Talk:Seán Gallagher

Move and merger
Originally there were two independently created articles (by this I only mean that they had no common history - there may have been off wiki collaboration): Sean Gallagher (businessman) (now a redirect here) and Sean Gallagher (Political Candidate) (deleted). Inexperienced editors attempted to get the former deleted and created the latter as a substitute article rather than simply moving the former (the editors may not have been autoconfirmed yet so they couldn't move by themselves). I initially deleted the latter article as a fork and blocked one of the editors as a suspected sock, I then had off wiki communications with the editor and confirmed he was not a sock and restored the latter article. Because there was no common history a history merge was not in order. I began a text merge with the intent to move here as the individuals proper name (and requiring no disambiguation) but reverted myself upon realizing it would be better to move and merge here, thereby obviating the need to keep the latter article as a permanent redirect for its history. I then moved the latter article here and text merged the articles here. I deleted the latter article as it contained no history, only a redirect and no incoming links - it is also arguably not a point on which the individual is notable and it's very temporal as in October elections will be held and he will no longer be a political candidate. The former article is retained for edit history purposes. I dumped the text of the former article here at the bottom of the article, leaving it for others to sort out.

Again, please note, a history merge is neither necessary nor advisable.

--Doug.(talk • contribs) 21:59, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

General semi-protection for candidates in the upcoming presidential election
I've proposed that all articles on candidates on the upcoming presidential election be semi protected until the 28th of October. This is owing to all of these articles coming under increasing pressure from vandals and unregistered/newly-registered editors with obvious axes to grind.

I've opened a general discussion on this at at WikiProject Ireland. -- RA (talk) 17:53, 5 October 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from, 16 October 2011
Link 3 ( Sean KPMG chapter.pdf KPMG Interview) is broken

86.45.15.92 (talk) 15:57, 16 October 2011 (UTC)
 * I added the dead link template to the link now, after a quick search to try and find it. --Jnorton7558 (talk) 17:51, 16 October 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from, 17 October 2011
Sean is from County Cavan not County Monaghan

Bigdog31 (talk) 02:23, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for improving Wikipedia! mabdul 08:23, 17 October 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from damned_junkie, 24 October 2011
The assertion that Sean bought a farm is not really backed up by any evidence. See: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/farmer-claims-young-sean-never-did-own-20acre-plot-of-cavan-land-2913918.html


 * Done. Snappy (talk) 20:33, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from, 24 October 2011
I feel the photo for both this candidate and some of the others should be altered to a more neutral photo - even the campaign photo would be less suggestive - NPOV is not limited to text

Conchubhairb (talk) 12:01, 24 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Which photo should we replace it with, specifically? It's difficult to answer the request as it's stated. – Luna Santin  (talk) 21:10, 25 October 2011 (UTC)
 * ❌ per Luna Santin: provide us a better photo we can use. If it is not already uploaded to Wikipedia/Wikimedia then request it please at WP:FFU. mabdul 13:26, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

Add Divorce to Spouses
Please add Irene McCausland 1997 - 99 Divorced to his spouse details — Preceding unsigned comment added by Maigheo16 (talk • contribs) 01:56, 27 October 2011 (UTC)
 * done. --86.40.108.202 (talk) 17:55, 10 November 2011 (UTC)

Illegals Loan Removed Comment Reverting unexplained content removal
The reference here to illegal loan has been removed again. There is no such reference in said Irish Time article so it is not correct.

Please do not revert this edit again as I have 100% confirmed this is correct.
 * It was an "accounting mistake", sure it could happen to anyone. I have added this incident in with a reliable reference. Snappy (talk) 17:36, 28 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Sorry, just seeing this now. In re-writing the Presidential 2011 section (and also creating a General Consulting section), I have referred to these Director loans as "inappropriate" and that they were repaid. I also referenced the longer Niamh Brennan IT article on his accounts (e.g. the "bad vibe" one).  I hope that is in line with what was agreed here? Britishfinance (talk) 12:17, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

