Maman Poulet | Clucking away crookedly through media, politics and life

Suspended for 20 sitting days

July 15th, 2010 · Irish Politics

The verdict came last night just after 9pm,  Dan Boyle brought the recommendation from the Seanad Select Committee on Members Interest’s investigation.  The Senators who had been kept waiting in the house on the last sitting day until 9pm voted unanimously in agreement with the recommendation to suspend.

Ivor Callely  didn’t even show up after asking for an hour to read the document and delaying things even further.

The report details the investigation and you can read the letters where Callely tells Oireachtas officials where he was living and claims expenses and the print outs of websites and other documents that say otherwise.

We can’t seem to take cases against bankers, the state appears unable or unwilling to prepare a case against ‘missing’ solicitor Michael Lynn but a committee of his peers has investigated Ivor Callely and ‘passed sentence’ all within a matter of weeks’.

If it was a court case regarding someone on social welfare who had not paid their TV licence or someone who had worked a few days while signing on  I’m sure it would have been dealt with at some haste and with some rigour.

Senator Callely is unelected and now maybe unelectable.  Though I should point you to Michael Lowry and Beverly Cooper Flynn in the people who have been in difficulty with courts and other bodies and who topped polls or were re-elected with ease.   However I think Sean Haughey is feeling safer in his seat today.

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Ivor Callely and the €50 Cheque affrontery

July 13th, 2010 · Irish Politics

A bizarre evening of testimony from Ivor Callely at the reconvened sitting of the Seanad Select Committee to investigate members interests.  As you may remember Ivor has been away in Norway and was unable to attend the committee until today.  He spent a lot of time during the hearing (whilst not answering the committee’s questions) talking about his trip to Oslo and the many meetings he was at and how he was the only person there from Ireland and he was just so busy. (We also learnt that he had not told anyone where he would be – which was a bit strange given he was on official business representing the Oireachtas as Head of Delegation) He also flew to Spain on family business on the way home so that delayed him further.

Senator Callely received a letter calling him to attend the meeting and enclosing a cheque for €50 to defray expenses in attending.  While one may be initially confused as to why the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad sent him the cheque it should be noted that he is required to do so under the legislation which underwrites the process which the Seanad select committee which is investigating the complaint against Senator Callely.

The Committees of the Houses of the Oireachtas (Compellability, Privileges and Immunities of Witnesses) Act, 1997 is a little known piece of legislation. However it outlines the procedures for conducting the investigation, the oath that Senator Callely is required to swear and also that his expenses should be defrayed.

Section 2 (2) The reasonable expenses of a person who—

(a) pursuant to a direction, attends before a committee, or

(b) pursuant to subsection (1) of section 10 , appears before a committee or gives evidence to a committee that the committee considers was, in the interests of justice, necessary or expedient for any of the purposes specified in the said subsection (1),

shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

Persons being called before a committee should also receive a letter outlining the meeting and requesting them to attend. Senator Callely didn’t like being written to and definitely did not like being given a cheque. He was in Oslo all last week and too busy to answer texts which were sent to him informing him of the meeting. Although he went into great detail today talking about sending a text and how he was too busy to talk to anyone.

It would not have paid the trip from Cork. Lucky that Senator Callely informed the committee today that he flew ‘home’ to Dublin late last night. The Senator has been confused at both sittings of the committee about where home is. And he’s not the only one confused at this stage. One nearly expected him to break out in that lovely Paul Young number ‘Wherever I lay my hat.’

The matter under investigation are complaints made against Senator Callely that he has contravened Section 8 of the Ethics Act 1995 as amended by the Standards in Public Office Act 2001. In english? He has claimed expenses from his Cork address whilst living in Dublin. The Senator claims to have lived in Cork since after the last General Election where he lost his seat and stayed in the family home when attending the Seanad.

I could go into detail about the questioning that was made of the Senator today regarding his homes, residence and constituency clinics (held in Dublin) but I might tie myself up in knots in the Senator’s answers and waving about of some 1938 legislation and near 30 year old advice from the Attorney General. It was surreal and exasperating if the expressions of some of his inquisitors were anything to go by!

