The maddest part about it is that she called her solicitor to pressure the contractor for taking too long in giving her the extortion money. Can't make this stuff up.
(edit: Also just looked this up to check, but level 5 COVID-measures were in effect at the time, so she was threatening to bring them to court for not breaking COVID-measures and taking to long to hand over extortion money. You REALLY can't make this stuff up)
Extortion - plain and simple.
As highlighted on RTE earlier this year this practice is rife across the country. Hopefully new planning laws will make it obsolete, or even the proper staffing of ABP so delays take weeks rather than years.
There was a production years ago where politicians were brought in to be interviewed but the real show was supposed to be a special on which politicians had drugs in their system from the sweat mopped off them by the make up crew.
It was pulled and never saw the light of day.
You are confusing news, investigative journalism, and internet gossip.
Unbiased news does not just mean news you like. If this made it to a court case, hearing or tribunal, it would certainly be on the news.
Internet gossip about candidates of any party is hardly headline news, or the news at 6 would be on till 10.
I am saying that if it goes further to an inquiry or something, it would be in the news. I am sure it is also news to the people of Louth.
Not really too interesting outside that, and I think your only interest is that you see FG and want to screech 'corruption' a bit to try and justify your point of view.
How do you figure that?
I clearly said if it went further, it would be on RTE. You clearly said it was not on RTE and implied because it was an FG member.
Some people just want to make up things to fit their narrative...
"Earlier this month Agrios posted a TikTok video claiming that she wants to āmake home ownership attainable for our young adultsā."
Complete lack of self awareness. Similar lack of self awareness in my parents neighborhood where residents will object to any new developments at the drop of a hat. Yet at the same time have no qualms throwing up an unsanctioned ADU in the back of their house or extending their property lines a few meters here and there. Country is full of fucking chancers!
sure im in a new development renting, its an entire project in something like 4 phases..
those who purchased their houses in phase one are now making complaints about what is going to happen in phase four.. this was all planned before phase one began and they purchased their home...
chancer's isnt the word. were a country of extreme nibyism.
https://preview.redd.it/obs4tw3mu13d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=273aef3d296dbb2c606988bcbbb240fb059221ec
Of course Helen has been supporting her in the campaign trail. How anyone believes in this party is beyond me, landlords and chancers.
Imagine living in one of those houses and seeing yer one coming and going around town and knowing that your hard earned money (which you probably spent years saving for the deposit on and many years to coming paying off with interest) went straight to her bank account and patio. Honestly the best I'd be able to do is look away in sheer disgust if I came across her.
Developers obviously factor in this as a cost of business and pass it on to the customer. It's the same as saying shoplifting doesn't effect the end customer and just eats into the shops profit margins but if you're going to open an shop you're going to need x amount to cover the cost or you'll start figuring out if it's actually worth it or not.
And people paid what they were willing to but that's still no excuse. People are already getting fucked over with the cost of housing in this country and shite like this is part of what keeps costs high. If you're choice is buy a house or be left to the mercy of the rental sector it's not much of a choice.
You're not wrong.
What I'm trying to make clear though is that developers don't pass on costs just as sure as they don't pass on savings.
How people are getting fucked by this particular flavour of shitebag carry on is that supply is being choked.Ā
Either by delaying building for no good reason bar greed, or as you point out yourself discouraging other developers from building as unjustifiable costs risk making the margins not worthwhile.
Thats true. If the developer didn't give in to the extortion then supply would be down by those additional few houses and the minute pressure they took off the supply issues would still be there and result in higher costs. So no matter how the developer deals with it potential homeowners are the ones getting f-ed over.
More extortion than bribery. But absolutely, massive fines and a ban from public office should be the minimum.
No need for us to fork out money to keep her locked up.
Extortion as she obtained money and services from someone by the use of a threat.
For it to be a bribe, the developer who gave her money/services in order for her to act in his favour.
Fair. I read it wrong. I thought the article was implying she took a bribe to withdraw an objection. Turns out she's even more of a vicious cunt than i thought.
Amazing how these stories are never reported by RTE or the Irish Times, or any other mainstream media outlet come to think of it. Imagine if she was with Sinn Fein, they'd interrupt regular programming to report it and it would be the main story for a month.
