Update: Video is at the end of this post
Have a look here – at 22.54 minutes in and watch Anne Doyle calmly introduce the TV News moment so far for 2010.
Charlie Bird is back viewers … back with a bang. After over a year of isolation and loneliness as RTE’s Washington correspondent, Charlie has found a role for himself in the coverage of Anglo Irish Bank and Ireland’s financial meltdown. And it’s no April Fool.
He went on the road to Cape Cod in Boston looking for former Anglo Irish Bank CEO David Drumm who has moved to live there. Mr Drumm owes money on loans amongst other issues.
In classic Bird fashion Charlie found the house and went knocking at the door.
I’ve transcribed the important bit.
We were set up for drama…
CB: As we approached the house it had all the appearances as if there was no-one at home
[Knock knock knock]
CB: Oh they’re there, he’s there [Cue viewers going 'oh yeah!']
CB:Mr. Drumm, It’s Charlie Bird from RTE, Can I talk to you?
CB: It’s Charlie Bird from RTE
CB: Why are you ducking down?
DD: Charlie, What are you doing?
CB: I want to talk to you
DD: [Muffled - we can assume Drumm said you can't come in or something polite like that]
CB: Well can I talk you outside
DD: No you can’t
DD: Have a bit of respect, will you, I have my family here in the house Charlie.
CB: There are tax payers at home in Ireland who would like to have some answers.
DD: Did you see the sign at the gate?
CB: There are some tax payers…
DD: Leave Now
CB: Ok, thank you very much
We later find that Charlie discovers that Drumm has protected his home from claims from people who are owed money. (Read Cape Cod Online’s report on the recent interest of Irish media in the house).
We’ve lost George Lee’s gleeful tones during the last while, but let’s have more Bird please – much more. Let’s send Charlie around the world to find Seanie Fitz, Sean Quinn, David Drumm, oh and Michael Lynn too while you are at it. Please RTE!!! It’s in the national interest
And can someone please put it up on Youtube for posterity?? Thank you!
Update:
Many thanks to Alexia Golez for the video in an accessible format!
Drumm Doorstep feat Charlie Bird from Alexia Golez on Vimeo.
I am sending Davy a come home to Erin Card, if you follow your link to the Cape Cod website you will find the “I want to be alone” Drumm’s address.
Useless.
Pity it’s not called Brass Neck…
Is there a “let Charlie Bird come home” petition on facebook?
It was a very special moment in a week of sepcial moments. Saw a comment elsewhere – ‘David Drumm and Charlie Bird in Beckett Play’. Laugh? I nearly coughed up the TV license…
Charlie Bird interviewing David Drumm and Miriam O’Callaghan interviewing Brian Lenihan on Prime Time on NAMA day brings the phrase “like being savaged by a dead sheep” to mind. Total and utter crap-artists.
It is extremely dangerous to walk up to someone’s house in America because
(a) it is quite possible – even probable – the owner has a gun and
(b) it is perfectly OK for him to shoot a trespasser (which usually elicits not condemnation from the local police chief but congratulations).
That’s why American journalists very rarely door-step their quarry as Charlie Bird just did.
Mr Bird needs to ambush David Drumm on the open street. This will be much more fun anyway as Mr Drumm will find it harder to dodge the questions. Moreover, it will be gratifying to seem him scurry away, as he doubtless will, looking for cover like a frightened rabbit, just as Seanie Fitzpatrick did when similarly ambushed by RTE recently in Dublin.
Both Drumm and FitzPatrick have questions to answer, but is Charlie Bird or any other journalist the correct person to be asking them ? Would it be prudent for someone helping police with their inquiries, as I understand that both are (unlike Michael Lynn) – this can be done even while living in Cape Cod, you know – to respond to ignorant sensationalisers on the street ?
What is so praiseworthy about ambushing people ?
How can SF or DD possibly answer leading questions in an ambush situation ?
Just which legitimate questions does the Irish taxpayer have for Mr Drumm which are not being litigated ?
Unlike Lynn, Drumm *is* participating in the Irish legal process.
Send Charlie to the Algarve, I say.
To the rest of you, I say: next time you knee-jerk into condemning a lynch-mob or mediaeval witch-burning, remember how you behaved on this story.
While I’m at it:
I have been asking elsewhere without success, but maybe someone here can answer:
There’s little doubt that there are breaches of the criminal law with which Sean FitzPatrick can be charged. I am as frustrated as anyone else with the delay in bringing those charges.
What I fail to see is how, even if he is convicted, it follows that SF is responsible for the billions being wasted by NAMA, or for the other billions lost by the other banks.
What about the billions lost in Anglo Irish ? Yes, it is not unreasonable to lay these at his door, at least until he shows why not, but those losses are not connected to his alleged criminal offences, are they ?
I do not see how they are, but I am willing to be educated.