John
I
McGuinness TD On Your Side Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold... O’Sullivan does not have the trust of the public.
The centre isn’t holding, and our people no longer believe that politicians will keep them safe. In fact, the centre is far too full of organisations who have forgotten that they are there to serve our people, rather than protect themselves, and perhaps the Dail is one of them. For a number of years I have been close to Maurice McCabe, which gave me the opportunity to see at first hand how far a state institution would go to protect the status quo and how membership of the collective deprives people of their objectivity and judgment. The price of being one of the herd is you lose your individuality and, sometimes, your moral compass because you are marching to the sound of drummers and the orders of leaders who have convinced one another that their beat is best. Last week Prime Time brutally exposed what group thinking and blind loyalty can do. It can take an organisation full of well meaning, committed people over a cliff. Senior members of the Garda, once the most respected body of men and women in the State - the organisation that, above all others, is there to keep us safe - stands accused of using the most extraordinary underhand and sordid tactics to destroy a good man, steal years of his life and subject him and his family to terrible pressure and stress. And in so doing, tarnish the badge of the force and the honour of the thousands of good people, like Maurice McCabe, who did, and do, their work proudly and well. Without a shadow of a doubt, Commissioner O’Sullivan should, without prejudice, step aside. Without a shadow of a doubt, Superintendent Dave Taylor should be reinstated and paid in full. Both are entitled to the presumption of innocence. But the buck stops at the Commissioner’s desk and she is of the old guard. She should now stand back for her own good and for the good of the State. She does not enjoy the support of the public and it is imperative that trust in An Garda Siochana be restored. Tusla too has serious questions to answer. We are being asked to believe that a “fat-fingered moment” was behind the extraordinary accusations laid at Maurice McCabe’s door. It may be true, but it is not credible - never has “a fat finger” been ignored for so long. Indeed, one has to ask questions about what happened to the person whose file the accusations should have been on. And even if it is true, how can accusations like these be laid
against anyone without them being subject to the most rigorous examination? That “fat finger” laid waste to the life of an innocent family. How many other innocent families are suffering the same fate? Apologies are not enough. I know there are other innocent people out there who have felt the heavy hand of a Tusla investigation. It should now be the subject of a criminal investigation, and, separately, its procedures should be scrutinised. Children’s welfare must be paramount, but the reputations of individuals, and the children in their families, deserve protection also. This is a tipping point. Have no doubt about it. The public has had enough of mismanagement in various State organisations. This is the point where politicians have to accept many State organisations have lost their way and heading for implosions. The HSE, which casually provided incorrect waiting lists to government, is a good example of that. No matter how many billions it gets and no matter how hard front line staff work it will never deliver. The Dail should stop hiding behind rhetoric and meaningless gestures. We are watching the death throes of old bureaucratic institutions, here and elsewhere, and dollops of money will not produce miracles. But determination, common sense and the embracing of new ideas, cutting edge human resources and management practices might, if trade unions, politicians and senior public servants embrace change and address the challenge. A State that refuse to change and properly address waste, while chiselling money from its people at every turn and by every means, creates anger, disappointment, and disillusionment. I think we all know now where that can take us! ■ Article taken from the Sunday Independent Feb 12, 2017
John McGuinness TD On Your Side €2Million Investment in Mullinavat Wastewater Treatment Plant – McGuinness