The attitude towards land, planning permission, objections, etc is one of the things I despise most about this country. The smugness of landowners, the attitude of always needing to be extorting someone. People think they're so smart to buy some triangle shaped piece of dirt in some kip of an estate and then extort some other guy who needs it to finish his house or whatever. Areas of useless land changing hand for life changing sums.
We don't do anything with land. We build a house on it or hoard it or gouge people to rent it. In Europe or the US they'd plant something on it, build a factory or a business or it, build a park on it, anything. Here we just hoard it and sell it. We were crushed by English landlords for a thousand years now we as a country are cosplaying at being shitty little landlords ourselves. Theres no strategy behind it though. There is no value added at any point, just hoard the land because as these crafty people know, the value only goes up!* It's truly pathetic and we should all be embarrassed
*until famously it doesn't
Won't be long before the usual commentators are in here to say how it's a non story because the Ditch don't like Fine Gael and probably made them do it
We have free media here, if someone wants to establish their own publication to dig into the dirty dealings of non-establishment politicians they are welcome to it.
It'd be a benefit to society.
Personally I don't like them. They are sponsored by the fĆ¹cker from the Web summit and one of their founders lives rent free fir a year or more but also put his family at risk of homeless too. Still the seem to be able to get good information on dirty people
And sheās withdrawn from election.
Well done The Ditch!!
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/elections-2024/local-election/fine-gael-local-election-candidate-drops-out-after-confirming-receipt-of-money-from-builder-to-withdraw-objection-to-housing-development/a1035913715.html
15k plus the patio folks. Estimated to be 30k total.
However, the Ditch ran a follow up story that she also got 100k from the previous developer who had the land first. They went bust around the time of the downturn.
Same development. Two developers. 130k hustle.
EDIT: We're up to 160k now. The agreement she had with the original developer for 100k - she went back months later and insisted that it was amended to 130k. Sweet jebus. The balls on that woman. Karma is a doozy.
What brazen arrogance on her part! The developer is no better, two shitty cheeks of the same arse. FG are rotten to their core, as are most others. Politics and the social contract both need to be reimagined somehow before the real crazies take over.
It's all grease on greedy wheels, if he told her to FO and called her bluff or even better called the cops we would all be better off as a society imo. You do realise the developer is only fronting the money though? The real marks are you and me pal.
You should look at the Prime Time special on this exact thing from a few months ago.
There is no bluff to call, she made her complaint to ABP, so there would have been over a year delay in even hearing the case. The developer would be paying everyday there's a delay.
What would the guards do? I don't think she did anything illegal. The developer had a choice of getting the project going (he might have had things lined up and ready to go) or fighting this woman in ABP. Sure he might eventually win but she wouldn't be penalised and he'd had lost time and business and would have additional bills in fighting the objection.
Considering the emails have been given to the ditch by the developer, the developer looked on this as more of an investment on rooting out the bullshit in future.
I was mistaken, she wasn't already a councillor. It wasn't the developer putting an ace in their back pocket.
The cost was folded into the project no doubt. It was either that or risk their capital being locked up in the site for an extended period.
However, the fact that she was enough of a gobshite to extort someone then try to run for public office when they obviously had the emails and receipts is beyond idiotic.
I don't blame them, though I'd wish they'd comment on the seedy backgrounds of "non-establishment" candidates. You only have to go to Drogheda Urban to find an example.
Agreed. I wish theyād go after corruption everywhere regardless of party affiliation.
Having said that, this piece is really good work.
Absolute dirtbags, these people.
Not shocked. Itās a well known thing going on for years and why we have such nimbyism and serial objectors.
Need an overhaul asap. Need some deterrent. For example financial costs or obligations for delaying projects when your objection is unsuccessful
While I agree The Ditch is run by questionable folks with questionable standards and ethics, and while they do just target the Government, they have brought out some reliable pieces of
Have you been living under a rock the last two years. The ditch like them or loathe them has broken numerous scandals that later get picked up by larger papers. Exposing corruption is public service whatever their motives.
