Michael McDowell's Boswell

national | rights, freedoms and repression | other press

Thursday January 12, 2006 19:33

by Elephant O'Room

Sam Smyth, has never uttered an unfawning word about his Minister. Such loyalty brings rewards....

From this weeks Phoenix article, on Michael McDowell and Sam Smyth.

Judith Miller Journalism 101...

________________________
Michael McDowell's Boswell

That double act against Frank Connolly by Michael McDowell and Sam Smyth is only the latest in a series
of collaborations down the years between the justice minister and his Boswell at the Indo.

Smyth became part of a coterie of politicians, lawyers and hacks – PJ Mara, Adrian Hardiman, Gerry Danaher, McDowell, Eamon Dunphy and others – who frequented the Unicorn, Nesbitts and the Shelbourne in the ’90s and whose proximity to power and information was Sam Smyth manna to a journalist.

When Smyth was preparing his book Thanks a Million Big Fella, which concerned Ben Dunne’s dealings with Squire Hockey and Michael Lowry, he was given the run of McDowell’s Ranelagh constituency office to bash out the book. And when the book’s publishers, Folen’s, were hauled into court by photographer Eamon Farrell to issue an apology for doctoring Farrell’s photo on the front cover of the book, it was McDowell who acted for the publishers. The book launch some weeks later saw McDowell centre stage and he was one of the few politicians, amongst a throng of hacks, to attend the bash.

In 2001, McDowell (then Attorney General) and Micheál Martin took the unusual step of inviting heavy hitters from the world of radio to Government Buildings for a briefing on the imminent referendum on abortion legislation. RTÉ’s Aine Lawlor, David Hanly, Sean O’Rourke and Ryan Tubridy composed what was described as a “select number of radio presenters” and these elite broadcasters may have been surprised at the inclusion amongst their number of Smyth, presenter of Today FM’s Sunday Supplement, which commands a rather smaller audience than the RTÉ heavy hitters’ programmes.

Come the 2002 general election and Dublin South-East Green TD John Gormley, greener than usual at the amount of air time his constituency rival, McDowell, was getting on Smyth’s show, requested a small redress of this imbalance with a slot on the programme but was fobbed off with vague and unfulfilled pledges by Smyth’s team.

In 2004, Enda Kenny became apoplectic with rage, comparing McDowell to Mugabe (surprisingly, there was no diplomatic protest from Zimbabwe) when the Justice Minister released a reply to Kenny’s Freedom of Information query about births to non- nationals in hospitals to a newspaper first. McDowell said he had done so because “I will not enable my opponents to spin against me without having at least the opportunity to put my side of the story into the public domain”. And who was the lucky journalist that McDowell released the FOI answer to? Why, non other than than his very own Boswell, Sam Smyth.
________________________

For more see

Never an unfawning word – and lavishly repaid
http://www.villagemagazine.ie/article.asp?sid=1&sud=40&aid=932

And,

http://www.villagemagazine.ie/contents.asp?iid=75

McDowell accused of playing dangerous game
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2005/12/18/story10524.asp

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Comments (5 of 5)

Letters of Defence

Sat Jan 21, 2006 12:43

There was an amusing letter in the self-same Pheonix Jan13-Jan26.....

_____________
YES, MINISTER

Dear Editor,

Your attacks on what you describe as ‘Michael
McDowell’s Dirty Tricks’ in the last edition of
The Phoenix (16/12/2005) are a challenge to the
authority of the state and the right of ministers to
defend same.

The minister never attacks subversives and
republicans unless he knows what he is talking
about. Given the South American dimension to
this debate, it is worth reminding people that
Chile’s General Pinochet was attacked for
standing up to so-called journalists and other
radicals. Thanks to the general, Chile was saved
from such people and McDowell will also save
Ireland from its enemies within.

Yours sincerely

Ignatius Xavier Marmian,
Leeson Street, Dublin 2
_____________________

A Marxist Threat To Cola Sales?
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=13&row=1
Tinker Bell Pinochet and the Fairy Tale Miracle of Chile
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=16&row=1

Radio McDowell

Sun Jan 15, 2006 14:59

Thought it might be worthwhile to tune into J.Miller's Radio Show today and lo and behold McDowell was on it!

Well tbh, the brother, or as Smyth pronounced a number of times "the distinguished academic" Moore McDowell was...

Mary O'Rourke and some leftish solicitor (whose name I missed) were on hand to flesh out the panel. None of this is unusal as prior to recent events, the show seemed to either have one of the two McDowells or failing that weighted with one or two that forcibly shared Smyth's neoliberal economic outlook (privatisation, service charges, flat tax, etc...).

Also, according to Moore, Noam Chomsky is an "America hater" and a well known "left winger" since he was 14! The latter point was repeated a number of times! Until the above normally supine solicitor pointed out the lack of prominence of Chomksy in the mainstream media in the US (for instance the moritorium in the NYT) and the preponderance of right wingers on such corporate media.

Also of note, McDowell is a director of the Open Republic Institute ORI http://www.openrepublic.org/about_us_gpt.htm
which engages in public policy analysis. You know the type of thing the CPI was doing prior to erm recent events....

Smyth

by observer

Fri Jan 13, 2006 11:10

Good post. The man is an obnoxious slimeball. Don't agree with the Boswell comparison, however. Boswell could write. More like Roy Cohen to McDowell's Joe McCarthy.

And your starter for ten

by Bamber

Fri Jan 13, 2006 10:53

"Smyth became part of a coterie of politicians, lawyers and hacks – PJ Mara, Adrian Hardiman, Gerry Danaher, McDowell, Eamon Dunphy and others – who frequented the Unicorn, Nesbitts and the Shelbourne in the ’90s and whose proximity to power and information was Sam Smyth manna to a journalist."

And the forementioned Gerry Danaher was the editor of which esteemed publication?

Alright Elephant !

by Veritas

Fri Jan 13, 2006 05:48

... you've got the provenience of Smyth, by the goolies alright - another squeeze of the Burdizzo on his cojones, si'l vous plait, the whore deserves it.

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Michael McDowell's Boswell

Comments (5 of 5)