We may learn the result of the committee’s investigation tomorrow. They can make recommendations to suspend him for up to 30 days.

Transcripts of the committee meetings can be read here.

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Round and Round the Garden

July 13th, 2010 · Equality, Equality Authority

The Chairperson of the Equality Authority says that the Authority has been the victim of a campaign of targeted misinformation.

In the forward to the Annual Report launched yesterday she says

that a campaign of misinformation commenced while the Authority was working to reorganise to ensure no diminution of service to the public. This campaign purported to show that the Authority was either no longer in operation or that it was no longer operating effectively.

Wonder if you asked the staff or stakeholders (and not just the favourites) or people who are discriminated against what they thought about what would they say about the ability of the Authority to support people is following the cuts?

In light of this, over the course of the year the Authority was extremely concerned that any vulnerable individual who needed support might have been led to the erroneous belief that the Equality Authority was no longer in a position to assist them. The Authority worked with stakeholders to try to minimise the numbers of vulnerable people who may, because of this misinformation, be affected by this.

The budget of the authority was cut by 43% – this was widely reported but the Annual Report does not report the accounts of the authority for 2009 or compare to previous years. The report shows the impact of the cuts in the very small numbers of information stands that were held, and the types of organisations that were consulted with. The notion of what constituted a case is also something that caused much confusion and the authority are still sorting it out. I encourage you to read the report.

On page 63

The Equality Authority had one meeting with the Community and Voluntary Sector. It is anticipated that these meetings will be re-instated in 2010.

Blaming those campaigning (including 140 NGO’s, and a few Statutory international bodies ) for properly funded, independent, mandated institutions for creating an impression that the body can’t function when well we all know that it’s hands are tied and it can’t properly educate people on it’s work and promote itself effectively and it is very limited in it’s research agenda. Me thinks that doth protesting too much going on if you know what I mean.

PS: There is a great campaign giving an opportunity to everyone to state their opinion on the importance of policy on equality and human rights and their importance at It’s About You.

Meanwhile I’m holding onto the table to stop the dizziness.

The Equality Authority had one meeting with the Community and Voluntary Sector. It is
anticipated that these meetings will be re-instated in 2010.
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Ivor Callely’s latest junket

July 12th, 2010 · Irish Politics

This afternoon Ivor Callely is supposed to be appearing at another sitting of the Seanad Select Committee of Members Interests investigating his mileage expenses.  However word reached us yesterday via the Marian Finucane Programme that the Senator is in Oslo.  (I got my spade out.)

A little more investigation reveals that Ivor is the Head of the Irish Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation of Security Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The goal of this body?

The primary task of the 320 member Assembly is to facilitate inter-parliamentary dialogue, an important aspect of the overall effort to meet the challenges of democracy throughout the OSCE area.

So despite being under investigation, and resigning his party’s whip, Senator Callely went to Oslo to represent the Irish Parliament. Previous to his trip Ivor had been vice-president of the OSCEPA’s General Affairs Committee.  According to to the press release issued at the end of the meeting in Oslo on Saturday, Ivor got himself relected to a position.

This meant that Ivor who last month knew he had done something wrong and resigned his party whip went to this meeting, was nominated and accepted a nomination for a position representing the Irish Parliament and was then elected.

When other politicians resign or lose their party whip they lose seats on committees in Leinster House and indeed have to move offices to general crappier ones away from their party colleagues.

Not Ivor – he’s off to Oslo heading an Oireachtas Delegation and getting elected to governing committees of International Parliamentary bodies.   (The OSCE inspect the conduct of elections throughout Europe, promote democratic institutions and human rights among other roles.)

The Select Committee into Members Interests will meet when Ivor returns on Tuesday.  I think the welcome for the travelling Senator will be more interesting if that was possible!

Update – This morning’s Irish Examiner has a report by Paul O’Brien into Ivor’s time in office in the Department of Health as a Minister of State. Money spent at the minister’s direction – painting and decorating and designing.

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Familia Lesbianus

July 9th, 2010 · LGBT, Social Media

Mockumentary from Sonya Mulligan who is studying media and sociology. More please! In fact we need a series. The Good Lesbian maybe? Perhaps we could set Sonya challenges in the comments! No need to thank me honest.

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