Michael McDowell

Yeah.

So it's, you might remember, Michael McDowell, who was then justice minister, intervened saying that there was an issue or there should be some move on, on stamp duty, right? And that was at a time when all, you could see the si- the housing market was beginning to slow.

You know-

Yeah

They absolutely denied it.

Michael McDowell, Minister for Justice, attacked me on the radio and we had a row on RTE that morning.

And I said, well, why don't we let the tribunal investigate? It took another four or five years.

before the tribunal actually forced answers from Bertie Hearn about monies going into his bank accounts during the period under investigation, including large sums of sterling and, in one case, a $45,000 amount.

I think the most important thing, and we haven't really talked about it, uh, in, in this conversation, it's, it's part of, of the overall, uh, thrust of trying to increase Garda presence, I think would be to expand and to enhance the Reserve.

The legislation in 2005, the Garda Síochána Act introduced by Michael McDowell provided for a Garda Reserve, and that would give every Garda station a Reserve, a volunteer from the community who would operate in uniform, uh, in conjunction with the Gardaí, would patrol the streets, would be visible.

This happens right across England and Wales and France and Italy, that, you know, volunteers put on uniforms.

They go out, they work, they work on the streets alongside the Gardaí, uh, or alongside the established police.

But obviously, practically, you can see that they are no longer working and no longer fit for purpose.

And so I think on that basis, having a discussion about even stuff from like the Geneva Convention, modifying that, I believe even Michael McDowell, who is far from a radical, This guy was the Attorney General of Ireland.

He was the Justice Minister of Ireland.

He is a very restrained character who obviously has his views, and you don't have to agree with everything he says, but he's a very respected, respectable man legal mind he has written articles to the effect of we need to reconsider these sorts of policies in light of modern facts and context so that's a discussion that I think does need to be had at a broader level but yeah

And, uh, that was the election that produced one of the most memorable images from any Irish election.

That's Michael McDowell up the telegraph pole in Ranelagh with the poster saying, "One party government.

No, thanks." It's really an iconic image from elections gone by.

So social media, in- the internet generally, parties, parties adopted it.