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FIANNA FÁIL LEADER Micheal Martin has said the appointment of former Attorney General Máire Whelan to the Court of Appeal “stinks”.
The appointment of Whelan to the court has been criticised this week, being dubbed “nakedly political”. It was also confirmed that the new Social Protection Minister was not aware that Whelan was to be appointed a judge before Tuesday’s cabinet meeting.
It was announced on Tuesday she would leave her post after six years, a day before Leo Varadkar took office. It has been confirmed to Gavan Reilly of Today FM that she had not made an application for the role on the Court of Appeal.
Speaking as new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced his cabinet last night, Martin said that the appointment was indicative of “broken promises of reform”. He said the job on the Court of Appeal had been held open for three months after the retirement of Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan in March.
Martin took specific aim at Shane Ross, long a vocal opponent of political judicial appointments.
“This is not something that can just be gotten over with a casual ‘ah sure, we’ll do better next time’.
“Why was 23 years of precedent abandoned for no real reason? Why was no specific open advertisement issued in recent months? Why was the job held open for three months, then filled in this manner?
“Most of all, why did a minister (Shane Ross) once staunchly opposed to all political involvement in judicial appointments quietly wave through this appointment? Was it anything to do with an interim report to facilitate the opening of Stepaside Garda Station?”
In response, Ross accused Fianna Fáil of “offering pork barrel deals by the bejaysus” when negotiating a government deal.
Unaware
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today, newly-minted Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty defended the move.
However, she said that she was not aware it would happen before Tuesday’s cabinet meeting.
“Máire Whelan is an eminently qualified judge. She has done an absolutely super job for this government and the previous government.
“More importantly, she was available and I know she is going to make an absolutely excellent judge.
“She is a bounty of wisdom, she is calm, she’s measured, she’s mature.
“I can’t speak for every member, I can only speak for myself, but no I didn’t know she was going to be appointed, it wasn’t on the documentation that was circulated in the days before the meeting.
“The appointment was put to cabinet and approved by cabinet.”
Doherty said that the government’s prerogative was to make judicial appointments and referred to a statement by the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board which stated that there hadn’t been any sufficiently qualified candidates for the job.
Social Democrats co-leader Roisín Shortall called the appointment “nakedly political”.
“It makes a mockery of talk of reform and shows that the government does not believe in its own hype when it comes to ridding cronyism from the judicial system. I want to know whether this appointment was agreed by Minister Shane Ross who has been pushing for the Judicial Appointments Bill.”
TheJournal.ie has asked the Government press office for comment on the appointment.
Sure it’s only tax payers money….
@Martin Smith: I wonder how many wasters were fired over that loss?
@Martin Smith: exactly, that’s the thinking throughout the public sector
@Jonathan: thats 315 houses LPT tax at average house price, or 10 days needlessly renting the convention center for the dail…… How this DERELICT property wasnt fully assessed before purchasing is bad enough, how it wasnt maintained after purchase is even worse…… Poor management again and probably more unaccountably…… We’re hemmorhaging money everywhere and the net result of government inefficiency and unaccountably is to raise taxes….. God help everyone in this mismanaged country. Imagine how better off we would be as a society if the country was run with some sort of competence and efficiency.
DCC must be the only property dealer to loose money when selling a property while property prices have been rising more than inflation in the last 5 years, regardless of the bad condition of the building.
@Goran Josifov: Anyone know why they bought this property in the first place.
@Michael Reilly: The pub, had been a popular meeting spot for theatre goers, but closed more than a decade ago. The four-storey Victorian building, which is on the record of protected structures, became increasingly dilapidated and by 2014 had been boarded up.
In 2017 the council bought the pub to stop it from falling into further decay. An inspection noted parts of the roof were missing with a “large number of plastic bags containing bird droppings stored throughout the building”.
The council had initially hoped to reach a deal with the Abbey Theatre, which had “expressed an interest in utilising the buildings when refurbished”. However no agreement was reached.
@Daniel O’Connor: Lovely, so now they’re going to sell it off to some crony at a bargain price, no doubt.
City Council spending tax payer’s money with no consequences for loss, unelected bureaucrats leaving people sleeping on the street’s to die & yet another building empty & derelict due to their collective negligence. Time they were told to sling their hook.
I know there is a loss here to the council (which is bad enough) but the more important questions are:
What was the intended use for this building when they bought it and what has changed since?
Why are DCC using taxpayers money to buy commercial buildings that they have no intention of using?
Who was the previous owner of the building before DCC bought it?
@The next small thing: This explains it all a bit more… https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/city-councillors-block-sale-of-dublin-s-plough-pub-1.4536468?mode=amp
@William Tallon: Cheers for that, bit more detail there alright. So basically they bought the property for speculation, in that they hoped the Abbey would want it, they didn’t so now want to flog it to a developer and then rent 6 apartments back for circa 150,000 p.a. They will then rent these for social housing where they will probably get about 15,000 rent for the 6 apartments and never actually own them. They should have just impossed levies on the original owner under the Derelict Sites Act and could have netted about 24,000 until the original owner refurbished the property or sold it onto someone who would.
@The next small thing: That would make sense, but someone will obviously benefit from having left it to crumble into the street instead. It shows how the rest of the city can be left with derelict buildings standing empty as well. Great management.
Only in Ireland, can the council buy property and loose money in the middle of a property boom. Incompetence doesn’t come close to describing these people. I wonder is there a friend looking to buy this property on the cheap?
ah the plough, over fourteens only
@Dave: happy memories. I waited until I was 15 though
That’s on just one building wait until they start building housing estate with there very own workers
Don’t worry. Our increase in property tax will cover such things…
They will sell it to one of their mates who will sell it for millions in profit
Not fit for purpose Thats the Council not the Building..
How did they manage to lose money on Dublin property?
Its easy to be incompetent when you get paid every week regardless.
Only taxes nothing to see here.
What the hell is going on here?, they paid 800k (and the rest) and they didn’t bother to fix the effing roof or deal with the vermin problem. That’s a bread and butter job for the council surely or with help from OPW?
Sorry, but there should be a sacking for the persons who stood over this.
Why is the council speculating on property deals instead of busying themselves with actual council business because last time I looked organizing some bins and port-a-pottys was a herculean task for them.
Did someone in the Abbey ask the council to buy it so that the pub could be saved?
Some ex-NAMA greaseball developer will now buy this for 500k and sell it in a few years for 4 times that.
How many other properties like this have Dublin City Council bought, how many have they also ignored and allowed to rot, and how much is the taxpayer on the hook for?
No.1 Rule, do not pish away taxpayers money.
@Eddie O’Neill: Plenty of abandoned buildings all over the place, and not a bother on them. I’m beginning to think that every single Councillor and TD should be required to walk through our capital city once a month to see all the empty buildings growing weeds.
Typical of the council. They must be getting their advice from the OPW
Another shower of wasters
@Mike Heelan: after dealing with some departments within the OPE I strongly oppose your generic view.
They’re actually pretty good.
But sure, keep bashing but don’t step up.
Some businessmen
Bought a naggin there when I was 16
@Maalouf: Back then you would have got money back on the bottle!
All councils should be disbanded and replaced with a new body. They are totally useless
have your say