As D-Day (O’Donnell Day) approaches within the chambers of Donegal County Council this morning perhaps it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that beleaguered Councilor John O’Donnell has simply been misunderstood over the last few weeks and that this occasion, the first full council meeting since airing of the RTE ‘cash for favors’ controversy, gives him the opportunity to clarify matters.

As the debate gets underway, the eyes and ears of many of the nation’s political and financial elite will be on little ole Donegal, that ‘wee beautiful place on the edge of the Atlantic’ in the very far corner of the country, that is and isn’t an integral part of the island of Ireland, depending which perspective from which you look.

Councillors John O’Donnell, Michael McBride, Ciaran Brogan and all their fellows in the chamber will have the chance to show that, in the right and proper way, “we are different up here.”

Now what that ‘difference’ means is the key question we all hope will be answered truthfully and forthrightly today, hopefully before lunch-time comes around – though that is as likely as seeing a polar bear wearing suntan lotion eating brussels sprouts with a spoon at the side of a heated swimming pool.

Will this morning’s open public event echo the catchphrase that became so popular in the 1970s after the Oscar-winning movie ‘Network’ was first screened? Then lead character, Howard Beale, (played wonderfully by actor Peter Finch), on the brink between brilliance and madness, says passionately, “I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad,” then screams, “I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!” his words being carried swiftly from person to person, young and old, man and woman, boy and girl, city to city across the whole of the nation.

If these words are echoed in the council chamber today in Lifford, who’s going to say them first? And will they mean them?

Could they be the battle-cry for a new, rejuvenated Donegal?

Could this be the historical moment we begin to shrug off the cloak of cronyism and corruption that has draped this county for far too long, with the collusion of various governments, and stymied our cultural, social and economic development?

To achieve this not small feat, a comprehensive, collective community effort is required and for that we, in turn, require the strength of the media, broadcast, print and digital  – not the way the print media acted over the last few days, publishing what was in effect a joint press release from  Údarás na Gaeltachta and John O’Donnell on the front and inside pages, nor Highland Radio, avoiding the controversial, not-so transparent payments made from one entity to the other.

If efforts to rid this county of counterproductive ‘goings-on,’ we need local media to be brave, enterprising and outspoken. It is their future as much as it is ours that is at stake.

While this article in yesterday’s ‘The Sunday Business Post’ gives most of the facts surrounding Mr. O’Donnell and Údarás, there is still much more to be said.

For the sake of fairness and democracy, let Cllrs. O’Donnell and McBride have their say. Give them the chance to explain how and why they were granted the 120,000 euro from Údarás and about how much exactly, and O’Donnell to clarify to whom one of his other companies, Kilmac Form Work Limited, owes millions of euro in debt, and where indeed those millions are now. And why he has still not paid 33,000 euro in injury compensation to an unfortunate Creeslough woman who’s foot he drove over in a car accident.

Oh, and let there be an explanation by O’Donnell about how his former company K&F Sarolla Teo (‘wool’ in English) went bust owing over 76,000 euro in 2013, which intriguingly led him to set up Glenveigh Woollen Mills Ltd in May of the same year .

Strangely – perhaps merely a coincidence – K&F Sarolla Teo looks very much like K&F Superwools in Northern Ireland, with – and again it may just be a coincidence – the same director, namely John O’Donnell.

Would it be too much of a coincidence if it was discovered there were grants– those chunky cross-border kind of ones – involved in these companies also?

For goodness sake, while we’re at it, as anyone who’s anyone will be there in the council chamber this morning, let Councillor Ciarán Brogan, Donegal County Council Chairperson, explain how his company, Sark Construction, perhaps now renamed Kasmor, managed to obtain an estimated 10 million euro in Donegal council construction contracts.

Gosh, it all sounds as if the craic will be mighty at the Donegal Council meeting this morning (kick-off 11am). For what it’s worth, alternative entertainment options on the box at exactly the same time are (and I kid you not) – ‘Wanted Down Under’ on BBC1; ‘The High Chaparral’ (or is that ‘Hang ‘Em High’) on TG4; ‘Judge Judy’ on TV3; ‘Conspiracy Theory’ on TCM; and ‘Four in a Bed’ on Channel 4.

Funny how all of them – including the local council option – have a similar ring to them.

I know which one I’m choosing.