People of the Year Awards
Serious questions are being asked about the People of the Year Awards as it is now revealed that Sorcha McKenna who claimed in 2001 to have won the Person of the Year Award 2001 was simply proposed and seconded for such an award by convicted criminal Owen/Eoin Smyth and tax fraudster Patsy Treanor, both Monaghan.
In 2001 Sorcha Mc Kenna, Monaghan Town, claimed in the British tabloid, The Sunday Life, published in Belfast, that she had won the Person of the Year Award 2001, Sorcha posed for pictures for the tabloid press and claimed to have been chosen by the people of Ireland as The Person of the Year 2001. However, a Freedom of Information request shows that Sorcha Mc Kenna received only 47 votes on a national television phone-in competition to RTE for the award, it can also now be revealed that Sorcha Mc Kenna was proposed for the award by convicted criminal Owen/Eoin Smyth[1] and seconded by convicted tax fraudster Patsy Treanor[2].
Sorcha Mc Kenna made much of the fact that her nomination had been handed to her by disgraced politician Berty Ahern, a man found to be corrupt and a liar by the Mahon Tribunal of inquiry into political corruption.
The winner of the 2001 Person of the Year Award was Daraine Mulvihill, a child survivor of Meingitis, she lost her legs due to the illness and has been an advocate for immunization. Daraine was appointed to the Irish Council of State by President Mary McAleese for her second term as President of Ireland, starting in 2004. Daraine is the daughter of Liam Mulvihill, the former director general of the GAA.
Many people are now asking serious questions about the People of the Year Awards and what safe guards are in place to stop people making false claims and taking away from the people actually chosen by the people of Ireland as worthy of their support. One former participant said:
“We could not believe it when Sorcha went on to claim she had won the 2001 Award, we were devastated for Daraine who had come through so much and done so much good for people, that was reflected in the tens of thousands of votes she received. The People of the Year Awards should not be used for political purposes or by people who want to self-profile and make monetary gain”.
[1] Owen/Eoin Smyth, was charged in 1981 in relation to the murder of pensioner Norman Strong and his son James at Tynan Abbey in County Armagh, Smyth would be sentenced to five years imprisonment and was described by a High Court Judge in Dublin as a liar.
[2] Patsy Treanor was a Fianna Fail councillor in Monaghan who was exposed as a tax fraudster.
