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MARY HANAFIN HAS been criticised and accused of being disloyal to Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin by the wife of former taoiseach Brian Cowen.
Mary Cowen, who goes by the name Mary Molloy Cowen on Facebook, wrote a message critical of Hanafin, a former minister and now a councillor in Dún Laoghaire, on a private Fianna Fáil members discussion page earlier this week.
She said that Hanafin, who is seeking to win back her Dáil seat, appeared to think she is “running the party” and warned Martin to “watch his back as there wouldn’t be to (sic) much loyalty there”.
The post referred to comments Hanafin made to the Irish Independent earlier this week in which she claimed party members wanted her to influence Fianna Fáil policy.
It’s understood the Facebook post, which was first revealed by the Irish Independent, has since been deleted. It read:
Have just read the Irish Independent and I see an article about Mary Hanifin (sic) stating that Fianna Fáil members have called on her to influence party policy she not elected yet and she is running the party. Michael (sic) Martin better watch his back as there wouldn’t be to (sic) much loyalty there !!!!!!
In a response to a comment on the post, Cowen also noted that Hanafin is getting “plenty of air and press time”.
This refers to Hanafin’s appearance on a number of media outlets in recent days, discussing the future of Fianna Fáil. She has clashed with the party on a number of occasions in recent years.
Contacted by TheJournal.ie today, Hanafin said she would not be commenting.
The former minister was a vocal critic of Cowen after the collapse of the Fianna Fáil government in 2011.
In a subsequent RTÉ documentary about the Cowen government, she recalled how she’d warned him of the consequences of the botched cabinet reshuffle which led to his resignation as party leader.
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I just wish she would go away…..forever.
Imagine getting paid this money every year for doing f#ck all.ff fg labour are leaches on our society people need to wake up to that fact we need change badly.
1Yi
1 year initiative
Its a good idea kevin and its badly needed
She has reminded me of why I gave a protest vote at the 2011 GE.
Dangerous woman.
She’s never off the radio and has been a constant since she was tossed out, Marian finucane is the first port of call for her, and as for Mary o Rourke she must have her own studio in rte and she’s a darling of Pat Kenny as well
http://www.rte.ie/iu/pensions/
sickening to read that list, Ivor Callely, Ray Burke, Martin Cullen etc etc.
What a roll call of outright gangsters and con artists.
The FBI’s “most wanted” list have done less harm.
Good grief JJ McD……..it reads like a list of lotto winners looking at the payments.
We really are being milked. No wonder they fight tooth and nail to get back into the trough.
Sick? ? Is miss Cowan sick?! Cos I can’t understand her
This is shocking stuff…Brian Cowen has a wife?????
sure why not – my mate Paul is a seriously ugly sob. Met the girl of his dreams last year and they’re getting married next month. Lucky bugger. He even won the lotto 2 weeks before meeting her.
I even have one myself. ……
Who was sleeping with whom?
@matt – brilliant!
Even more shocking is Cowen’s runny nose in the second picture.
Is that what it is?
Matt, Was her name Hanafin?
Hano likes the sob?
Had the misfortune of sitting at the dinner table with Hanafin while on placement in Chicago in 2009. Witnessing her milking a free holiday while a minister and throwing platitudes at poor Irish emigrants personified her ego and greed.
Hanafin has a big ego for a lowly councillor. Know your place MAry.
” Mary Hanifan slammed by Brian Cowens wife ”
For a minute there I thought that was gonna be a whole different story..
It’s disturbing how fanatical party loyalty has to be in this country. Even a’ ”journalist” Gay Byrne, praised Simon Harris the other day for never ever breaking from the party script / talking points…a journalist praising a govt minister for that is so depressing. Even when you are out of govt apparently now if you admit the govt made any mistakes or disagree with anything it’s treason. No wonder we’ve learned absolutely nothing from the 08 crash and are making the same mistakes all over again already
I think Harris is the perfect example. Been in the system for so long, and at such a young age, it is harder than usual to see him as another but a politician. One of the most patronizing people ever to grace The Dail and still not even 30.
You should post more often Ryan. You save many a trip to google with that memory and fairly objective opinion.
