Niall Collins - Seeking leniency for drug dealer

dereko1969

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http://www.irishtimes.com/news/poli...ught-to-influence-judge-with-letter-1.1838165

He says he wrote the letter seeking clemency because the drug dealer's wife had committed suicide and the drug dealer was looking after the children on his own.

Surely the drug dealer's solicitor would have conveyed this information to the Judge so that doesn't make sense. The only thing that makes sense is that he thought because of his position that his view was more important and would carry more weight than that of the drug dealer's solicitor, ergo he was using his position to influence or attempt to influence the Judge.

If Micheal Martin had any power as leader of FF he would force him to resign as shadow spokesman on Justice, but he doesn't so he won't. If Niall Collins had any sense of duty/decorum he would resign, but he doesn't so he won't.
 
He deserves to go for pure stupidity. How many times are politicans going to be caught doing this? I don't even understand why he did it. The guy wasn't a constituent so why was he a) asked and b) agreed to write the letter. Must be missing something. And spare me the 'it was on humanitarian grounds' excuse.
 
Any other country he would be forced to resign,what business ya he sticking in his oar into the judicatory.Gombeen politics will never die in this country until such time as we hold these guys to account.
 
He deserves to go for pure stupidity. How many times are politicans going to be caught doing this? I don't even understand why he did it. The guy wasn't a constituent so why was he a) asked and b) agreed to write the letter. Must be missing something. And spare me the 'it was on humanitarian grounds' excuse.
I agree it was stupid and I think he should probably resign but politicians from all parties do things on humanitarian grounds all the time. That's the reason why most of them got into politics in the first place.
 
I believe he should be gone straight away, what he did should NOT have been done. No politician should in any way influence the courts or try to and until some one of is fired for it it will never change.
 
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/poli...ught-to-influence-judge-with-letter-1.1838165

He says he wrote the letter seeking clemency because the drug dealer's wife had committed suicide and the drug dealer was looking after the children on his own.

Surely the drug dealer's solicitor would have conveyed this information to the Judge so that doesn't make sense.

The solicitor does convey the information to the judge.

Collins wrote the letter in question and gave it to the man's solicitors.

The solicitors then made a submission, including this letter, other letters and other material, to the judge.

This is a well-established process. There is no question of a politician or any other character referee influencing a judge.
 
The solicitor does convey the information to the judge.

Collins wrote the letter in question and gave it to the man's solicitors.

The solicitors then made a submission, including this letter, other letters and other material, to the judge.

This is a well-established process. There is no question of a politician or any other character referee influencing a judge.

Well if that's the case what's the fuss about?
Is this just another case of the anti-Fianna Fail bias in the media?
 
Who appoints judges? Politicians, usually FF as they are in power more often than not.

Any politician writing letters to Judges pleading for leniency is wrong.... it looks wrong, it feels wrong. To use that well worn phase but if this had happened in England, he'd have been gone by the end of the day.
 
What, no outrage by Noah?




Oh yeah, I see the politician in question is FF, my mistake.
 
Who appoints judges? Politicians, usually FF as they are in power more often than not.

Any politician writing letters to Judges pleading for leniency is wrong.... it looks wrong, it feels wrong. To use that well worn phase but if this had happened in England, he'd have been gone by the end of the day.

It does sound wrong but is it common practice? If it is then why is it not being presented as such?
 
He's not just any politician, he's the opposition spokesman on Justice.
And previous politicians have resigned recently in similar circumstances.

If I got appointed a judge by a particular party, and that persons Justice spokesman wrote a letter asking for special consideration for Mr X or Mrs Y, I might feel I need to return the favour. As it'll maybe help my career again later.
Of course, we all know how independent the Judiciary are and that this would never happen.....
 
He's not just any politician, he's the opposition spokesman on Justice.
And previous politicians have resigned recently in similar circumstances.

Who?


If I got appointed a judge by a particular party, and that persons Justice spokesman wrote a letter asking for special consideration for Mr X or Mrs Y, I might feel I need to return the favour. As it'll maybe help my career again later.
Of course, we all know how independent the Judiciary are and that this would never happen.....

Then why aren't politicians barred from giving such character references in court cases?
 
Who?....Trevor Sargeant and Bobby Molloy are the 2 that spring to mind

Those cases were totally different from the Collins issue.

Sargeant directly contacted gardaí in relation to an alleged assault on a constituent.

An official in Molloy's office made a phone call to a Judge about a current case.

Both of these cases involved irregular communications outside the established processes for that purpose. Collins' case did not.
 
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