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A MAN IN his forties has died following a fatal single-vehicle collision in Monaghan.
Gardaí are appealing for witnesses following the collision, which took place at approximately 1.55am today.
A 43-year-old man was seriously injured when the car he was a passenger in collided with a ditch at Crowey, Silverstream, on the R185 (Monaghan – Glaslough route).
He was taken by ambulance to Cavan General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The driver of the car, a 40-year old woman, was also taken to hospital with minor injuries. A second woman who was travelling in the car at the time was uninjured.
The scene of the collision remains closed to traffic pending a technical examination and diversions are in place.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Monaghan garda station on 047 77200, or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.
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Having a media mogul who is in bed with elected officials does not help, or journalists who are afraid to challenge their pay masters or fear mention his name. Going as far to delete comments or block them completely for fear of liable action certainly doesn’t. Less copy and paste and more real journalism please.
One of the only actual real journalists in this country, Gemma O’Doherty, was sacked by the independent when she wanted to investigate corruption by the establishment. There was very little solitary from her journalistic colleagues in Ireland. That episode highlighted that most “journalists” in this country are not really journalists but cowardly yes men/women who never upset the status quo.
Citizen Kane O Swine stalks the land alongside the harsh libel laws which make a Journalist’s life impossible.
At least they have not (yet) controlled the internet–Maybe we will soon have to go to to the unspeakable Darknet for any meaningful news.?
Pjm,
Gemma is constantly being intimidated and threatened by the powers that be. She did a two year investigation into Fr. Niall Molloy. It was a case that Veronica Guerin also covered. GSOC set up a criminal inquiry into her complaint about Garda harassment, but it was shut down after it became public. She is also working on the Mary Boyle case. Daniel O’ Donnell’s sister Margo is also involved and made a statement. They believe they know who did it but the chief suspect has never even been arrested. It is all a coverup.
Here is a piece she wrote for the Independent before she was fired for investigating the penalty points cancellation scandal.
Ya watersedge we heard ya be fore and before and before always ta same story fom you about ta dame garda corruption. You obviously have an issue with it , it’s just you keep going on about it . Will you shut up . Pls
Fergal Barry agree. Most of the so called ‘journalists’ in this country are weak and seem afraid to challenge. As pjm mentioned Gemma O’Doherty has been shunned and ostracised by most in the media world, none of whom could ever match her journalistic skills. She is still asking the hard questions through social media and other avenues. She was the lone voice once again recently when Robert Black died. Most of the media ran with ‘unofficial’ ‘official’ line that he was responsible for the disappearance of Mary Boyle. That was the line that suited the establishment. Gemma was persistent in getting the message across that he was in no way responsible for the disappearance of Mary. Gemma along with Mary’s family and supporters have been lobbying Govt and Gardai for help in solving the disappearance of Mary but all they have received is broken promises. Why? Maybe because it appears certain evidence was ignored and that one of their ‘own’ may have been involved.
Sadly when it comes to crime in this country we have to rely on the likes of (Garda) Paul Reynolds who will always toe the establishment line, or Paul Williams who has made a career out of others suffering and pain aided and abetted by RTE and other media outlets.
Many of the news stories on this site along with many ‘newspapers’ are lifted direct from press releases and they are posted as fact with no challenge, no alternative viewpoint etc. This is the type of journalism we have been fed for years only now we have avenues whereby we can challenge. Other than the Journal (praise where it is merited) how many media outlets covered the ‘lies’ told by various Labour TD’s re death threats etc http://www.thejournal.ie/alan-kelly-death-threats-aodhan-o-riordain-ged-nash-anne-fennell-labour-2551337-Jan2016/ This was only covered in paper media with regard to threats made to Michael D. Barely a mention of Alan Kelly and certainly no call on him and his fellow TD’s to apologise to those they demonised. Now had they been TD’s from other parties ie: AAA, SF or some independents it would have been front page headlines along with pages 2, 3, 4, amid calls for them to stand down.