Harris depresses me for many reasons. They all voted for him down there “cos he’s young”…well ok. I think the idea they had was if he’s young therefore he’s gonna have fresh ideas, less likely to have an establishment hack outlook but…that’s exactly what he’s turned into.
If, a few years into the Dail, a journalist praised me for never breaking with the party line I’d be absolutely horrified. I remember once saying to a backbench TD who was furious at a govt policy the entire country thought was moronic “so say that, you signed a deal to stick to the whip, not to rent out your mind to them you’re allowed have dissenting thoughts”, “no sure head office would be onto me with a bollocking”
He said this the way you say “that gangster will shoot me if I got witness”, but I was thinking “er…so?”
@ ryan a journalist praising another journalist.
I hear Mary Hanafin has put a brick in her handbag. She fights dirty.
Who’s briiiick?…..ah she loves that ould brick!
Remember this witch is the one who increased the retirement age for us normal workers,While her and the rest of the FF party collected theirs at 50
(Sic) x 3
Gramatically known as a Sic pack!
Even the idea of Hanafin is unpleasant. Is there a hole for me to get sick in?
This is a non news story. It might be relevant if Fianna Fáil had a snowball’s chance in hell of getting into power. Does Hanafin even have any prospect of being elected?
Yep, she is fairly certain to get in. DL will prob be 1FG 1FF 1 Indo then whatever depending on Barret.
Unfortunately yes she does, anecdotally at any rate. She is a good operator around the constituency and has the respect of a lot of the older generation who would be a big cohort in this area. Had blazing rows with my parents over this, they knew her from her Sion Hill days when my sister was at school there. They both said they’d give her a preference. In a little defence as a junior minister and before the sh|t really started hitting the fan she wasn’t bad at her various positions. When the crash came though they were all proven to be worse than useless and actually a liability to the nation’s well being and safety.
I don’t know why you focus like a lazer beam on one minister (who was in a non-economic portfolio) when the entire socio-political establishment was engaged in a circle jerk over how amazing the exact policies that later led to a crash were (endless tax cuts, financial deregulation, narrowing the tax base). All three main political parties (and the PDs, then later the Greens) agreed on those bad policies to such an extent that in 2007 the main talking point was”we’ve fixed the economy, this election is about what to do with the cash”. Pretending it was one individual or set of individuals, or one party is just re-writing history. We do ourselves no favors pretending everyone but the people WE like was wrong.
I know a parent of a kid who went to Sion hill. They got a mail shot from Hanafin the politician. They guy went to see Hanafin the principal and asked about the unique way the address was formulated and whether it came from the school database?
I’m not making any accusation.
Loyalty indeed, they haven’t gone away you know.
Twas a bit of disloyalty in FG that resulted in Hogan & Reilly promotion. And look at the state of their departments.
No difference between. Sure didn’t Enda’s missus switch sides.
So, Mary Molloy Cowen, how’s BIFFO getting on in his big job at TOPAZ???
…and the Beacon Hospital now owned by {redacted}
…says the auld dog married to biffo, who helped bring the country to its knees
Undoubtedly THE worst education minister we’ve EVER had from the WORST government to ever take office! She’s a muppet!
Bad idea from FF running her. When you see her picture, you just get a flashback to their time in government and the crash, same with Willie and Micheal.
You obviously don’t remember Paddy Cooney… .Don’t get me wrong… She was bad but it was primarily down to incompetence…. Cooney was just malicious….
U OK hun? PM me if u wan talk
Mary Hanafin is her fathers daughter alright, she is an ultra catholic prehistoric witch, I am surprised she ever get elected.
Yeah, the apple not far from the tree there, her dad one of Haughy’s inner circle. She took the severance pay in 2011 the same time they pulled pay for student nurses that were already on the course. Has she returned the severance pay? Doesn’t she have a permanent teachers post kept open for her somewhere? Does she really need to work at all?
How do people vote for her?
She is a politician to her fingertips.
I hilariously remember when she challenged Cowan for the leadership of FF while he was Taoiseach.
It would be unforgivable to topple him as Taoiseach so she said she has confidence in him to be Taoiseach but not to lead FF.
I haven’t stopped shaking my head since.