Clean up of article
Have begun cleaning up this article - some promotional stuff, and promotional words, here which is not WP:BLP. Also, his career and education is very complex, so I have split into Public Service, Business and Political. They merge at times, but I think it is a better way to "navigate" his biography. Also, a lot of dates and specifics are missing about his facts, so am going to try and upgrade/re-reference them. Given the current presidential campaign, critical that this bio is just high quality referenced facts, and facts that are on him specifically (e.g. what he said, what he did), and don't stray into using facts to create, WP:SYN on him. Britishfinance (talk) 12:13, 16 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Cleaned up the Presidential 2011 section as well. Now that the dust has settled, there are better references and articles on the Kenny debate etc.  I think that it is important that some of his memorable quotes from his campaign are restated regarding Fianna Fail and of course, brown envelopes.  I was tempted to put the brown envelopes quote into a quote box but that would probably violate several counts of WP:BLP - still, I think it was the quote that changed everything for him. Britishfinance (talk) 12:15, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Good job! Spleodrach (talk) 13:00, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks! (nice work yourself too - sorry for some of the mistakes, still getting familiar with this) Britishfinance (talk) 13:18, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

Should we get this page semi-protected (again)
I notice that now that now the 2018 Irish Presidential election has started, which Sean Gallagher is part of, that we are getting acts of WP:VANDALISM from non-registered users. Should we consider some WP:ADMIN support to semi-protecting this article so that only authorized WP editors can edit? Britishfinance (talk) 19:43, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Normally semi-protection is only applied if there has been persistent vandalism, like Michael D. Higgins article. There hasn't been much vandalism here, admins don't usually apply protection in advance, but you could ask one, if you like. Spleodrach (talk) 09:20, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Okay, thanks for that. There were two incidents yesterday but they were fixed. I'll see how things go and come back to it if it gets more frequent. thanks. Britishfinance (talk) 09:29, 18 September 2018 (UTC)


 * There are a few drive-by vandals/POV-warriors on this page aswell as on Sharkey and O'Doherty's pages, but nothing that lasts more than a couple of hours. Bastun Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 09:34, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

COI?
, if you have problems with the article, feel free to discuss them here. Do not remove referenced material. We will not be getting in touch with Seán Gallagher to get approval for what's published here, but you may want to have a read of WP:COI and declare any conflicts of interests you may have. Bastun Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 13:01, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
 * I think there is a clear WP:COI issue here, and would be advised not to directly edit the article but to discuss it here. Britishfinance (talk) 13:07, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
 * It appears that MajorEditor19 is a wp:Single-purpose account, and might be related to User:78.18.231.213. --User:Ceyockey ( talk to me ) 13:12, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
 * This is Sean's Biography page and will be updated fully in the coming weeks by Sean, as Biography owner. There is no further interest or COI other than that. MajorEditor19 (talk) 13:15, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
 * I think that clears any doubt that has a COI here.  They should also note that Sean is not the Biography owner on Wikipedia; nobody owns a Wikipedia biography (or any article), it is simply an aggregation of reliable independent secondary sources (per WP:RS) which is what readers come to Wikipedia to read (e.g. not what we say, or even what Sean says, unless quoted via an reliable independent secondary source). Britishfinance (talk) 14:01, 3 August 2019 (UTC)


 * This. Seán won't be editing this - at least, not without declaring his clear conflict of interest. Bastun Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 14:31, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

Contested deletion
This page should not be speedily deleted just because somebody claims to be Seán Gallagher's official biographer, states that they're claims they're going to re-write the biography according to Gallagher's website, and tells us to contact the BLP subject for verification. This is presumably bad trolling... -- Bastun Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 13:04, 3 August 2019 (UTC) Sean has is going to recreate this page and is happy to confirm same. This is not trolling or anything else. It is a legitimate and genuine request. I have no conflict or interest in this page other than that. MajorEditor19 (talk) 13:12, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
 * I have removed the speedy deletion tag. --User:Ceyockey ( talk to me ) 13:06, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
 * That means you have a WP:COI issue, and should not edit the page any further. 14:11, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

