Gallagher rocked by new allegation of collecting money for Fianna Fail

Kennedy, I was merely agreeing with the very first poster on this topic, who is in Ireland and who is urging the Irish electorate' to cop on'. The topic on which both of us were sharing observations (on an Irish American website) is an election in IRELAND, not the United States. Bruce Arnold who has lived in Dublin for over 50 years also alluded to the shortcomings in the acumen of the Irish electorate in his column on Monday. I spent many years in Ireland and spend quite a lot of time there still. I am very aware of the 'culture' that existed within Fianna Fail that has now dimished but, evidenced by the revelations over the past 2 days, has not gone away. The Irish electorate turned a blind eye to this for decades and are paying the price for repeatedly electing incompetent 'cute hoors'. FF have done incredible damage to Ireland.

Correction to my post @06.08. Gay and Pat did in fact shake hands at the end. Apologies to both. ~ ~ ~ DublinCitizen. Spot on! ~ let's hope as they scuttle back to their own country, with a hard lesson in politics learned, that they get Dana or her husband to drive them!

Which of the canditates would you buy a second car from?

Martin McGuinness is up to his neck in murder, knee-capping, beatings, evasion etc. His sadistic pleasure last night sickened me. He will be going back to Belfast next Friday and hopefully never come back to bother us again and please take Gerry Adams with him.

Kennedy, I was merely agreeing with the very first poster on this topic, who is in Ireland and who is urging the Irish electorate' to cop on'. The topic on which both of us were sharing observations is an election in IRELAND, not the United States. Bruce Arnold who has lived in Dublin for over 50 years also alluded to the shortcomings of the Irish electorate in his column yesterday. I spent many years in Ireland and spend quite a lot of time there still. I am very aware of the 'culture' that existed within Fianna Fail that has now dimished but, evidenced by the revelations last night, has not gone away, .The Irish electorate turned a blind eye to this for decades and are paying the price for repeatedly electing 'cute hoors' (incompetent and in some cases dishonest). FF have done incredible damage to Ireland. On your assertions regarding the US, I agree "W" was a huge mistake, but the IMF aren't holed up at the Fed running the country and the US has retained its AAA credit rating at 2 out of 3 rating agencies. The yield on 10 year US treasuries is currently around 2%, Ireland's 10 year yield is about 8.5% (the last time I looked). In all the current turmoil around the world, investors looking for a safe haven are still demonstrating confidence in US assets.

gobdawpaddy look to capital Hill and analyze all the cutehoorism !as you put it !as its going on there too and as for us Irish not been the sharpest knives in the drawe also look to the Bush government the biggest mistake ever made by the US...your country is also in tatters as of most around the world .....comment on your won mess before you insult others ...two comments on the one site you must have shagged the blarney stone instead of kissing it as you never shout up !!!!!!!!!!!

ballindaggin, 'its about time that the Irish people copped on to it'. Unfortunately the Irish electorate has repeatedly proven themselves to be 'not the sharpest knives in the drawer'. Bruce arnold had a column in yesterday's Independent suggesting the same. Their country is in tatters as a result of incompetence, cutehoorism and brown envelopes handed to fianna fail, yet there are many who still voted for them in March's election and see Sean G. as FF's proxy candidate on Thursday. It is a democracy of course but Forest Gump comes to mind, 'stupid is as stupid does', is what I believe he said.

Martin McGuinness and fuel smuggler. did he get to know him at a Sinn Fein fund raiser

It would appear that Fianna Fail is akin to the mafia, you can never leave. Of course it's a bit like McG's claim that he left the RA in 1974, you can't hand in a letter of resignation to that gang.

I hqave just watched the debate and it was certainly a lively and very interesting event. The gloves were off and 'skin and hair flew'! Gallagher has trained himself to remain still under fire, but at times I wanted him to 'duck' as the others - mainly McGuinness - knocked 'fatal' lumps off him. Most got a fair shake and gave a fair account of themselves, but Gay Mitchell switched his engine on at last and rightly upbraided the slimey moderator Pat Kenny for being unfair. Kenny, who had already 'quoted' a twitter in support of the McGuinness claim against Gallagher,which has turned out to be a hoax, then abused his position by behaving like a guilty schoolyard bully and suddenly the presenter became the story. Pat and Gay did not shake hands at the end of the programme. If Gay had shown some of this fighting spirit and confronted Enda Kenny about his half-hearted support - this dirty election might have ben a more interesting affair and the only really 'nice' candidate might be further up the Polls. Good luck to them all on Thursday.

mmmm...Newry businessman, guilty of tax evasion, a fuel smuggler...out of the blue makes a very convenient phone call...makes you wonder why?

Watched the debate last night,listening to Gallagher was like a rerun of Bertie Ahern saying he didn't know where the briefcase full of money came from or how much was in it,or like Brien Cowen denying that the IMF were about to take over our finances,this is typical Fianna Fail old school politics and its about time that the Irish people copped on to it.I will be giving McGuinness my number one vote and Higgins my number two.