EP – I agree with you concerning this is a country of cowards. Michael Davitt said that the Irish had two flaws : Alcohol, and MORAL COWARDICE. Moral Cowardice means taking the easy option, OBEDIENCE, being docile, going with the (corrupt) flow etc… How many Spaniards do you know would put up with this ? How many Frenchies ? Answer none. But we Irish are rolled over again and again, by the more powerful or the more informed in our society.

Our Laws facilitate corruption. Irish Laws prosecute nobody for corruption. Irish Law put no people in jail for reasons related to corruption – unless we are talking about journalists like Susan O’Keefe who took on the biggest Industrial Group in the country in the early 1990s.
Our Banks are corrupt, especially AIB.
And as Shane Ross has repeatedly said there is an ‘incestuous relationship’ between the boards of directors of leading Irish companies. And nobody cares. Just get pissed and don’t worry about it.
WE HAVE A THIRD WORLD MENTALITY TO CORRUPTION. The first thing that needs to change is the Law. And FF are standing over all the ineffective Laws that FF ministers created, preventing the Law from tackling corruption and wrong doing.

Apart from all of this we have a pervasive mentality in many semi state companies of take all you can for yourself. Classic examples are CIE, and the ESB. CIE in particular is an example of gross incompetence. Classic example is the suburban rail network in Dublin. There are tracks that are lying redundant or half used in the Western Suburbs of Dublin. Throw in the incapability to have Arrow trains in Cork, Galway or Limerick commuter belts. And the track to Navan which transports ore, but not commuters, so we have to build a new motorway for the commuters when they would prefer to link up with the Drogheda line and snooze on the way to Dublin.

Act for change. Vote for local Activist mentality candidates in the next election. Enough independent activists in the Dail means that the main parties have to co-operate or increase their competence levels. A cynic might comment – are any of these options remotely possible ?…