Irish Water are due to submit a planning application for the upgrade of Mullinavat Wastewater Treatment Plant to the value of €2Million according to Deputy John McGuinness who has lobbied for the improvements. The proposed works will include the construction of a new plant, new outfall to the River Blackwater, a new pumping station and a new pipe network including a river crossing of the River Ballyknockbeg. If permission is granted the construction will be on a greenfield site in Mullinavat. The works will allow for the decommissioning of the existing septic tank which currently serves the town. It will involve the installation of a new network of pipes along Fr. Maher Place and the R448. “If the proposed works go ahead it will provide an improvement in water quality and allow for future population growth and economic development in the area. The works will also increase the plant’s capacity to deal with storm water events with the construction of a new storm water storage and screening. All of this would be much welcomed for the local community,” said Deputy John McGuinness
Angela Kerins, former Rehab boss, is ‘very disappointed’ by defeat in High Court Ex-Rehab boss Angela Kerins said she is “very disappointed” by her High Court defeat in her case against members of the Public Accounts Committee. Thanking her family and friends, Ms Kerins said it was an enormous decision to take the case and she will now review the decision. “I am currently reviewing the written judgment of the High Court with my legal advisers. I will not be making any decision or making any further comment in this matter until that review is complete,” she said in a statement. She was not in court for the judgment yesterday. John McGuinness, the then chairman of PAC, has defended the “robust” treatment of Ms Kerins, denying it amounted to a with hunt. He said he was “delighted with the result” and that it was a “good day for democracy”. Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Mr McGuinness said: “It is a great result for democracy and freedom of speech. I am glad that the courts have found that the work of all committees, not just the PAC, is invaluable to democracy.” In evidence, Ms Kerins had described a seven-hour meeting of the PAC in February 2014 as a “witch hunt”. She claimed she ended up in hospital because of the trauma she was put through and ultimately tried to take her own life. Defending what he called a robust encounter with Ms Kerins, Mr McGuinness insisted the probe was nothing less than what the public expected from them as members of the Dáil’s spending watchdog. “It is not personal, not personal at all. This was about taxpayers’ money at the end of the day and the public expect us to be robust in our investigations and we were,” he said. Mr McGuinness, Mary Lou McDonald, and Shane Ross, then members of PAC, stood accused of being the most aggressive in their questioning of Ms Kerins. The court found Ms Kerins was probed on a wide range of issues, many of which went far beyond those of which she had been notified in previous correspondence.
Mary Lou McDonald welcomed the High Court judgement. She said: “This is a significant decision as it clarifies the right of members of the Oireachtas to act in the public interest and to do the job that we are elected to do.” The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission said it welcomed the judgment and that it will take time to consider the full implications of it. Mr Ross declined to comment on the court victory when contacted by the Irish Examiner last night.elcomed the judgment and that it will take time to consider the full implications of it. Mr Ross declined to comment on the court victory when contacted by the Irish Examiner last night. ■ Article By Daniel McConnell taken from The Irish Examiner - Wednesday, February 01, 2017
OPW shoud be ashamed at their treatment of Kilkenny Castle visionaries – McGuinness The failure of the Office of Public Works (OPW) to recognise the invaluable contribution made by the Kilkenny Castle restoration committee has been labelled an absolute disgrace by the son of one of those who were responsible for bringing the then decaying, castle into public ownership. Deputy John McGuinness said the people who run Kilkenny Castle and their masters in Dublin should be ashamed of themselves for not marking the 5oth anniversary of the handing over of the castle. “We need a permanent record of those people and that time that changed Kilkenny forever,” Deputy McGuinness said. The late Mick McGuinness, the Fianna Fail TD’s father, was the secretary of the committee which was led by the late Jim Gibbons TD - the driving force behind the State’s decision to take over the running of what is the Jewel in the crown of Kilkenny tourism. As former castle employee, Frank Kavanagh said: “Kilkenny city would be only a backwater if the castle had been left to rot and become derelict.” Deputy McGuinness said that he has made contact with the minister in charge of the OPW and told him of his upset at the failure of the OPW to address the matter. “There is no way of dressing this up, this is a total and utter slap in the face to the memory of those people and their families,” he said. He noted that only one of that 1967 committee was still alive, retired president of the Irish district court, Peter Smithwick.
