A Very Privileged Man

Séan Kyne with just 17 votes was elected to the Dáil back in 2011. It was subterfuge that got him in and kept him in. He believed that the people of the Gaeltacht were fickle and said they would not have elected him if he could not speak Irish. I suppose honesty and integrity might have helped because they also believed in that most of all. From then on his life utterly changed for the better and ours for the worse in that nothing has changed at all in Connemara. Let’s go reeling in the years for a bit.

Kyne is paid a salary today of €125, 739 a year plus an un-vouched allowance of €34,065 for travel and accommodation. On average he has already grabbed since 2011 well close to €1.5 million in salary and expenses. This simply was not enough for him for he lobbied hard in late 2018 for even more money in order to pay his hotel bills. 

Kyne developed ‘Vehophobia’ after he got elected and decided to hire a car and driver to drive him around instead which was paid for by you and I. If one is going to milk a new fat cat position you might as well keep it in the family for he then hired his brother-in-law, Tom Mc Donagh, to do the driving. Just over a quarter of TD’s applied for this perk. 

Bless him, he has put on a few pounds since those leaner times and given up the evening strolls too lest he be admonished by some irate Connemara pensioner in the wilds who cannot make ends meet on €234, or a farmer that earns less than the minimum or living wage. Yes, Kyne is a very privileged man indeed. In all transactions there must be a benefit in kind. What has Kyne done for Connemara???

Little or nothing is the the shortest answer and this I will detail a little later. Knowledge is power and we will need all the knowledge that we can get in order to remove this man from power because much wants more while we get less and less. 

Barry Clifford

Extract From the book: Law, Lawyers And Liars

                                                                              Lets Talk Law

When most people walk nervously into a solicitor/lawyers office they will not notice this clause within the contract they may be about to sign: “It is not possible, at this stage, to give you a note of our actual charges nor a detailed estimate either because of the following reasons: It is the complexity and urgency of the matter, the difficulty or the novelty of the question raised, the skill, labour, specialised knowledge and responsibility involved, the number and importance of the documents prepared or examined. There is also the amount and value of the transaction involved, the importance of the matter to you, the places and circumstances in which the proceedings are pursued. In addition, there may be barristers fees of both senior and junior counsel, and other outlays like court documents, requesting and reviewing doctor's reports, paramedics, government agencies reports and other associate documents.”

Can anyone possibly imagine another profession, such as a builder, presenting a contract of that nature before starting a job? Not only would he find it hard to get work, but if he did, the consumer protection agency would be run off its feet trying to keep up with the complaints made against him. It is also the reason in 2011 why the parents of a young man, wrongly identified for having evaded a taxi fare in Dublin, were presented with a bill by their lawyer for €1,900,000, that included €500,000 (this is not a mis-print) for outlay and other expenses alone in that case. The lawyers name was Paul Lambert. When Lambert hired more lawyers in the High Court to try and make Eamon and Fidelma McKeogh pay up, Ronan Lupton, BL (barrister at law), defending him in his appeal for those costs, stated the following: “It was clear in letters to Mr McKeogh and his parents, when Mr Lambert was instructed in January 2012, an hourly rate would be charged by him. It was also made clear that additional staff and consultants might be needed, that there were more complex factual and evidential issues involved and expert reports may be necessary.” This is the rehearsed and staple answer that is usually given when it comes to the very clouded issue of costs hidden in plain view of any lawyer to contract client. 

This not in the small print either of that contract: “You remain responsible for the payment of our charges even where you reach a settlement with the plaintiff or third party (defendant) or where they are ordered to pay costs. The amount which the plaintiff or third party agree or may be directed to pay or fail to pay may not generally cover our entire charges. In that case you will be liable to make up any shortfall. Losing or compromising the case, or the court failing to award you your costs, or a portion of them, or the court awarding the costs against you, or being unable to recover your costs due to the financial status of the other party, you will be liable to pay the other parties costs as well as your own.” In the end of any legal conflict, whether defendant of plaintiff, each party has the potential of being rendered bankrupt whether they win or lose a case in court. Citizen must always beware of signing any contract between them and a lawyer because justice may lay in the mind but rarely translated to reality.

