Mogul Denis O'Brien vs. Free Speech

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Fuppin 'O'Dallas' for the micks thats all this is.

[DCon]

O'Brien expressing his displeasure to Lucinda now





http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/o...sm-207077.html

Desmond backing Dinny and telling Lucinda off

Frank Fitzgibbon ‏@FrankSunTimes

SunTimes News: Dermot Desmond wrote to Lucinda Creighton, telling her not to "ostracise and denigrate" his friend Denis O'Brien...

And Dinny let Joan know who her new boss is

Frank Fitzgibbon ‏@FrankSunTimes

According to the Sindo Denis O'Brien wrote to Joan Burton telling her to back off with the criticism as well

[PaddyJoe]

Desmond backing Dinny and telling Lucinda off



And Dinny let Joan know who her new boss is

This O'Brien letter thing has become a joke at this stage. A plump spotty insecure 14 year old schoolboy bully wearing an ill fitting business suit

[DCon]

In spite of her public outrage in Ireland, Joan seems to have been quick to genuflect to the secret billionaire in the NYSE

However, Mr O'Brien concluded his letter by thanking Ms Burton for her "warm greeting" at the NYSE. "I think showing a united front when overseas is one of the great hallmarks of the Irish."

This was a reference to a brief encounter with Ms Burton -- who also attended the conference at the NYSE but not the bell-ringing ceremony -- as they passed each other.

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...n-3237074.html

[Mick Tully]

It is great picking up the Sunday papers, and seeing another report of letters sent by Dinny, to try and claim back his reputation. It gives me great pleasure reading them. How was it for you ?.

[Mick Tully]

This O'Brien letter thing has become a joke at this stage. A plump spotty insecure 14 year old schoolboy bully wearing an ill fitting business suit

Excellent.

[PaddyJoe]

Sam Smyth disappeared officially from the Indo at the end of September as he finally agreed a farewell package with IN&M according to the latest Phoenix.
His last piece for the paper had appeared back in May.

[C. Flower]

Sam Smyth disappeared officially from the Indo at the end of September as he finally agreed a farewell package with IN&M according to the latest Phoenix.
His last piece for the paper had appeared back in May.

Retirement package, or was he pushed ?

[PaddyJoe]

Retirement package, or was he pushed ?

No details given on the package but certainly he would have been encouraged out the door just as he was a year ago at Today FM.

[C. Flower]

No details given on the package but certainly he would have been encouraged out the door just as he was a year ago at Today FM.

Unfortunately, I am not in the position to offer him paid employment. But if he would like to let us know the story, he would be very welcome to post it here.

Other journalists seem to be silent. Where is the NUJ in all this, I wonder ?

[musashi]

In spite of her public outrage in Ireland, Joan seems to have been quick to genuflect to the secret billionaire in the NYSE



http://www.independent.ie/national-n...n-3237074.html

Just goes to show, even Burton will kiss O'Brien's hand (albeit in private) while decrying him in public; hypocrisy is the air Irish politicians breathe.

[musashi]

It is great picking up the Sunday papers, and seeing another report of letters sent by Dinny, to try and claim back his reputation. It gives me great pleasure reading them. How was it for you ?.

Essentially O'Brien and Desmond are fighting to reclaim what they see as their public legacy. Let them, it doesn't matter how many duplicitous letters they send to the papers, or how many times they utilize RTE to distribute their lies, the one believable source on this whole thing is Moriarty's Report, end of.

[DCon]

A letter sent by O'brien to Elaine Byrne was included in a recent speech she made

So I just want to let you know about media freedom and what it means. This is quotes from the libel letter that Denis O’Brien sent to me last year. It was widely reported at the time so I don’t think I’m breaching any confidence.

I remember getting it. I was in the Political Science Association of Ireland annual conference in the Royal Irish Academy and I got it on my mobile phone.

And the word was forwarded to me by somebody within the Independent group. And the title of the email was ‘Remember to breathe’. And I remember getting it. And, as it happened, Phil Hogan was the guest speaker and I remember putting my hand over my mouth in different parts when I was reading this six-page letter from him, thinking I have €3,000. Does he have €3billion or is it €4billion. And these letters have been sent in the last 10 years by the largest media owner of this state to 17 different journalists, according to the National Union of Journalists in Ireland. And the purpose of letters like this is to stop you writing. It’s to create doubt about what you’re saying. And it’s a very subtle way of stopping you write, which I haven’t done.

