Politics « Thurles Information

Death Announced Of Former Government Minister Mr Des O’Malley.

Sadly, the death has been announced, today, of Mr Desmond Joseph O’Malley, aged 82; latter a prominent Fianna Fáil TD and Minister in the 1970s and 1980s (Minister for Industry & Commerce; Minister for Trade, Commerce & Tourism; Minister for Justice under Taoiseach Jack Lynch) and founder of the Progressive Democrats, leading the latter party from 1985 until 1993.

Educated at the Jesuit Crescent College, Limerick and at University College Dublin, he graduated with a degree in law in 1962.

Following the death of his uncle Mr Donogh O’Malley, latter then Fianna Fail Minister for Education, and previously Health Minister, (who in 1969 announced that all education up to Intermediate Certificate level would be free, and free buses would transport students in rural areas to their nearest school); Mr Desmond O’Malley was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil TD in the subsequent by-election for the Limerick East constituency, (Thus his nickname ‘The Man from Uncle’) before being appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the then Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence, Mr Jim Gibbon.

He would later be numbered among the membership of the “Gang of 22” following his disillusionment with then Fianna Fáil party leader Mr Charles Haughey and would be expelled from the Fianna Fáil party on February 26th 1985, over his ‘matter of conscience’ in his support for the liberalising of the sale of contraceptives, then opposed by Fianna Fáil.

On December 21st 1985, Mr O’Malley announced the formation of a new party within Irish politics, called the Progressive Democrats, thus playing a significant role in breaking that mould around Civil War politics.

He was joined by Ms Mary Harney (also expelled from Fianna Fáil), and later by Fianna Fáil TDs Mr Bobby Molloy and Mr Pearse Wyse and Fine Gael TD Mr Michael Keating.

At the 1987 general election, the Progressive Democrats won 14 seats, becoming the third-biggest party sitting in Dáil Éireann.
Among the notable TDs elected to represent this new party were Mr O’Malley himself; his cousin Mr Patrick O’Malley; Ms Anne Colley, (daughter of Mr George Colley); Mr Martin Gibbons, (son of Mr Jim Gibbons); Mr Michael McDowell and Mr Martin Cullen.

At the age of 31, Mr O’Malley was appointed Minister for Justice under An Taoiseach Mr Jack Lynch, and took a tough line with the IRA, establishing the Special Criminal Court and introducing the Offences Against the State Act.

In all, Mr O’Malley assisted in transforming the old status quo in Irish politics; dutifully serving the interests of the state, as a TD, from 1968 until 2002.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Alice PR, Wins Top Honours At PR Awards on Friday June 28th last.

‘Alice PR‘, whose Managing Director is Thurles born Martina Quinn, have been named ‘Agency of the Year‘ at the annual PR Awards on Friday June 28th last.

The annual PR Awards; officially the Awards for Excellence in Public Relations, are hosted by the PRCA and the Public Relations Institute of Ireland, and have been running now for almost 30 years.

Each year, the Institute highlight and celebrate the very best work of the Irish PR industry, undertaken over the previous 12 month period.

This year ‘Alice PR’; [with an address at No. 10 Fortescue Lane, Mountpleasant Avenue Lower, Dublin D06 X4W7], received the award for not just ‘Agency of the Year’, but also picked up an award in the ‘Best Use of Media Relations’ category – and received commendations in two further categories.

Martina Quinn, MD of ‘Alice PR’, is daughter of farmer Michael and former local Councillor & Ursuline secondary school teacher Mai Quinn, both of Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

Ms Quinn holds a BA in Journalism from DCU, and began her career as a journalist, covering politics, public affairs and local government. She also holds a Diploma in Digital Marketing from Irish Times Training. In a voluntary capacity, she chairs the Boards of two education organisations: ‘D8CEC’ – (Dublin 8 Community Education Centre) and ‘Show Racism the Red Card‘, and was a founding committee member of the Ranelagh Arts Festival.

448 New Additional Virus Cases Reported In Irish Republic.

While appallingly, misguided, Tipperary TD, Mr Mattie McGrath, believes that all Dáil Éireann TDs have acquired degrees in Medicine and Science in the past 16 months; he now, laughingly demands that, quote, “Government need to take the reins on the easing of restrictions and stop giving NPHET (National Public Health Emergency Team) full control”.

Our other equally misguided, elected Tipperary TDs, [Namely Mr Alan Kelly, Mr Jackie Cahill and Mr Michael Lowry], continue to waste Dáil time in their attempts to get pubs and restaurants open. These efforts come despite qualified scientific advice to the contrary, while same TDs attempt to keep their bone idleness in the spotlight, by publishing condolences on RIP.ie.