Barry Clifford

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What people are saying about Law, Lawyers And Liars

“Congratulations on a wonderful piece of writing, You have managed to take an often dull and complex subject matter, weave it around a compelling story style process, to make the product very interesting for the reader. This book must be published and made available to the person in the street. However, I don’t think Ken Murphy from The Law Society is going to be asking you to speak at their annual dinner! I was feeling great emotion for Tom as I was reading, so I have decided to buy something from his shop every month, no matter how small it is. Well done again on a very fine piece of writing.”Bill Daly (Archaeologist, historian)

“Your legal knowledge is impressive … The way you explain everything shows an amazing understanding of the legal process. Your book is fantastically interesting and that's before you know Tom and the whole Groonard experience.” 

Monica Crowley (Clinical Psychologist)

“This book should be read by everyone before going to a lawyer.” 

Kevin Joyce (Security specialist)

“This book is a truthful account of what I went through under the law. And to Barry – I owe him a lot for being there and staying with me to the end when so many others kept on walking.”

Tom Ryan (Not his real name) 

“Finally we get a chance to know what can really go on in a court. It is a shocking story, but a necessary one to be told. Barry’s personal advice with it saved me a lot of time and money because I was just about to step into something that was otherwise free.” 

John Laffey (Builder)

“I did my own case after reading this book and am so glad that I did.” 

Bridie McKenna (Counsellor and therapist)

“What we don’t know can kill us. This book certainly helped me not to do that.”

(Anonymous divorcee)

Extract from Law, Lawyers and Liars

When Eoin McKeogh was identified as having dodged a local taxi fare worth around €20, his parents hired a lawyer who cleared their son's name in this simple case of mistaken identity. The lawyer later billed them €1.4 million for his services and €500,000 for expenses. In another case, Tom Ryan was sent to prison for not finding €59,998 to pay reputation damages to a man he believed had stolen a battery pocket watch from his store. Ryan's home and farm were under threat of seizure even after he was released. This entertaining and educational book, which was inspired by these cases and others, was written to help empower anyone fighting a case in the courts, with or without a lawyer. After reading Law, Lawyers And Liars, you will never look at these three words the same way again.

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Some Opinions On law, Lawyers And Liars

“Lawyer: The only man in whom ignorance of the law is not punished.”  Elbert Hubbard

Judges are but men, and are swayed like other men by vehement prejudices. This is corruption in reality, give it whatever other name you please.  David Dudley Field

Laws: We know what they are, and what they are worth! They are spider webs for the rich and mighty, steel chains for the poor and weak, and fishing nets in the hands of the government.  Pierre Joseph Proudhon

A lawyer is a gentleman who rescues your estate from your enemies and keeps it for himself.  Lord Brougham

The houses of lawyers are roofed with the skins of litigants. Welsh Proverb 

This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice.  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

There is no such thing as justice — in or out of court. Clarence Darrow

If you think good legal advice is expensive, you should see the cost of bad legal advice.  Anon
“More Laws, less justice”. Cicero

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Law, Lawyers And Liars

This book is about Law, lawyers and liars and the threads that bind all three. A story of captive audiences in a court where justice is an illusionary prize for most, even for the winners of a court action. A place also where an inconvenient truth is often beaten down by a lie and an inconvenient lie can be beaten down by the truth. In essence what this book is about is getting a clearer and more broad picture of the judicial system. As Wendell Holmes Jr (Former American Chief Justice) so succinctly said, "A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions'. This what I want for the reader. To be better informed always makes for better choices in a place where a person of means can lose everything because of the practices of the courts itself. Please press on the link below to order your copy.

Barry Clifford

http://lawlawyersandliars.com