I agree that there is a wider issue re the powers some sections of the establishment have, but it is ironic that what many have been saying for a long time and calling on ‘journalists’ for support has now landed at their feet. The poem of Martin Niemöller comes to mind: First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Naoibh why should he shut up about Garda corruption? What sort of a person, other than a corruptible one, tells someone else shut up about corruption in the state police force. Let me guess that you’re one of these types that’ll gladly vote for Lowry and Bertie “shor a bit if corruption never hurt no-one” types!
there is no reporting in this country apart from 2no. journalists the rest copy and paste with no opinion other than if its crime related “they were known to gardai” smear.
1916 and 2016 are no different in their media bias and collusion with the “authorities”,
If GSOC was given the right powers from the beginning and not stuffed with ex gardai the hacks would be worn out with different stories of corruption.
instead in this country we vilify the whistleblower not the perpertraiter.
I could not have more adequately but those points in such a coherent fashion. The media are blinded by their own need for political and financial enrichment
Absolute Power corrupts absolutely
Political policing,we are living in a crypto communist state. under yhe illusion of democracy.
*the
C ONeill. I’m thick. Would you explain what a “crypto communist state” is? Please use 1- syllable words
You are “thick” so no point in wasting what little brain cells you have trying to understand what you will never know :)
C O’Neill… “… crypto communist state… ” ??? where on earth did you dig that up from? Sounds like something from McCarthyite 50s America. Do you even know what it means?
Our ‘democracy’ is an illusion alright, but there’s nothing ‘communist’ about it – all the people running and benefitting from it are *private* wealth interests. Those interests buy the governments they want. Public officials are hirelings, not running the show.
Our illusion would be similar to that which a number of US academic studies have concluded about their own sham democracy – essentially, Plutocracy. Using a neoliberal economic doctrine, whose theoretical underpinnings from the Thatcher/Reagan era, bear no relationship to empirical reality.
All held together of course by private/corporate owned multinational mainstream media propaganda, the topic that Tom Clonan is writing about.
If we leave the system of politics and information media as they have been since the introduction of universal suffrage – that of prior elites’ design – elections will never make any significant difference. Precisely as we’ve seen starkly demonstrated this last decade or so.
At the very least we – The People – need a back stop mechanism of accountability. The means to sack, by binding referendum, any and all public officials, as we – The People – see fit, without recourse.
Until we have some real, tangible expression of the supposed sovereignty of ‘The People’, such as that, we will never have ‘accountability’ from our supposed public servants. And the notion of The People, in our constitution will remain the dormant and empty concept it has been since the words were written.
In a fully functional democracy- ultimate power should lie with the people. Our leaders are supposed to be our servants, accountable to the people and fulfilling the wishes of the people, making decisions for the greater good of all. Instead our government along with the instruments of the state seek to undermine this by criminalizing peaceful protestors, intimidating journalists and whitwashing highly unscrupulous business deals. All of this strikes me as being analogous to a communist country than a democratic one.
Politicians should be allowed to carry out their criminality in peace without the prying eyes of journalists. I mean at the end of the day they were democratically elected to be corrupt
Alex White & corrupt Eircode is a case in point.
Big problem revealed.. Let’s have a tribunal… Tribunal goes to shite due to cover ups.. Problem goes away.. … Now how do we tackle this? I know, let’s investigate and monitor the media and tell people its in the interests of safety…
What’s the point of reading this when Ireland’s media is sown up!!
Even opposition TD’s have trouble getting answers to questions from Government, God help if ur a journalist. For a Republic it’s not a very good advert. Sadly it appears the media in Ireland function as a propaganda tool of the State, propping up the usual college thinking..
every problem TD opposition member gets reported to top gardai no matter how trivial the incident, now that’s what I call a trickle down effect
For years Irish journalists have been pushing their own agenda. Before the emergence of social media they along with those in power decided the topic of the day. Ireland is such a small place that the majority of journalists not only know each other but also those they comment on extremely well as they move in the same circles thus reducing the chance of a real independent and impartial media. The uproar of the last number of weeks has been pushed nearly solely by the media who control the front pages and airwaves. They truly believe they are more important than the general public who is affected equally by the use of these powers. Evidence of this can been seen by the pressure put on for an enquiry to be carried out where it was decided that it would be sufficient to limit it to the affect on journalists while the rest of us can go to hell………..
