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Updated: 4.34 pm, Wednesday.
RENUA’S ETHICS OFFICER is looking into a controversial endorsement of the party’s Carlow-Kilkenny by-election candidate Patrick McKee last Friday.
Karl Deeter told TheJournal.ie he was gathering information “as to who posted what and when” in order to “try and find out what happened”.
Deeter was responding to a report by this website last night in which the pro-same sex marriage group “Yes Kilkenny” – which is separate to “Yes Equality Kilkenny”, the local branch of the national campaign – denied it was a ‘front’ for McKee’s campaign.
The group, which presented itself as “non-party” and a “cross-community campaign to secure a Yes vote,” during the lead-up to the same-sex marriage referendum, issued a controversial endorsement to McKee last Friday.
It has since emerged the campaign was run by figures within Renua Ireland, including McKee’s campaign manager Adrian Shanahan and local party activist John Eardly.
Deeter, who is not a member of Renua, is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the party’s code of conduct and recently produced a video guide to canvassing.
He said this evening that he was looking into the issue after receiving a phonecall from a member of Renua about the issue last night. He said he wanted to establish if there was a “valid concern”.
Yesterday, Shanahan said the endorsement was posted via his Facebook account, but “it wasn’t my decision.”
He denied the Yes Kilkenny campaign was a “front” for McKee’s Dáil bid. He said the suggestion it was set up as a precursor to McKee’s Renua campaign was “completely untrue and unfounded”.
Renua said last night it would be “a matter of grave concern” if anything untoward occurred and said it would respond to any complaints made “as swiftly as we can”.
TheJournal.ie requested comment from Patrick McKee and John Eardly, but did not receive a response.
Update: On Wednesday afternoon, John Eardly released a statement clarifying that he alone was responsible for posting the endorsement, and apologising for “any hurt or upset” it had caused.
I take full responsibility for this decision. In doing so, I wish to confirm that my colleague on the Yes Kilkenny FB Page, Adrian Shanahan, was NOT involved in the decision to post the piece.
The decision was made by me and me alone. Cllr Patrick McKee was not aware of this decision at any time either.
…I decided to post the piece supporting Patrick McKee in the by-election because it was my deeply held view that it would be good for the LGBT community in Kilkenny.
Nonetheless, I apologize for any hurt or upset caused to anyone who was offended by my piece.
Originally published: 9pm, Tuesday.
- with reporting from Dan MacGuill
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Go girl !
@Riddled Fidl: sound feen.
Bond Villain
@Dave Connolly: I don’t know much about him but there’s something very unusual about the guy that I can’t put my finger on.
Bill Gates is villfied by the anti vaxx crowd wanting to put micochips in the covid vaccines but Elon who publicly has stated his idea for putting microchips into brains gets a free pass.
@Ally Mc Culladgh: it’s a great idea. Could cure blindness, deafness etc
And once she gets the vaccine that’s her and the community under the control of the evil tech lords! I for one welcome all this, pump me full of the vaccine and give me unlimited data and a bucket of Monster and I’ll be set to go!
They’ll have their own satellites?!! And not just one – BUT TWO?!!! The thermosphere is about to get very crowded if individual satellites are required for everyone.
@Steve: no, they are shared satellites. The article is a bit unclear tho! They each get a dish for home…
@Steve: They don’t have many up there at the moment but in order to provide the sort of coverage they are looking for they are talking about 30,000 devices in Low Earth Orbit eventually. If completed it will literally change the look of the night sky.
However, it’s certainly a much more efficient solution to broadband supply in rural areas than envisioned under the National Broadband Plan. Under the NBP those people would (eventually) have to be tied in to the fibre grid which would mean building a mini exchange and rolling out a 10+ km of fibre to connect the scattered houses. For the same 4 customers.
Spacex estimate the cost of their network, when complete, should come in around the $10Billion mark. It will cover the entire globe. We’re talking about paying €3Billion to cover the island of Ireland. One of us is doing it *wrong* and I’ll leave it there.
@John Considine: we should be on the phone to SpaceX immediately and be asking to be a test country for this StarLink internet. Could save us a few billion…which is much needed.
@HarveyLemonade: To their credit, ComReg have made consideration for the provision of such a service almost 4 years ago:
https://www.comreg.ie/media/dlm_uploads/2017/07/ComReg-1726sR.pdf
I believe Starlink hope to be operating commercially here by the end of the year. Presumably that means the application process for licensing is going well. I believe the costs will be comparatively high to start though. I remember reading the bi-directional satellite dish was going to cost €500. Found the article on the Indo:
“The service costs €99 per month plus a €499 charge for the required satellite dish and a €61 delivery fee.”
@HarveyLemonade: been saying since before the NBP was launched. Old world thinking and way too expensive.
@John Considine: shame you’re wrong though.
Fair play.
Hang on. Were the government not paying somebody a shed load of money to do this already?
@Dave Thomas: they’ll dump it the minute they get fibre
I have heard about this Space Ex Broad Band in the states..
It is a satellite of sum sort if my memory serves me.. getting great reviews
The system is called starlink and it is based on the low ceiling of the satellites in orbit and all u need is a dish and away u go..
Price wise I think is an issue great at start but goes up..
But I’d say well worth it..
@Sportmad: I thin the idea is to make it affordable! Everything Elon does is an attempt to make things cheaper – electric cars, rockets, tunnels, solar panels and now broadband. He has already reduced the cost of putting a rocket in space by 10s of millions
@David Kelly: yes that is his Model but the cost of entry is Cheap about $500 inc all equipment and attachments as it’s a portable device mainly..
But the reviewers if I’m not mistaken are complaining about the nominal user cost which is very high..
It is an incredible product to be fair but look at the Tesla car price out of reach of majority
We are in a dead zone also, was promised high speed ISDN line by May 2006, still waiting…
However we’ve been notified that we will have high speed by the end of this summer which is a huge relief as long as it’s not another false dawn, we’re only 6 miles from Tralee!
@David Grey: I’m only 6 miles from cork city, fibre a 200-300 metres north, south and west of me. Not in NBI plans until 2024 at the earliest. I’ve already registered with starlink for service before the end of the this year. Pay 45 a month already for single digit speeds from Vodafone, 99 a month for starlink but will be well worth it
“Eeey”
Many individuals and biz stuck in broadband never-ever land may be interested in “Plan B for #NBP” which I recently sent to Gov ministers, TDs etc about National Broadband Plan & potential of low-Earth orbit LEO sats like #Starlink.
Summary: http://bit.ly/3cyDb1A
I don’t blame anyone for getting starlink in, but good lord I hate that company for what they are doing to the night sky. By the time they are finished they will have tens of thousands of satellites meandering across the night sky. Star gazing will never be the same for anyone on the planet ever again. Astro photography also horrifically impacted.
I’ve just seen the 60 satalites pass over caherdaniel co Kerry. It’s mad looking. 13/5/21. .
have your say