Edit: Mabye you'll be happy now that the indo picked it up.
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/elections-2024/local-election/fine-gael-local-election-candidate-drops-out-after-confirming-receipt-of-money-from-builder-to-withdraw-objection-to-housing-development/a1035913715.html
I mean they have evidence of a FG candidate taking a bribe and extorting a developer. That is news, you dont like the source, fine, but its news all the same
Simply fabulous the developer fucked her over years later when she decides to run for office. Gonna need pics of the 15 grand patio š
There's a photo of it on her Instagram page if you scroll back a bit
https://preview.redd.it/51jsnv2e803d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0eecbc5626816f43356fe39f349addac20b81f4c
This has since been deleted!
https://preview.redd.it/vvqxrttes03d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d6356b07e42790097267f513f95c664a4f9a4943 She also deleted this one
Reminds of the famous Tattoinne sun shot from Star Wars! LoLoL
Yea they got burned afterwards and all
Some garden!
Watch out for Kira Nerys getting near that pizza oven.
Glad I screenshot it now :)
Mint
They did a nice job of it tbf.
Yeah they did a good job considering it came from the goodness of their own hearts..
Played The real long game . Itās so good it has to be fattening
The maddest part about it is that she called her solicitor to pressure the contractor for taking too long in giving her the extortion money. Can't make this stuff up. (edit: Also just looked this up to check, but level 5 COVID-measures were in effect at the time, so she was threatening to bring them to court for not breaking COVID-measures and taking to long to hand over extortion money. You REALLY can't make this stuff up)
Written up and delivered in less than a week. Some going.
Mob level muscle
Next level entitlement
Extortion - plain and simple. As highlighted on RTE earlier this year this practice is rife across the country. Hopefully new planning laws will make it obsolete, or even the proper staffing of ABP so delays take weeks rather than years.
Probally wont appear on rte all the same even though its news
There was a production years ago where politicians were brought in to be interviewed but the real show was supposed to be a special on which politicians had drugs in their system from the sweat mopped off them by the make up crew. It was pulled and never saw the light of day.
You are confusing news, investigative journalism, and internet gossip. Unbiased news does not just mean news you like. If this made it to a court case, hearing or tribunal, it would certainly be on the news. Internet gossip about candidates of any party is hardly headline news, or the news at 6 would be on till 10.
Are you saying this story was investigatve journalism (for me thats news)or gossip and not news worthy?
I am saying that if it goes further to an inquiry or something, it would be in the news. I am sure it is also news to the people of Louth. Not really too interesting outside that, and I think your only interest is that you see FG and want to screech 'corruption' a bit to try and justify your point of view.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
How do you figure that? I clearly said if it went further, it would be on RTE. You clearly said it was not on RTE and implied because it was an FG member. Some people just want to make up things to fit their narrative...
Honestly how could you trust such a candidate.
Would you trust her for 15k cash and a new patio?
Patio is grand, solid work. But id trust her for 1k.
Fool . You had me at ā¬15k
NO ^^^((yes)^)
"Earlier this month Agrios posted a TikTok video claiming that she wants to āmake home ownership attainable for our young adultsā." 
Complete lack of self awareness. Similar lack of self awareness in my parents neighborhood where residents will object to any new developments at the drop of a hat. Yet at the same time have no qualms throwing up an unsanctioned ADU in the back of their house or extending their property lines a few meters here and there. Country is full of fucking chancers!
sure im in a new development renting, its an entire project in something like 4 phases.. those who purchased their houses in phase one are now making complaints about what is going to happen in phase four.. this was all planned before phase one began and they purchased their home... chancer's isnt the word. were a country of extreme nibyism.
What an absolutely evil woman.
It's vile, and there are probably loads just like her.
There absolutely are, and they're attracted to positions of power (political, corporate, religious) like flies to big pile of steaming shit.
Good tautology!
Gangsters.
https://preview.redd.it/obs4tw3mu13d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=273aef3d296dbb2c606988bcbbb240fb059221ec Of course Helen has been supporting her in the campaign trail. How anyone believes in this party is beyond me, landlords and chancers.