“Surely we should do something before it’s too late,” he added. He would like a permanent reminder of their great work in the form of a free standing monument with a plaque providing details of what they achieved. Deputy McGuinness is suspicious that the OPW is waiting until 2019 to do anything about the take over of the castle by the State because that will mark 50 years since they took it over from the voluntary committee which couldn’t come up with the huge sums needed to restore the castle’ ■ Article by Sean Keane taken from The Kilkenny People Feb 15, 2017
Call for ‘friendly vulture fund’ to help distressed homeowners
The current situation, where these funds were likely to seek possession of homes to maximise a speedy return, would continue to be “very costly”, said Mr McGuinness.
costing lives.” He said it would be similar to the mortgage-torent scheme, but without the involvement of local authorities and housing associations. “It would cut a lot of the bureaucracy out,” he said. The mortgage-to-rent scheme, which is operated by the Housing Agency, is subject to several restriction and is regarded as overly cumbersome, involving several different bodies. To be eligible for the mortgage-to-rent scheme, the home must not have a market value higher than €250,000, or €350,000 in Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow, Louth, Cork and Galway. In addition, the household’s combined income must not exceed between €25,000 and €35,000, depending on the area of the country. It must also have a certain number of bedrooms and comply with all local authority housing regulations. Mr McGuinness said this scheme would be structured in such as way as to exclude strategic defaulters and so-called “trophy homes”.
“It’s costing a lot of money in terms of legal services and in the courts. And it’s
■ Article taken from The Irish Times Feb 7, 2017, by Kitty Holland
John McGuinness urges setting-up of agency to protect troubled mortgage-holders A “friendly vulture fund”, which would buy distressed loans from home-owners and enable them stay in their homes, should be set up by the Government, the chairman of the Oireachtas finance committee has said. John McGuinness, TD for Carlow-Kilkenny, will bring his proposal to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary meeting on Wednesday. He said there was considerable support within the party and that he hoped to bring the plan before the Dáil in the coming weeks. His proposal comes amid growing concerns that large-scale repossessions by vulture funds will lead to the next wave of homelessness. “The idea is to use an agency of the State, or to establish one, that would be allowed to buy the distressed debt from a bank at a rate they would sell it to a vulture fund. Once they get the loan they would either rent the house back to the borrower or work out a reduced rate on their mortgage,” he said. Mortgages on about 50,000 primary homes and buy-to-lets are now controlled
by unregulated “vulture-funds”, which have typically bought the loans at 70 cent in the euro. Mr McGuinness said the kind of “friendly vulture” agency he is proposing would be funded with Government-issued bonds and could be “off-balance sheet” and not a contributor to national debt. “It would require government approval, sanction by the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Housing and the support of the banks,” he said. Saving homes “I don’t foresee any opposition to this. It’s very doable. It would be similar in structure to Nama, but people would stay in their homes. It would be a sort of friendly vulture fund and should be of interest to anyone who is interested in removing vulture funds from the equation.”
John McGuinness TD On Your Side
John McGuinness ‘shocked and horrified’ Tusla file was source of false sex offence
John
McGuinness TD
COMMUNITY CLINICS Every Saturday Constituency Office,
that’s not enough. We need to understand where the story came from and we need to understand why and the officials at the centre of this now need to be part of the commission of investigation. “I’m absolutely shocked and horrified that an agency of the State would carry on the way that it did. “Tusla would say it [the file] was created in error — how can you create such a file with horrific consequences for a family and not have it dealt with?” Earlier in the day, Mr McGuinness had denied there was any doubt over his claim to have been secretly briefed by the then Garda commissioner about Sgt McCabe. The proposed terms of reference for the commission state he should investigate “whether a meeting took place between former Commissioner Callinan and Deputy John McGuinness... and to consider the circumstances which led to any such meeting, the purpose of such meeting and matters discussed at such meeting”. Mr McGuinness said the wording of the terms did not cast doubt on his version of events. “There has only been one statement in relation to that meeting — mine. It’s important for Justice Charleton to establish the other side of that particular meeting. That’s a reasonable thing, I believe.” The TD claims he met with Mr Callinan at the then commissioner’s request in a car park on January 24, 2014. This was days before Sgt McCabe was due to appear before the Public Accounts Committee which Mr McGuinness was chairing. He only disclosed details of the meeting last year when he told the Dáil that Mr Callinan had told him Sgt McCabe could not be trusted.
