Is there really nothing "more Irish than a former housing Minister lobbying on behalf of a developer?"

Brendan Burgess

Brendan Burgess

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A headline in the Irish Times

www.irishtimes.com

Mark O'Connell: There is nothing more Irish than a former housing minister lobbying on behalf of a developer

The Irish Glass Bottle site was once a symbol of the Celtic Tiger era. Now it’s a symbol of our intractably absurd housing situation
www.irishtimes.com www.irishtimes.com

We are in the hapenny place compared to the UK. I have notified the author of the Irish Times piece.



www.theguardian.com

Over 170 ex-ministers and officials take jobs linked to old policy briefs since 2017

Transparency International says its report raises questions over conflicts of interest in Westminster
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
I suppose it a bit like Miggledy who was supposedly so passionate about the right to housing while he was in the Arus, but now that he is back in his plush Salthill mansion in Galway he's indulging in a bit of Nimby-ism and objecting to a housing development adjacent to his abode!
 
Just what I'd expect from these types. Miggledy always telling everyone else how they should behave. He didn't have much time for the small Irish landlord either. Pity we can't have people with cop on and honesty in charge.
 
Mayo1969 said:
I suppose it a bit like Miggledy who was supposedly so passionate about the right to housing while he was in the Arus, but now that he is back in his plush Salthill mansion in Galway he's indulging in a bit of Nimby-ism and objecting to a housing development adjacent to his abode!
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agree with your sentiment - but on a point of clarification he doesn't live in Salthill.
 
Mayo1969 said:
I suppose it a bit like Miggledy who was supposedly so passionate about the right to housing while he was in the Arus, but now that he is back in his plush Salthill mansion in Galway he's indulging in a bit of Nimby-ism and objecting to a housing development adjacent to his abode!
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Which abode in Galway, I believe he owns 5 - 6 houses in the city!!!
 
jfrank said:
Which abode in Galway, I believe he owns 5 - 6 houses in the city!!!
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My understanding is that he owns two houses in Galway and an apartment in Dublin. Their value is in the region of €2 million. That has to be funded by his meger pension(s) of around €200,000 a year plus appearance money and income from his books. As the greatest living Irish Poet and a towering intellectual (according to one M.D. Higgins) it is reasonable to expect that the income from his artistic works is considerable.
Basically he's a rich landlord within property worth €2 million and a pension which would require a fund worth at least €3 million. He's well within the top 1%. Nothing wrong with that but in populist left and right wing parlance he's one of "the rich" and a "greedy Landlord".
 
Much as I'm enjoying the Miggledy diversion, let's get back to Simon's lobbying.

The IT journalist generously concedes that "The former tánaiste is, of course, perfectly entitled to do whatever he wishes with his career now that he has left politics." adding "Who better to lobby the government for the interests of a property developer, after all, than a man who was not so long ago minister for housing?" Who indeed!

But - remarkably - nowhere in the article does the journalist say that Coveney is lobbying the government on the issue. Or indeed what, if any, lobbying is going on. So it's all a bit nebulous. The linked articles refer only to Coveney having lobbied on the developer's behalf for a quite separate project somewhere between Balbriggan and Drogheda.

I'd really like to see some meat on the bones of this piece of journalistic whimsy.
 
Leo said:
The public register shows him lobbying via Waterfront Advisory Limited regarding a new port at Bremore.
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Yes, that's the episode of lobbying that I was referring to. Not a sign - yet - that he's been involved in lobbying regarding the Gas Company site.
I have applied my "innocent until proven guilty" filter (unlike the Irish Times journalist!)
 
Alienated said:
What lobbying is being led by the Ronan Group? Because it still appears to be a bottle of smoke.
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They have a few entries in the register, Google suggests the gas site representations occurred in September which means they're unlikely to appear in the register until the current period ends on Dec. 31st.
 
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