Brian Cowen: has he done anything dodgy? - What's Is the Record ?

I know there was some funny planning issue up beside the airport?

Has he been involved with anything else questionable?

digoutday is preparing brief for counsel... digout part deux

The man is in FF, ya dont get *********************

digoutday, I edited out this bit, as it clearly implied an unspecified act of dishonesty without basis. Please be careful. EVM.

digoutday wrote:

I know there was some funny planning issue up beside the airport?

Has he been involed with anything else questionable?

Retires to corner to search archives......

The most obvious thing I can come up with is uncritical support for Bertie.

digoutday wrote:

The man is in FF, ya dont get *******************

Careful now....

There certainly hasn't been anything in the media which has suggested impropriety on the part of Brian Cowen.

That said, I'm unsure of any specifically lauded achievement of his either. Loyalty to the party seems to be the main compliment paid to him by those in Fianna Fáil... but not policy based merits.

Does anybody remember the details of the land rezoning beside the airport?

Couldn't find a thing on that digoutday but I picked this up for you, in case your shovel isn't adequate for excavating Cowen.

I think a more relevent question is "Has Cowen ever done anything?" Really, Name any high profile initiative he has been associated with, apart from making a mess of Nice 1. The phrase "Journeyman" could have been invented for him. I've never bought this "he's really intelligent" arguement.

If he's done something bent, it'll be very small, and not worth commenting on. Even by a dyed in the wool 4th generation blueshirt like myself.

Victor Meldrew wrote:

I think a more relevent question is "Has Cowen ever done anything?" Really, Name any high profile initiative he has been associated with, apart from making a mess of Nice 1. The phrase "Journeyman" could have been invented for him. I've never bought this "he's really intelligent" arguement.

If he's done something bent, it'll be very small, and not worth commenting on. Even by a dyed in the wool 4th generation blueshirt like myself.

The deathly silence and inactivity whilst the economy crumbled over the last 2 years was troubling. As someone with no allegiance to a party, what was that about?

In fairness I think he spoke a lot around the election including saying that it was not necessarily a bad thing for prices to come down. Also, he recently confirmed that we have a hump to get over in relation to current economic problems.

He'll be keeping his head down while we remain in the trough too if he has any sense. He won't want to make any slip ups that could be blamed for a decline that is happening anyway and he will want his voice associated with good times. Expect a John Bruton approach to publicity for the next while. Lenihan is the more interesting character.

cactus flower wrote:

The deathly silence and inactivity whilst the economy crumbled over the last 2 years was troubling. As someone with no allegiance to a party, what was that about?

He's either lazy or he had no ideas, or both.

As Minister for Health, Cowen kept fluoridation going. It's a major crime, harming the whole Irish population.

Victor Meldrew wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

The deathly silence and inactivity whilst the economy crumbled over the last 2 years was troubling. As someone with no allegiance to a party, what was that about?

He's either lazy or he had no ideas, or both.

Just the man we need in a crisis

cactus flower wrote:

Just the man we need in a crisis

And the crisis has arrived!

Is Big Tom still alive. It is time to write a song. We have 2 of the worst finance ministers ever who are now 2 of the worst prime ministers ever. A pair of plonking platerpus. Not only do they look alike and act alike but their names even rhyme.
I can start with the first line of this ditti which could be a chart topper.
Maybe shure the message it is time to step down,
talking to you Brown-Cowen you useless fat clown.

youngdan wrote:

Is Big Tom still alive. It is time to write a song. We have 2 of the worst finance ministers ever who are now 2 of the worst prime ministers ever. A pair of plonking platerpus. Not only do they look alike and act alike but their names even rhyme.
I can start with the first line of this ditti which could be a chart topper.
Maybe shure the message it is time to step down,
talking to you Brown-Cowen you useless fat clown.

You'd need wordsmiths of the talent of the Undertones to get them to rhyme...

youngdan wrote:

Is Big Tom still alive. It is time to write a song. We have 2 of the worst finance ministers ever who are now 2 of the worst prime ministers ever. A pair of plonking platerpus. Not only do they look alike and act alike but their names even rhyme.
I can start with the first line of this ditti which could be a chart topper.
Maybe shure the message it is time to step down,
talking to you Brown-Cowen you useless fat clown.

Rant away dan, ibis is in the pub with Helium Three, spartacus, mmclo, notdevson and FT. It's Big Tom and the Mainliners too, dontcha know.
http://mainliners.org.uk/



Go on Ya Boy YA !

Auditor #9 wrote:

youngdan wrote:

Is Big Tom still alive. It is time to write a song. We have 2 of the worst finance ministers ever who are now 2 of the worst prime ministers ever. A pair of plonking platerpus. Not only do they look alike and act alike but their names even rhyme.
I can start with the first line of this ditti which could be a chart topper.
Maybe shure the message it is time to step down,
talking to you Brown-Cowen you useless fat clown.

Rant away dan, ibis is in the pub with Helium Three, spartacus, mmclo, notdevson and FT. It's Big Tom and the Mainliners too, dontcha know.
http://mainliners.org.uk/



Go on Ya Boy YA !

Big Tom and Glenamaddy. Just when i thought the day couldn't get any better....

Is Cowen pronounced Coen or is it Cow-han because it has to rhyme with Bro-han

youngdan wrote:

Is Cowen pronounced Coen or is it Cow-han because it has to rhyme with Bro-han

It's more 'Cowin' but you could get it to rhyme in ulster-scots

How now brown cown?

