Yearly Archives: 2017

kerins

Former Rehab boss Angela Kerins

Further to yesterday’s post on the award of 75% of costs to losing party Angela Kerins in her case against the Public Accounts Committee, Broadsheet commenter Harry Molloy asked me to come back to readers when the full written judgment had been published. It is now available here.

The justification for the award of costs is set out by the Court at paragraphs 26-33 and appears to be as follows:-

(i) The PAC has an important function. Questions concerning the proper discharge of its function and the conduct of its members and the legal safeguards (if any) available to witness who appear before it are matters of public importance, involving questions of freedom of speech in Parliament, the separation of powers and the extent to which the court may intervene in the affairs of the Legislature.

(ii) Ms Kerins attended before the PAC in a voluntary capacity and much of what was put to her and said about her was damaging to her reputation personally and professionally. By bringing her action, Ms Kerins cast a light on the position of persons who volunteer to appear before the PAC. The institution of proceedings on her part was a proportionate reaction on her part to what had occurred and as such and the fact that she had a personal interest in the outcome of the application should not preclude her obtaining her costs.

The implication from the ruling was that Ms Kerins had not been well treated by the PAC and therefore it was justifiable for her to seek to clarify the law in relation to the position of witnesses appearing before it.

There is also an implication that she performed a public service in alerting potential witnesses to the risks of appearing before the PAC.

Although within the (very wide) parameters of the discretion laid down by previous case law, the ruling does break new ground in that it sanctions an award of costs to an unsuccessful litigant with a personal interest in proceedings on a matter of public interest where that litigant acted proportionately in bringing the proceedings.

It will be interesting to see what implications this ruling will have for Denis O’Brien’s costs in his recent unsuccessful application for parliamentary privilege. Will the richest man in Ireland be entitled to his costs on a losing case on the basis that he acted ‘proportionately’?

And, more pressingly, what does proportionately even mean?

*stirs coffee*

Yesterday: Compo Claim Madness

Rollingnews

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This morning.

Leinster House, Government Buildings, Dublin 2

TDs, including Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin, Catherine Murphy, co-leader of the Social Democrats and Richard Boyd Barrett hold a press conference reacting to the Final Draft Report of the Joint Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services.

The final recommendations include refunds for householders who paid their charges, the funding of domestic water services through general taxation, and the installation of meters at apartment blocks.

However…

….these recommendations have resulted in a bitter political row between Fine Gael which is opposed to them, and Fianna Fáil, Sinn Fein and Solidarity, who support them.

FIGHT!

Water charges: FG does not have to act on report, says Varadkar (Irish Times)

Rollingnews

Update:

G’wan Catherine.

Republic of Ireland's Kevin Kilbane celebrates after scoring the opening goal of the Euro 2012, Group B qualifying football match between Republic of Ireland and Andorra at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland on September 7, 2010. AFP PHOTO / PETER MUHLY (Photo credit should read PETER MUHLY/AFP/Getty Images)

Kevin Kilbane

On the Late Late Show…

Gareth Naughten writes:

Queen of the Liberties Imelda May is back with a new album and a completely new look. She’ll be joining Ryan on The Late Late Show to chat about developing her sound and taking inspiration from a hectic couple of years when writing her new album.

…Star Trek and Commitments actor Colm Meaney plays the late Martin McGuinness in his new movie The Journey. He’ll be on The Late Late Show couch to share his thoughts on what it was like to play one of the icons of the Republican movement, his own encounters with McGuinness and the legacy he leaves behind.

…Television presenter Kathryn Thomas and former international footballer Kevin Kilbane recently took to the streets of Dublin in wheelchairs with one mission – to get from A to B in the shortest time possible. What they discovered really opened their eyes about the realities of just how inaccessible Ireland’s streets are for wheelchair users…..

*wheels telly off cliff*

The Late Late Show on RTÉ One at 9.35pm

Easter Sun WEB new

Looking for something to do in Cork on Easter Sunday?

Up to St. Luke’s with ya.

Writes Joe Kelly:

St Luke’s Cross, on Cork city’s northside, has, over the years, exuded its own unique personality and charm. A cultural crossroads being fed from all directions.

Now with Live at St Luke’s bringing over 45 concerts to the area in the last year and a half a carnival atmosphere has on occasion being sensed. So we thought it would be a good idea to join up four of the local businesses from afternoon to night time for a broad palette of music, song and dance.

Guests include: at Live at St Luke’s, Lankum (Lynched) plus Katie Kim; Donal Dineen at Henchy’s; Anth Kaley & Lynda Cullen in Rant and Sillk at the Wine Tavern.

Tickets and more info.

come on live long smaller

Come On Live Long – soundscapes and breathy vox from Dublin

What you may need to know…

01. Last time we checked in on Dublin four-piece Come on Live Long, they’d just launched single For the Birds with a gig at the Unitarian Church in Dublin.