■ Article taken from The Irish Examiner Friday, February 10, 2017 By Caroline O’Doherty
Constituency Office, O’Loughlin Road, Kilkenny www.johnmcguinness.ie Tel: (056) 77 70672
10:30am to 1pm
First Saturday of each month Sacred Heart Hall, \Graiguecullen, Carlow 2:30pm Castlecomer Drop In Centre 7:30pm
Personal Service Confidential Representation
email: john@johnmcguinness.ie Follow John on ft&
Here To Help... Not Just At Election Time
Consultation on a 2017 National Reserve to begin ‘in the coming weeks’
Consultation between Department officials and members of the main farming organisations on a National Reserve for 2017 is due to take place in the coming weeks, the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed, has said. Responding to a parliamentary question from Carlow-Kilkenny TD John McGuinness in the Dail this week, Minister Creed said that decisions in relation to a National Reserve this year will be made once potential funding has been established. Consultation takes place annually as part of the decision making process for the National Reserve and is between the Department and Direct Payments Advisory Committee. This committee comprises of members from the main farming organisations, agricultural education and farm advisory bodies. “There was no National Reserve in 2016 as all available funding had been utilised under the 2015 scheme. In order to provide for a National Reserve in 2017 funding is required to replenish the Reserve. “EU Regulations governing the scheme provide that funding for the replenishment of the National Reserve may be obtained by means of surrender of entitlements that remain unused by farmers for two consecutive years and by clawback derived following the sale of entitlements without land. “It is envisaged that funding derived from these two sources in 2017 will be very limited. “The Regulations also provide for the option of applying a linear cut to the value of all farmers’ entitlements to fund the National Reserve.” The organisation representing young farmers, Macra na Feirme, last year called for the reallocation of funding to create a National Reserve for young farmers and new entrants up until 2020. Macra President Sean Finan has again called on the Department of Agriculture to examining the possibility of reopening the scheme. Finan said that the lack of such a scheme has made life extremely difficult for young farmers. The importance of the the reserve has long been campaigned for by Macra, as the organisation sees it as an important policy instrument to help young farmers get established in farming. In 2016, the absence of a reserve has unfairly impacted on young farmers, without entitlements, as they were not in a position to get the 25% young farmer top up, it said. ■ Article by Amy Forde taken from Agriland January 20, 2017
0612
The former chairman of a Dáil committee that probed the Garda whistleblower affair said he was shocked and horrified to discover a Tusla file was the source of the false sex offence allegations against Sgt Maurice McCabe. Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness raised Tusla’s involvement in the scandal in the Dáil yesterday, when he looked for assurances that the commission of investigation would be able to question the agency. Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald said that while it was a matter for the commission chairman, Mr Justice Peter Charleton, she did not see that there would be any problem doing this. Mr McGuinness later revealed that he sought the assurances after being shown an official case file created by Tusla about an allegation of a sex offence by Sgt McCabe, who only recently was made aware of the file’s existence. The commission is already planning to investigate the sex crime slur as part of the alleged wider smear campaign against Sgt McCabe but the source of the slur was unknown until now. Mr McGuinness said the slur was groundless and the file was a “creation”. “There are issues Tusla have to deal with. There was a file created for some reason that Maurice McCabe and his family did not know about and that file remained live on the system until very recently,” he said. “Tusla have acknowledged that file was there. They say it was created in error but those questions have to be answered.” Mr McGuinness told Newstalk it was essential to find out who created the file and why, how it was allowed to remain in circulation for so long and why Sgt McCabe was not informed about it. “The organisation [Tusla] is going to publicly apologise, as they should, but