Very good piece, Tom Clonan, the government have turned their back on us, Its the EU way of policing! We had a very good community trust with police in this country, but the way in which the government have used them, against its own citizens, is outrageous!
Journalists who “Rage Against The Machine” are brave indeed! The public care about the truth, we need it, hopefully, whoever gets in as the new government, will have respect for all journalists and their citizens.
rage against the machine and your fellow colleagues will club together to ridicule you.
Imagine having 1no. political editor who controls 90% of all newspapers sold in this country – fionnannnnn sheenannnn, group political editor with INM
If the Gardai can listen in then GSOC should too….but under the same rules. The long series of Garda scandals over the past 20 years and the lack of the organisational reform is a far bigger worry.
Sadly it seems that the country is more awash with drugs than in the seventies when whole inner city communities were decimated and the rest of society including politicians and police stood idly by..
The same hard drugs are back on the streets in abundance; Heroin, Cocaine,and of course we still have the country’s most popular recreational drug (Cannabis) still labelled as a “Class one” category while more deadly substances such as tobacco and alcohol is legally sold in every supermarket in the state.
At least take Cannabis off the list.
Better still licence and tax it’s sale in pharmacies as is now the case in more and more States in the USA.
I know one highly respected Irish citizen who has suffered from serious sleep deprivation most of his life and has recently discovered that Cannabis is the Ambrosia which he never found in dangerous, legal sleeping tablets.
His doctor refuses to prescribe the only recently legalized Cannabis based medicine on the Irish market for his problem.
100% agree. If Gardaí didn’t have to waste time chasing weed growers and smokers they could use the time to catch some real criminals. But it’s an easy collar.
Irish journalist have a tradition of being ignorant.
When a Saxon village was discovered underneath Viking Dublin the Dublin journalists and historians went into an overdrive of astonishment.
They merely described their own ignorance.
(County Mayo is named after Saxons.The Saxon King Alfred the Great was educated in Ireland).
.
You can get an Arts Degree in an Irish university without ever knowing that the earth orbits the sun.
@Pat O Gorman.How is Mayo named after Saxons?
The Plain of the Yew Trees.
What have the Saxons got to do with that?
Indeed. I’m sure you can get a physics degree without learning that James Joyce wrote Ulysses.
“” …. the power relationship between journalists – especially crime reporters and political correspondents – has shifted dramatically. “”
I don’t understand this! Where has it shifted? When were journalists holding the State (and Church) to account over the horrendous abuses in the Mother & Baby Homes, in the Magdalene Slave Laundries, in the Industrial Schools?
In truth the mainstream media in Ireland is really the lame stream media – it didn’t tackle powerful interests in the 20th. century and it won’t tackle powerful interests in this century either.
Irish journalists haven’t impressed,in general
Outstanding article, well done Tom.
I hope a certain Journal-ist is taking note….especially the last two paragraphs.
I think that Paul Williams is considering writing an article on that very issue, to which you draw insightful attention.
I hold Paul Williams in the highest esteem, of course.
paul Williams and his drinking buddies in store steet, its said he gets more gangsters shot with his “journalism”. best crime reporter since mr. mcgoo
Read the Moriarty Tribunal Report Part 2 on Michael Lowry and the analysis of a series of payments which ended up with a certain politician having originated with a very generous fellow.
Even this Report of a Public Sworn Trubunal of Inquiry headed by. High Court Judge receives very careful and reluctant treatment from the media. A certain person, I call him ” The Great Unmentionable” is trigger happy with gagging writs and he keeps the Irish Media subservient.
To strike a balance between crime prevention/ protection of State, surely an independent judge could be appointed to approve or block the accessing of phone records or other communication devices?
Leaving it to individual Gardai or members of GSOC leaves it open for abuses to take place.