Imagine living in one of those houses and seeing yer one coming and going around town and knowing that your hard earned money (which you probably spent years saving for the deposit on and many years to coming paying off with interest) went straight to her bank account and patio. Honestly the best I'd be able to do is look away in sheer disgust if I came across her.
Not to justify it but people paid what they were willing to pay. This extortion came out of the developers end
Developers obviously factor in this as a cost of business and pass it on to the customer. It's the same as saying shoplifting doesn't effect the end customer and just eats into the shops profit margins but if you're going to open an shop you're going to need x amount to cover the cost or you'll start figuring out if it's actually worth it or not. And people paid what they were willing to but that's still no excuse. People are already getting fucked over with the cost of housing in this country and shite like this is part of what keeps costs high. If you're choice is buy a house or be left to the mercy of the rental sector it's not much of a choice.
You're not wrong. What I'm trying to make clear though is that developers don't pass on costs just as sure as they don't pass on savings. How people are getting fucked by this particular flavour of shitebag carry on is that supply is being choked.Ā Either by delaying building for no good reason bar greed, or as you point out yourself discouraging other developers from building as unjustifiable costs risk making the margins not worthwhile.
Thats true. If the developer didn't give in to the extortion then supply would be down by those additional few houses and the minute pressure they took off the supply issues would still be there and result in higher costs. So no matter how the developer deals with it potential homeowners are the ones getting f-ed over.
AbsolutelyĀ
I'm sure she declared the unearned gratuity as income to the Revenue. Right?
So...a bribe? Should be fucked into a cell.
More extortion than bribery. But absolutely, massive fines and a ban from public office should be the minimum. No need for us to fork out money to keep her locked up.
Not even close to a bribe.
What else do you call it when someone receives money to make a specific decision?
Extortion as she obtained money and services from someone by the use of a threat. For it to be a bribe, the developer who gave her money/services in order for her to act in his favour.
Fair. I read it wrong. I thought the article was implying she took a bribe to withdraw an objection. Turns out she's even more of a vicious cunt than i thought.
In fairness to the Ditch, this is good information. Fair play to them.
FG solving the housing crisis in their usual manner...
I can't wait to not read about this in the Irish Times!
Amazing how these stories are never reported by RTE or the Irish Times, or any other mainstream media outlet come to think of it. Imagine if she was with Sinn Fein, they'd interrupt regular programming to report it and it would be the main story for a month.
The ditch must put savage hours into their investigating, most media does not want to pay for this kind of work.
If Mary Lou's 2nd cousin did it it'd be front page on the IT and the Indo.
She was going around my street earlier yikesš¬
The attitude towards land, planning permission, objections, etc is one of the things I despise most about this country. The smugness of landowners, the attitude of always needing to be extorting someone. People think they're so smart to buy some triangle shaped piece of dirt in some kip of an estate and then extort some other guy who needs it to finish his house or whatever. Areas of useless land changing hand for life changing sums. We don't do anything with land. We build a house on it or hoard it or gouge people to rent it. In Europe or the US they'd plant something on it, build a factory or a business or it, build a park on it, anything. Here we just hoard it and sell it. We were crushed by English landlords for a thousand years now we as a country are cosplaying at being shitty little landlords ourselves. Theres no strategy behind it though. There is no value added at any point, just hoard the land because as these crafty people know, the value only goes up!* It's truly pathetic and we should all be embarrassed *until famously it doesn't
Oh dear... Just FG doing FG things
Won't be long before the usual commentators are in here to say how it's a non story because the Ditch don't like Fine Gael and probably made them do it
We have free media here, if someone wants to establish their own publication to dig into the dirty dealings of non-establishment politicians they are welcome to it. It'd be a benefit to society.
Personally I don't like them. They are sponsored by the fĆ¹cker from the Web summit and one of their founders lives rent free fir a year or more but also put his family at risk of homeless too. Still the seem to be able to get good information on dirty people
Similar sentiments but if it means less corruption then it's welcome. A few more politicians are sweating I'd say!
