Grotesque, Unbelieveable, Bizarre and Unprecented - Presidential Election 2025
2 hours ago (This post was last modified: 2 hours ago by Dartz.)
2 hours ago (This post was last modified: 2 hours ago by Dartz.)
Every 7 years Ireland gathers together to watch paint dry.
And occasionally elect a President at the same time. And while the current incumbent is well loved - we're required to get a new one after 2 terms of 7 years. (A constitutional referendum to nail him inside the Aras would take too long to spin up)
And yet, considering how utterly inconsequential the position of President of Ireland is, it tends to turn up some the most vicious of catfighting (Probably emulating the yanks) and usually ends up with one candidate being monumentally humiliated in the public eye by some utterly trivial 'scandal'.
After a nomination campaign which has been as electrifying as a dead battery, with the only spark being the establishment sending Maria Steen back to 1954 where she belongs, the race began with a shrug, and had been proceeding with all the processional drudgery we've come to expect.
Until it floated up that, about 16 years ago, Jim Gavin had once owned an apartment.
And he rented it to a tenant who paid the rent by direct debit.
And, of course, Jimmy could no longer pay the mortgage on that flat in 2009 - because very few people *could* - so handed the keys back to the bank and rolled the remants of the loan into his home mortgage. The tenant, unfortunately, kept paying him for several months, totaling about 3300k in rent. (About a months rent in 2025 terms)
And for 16 years, and even after a solicitors letter, that debt stayed outstanding. Washed under the carpet. Too much money to be dealt with summarily in small claims. Too little money to be dealt with in real court. Probably not actually owed in legality. So it was forgotten. One tenant agrieved by their own mistake. One landlord too busy to think about it - thinking it was all so long ago.
It lingered like an old German shell under a Belgian farm, waiting for it's opportunity to ruin someone's day with a bang
That day was Saturday. After receiving a bruising earlier in the week for flying a video drone without the proper permits - something someone who once worked for the aviation regulator should've known about, the final knife in the back came on Saturday.
A report of a disaffected former tenant floated up early in Saturday - a tenant who sent proof to the political party backing Jimmy of their complaint that they were owned a substantial sum of money - just in time for poor oul Jimmy to deny on a publically televised any knowledge or having any records of the 3.3k debt ever being owed in the first place. The party knew, and they didn't warn him. The knives were out.
So now, Micheal Martin who put him forward looks like a gobshite. Everyone involved in the whole affair looks moronic. And the entire thing is turning into a political omnishambles worthy of our Westerly and Easterly neighbours.
Reports that Bertie Ahern was seen huddled in Fagans with his circle of sheisters clustered around a mobile phone like witches around a cauldron, have yet to be verified. But if the cutest, most devious hoor of them all had put a knife in the Gavin campaign's back- I wouldn't be surprised.
Jim Gavin officially withdrew from the campaign last night.
Too late for his name not to be on the ballot on polling day.
Part of me thinks it'd be fun to vote for someone who now desperately wants not to be President. If we follow Hitchicker's logic, he's the perfect man for the job. Or we can cause a constitutional crisis for shits and giggles.
Now it's just Heather Humphries, and Catherine Connolly.
They each exist, and have a body temperature of approximately 37 degrees.
And occasionally elect a President at the same time. And while the current incumbent is well loved - we're required to get a new one after 2 terms of 7 years. (A constitutional referendum to nail him inside the Aras would take too long to spin up)
And yet, considering how utterly inconsequential the position of President of Ireland is, it tends to turn up some the most vicious of catfighting (Probably emulating the yanks) and usually ends up with one candidate being monumentally humiliated in the public eye by some utterly trivial 'scandal'.
After a nomination campaign which has been as electrifying as a dead battery, with the only spark being the establishment sending Maria Steen back to 1954 where she belongs, the race began with a shrug, and had been proceeding with all the processional drudgery we've come to expect.
Until it floated up that, about 16 years ago, Jim Gavin had once owned an apartment.
And he rented it to a tenant who paid the rent by direct debit.
And, of course, Jimmy could no longer pay the mortgage on that flat in 2009 - because very few people *could* - so handed the keys back to the bank and rolled the remants of the loan into his home mortgage. The tenant, unfortunately, kept paying him for several months, totaling about 3300k in rent. (About a months rent in 2025 terms)
And for 16 years, and even after a solicitors letter, that debt stayed outstanding. Washed under the carpet. Too much money to be dealt with summarily in small claims. Too little money to be dealt with in real court. Probably not actually owed in legality. So it was forgotten. One tenant agrieved by their own mistake. One landlord too busy to think about it - thinking it was all so long ago.
It lingered like an old German shell under a Belgian farm, waiting for it's opportunity to ruin someone's day with a bang
That day was Saturday. After receiving a bruising earlier in the week for flying a video drone without the proper permits - something someone who once worked for the aviation regulator should've known about, the final knife in the back came on Saturday.
A report of a disaffected former tenant floated up early in Saturday - a tenant who sent proof to the political party backing Jimmy of their complaint that they were owned a substantial sum of money - just in time for poor oul Jimmy to deny on a publically televised any knowledge or having any records of the 3.3k debt ever being owed in the first place. The party knew, and they didn't warn him. The knives were out.
So now, Micheal Martin who put him forward looks like a gobshite. Everyone involved in the whole affair looks moronic. And the entire thing is turning into a political omnishambles worthy of our Westerly and Easterly neighbours.
Reports that Bertie Ahern was seen huddled in Fagans with his circle of sheisters clustered around a mobile phone like witches around a cauldron, have yet to be verified. But if the cutest, most devious hoor of them all had put a knife in the Gavin campaign's back- I wouldn't be surprised.
Jim Gavin officially withdrew from the campaign last night.
Too late for his name not to be on the ballot on polling day.
Part of me thinks it'd be fun to vote for someone who now desperately wants not to be President. If we follow Hitchicker's logic, he's the perfect man for the job. Or we can cause a constitutional crisis for shits and giggles.
Now it's just Heather Humphries, and Catherine Connolly.
They each exist, and have a body temperature of approximately 37 degrees.
Oh sweet meteor of death
Fall upon us.
Deliver us in fire
To Peace everlasting.
Fall upon us.
Deliver us in fire
To Peace everlasting.