02. Since then, they’ve been busy preparing their follow-up album to 2013’s Everything Fall, while vocalist Louise Gaffney also contributed to the sublime Glow, on Wicklow math-rockers Enemies‘ final album Valuables.

03. Streaming above is the video for new single Sum of its Parts, with footage taken by the band from the recording process.

04. It’s taken from upcoming sophomore album In the Still, available for pre-order on vinyl and streaming from May 19th.

Thoughts: A glimpse of something that could be absolutely breathtaking, from the less-is-more school of composition.

Come On Live Long

2/2/2017 . Stephen Donnelly Joins Fianna Fail. Pictured (LTOR) Stephen Donnelly (Glasses) with Fianna Fail party leader Micheal Martin TD talking to the media outside Leinster House this afternoon after Stephen announced today he was joining Fianna Fail. He has been appointed the partys Front Spokeperson on Brexit. Photo: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

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dan

From top: Stephen Donnelly (left) and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin; Noël Browne: Dan Boyle

Stephen Donnelly is discovering, like Noël Browne before him, that a big house offers little comfort.

Dan Boyle writes:

I’m beginning to despise my laptop. Far too much of my day is being spent tapping on on this accursed machine with its flickering screen. However a deadline is approaching, and my publisher has a realistic expectation that it will be met.

I’m writing an electoral history of others in Irish politics. I am aware that the literary world isn’t agog in awaiting this tome, but I’m hoping that it might tickle a particular interest.

I’m about 40% in, although I’m only at 1954. I’m expecting the writing will quicken once I enter my own lifespan, where I’m hoping I can mine more readily from personal experience.

When I tear myself away from the laptop, to check in with the real world (or at least that part that co-incides with Irish politics), I begin to understand why the loop theory of history has become prevalent.

The radio playing in the background accentuates the voice of Stephen Donnelly, the Fianna Fáil spokesperson on Brexit. He is being asked to square several circles at once.The question making him most uncomfortable is whether he would welcome Bertie Ahern’s return as a member of Fianna Fáil. He fights a tremor of horror entering his voice.

As he speaks I am writing of a previous Fianna Fáil coup in 1953. While in government, the party had managed to persuade three independent TDs (each of whom had been associated with other political parties) to become members of its parliamentary party.

The biggest catch was that of the mercurial Noël Browne, late of Clann na Poblachta, and still bruised by his Mother and Child Scheme experience. With him he brought his former Clann colleague, Michael ffrench O’Carroll. The third inductee was the one time Deputy Leader of Clann na Talmhan, Patrick Cogan.

Listening to Stephen Donnelly I think of how much he fits the Noel Browne mould of political capriciousness. Could others follow the path he has embarked upon?

On thinking this, I read of a web rumour that Fianna Fáil is attempting to persuade Social Democrat Gary Gannon to contest the next general election, on its behalf. Gannon came close to winning the final seat in Dublin Central, the closest the Social Democrats had come to winning a new seat in the 2016 elections.

There is a logic in Fianna Fáil making this approach. It would help with its internal machinations, by keeping the pro Bertie faction in Dublin Central at bay. The fly in the ointment would be Gannon himself. Is he welcoming this approach? Fianna Fáil logic would argue why not. After all Stephen Donnelly has already been persuaded.

That Fianna Fáil logic is also to try to do these things in threes. Its formula in 1953 was to assemble two Clann na Poblachta recruits to one Clann na Talmhan acceptee. Could a 2017 formula be two Social Democrats to one Renua refugee?

Having been elected a Fianna Fáil councillor, Patrick McKee, was convinced to become a Renua by election candidate in Carlow/Kilkenny, where he performed quite creditably. He did less well in the 2016 general election. By the end of the year he had left Renua to become an independent. Surely a reconciliation with Fianna Fáil is in order.

It would be in keeping with the pinch of left, pinch of right stirring of the stew in its proverbial slow cooker, Fianna Fáil has always adopted.

What of our intrepid trio from 1953? All stood as Fianna Fáil candidates in the 1954 general election. None were elected.Patrick Cogan (who like Stephen Donnelly represented Wicklow) would serve one further term as a Senator. Noel Browne would come back to serve another quarter of a century (under three different labels) in Irish public life. Forsaking politics all together, Michael ffrench O’Carroll moved to Cork, where he became intrinsic to the development of addiction services there.

There are two lessons here. One is that the bigger house does not necessarily offer greater comfort. The second is that, in the real world, the labels we are given rarely define us.

Dan Boyle is a former Green Party TD and Senator. His column appears here every Thursdyay. Follow Dan on Twitter: @sendboyle