John Downing
speaker
506 appearances
6 recordings
1 series
first heard Apr 2026
last heard 10 Sep
John Downing’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 6 in all, peaking in Sep 2026 with 2.
Appearances
The Indo Daily · Jim O’Callaghan v the Lawyers: The high-stakes legal aid showdown · 31 Jul 2026
podcast
finally made the Dáil in February 2016 when Fianna Fáil had a sort of mini revival.
So he's 10 years in the Dáil.
However, making his way up the greasy pole into government proved not very easy.
It was a strange period.
It was an experiment.
in what was called confidence and supply, Fianna Fáil supported a Fianna Gael minority and independent government externally.
He was justice spokesman.
Firstly, he was involved in the putting together of that strange confidence and supply agreement.
Secondly, he was the party's spokesperson on justice.
And in November 2017, he played a very strident role enforcing
the Tánaiste and then Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Frances Fitzgerald, into resigning.
It was an arcane controversy which stretched back to her role in the Department of Justice, and it was about lawyer tactics in a Garda investigation tribunal.
Mind you, she was subsequently completely exonerated.
by a subsequent inquiry.
But of course, by then it was too late.
The execution preceded the trial.
However, I do remember fury among Fine Gael people talking about this tall guy on the bike, Jim O'Callaghan, coming in here.
He's not a wet week in the Dáil and he's demanding that the Tánaiste, a very experienced and seasoned politician, and mind you, they're supposed to be supporting us in government, let's recall, but he's demanding that she resign.
That certainly won him few friends across the aisle.
Well, firstly, he was accused of petulance because he turned down a junior ministry after the 2020 general election.
Showing 241–260 of 506 · page 13 of 26
← Previous
Next →