Off the record briefings to journalists should be made an offence. If information is ‘off the record’ then it cannot be challenged for accuracy or authenticity.
@John Campbell,
“an independent judge could be appointed”, aren’t ALL judges supposed to be independent?
Eamon, of course all judges are supposed to be independent! However, and it may be a coincidence, but the appointment of judges seems to favour eminent members of the legal profession who would be considered in some way connected to the incumbent government at any time.
@John Campbell,
Exactly, most of them are just jumped up solicitors who have done pro bono work for the main parties. The wouldn’t know jurisprudence if it came up and bit them in their behinds.
Irish News Media has very little credibility. Horrific Crime was going on everywhere and just not being reported on. Horrific murders and were happening and would say that’ll be in the papers in the morning and nothing. Then all the corrupt government stuff went on and that every day that normal people were talking about it and was not reported on. Priests. Garda. Ministers had the run of everything.
RTE isn’t owned by O’Brien, yet their journalists are just as useless and cowardly as the ones in INM.
Rich men make laws for poor men, Poor men don’t make laws for rich men.
‘Some of our political correspondents in particular need to stop acting as unpaid spokespersons for government. The bigger picture represents not just a crisis of confidence in the administration of justice – but also a crisis of public confidence in journalists as trusted story-tellers.’
This is the great untold story of modern Ireland: the failure of journalism. You’ll find that most of them share the same world view, live fairly similar lives and usually live in the same geographic area – perfect recipe for a choir of parrots more interested in boosting advertising revenue than in getting the news out.
This suggests it is a police state. It always has been. The Ian Bailey case and Kerry Baby case are only the ones that are high profile. it suited the journalists to trade favours but when the balance of power shifts the journalists are no longer needed I don’t know who I would trust the Vincent Browns or the Gardai? The jury is out on that one. Which has most integrity – none of them. It’s just a job. They treat it as a game, but there are victims. The Kerry Baby case made a lot of money for the press, did the press share their profits with the victims or ever do a fund raiser.
I have long voiced concern that with Gardaí and Solicitors both being self regulated, that anyone who challenges individual misdemeanours by their members will be further disadvantaged as we now learn that they have the most sophisticated phone bugging devices available. According to the Sindo they can log in and out of your phone/PC at the drop of a hat. Can they trade favours by sharing info with other criminals?
If journalist & reporters want to be trusted they need to start doing what it says on the can, ie report & inform the public without bias, start expanding the subject rather than sound-biting every news into 40 second segments, stop barking for the paymasters.
Let’s start by a proper wide opened expose on #TTIP & forget about the missing cats & dogs report
“Some of our political reporting consists of…..” I think “some” is being over generous, with a couple of honourable exceptions.
“In relation to crime for example, Ireland has some of the highest rates of homicide by firearm in the EU. According to the UN Global Study on Homicide, Ireland’s homicide rate is higher than that of most EU member states, including, for example, the UK, Sweden, Italy, Spain and Denmark.”
I’ve checked this assertion a number of times and it does not make sense. Taking an average over 10 years according to those very same UN stats quoted by Tom Clonan, Ireland has a homocide rate of 1.21 per 100,000 of population which is about the same as NZ (1.2 per 100,000). This is lower than the UK (1.48 per 100,000) so it is not the case that our rate is higher than the UK. In addition our rate is lower according to those stats than Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Latvia, Lithunia, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, UK, Slovenia, Romania and Portugal. In short our rate clearly is not higher than ‘most EU member states’ but in fact lower than most.
In addition our rate can be compared to Australia (1.31 per 100,000) and the US (5.05 per 100,000).
The reality is that most crime journalists attach themselves to a moral panic, whipping up a frenzy on the state of crime, glamorizing crime, assigning knicknames to criminals that is in no way some sort of investigative journalism but in fact just tabloid journalism to sell papers. Of course our low crime rate and murder rate does not suit this narrative but why bother with that? Just spin them around and present Ireland as a country with the worst murder rate in Europe.
have your say