How many more Irish citizens must lose their lives as a direct result of misinformation bandied about by those anxious to hear the sound of their own unqualified and ill-informed voices?
Truth is, none of these TDs care a ‘tinker’s curse’ about the 5,000, much loved, family members who sadly lost their lives, following Covid-19 virus diagnosis; their deaths sadly, due to pressure being put on acting Government Ministers, by those whose only claim to fame are overpaid TDs in opposition.

We note they always put ‘TD’ after their names on RIP, in the hope that regardless of their current idleness and time wasting in Dáil Éireann, they may still be identified, come the next General Election.

Meanwhile, as Tipperary politicians continue to fail in their responsibilities to Co. Tipperary communities, the Department of Health this evening has confirmed there have been 448 new additional virus cases reported in the Irish Republic. (Same case numbers are subject to future data validation, because of the Russian Cyber-attack on the HSE’s notifying system.)

Sadly, there have been 2 further deaths within the past 24 hours, with the number of people who have died, following a diagnosis of Covid-19, now standing at some 5,000 Irish residents.

The number of persons in ICU currently stands at 14, unchanged since yesterday.

Deputy Chief Medical officer Dr. Ronan Glynn, has raised grave concerns regarding Covid-19 numbers in Dublin and the very significant increase in our neighbouring county of Waterford, latter with 180 and 200 cases to date in the town of Dungarvan.

Professor Philip Nolan has stated that the Covid-19 virus is growing at a rate of 2% per day.

The total worldwide number of virus cases identified up to 6.00pm this evening, now stands at well over 182.36 million confirmed cases, with global deaths at almost 3.95 million and rising.

Please do continue to behave responsibly in order to protect each other.

General Motors Drop Teneo Following CEO Declan Kelly Harassment Claims.

The Financial Times have confirmed that following what are described as “a series of discussions”, General Motors (GM) has dropped Teneo as its public relations adviser.

General Motors is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, which designs, manufactures, markets, and distributes vehicles and vehicle parts, while also selling financial services. The company is one of the world’s largest auto-mobile manufacturers; ranked number 18 on the ‘Fortune 500’ rankings of the largest United States corporations, by total revenue.

Same disassociation comes about following allegations that Teneo’s Tipperary born chief executive Mr Declan Kelly, (brother of Tipperary Labour Party leader and current TD Mr Alan Kelly), inappropriately touched women at a fundraising event last month. This revelation, which had not been shared widely inside Teneo, has put pressure on private equity group CVC Capital Partners, (latter a world leader in private equity and credit), which in 2019 had bought a majority stake in the business for $350m. The deal then valued Teneo at more than $700m.

Teneo, who presently sponsor the Tipperary Senior Hurling team, is now reportedly seeking to reassure its multinational clients.

We understand that Mr. Kelly became inebriated and behaved inappropriately towards some women and men at the event, according to a spokesperson for Mr Kelly, who spoke to the Financial Times.

Mr Kelly continues to remain as Chairperson and Chief Executive of the public relations and advisory company Teneo, which is headquartered in New York City, with an office in Dublin, Ireland.

Tipperary Hurling Sponsor Declan Kelly Accused Of Drunken Antics At Charity Event.

According to Independent.ie, multi-millionaire PR mogul and Tipperary senior hurling sponsor Mr Declan Kelly, brother of Labour Leader and TD Mr Alan Kelly, has temporally stepped aside from some of his responsibilities as the CEO and chairperson of Teneo; latter, the strategy firm he co-founded. This follows accusations of drunkenly misbehaving at a charity event last month.

A statement made by a spokesperson for the chief executive said, Mr Kelly became inebriated and behaved inappropriately towards women and men at a cocktail party for a fundraising concert hosted by Global Citizen on May 2nd last, which was chaired by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and featured performances by Jennifer Lopez, Foo Fighters and Selena Gomez, as well as appearances from President Joe Biden and Pope Francis.

Global Citizen, headquartered in New York, with offices in Canada, South Africa, Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom, is a movement of engaged citizens who are using their collective voice to end extreme poverty by 2030.

Tipperary-born Mr Kelly is understood to have been asked for his resignation the day after the event, and resigned his board seat at Global Citizen, latter an anti-poverty charity, chaired by Mr Chris Stadler, the managing partner of CVC Capital Partners, the majority shareholder in Teneo.

The spokesperson’s statement further confirmed that Mr Kelly regretted his actions and had apologised to those he had offended. Mr Kelly had also “temporarily reduced his work responsibilities”, was now “committed to sobriety” and was “undertaking ongoing counselling from healthcare professionals”.