Well we have Gordon Brown and Brian Cowen but after watching that clip 37 times I am overcome with emotion. The new song will be modernised so the Title will be Four Musty Muppets. The air will be the same and the new lyrics will be ready in the morning. The muppets are Cowen, Enda, Rabbite and which ever of the other 2 heros were in favour. A cd will be rushed to the bar so the boys can play it on the Jukebox.

It took a long time to answer digoutday aka "guest" aka departed member's question. Here it is:

Quote :

CONTROVERSY OVER ENERGY MINISTER'S SHARES IN MINING COMPANY (S)

A major political controversy developed in the Republic this week over the alleged conduct of the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Brian Cowen, T.D. (F.F.) in relation to the Arcon mining company. It emerged over the weekend that on 21st October, the Minister had disposed, at a considerable loss, of 1000 shares he held in the Arcon mining company. According to the Minister, inquiries from a Sunday Business Post journalist (Ms. Kathleen Barrington - daughter of Ireland's judge on the Court of First Instance of the E.C., Donal Barrington) had raised a question in his mind about a possible conflict of interest. He bought the shares in Febrauary 1990 for about IRP 960 and sold them for IRP 430. "I disposed of them because I see that someone for political purposes might use it", said the Minister.

Although legally responsible for the grant of mining licences he was at pains to stress that he had delgated authority in this area to Mr. Noel Treacy, T.D., the Minister of State at his Department. While the Taoiseach strongly defended Mr. Cowen, the chairman of the Labour Party conceded that the incident had caused the Labour Party some embarrassment.

Government Procedure Instructions provide:

"Conflicts of Interest

"Where any matter before the Government is one in which a member of the Government or his family has a material interest, this should be drawn to the attention of the Government before the matter comes up for discussion. Unless the Government decides otherwise, the member concerned should not take part in discussion of the matter, or vote on it, or seek to influence the attitude of his colleagues."

It is further provided

"Business interests or membership of other organisations

" ... no Minister or Minister of State should engage in any activity that could reasonably be regarded as interfering, or being incompatible, with the full and proper discharge by him of the duties of office."

The Ethics in Public Office Bill, 1994, proposes to give legislative effect to these principles and will oblige all T.D.s to disclose shareholdings in excess of IRP 10,000.
Opposition Deputies drew attention to a written answer to a Dail question, given on the 18th October, by the Minister, which indicated his intention to grant a mining licence to Arcon"with the minimum of delay."

On Tuesday, 25th October, when the Minister came before the Dail to apologise for his shareholding he was faced with a new allegation from the Opposition, that he had interfered to have an environmental impact report altered so that Arcon would secure planning permission from Kilkenny County Co. for a lead and zinc mine at Galmoy. Phil Hogan, T.D. (F.G.) produced two versions of the report, which showed that the sentence "This [the design of a tailings pond to hold dangerous waste] is a significant issue which cannot be resolved by appropriate planning conditions or regulatory requirements. " Mr. Hogan charged that the Minister had caused the report to be changed. The Minister angrily denied the charge and challenged anyone to repeat it without the protection of Da/il privilege.

While the Minister's apology in relation to his shareholdings was accepted, controversy continued all week over the Hogan allegation. On the 26th Deputy Cowan's department briefed journalists that the Assistant Secretary in charge of mining exploration, Mr. Brendan Tuohy, was taking full responsibility for the deletion. He felt that the sentence was open to misinterpretation, and had drawn this to the attention of the consultants who had agreed that it ought to be deleted. At no stage was the Minister consulted by Mr. Tuohy. He had informed the Secreatry of the Department, Mr. John Loughrey, but he was not aware if he had then discussed the matter with the Minister. Kilkenny County Council and the firm of consultants both confirmed this version of events. On the Order of Business in the Da/il Mary Harney, T.D. charged that that the Taoiseach, the Chief Whip, Noel Dempsey T.D. and the Minister had met as a result of which "pressure was put on [Mr. Tuohy]."

While the Opposition ended the week considering whether or not to put down a motion of no confidence in the Minister, Fianna Fa/il and Labour Ministers rallied to Mr. Cowen defence in the face of charges for which, in their view, no evidence had been provided. Mr. Cowen continues to insist that he was not "to his knowledge" informed of the alteration of the report.

IRISH LEGAL NEWS.




From local reports, it appears that an extraordinary amount of pressure was applied to the local authority to grant permission for the mines and to take a less stringent approach to the environmental risks.

Tailings ponds are \\\"waste reservoirs\\\" of liquid contaminate sludge full of heavy metals, the worst environmental disasters from mining occur with the collapse of tailings ponds. The Arcon tailings pond is not too far from the River Nore, a salmonid river with a good number of extraction points for drinking water supplies. The closure of the mine was announced a couple of weeks ago and we had better hope that the arrangements for closure and maintenance of the remaining waste structures are going to hold up.



A tailings pond in Canada collapsed recently.


Share ownership is a matter of public record. I can\'t understand why no journalist has taken the trouble that Kathleen Barrington took in this instance, to find out who the major shareholders in Anglo Irish Bank are.

cactus flower wrote:

Share ownership is a matter of public record. I can't understand why no journalist has taken the trouble that Kathleen Barrington took in this instance, to find out who the major shareholders in Anglo Irish Bank are.

If you hold below something like 1% you can hold through nominees... the members of this 'Golden Circle' seemingly held 1% each so they could have held all the shares through nominees accounts. Consequently the register of shareholders will have something like the name of a Stockbroking firm rather than the personal information.