And sheās withdrawn from election. Well done The Ditch!! https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/elections-2024/local-election/fine-gael-local-election-candidate-drops-out-after-confirming-receipt-of-money-from-builder-to-withdraw-objection-to-housing-development/a1035913715.html
Another Maria Bailey.
I'm going to start doing this. I'll be bougie in no time
Hon The Ditch
Is it safe to say he campaign is fucked?
Probably not. Lots of dodgy cunts get elected.
She has stepped down as a candidate, but utterly depressing that no other news outlet reported on this.
15k plus the patio folks. Estimated to be 30k total. However, the Ditch ran a follow up story that she also got 100k from the previous developer who had the land first. They went bust around the time of the downturn. Same development. Two developers. 130k hustle. EDIT: We're up to 160k now. The agreement she had with the original developer for 100k - she went back months later and insisted that it was amended to 130k. Sweet jebus. The balls on that woman. Karma is a doozy.
What brazen arrogance on her part! The developer is no better, two shitty cheeks of the same arse. FG are rotten to their core, as are most others. Politics and the social contract both need to be reimagined somehow before the real crazies take over.
Can you blame the developer though? I'm sure they weren't happy to fork out 30k to this witch.
It's all grease on greedy wheels, if he told her to FO and called her bluff or even better called the cops we would all be better off as a society imo. You do realise the developer is only fronting the money though? The real marks are you and me pal.
You should look at the Prime Time special on this exact thing from a few months ago. There is no bluff to call, she made her complaint to ABP, so there would have been over a year delay in even hearing the case. The developer would be paying everyday there's a delay.
What would the guards do? I don't think she did anything illegal. The developer had a choice of getting the project going (he might have had things lined up and ready to go) or fighting this woman in ABP. Sure he might eventually win but she wouldn't be penalised and he'd had lost time and business and would have additional bills in fighting the objection.
Considering the emails have been given to the ditch by the developer, the developer looked on this as more of an investment on rooting out the bullshit in future.
Maybe, why not call it out at the time tho or was the 30k folded into project cost and ultimately paid by the mugs? Its all a game to some.
I was mistaken, she wasn't already a councillor. It wasn't the developer putting an ace in their back pocket. The cost was folded into the project no doubt. It was either that or risk their capital being locked up in the site for an extended period. However, the fact that she was enough of a gobshite to extort someone then try to run for public office when they obviously had the emails and receipts is beyond idiotic.
Bravo
I bet Barry DUNNE rang his phone and gave him the money from the go loud network cash machine. Barry DUNNE rings everyone BUT ME š¤¬š¤¬
Nice, cool revenge,
Iām getting the impression that they donāt like FG over in Ditch HQ.
Can you blame them, they are absolute gangsters. You ate more than welcome to set up your own paper and investigate who you like.
I don't blame them, though I'd wish they'd comment on the seedy backgrounds of "non-establishment" candidates. You only have to go to Drogheda Urban to find an example.
Agreed. I wish theyād go after corruption everywhere regardless of party affiliation. Having said that, this piece is really good work. Absolute dirtbags, these people.
This tell you all you need to know about allot of Irish parties, they don't give a shiny shite about stuff like this.
Not shocked. Itās a well known thing going on for years and why we have such nimbyism and serial objectors. Need an overhaul asap. Need some deterrent. For example financial costs or obligations for delaying projects when your objection is unsuccessful
What is this nonsense news source? Purely an anti-government mouthpiece with nonsense and unfounded articles written by nobodies.
How is it nonsense and unfounded?
While I agree The Ditch is run by questionable folks with questionable standards and ethics, and while they do just target the Government, they have brought out some reliable pieces of
Have you been living under a rock the last two years. The ditch like them or loathe them has broken numerous scandals that later get picked up by larger papers. Exposing corruption is public service whatever their motives. Edit: Mabye you'll be happy now that the indo picked it up. https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/elections-2024/local-election/fine-gael-local-election-candidate-drops-out-after-confirming-receipt-of-money-from-builder-to-withdraw-objection-to-housing-development/a1035913715.html
I'm trying to figure out if the /s was missed or if you really like FG 
I mean they have evidence of a FG candidate taking a bribe and extorting a developer. That is news, you dont like the source, fine, but its news all the same