FG’s Flanagan ‘regrets’ Burton speech plagiarism
When first contacted about the issue on Tuesday, Terence Flanagan initially denied copying sections of Labour deputy leader Joan Burton’s speech.
But Mr Flanagan, one of the newly elected TDs at the last general election, had a change of heart yesterday after a newspaper published details of the plagiarism.
In a statement issued through Fine Gael headquarters, Mr Flanagan said he had drawn “on some elements” of Ms Burton’s speech and should have acknowledged that at the time. The incident happed during the Dáil debate on the Finance Bill earlier this month.
On February 5, Ms Burton, who is also the Labour Party spokeswoman on finance, addressed the Dáil on the subject of the bill.
The following night, Mr Flanagan got his chance — and three key sections of his speech were virtually identical to Ms Burton’s.
On Tuesday, Mr Flanagan refused to acknowledge the plagiarism, telling the Irish Independent the speech was all his own work. “I have nothing to come clean about,” he said. “I didn’t nick her speech… It is my own work. It is my speech.”
But Mr Flanagan changed his mind yesterday, and with the help of the Fine Gael press office, issued the following statement: “During a 1,500-word speech over 10 minutes on the second stage of the Finance Bill, I drew on some elements of Deputy Burton’s speech from the previous evening. I should have acknowledged that at the time and regret not doing so. As a new deputy I hope I haven’t caused any offence and will certainly learn from this experience.”
Ms Burton said yesterday she was glad Mr Flanagan had had the honesty to own up. Mr Flanagan was yesterday said to be busy with constituency matters.
* What Ms Burton said on February 5: Ireland has one of the highest levels of personal indebtedness in Europe, yet the Tánaiste continues to insist all is well. I refer to another indicator. In 2004, 134 summonses were issued by the courts for house repossession. Last year, 465 summonses issued, an increase of 350%.
* What Mr Flanagan said on February 6: Although Ireland has one of the highest levels of personal indebtedness in Europe, the Tánaiste continues to insist all is well. I refer to another indicator… In 2004, 134 summonses were issued by the courts for house repossession. Last year, 465 summonses were issued, which constitutes an increase of 350%.
* Ms Burton: The Government parties must be held accountable for their mismanagement of the property market. They failed to control prices and, having overheated the market, they were then directly responsible for the stamp duty debacle, which sent it plummeting.
* Mr Flanagan: The Government parties must be held accountable for their mismanagement of the property market. They failed to control prices and, having overheated the market, were then directly responsible for the stamp duty debacle, which sent it plummeting.
* Ms Burton: We could be in line for serious home-grown sub-prime problems as those who overstretched themselves with hefty mortgages during the boom times, egged on by the financial institutions that the minister did not bother to regulate before last Friday, face a harsher economic climate.
* Mr Flanagan: Ireland also could be in line for serious home-grown sub-prime problems as those who overstretched themselves with heavy mortgages during the boom times and who were helped by the financial institutions that the minister did not bother to regulate before last Friday, face a harsher economic climate.