‘Dear Sir,

We act for Denis O’Brien. We refer to the edition of the Sunday Independent published on Sunday, 16th of October, 2011. The article written by Elaine Byrne which appears on page 14, under the following headline – So Who’s Afraid of Denis O’Brien? Enda Kenny Is. The article is characterised by an appalling lack of objectivity. This is demonstrated in Ms Byrne’s repeated references to the Moriarty Tribunal report in support of criticisms of our client. Her sneering and sarcastic description of him as a patriot – (Dr Byrne pauses to say ‘I didn’t know it was against the law to be sneering’) – in reference to his attendance at official Fine Gael fundraising events ignores the reality of the matter which is that all the bidders of the GSM licence attended the same Fine Gael fundraisers our client did on the part of the broader ESAT Digifone consortium. There’s nothing unique or clandestine about that. And the deliberate attempt to create an impression that there was is a disgrace. It is abundantly..sorry..It is also obvious from her comments, under other forums, notably an avalanche of commentary via her Twitter account that Ms Byrne has a personal animus against our client and is clearly pursuing an agenda without any balance or objectivity. Her snide and uninformed comments in relation to our client’s tax affairs are further evidence of this. Taken in its entirety, Ms Byrne’s article is truly an objectionable piece of journalism, strewn with factual inaccuracies and devoid of any balance or objectivity. We hearby call upon you to publish, in a prominent position, a full retraction, an apology in the next edition of the Sunday Independent. And let us have your proposals to address this grave wrong in the terms to be agreed with this office.’

There was no apology and there was no retraction.

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2012/07/25/...s/#more-161444

[C. Flower]

One of the comments says that she went to the Independent because the IT would not publish.

She ends -

So I’m looking around here and I looked at the programme this morning and I see what is, and what I would describe, as Official Ireland.
It is predominantly male, predominantly over 50, predominantly people who earn over €100,000 generally. Not in my case.
I’m probably making too many generalisations there. But it is people that think in a particular way and isn’t always challenged about different ways of looking at things.
And I think that it would be very helpful to have a space for very different voices as well. And to have a space for people who absolutely challenge, and we disagree and to have the voices like Michael Smith, who 10 or 20 years ago were being continuously dismissed. Have the voices like I mentioned about the whistleblowers, who did whistleblow all those years ago, and to hear those experiences as well.”

Why they hate the internet.
Good marks to her. But she sees it as a question of morality. Surely it is about wealth, power and social control by a tiny minority on the one hand, and the public interest on the other ?

[musashi]

I can imagine his corpulent self calling up his firm of lawyers, screaming at them: this is the legalese translation of those rantings: my respect for Elaine grows every day.

‘Dear Sir,

We act for Denis O’Brien. We refer to the edition of the Sunday Independent published on Sunday, 16th of October, 2011. The article written by Elaine Byrne which appears on page 14, under the following headline – So Who’s Afraid of Denis O’Brien? Enda Kenny Is. The article is characterised by an appalling lack of objectivity. This is demonstrated in Ms Byrne’s repeated references to the Moriarty Tribunal report in support of criticisms of our client. Her sneering and sarcastic description of him as a patriot – (Dr Byrne pauses to say ‘I didn’t know it was against the law to be sneering’) – in reference to his attendance at official Fine Gael fundraising events ignores the reality of the matter which is that all the bidders of the GSM licence attended the same Fine Gael fundraisers our client did on the part of the broader ESAT Digifone consortium. There’s nothing unique or clandestine about that. And the deliberate attempt to create an impression that there was is a disgrace. It is abundantly..sorry..It is also obvious from her comments, under other forums, notably an avalanche of commentary via her Twitter account that Ms Byrne has a personal animus against our client and is clearly pursuing an agenda without any balance or objectivity. Her snide and uninformed comments in relation to our client’s tax affairs are further evidence of this. Taken in its entirety, Ms Byrne’s article is truly an objectionable piece of journalism, strewn with factual inaccuracies and devoid of any balance or objectivity. We hearby call upon you to publish, in a prominent position, a full retraction, an apology in the next edition of the Sunday Independent. And let us have your proposals to address this grave wrong in the terms to be agreed with this office.’

In my view, O'Brien repatriated his ill-gotten-gains from hawking the GSM license. He packed his money off, minus the cash he paid to Lowry, to another jurisdiction, in order to avoid paying tax in Ireland. Elaine should be able to discuss her views on O'Brien's scandalous behavior without this form of insidious intimidation.
This invidious oligarch needs to check hiself.
Down with this sort of thing