I implore young voters to study the political cancer that has brought leeches like Hanafin to suck more of the lifeblood from the vulnerable in this society.. Please use your vote wisely and hopefully create some change for yourselves and your children going forward.. I voted Labour all my life as indeed my parents did.. I despair how much this present administration is so far removed from its former supporters..
Amarach!
Ff another party of corruption and sell outs no thanks ye had yer chance
amárach nó leadránach?
Bobby I love this , did you hear it , see it read it,
That is all politicians become Stoke politicians for their wades of cash, free travel on flights, free electricity, phone, gas, and they do not pay property tax.
Ross told Joan tonight she stated David Begg was appointed by her because he supports labour.
A Jesus if you can’t beat them idiots get like them.
Bobby I voting for the party who immediately abolishes water tax / illegal charge,the property tax, reduces the vat rate off my gold fish food and dog food.
This means labour, finna fail ,Fine Gael won’t get my vote.
Bobby get like them.
Surprised she didn’t wheel out politicians excuse #37 her account was hacked
I wonder if Mrs. Cowen gets ‘hoarse’ and ‘suffers from nasal congestion’ from time to time. It might explain the embarrassing comments, not to mention the three spelling mistakes. Hanafin, much as I dislike her, must be loving all the attention.
She muscled in on joe Duffy show when Paisley died to portray him as a big cuddly teddy when in fact his every sectarian utterance was a source of sheer terror to Catholics when loyalist thugs were on the rampage. She is an utter devious opportunistic cow and I appeal to voters to bin her
I guess its an indication of the phenomenal exorbitant rewards they get from being a politician in ireland. Martin, stuffing his pockets from a fund that was supposed to be scrapped in 2011, but they just renamed it instead and claimed away. Hamafin, probably thinks she’s young enough to cream more money from the political gravy train, despite being part of a toxic gov, and the cowans probably bitter that brian’s political careers is over and they’ll have to just live off brians mulitmillion political pension from now on in. It also shows just how deluded they become from the unjustifiable luxurious lifestyle they get used to while being a politician when they won’t go back to being teachers or whatever their career was.
The whole b***** lot of them. Please just GO AWAY. Mrs. C needs to go back to Junior Infants to sort out her spelling skills. What a SHOWER .
Time for Ireland to have a good purge!! Don’t bother voting just go out on election night and kidnap all those politians and we can sort them out for good!! Voting isn’t going to change anything the next crowd will be the same as the one and the ones before that!
There could be back stabbers in FF
I am truly shocked……………..
Some trickery going on, and just before an Election.
What’s that camera app called where people can switch faces? Well anyway Brian and Mary Cowen look like they’ve done that in the first pic :D :D Sorry but….
…and it should say ‘Hic’ instead of ‘sic’ in those brackets because that Woman was obviously left alone for too long with a bottle of wine and a laptop…
Please people, do not even give these leeches a transfer, even a transfer vote could result in them tagging along in a coalition propping up another party, research independent candidates too, some of them have former links to FF/FG/LAB and would prop up another party if it meant a ministerial pension further down the line. bottom line, not even a transfer to these people
Ah 3 pensions Hanafin… Entitled to a Minister, TD & Teacher pension. And I’m sure there’s a few quid hopping around for the council gig too. There’s no end to this woman’s brass neck…
Why are all the female politico bog trotters called Mary?
I’m (sic) of this election already.
The whiskers above the snouts are twitching in Fianna Failures the smell of the trough is getting stronger only weeks away . Their sense of entitlement to be in power and Mrs Biffo writes about loyalty ,Its a pity her husband was not loyal to the country during his tenure as finance minister and Taoiseach Will go down in history of the country as the most useless bumbling idiot ever to lead the country .Thankfully for Mrs Biffo she wont starve ,be evicted. or as in some countries face a firing squad along with the clown
biffos Mrs should just live a fabulous life off her husbands immoral pension(s) and say f@ck all.
I’m not a Fianna Fáil supporter but I regard Mary Hanafin as one of the better education ministers in the history of the State because of her positive relationship with the teachers’ unions.
Does she have 2 pips numbers or 4 pips numbers or 6 pips numbers – one for each name she can pick, maiden name, married name, double barred married name, and all these in Irish. Did Bertie have an Irish name , what is Bertie in Irish?
Shes a let the market decide woman
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