled to live in someone else’s home indefinitely?

  10. The Landed Gentry

    Pol O’Scanaill’s favourites include

    Who Fears to Speak of a United Ireland,
    Irish Holocaust – Not Famine.
    The Push to educate in facts.,
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    Im Irish and Proud! Become a fan and help us reach 1,000,000,
    We Need a European Alert System for our children, 1916 Societies Perth, Australia, Wolfe Tones Scotland Tour, FootballRepublic.ie, Phoenix Park,
    Sinn Féin – Republican Youth,
    Support Neil Lennon And His Family,
    Boycott The Late Late Show,
    Hoops Bar,
    Lá Bronntanas as Gaeilge

    ….. and 336 more

  11. Paolo

    so aparantly there is video of the ray butler incident being published later today

    Technology is great but twitter and facebook have really enabled illiterate plebs to have a voice. Ireland has a reasonably good education system and browsers have pretty good built-in spell checkers.

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