I bet Mick Wallaski will swing his advocacy of Assange into a comment about censorship affecting Wexford, or has he forgotten who he represents?
This is the sort of blatant corruption that thrives in an environment where accountability is treated as a nuisance, an afterthought. I get a good chuckle every time someone says that corruption is not an issue in Ireland
Buying silence for an embarrassingly small amount of money.
What kind of mentality exists in the Council if they feel this is acceptable.
Are Councils even accountable to anyone? Being left to your own devices always ends badly.
Anyone have the text of the article?
I can’t read the article because of the paywall.
But, it’s not the first time he’s done it either.
He should be sacked over this.
The managing director of a Wexford radio station has described as “staggering” a suggestion by Wexford County Council that it agree its presenters would not express personal opinions on air in return for the council taking out advertising on the station.
The suggestion is one of a number made by the county secretary, David Minogue, in an email to the managing director of South East Radio, Eamonn Buttle, during discussions over a proposed €40,000-€50,000 spend this year by the council on advertising with the station.
In January the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) issued a report in which it criticised Tom Enright, chief executive of Wexford County Council, for putting “unwarranted” pressure on South East Radio during a 2019 row about coverage of the council by the station, and in particular by one of its presenters, local businessman Karl Fitzpatrick.
By threatening to withdraw council advertising from the station during the row, Sipo said, Enright had breached the provisions of the Local Government Act and failed to maintain proper standards of integrity.
The public ethics body said Enright had wrongly conflated the issue of his dispute with the station over its coverage of the council, and the council’s commercial position as the station’s primary advertiser.
The Sipo report was discussed by a special meeting of the council in January, during which councillors criticised the public ethics body before voting to take no action on foot of its report. The councillors then gave the county manager a standing ovation.
In February the council’s decision to take no action was raised in the Dáil by Wexford TD Verona Murphy, who said the “message is that we will all do what we like … There was no impact. [The report] made no difference. He got a standing ovation and a round of applause.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he did not agree, and that others would take note of Sipo’s findings. The findings would have “far-reaching impacts” on the future behaviour of councils.
“There cannot be any attempts to influence the content of any local radio discussion, debate or its treatment or coverage of any issue,” he said.
“Even if there are advertisements that emanate from the council and so on, that is not correct. It can never be used for that purpose by anybody. I am very clear about that.”
Fresh row
However, a row centred on exactly the same topic has again developed between Wexford County Council and South East Radio, with the station this time objecting strongly to “criteria” that the county secretary, Minogue, suggested should be agreed by the station as part of a deal over a proposed spend of €40,000-€50,000 on radio advertisements this year.
Wexford county manager David Minogue
Wexford county manager David Minogue
In an email sent to Buttle on March 25th, Minogue said the council “does not consider it appropriate that a South East Radio broadcaster offers personal viewpoints and opinions on South East Radio.
With modern day communications its time now to shut down the county councils and replace them with provincial assemblies.
There is a lot of bad blood between the station and the council. The council employee is overstepping.
9 comments
I bet Mick Wallaski will swing his advocacy of Assange into a comment about censorship affecting Wexford, or has he forgotten who he represents?
This is the sort of blatant corruption that thrives in an environment where accountability is treated as a nuisance, an afterthought. I get a good chuckle every time someone says that corruption is not an issue in Ireland
Buying silence for an embarrassingly small amount of money.
What kind of mentality exists in the Council if they feel this is acceptable.
Are Councils even accountable to anyone? Being left to your own devices always ends badly.
Anyone have the text of the article?
I can’t read the article because of the paywall.
But, it’s not the first time he’s done it either.
He should be sacked over this.
https://m.independent.ie/regionals/wexford/news/sipo-investigation-finds-against-wexford-county-council-chief-executive-tom-enright-41217848.html
The managing director of a Wexford radio station has described as “staggering” a suggestion by Wexford County Council that it agree its presenters would not express personal opinions on air in return for the council taking out advertising on the station.
The suggestion is one of a number made by the county secretary, David Minogue, in an email to the managing director of South East Radio, Eamonn Buttle, during discussions over a proposed €40,000-€50,000 spend this year by the council on advertising with the station.
In January the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) issued a report in which it criticised Tom Enright, chief executive of Wexford County Council, for putting “unwarranted” pressure on South East Radio during a 2019 row about coverage of the council by the station, and in particular by one of its presenters, local businessman Karl Fitzpatrick.
By threatening to withdraw council advertising from the station during the row, Sipo said, Enright had breached the provisions of the Local Government Act and failed to maintain proper standards of integrity.
The public ethics body said Enright had wrongly conflated the issue of his dispute with the station over its coverage of the council, and the council’s commercial position as the station’s primary advertiser.
The Sipo report was discussed by a special meeting of the council in January, during which councillors criticised the public ethics body before voting to take no action on foot of its report. The councillors then gave the county manager a standing ovation.
In February the council’s decision to take no action was raised in the Dáil by Wexford TD Verona Murphy, who said the “message is that we will all do what we like … There was no impact. [The report] made no difference. He got a standing ovation and a round of applause.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he did not agree, and that others would take note of Sipo’s findings. The findings would have “far-reaching impacts” on the future behaviour of councils.
“There cannot be any attempts to influence the content of any local radio discussion, debate or its treatment or coverage of any issue,” he said.
“Even if there are advertisements that emanate from the council and so on, that is not correct. It can never be used for that purpose by anybody. I am very clear about that.”
Fresh row
However, a row centred on exactly the same topic has again developed between Wexford County Council and South East Radio, with the station this time objecting strongly to “criteria” that the county secretary, Minogue, suggested should be agreed by the station as part of a deal over a proposed spend of €40,000-€50,000 on radio advertisements this year.
Wexford county manager David Minogue
Wexford county manager David Minogue
In an email sent to Buttle on March 25th, Minogue said the council “does not consider it appropriate that a South East Radio broadcaster offers personal viewpoints and opinions on South East Radio.
With modern day communications its time now to shut down the county councils and replace them with provincial assemblies.
There is a lot of bad blood between the station and the council. The council employee is overstepping.