Contested deletions, again
Apparently material, mostly referenced, was removed because somebody asked on a ticketing system? There is, therefore, presumption of a conflict of interest must exist? None of the material seems to be particularly PoV. Can proposed changes be discussed here, please? Bastun Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 21:39, 5 February 2021 (UTC)
 * , Some of that information was based on the ticket and some were of my own thinking. The name and location changes were from the ticket. For example, does a then-unknown housewife and mother of three with no political affiliations need to be included? It makes the person sound neutral when the footnote tells a different story. Another thing was It is not clear whether these roles are full-time or part-time, and the non-public service activities he was engaged in (e.g. he is recorded as stating that he was a fitness instructor and massage therapist in the 1990s[4][7]). How is that encyclopedic when he is notable for his political and business career. I'm limited by the OTRS confidentiality agreement in what I can say with regards to the ticket, but I can say the changes requested had an explanation and references. I will also get another OTRS agent to review the ticket and see if I made any mistakes. Kb03 (talk) 04:35, 7 February 2021 (UTC)
 * There have been a number of incidents of COI editors associated with the subject working on this article (see above). In relation to the two points above:
 * a then-unknown housewife and mother of three with no political affiliations. This was an important qualification as Gallagher claimed that she was some kind of a "plant" from another political party.  However, it turned out that she was non-political, but as a company director, understood the tax implications of Gallagher's actions.  My understanding (as per the refs), was that this interaction between the lady and Gallagher on live Irish tv, was a major moment in the campaign.  The footnote does not conflict, as it merely clarifies that subsequent to her interaction with Gallagher on Irish tv, she went on to pursue a political career.
 * It is not clear whether these roles are full-time or part-time, and the non-public service activities he was engaged in .... Gallagher's "alternative careers" have featured prominently in the Irish media (sometimes promoted by Gallagher himself and in photo ops), hence why there are so many refs on them.  However, no ref has been able to confirm whether these "alternative careers" happened during or after this public service career, hence the need to clarify.
 * The Irish media did a lot of work chronicling Gallagher's actual known life story, as sometimes the version he portrays is confusing and hard to follow. Hence why the best Irish RS have covered him in such detail.  I think it is useful for Irish readers to be able to get a summary of their work in understanding this interesting subject. Britishfinance (talk) 12:19, 7 February 2021 (UTC)


 * , thanks for coming back. I'm only vaguely aware of the OTRS system (and can I point out, it's quite hard to find out much about it? I tried to find the referenced ticket and ended up finding OTRS by, IIRC, clicking on a category on your user page.) It seems... problematic. While I can think of many genuine situations where such a system would be needed, especially around BLP, it does also seem like a way of introducing preferred edits without proper (or any) discussion, bypassing WP:CON. This would be a concern on any article, but on this article, if you look at the talk page and the article history, you can see it began life as a promotional piece, glossed over or removed elements of his business and political careers, and curation by more than one WP:COI single-purpose account has been attempted, on several occasions. Some of this has been noticed by editors, not just me, including, e.g.,, and.


 * Regarding the edits you made - yes, absolutely, the content can be improved, but shouldn't be censored. See the references. Gallagher had a lot of jobs during the early 90s. Nothing wrong with that. List them all, not just the "public service" ones. If it reads a little confused on some issues, that's possibly because there are conflicting sources on those issues. Essentially, what I think I'm trying to say here is that on this article, transparency is a good thing. Regards, Bastun Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 12:29, 7 February 2021 (UTC)
 * For the record, the only time I've ever actually touched this article at all, or at least the only time I've been able to find my name in the edit history, was a decade ago — and even then, what I did wasn't cleanup of advertorialized or non-neutral content, but just fixing the fact that there were two separate articles, at this title and at Sean Gallagher (businessman), existing about him at the same time. Which, of course, isn't how we do things: if one person is active in both business and politics, then we keep one article about both aspects of their life, not one just about the business career and a separate one about the political activity. And, in fact, I see that the change between the two titles still hasn't been handled properly since my one-off intervention ten years ago, with cutting and pasting going on instead of page moves to keep the edit history intact. So I'll be fixing that shortly with some page merging — but in terms of the content here, I'm not nearly familiar enough with him to weigh in on the immediate OTRS dispute, and have never actually been involved in any of that content one way or the other. All I've ever done here is try to ensure that we were keeping one article about him rather than two, so it isn't really relevant to invoke my name in this discussion since I've never had anything to do with the issue at hand on either side. Bearcat (talk) 12:43, 7 February 2021 (UTC)


 * Apologies. And thanks for the housekeeping work. Page moves and merges confuse the hell out of me! Bastun Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 12:57, 7 February 2021 (UTC)
 * , I don't think anybody truly understands histmerge, just fake it until you make it :) Kb03 (talk) 18:57, 9 February 2021 (UTC)

Just letting the people here know, I informed the requesting party to contribute to the talk page here since it seems to be bustling with activity. I'll keep an eye out as well. Kb03 (talk) 18:58, 9 February 2021 (UTC)